The Vecta Contest Group

The Vecta Contest Group (VCG) is an RSGB Affiliated Wight based ‘club’ set up in 2015 to compete in national and international contests, primarily at VHF and up. The main attraction for contesters are the technical and competitive challenges of competition, either on a solo basis or in a team. We have the benefit of some excellent high spots and sea paths on the island, and even with a modest set-up, 500-600km QSOs are routinely achieved, and with a large installation, 800-1000km is usually possible – much further on 50/70MHz during the Es season of course.

We are not a big budget contest group, but by focusing on the strengths of our sites and investing/designing/building equipment which potentially provides the best return, we have achieved the runners-up placing in the national RSGB VHF Championship for two years running. Within that, we won several of the contests outright against teams with much greater cumulative experience and superior equipment. Team events double as social events of course, which makes 24 hour contests very enjoyable all round.

We also enter as a team in the Tuesday night UK activity contests which are great fun and a great way to fine tune your operating skills, as well as to experiment with your own set-up for the best results. We have contesters contributing points to our tally both on and off the island, and the nationwide UKAC community is very friendly and great to get to know.

Since the big championship pushes in 2017/18, the weekend contests have been much more low key, but excellent results have still been achieved by individuals in the group. The 2020 season has of course been severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak, but we are now looking ahead to 2021 to see what we can accomplish.

We always welcome new individuals and anyone wishing to learn more, please contact Mark G6DOD QTHR, or via Graham the IWRS secretary.

Vecta Contest Group

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