I took part in my first contest this weekend; The Remembrance Day Contest.

This contest commemorates the Amateurs who died during World War II and is designed to encourage friendly participation and help improve the operating skills of participants. It is held on the weekend closest to the 15th August, the date on which hostilities ceased in the southwest Pacific area.

I headed up to John’s Hill Reserve in the afternoon and setup my G90 + EFHW, and made 20 contacts over about 3:30 hours. While I didn’t make many contacts, I was impressed that all but one station (VK2) was able to hear me on this setup.

Most of all, I think it was helpful in getting my confidence up when talking on the radio. I feel much better about trying to activate POTA now.

Update 2022-09-12

I placed 109 out of 126 for single-operator-phone.

No exactly great given the median was 100 contacts, and the top three all had over 1,000. But I’m still happy about what I achieved.