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After a focus last weekend on Canada and the United States in the ARRL SSB test, this weekend CQ BERU will be the theme, as the 2010 Commonwealth Contest arrives with its unique theme of contacts only between stations in the British Commonwealth and Territories.
For those wondering, there are 54 members of the British Commonwealth, stretching from the United Kingdom to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and a host of smaller nations in between - and many of those will be on the air this weekend - but only looking for other Commonwealth stations.
For those who aren't in one of the Commonwealth nations, it can be a bit frustrating to listen to some of the good DX that comes on during the BERU weekend.
"Lots of opportunity to work what would otherwise be rare stations," wrote Rob Thomson G4LMW in his 2009 BERU soapbox, after his first entry in the Commonwealth Contest.
"For most it is not a "rate" event, but rather a matter of searching out DX," says David Cree, who will be on as J88DR from St. Vincent.
In terms of DX that's not heard every day, John Dunnington G3LZQ will be on Rodrigues Island and active as 3B9WR. Brian Otter 9J2BO hopes to be on from Zambia. In Ghana, Alan Ibbetson G3XAQ is expected to be active from 9G.
As for activity - organizers are again hoping for a good turnout in 2010.
"The number of logs received continues the recent upward trend, which is extremely encouraging at a time of solar minimum," wrote Les Alwood G3VQO in his rundown of last year's BERU contest.
One reason for a boost - "It seems that the Team competition is reviving interest in many areas of the Commonwealth," added Alwood.
For example, Prasad VU2PTT has put together an Indian team that also includes Larry Arneson VQ9LA, who will join in from his usual spot on the Chagos Archipelago at Diego Garcia.
(You can read Alwood's review and check out all the BERU resources on his web page at www.beru.org.uk .
As for band conditions, the hope obviously is that the recent upswing in HF propagation will continue. So far this year, there have only been three days without a sunspot - a big change from last year.
But one of those three days was over the last weekend, as the bands in the ARRL DX SSB were just a bit down from where they have been in recent weeks.
"Conditions were not as good as CW," observed Stephen Bolia N8BJQ in his 3830 report.
As for stations to watch out for in BERU 2010, John Sluymer VE3EJ is the defending Open Section champ, as he won back the Senior Rose Bowl in 2009.
V47CD was the Restricted Section winner in 2009. ZL6A was the top HQ station and VA3DX won the Multi-Operator category.
As for the nickname BERU - that comes from abbreviation for "British Empire Radio Union".
"The Event - probably the oldest Contest in the Calendar - started in the '30s, when British Protectorates included Iraq, Persia, Libya and Egypt!" says Cree J88DR/G3TBK.
"Times change, but the Contest still hold a peculiar fascination - plus for many with smaller stations it is a great chance to work some DX without competition from European and US stations. Many of those call in and are ignored - we don't like doing it but no choice!" Cree told radio-sport.net.
One final reminder - you don't have to be a citizen or a subject of the British Empire to join in - you just need to be operating from one of those 54 countries involved in this test.
"It should be noted that any American operator can take part from a Commonwealth country," Cris Henderson GM4FAM reminded radio-sport.net, noting that a lot of warm islands in the Caribbean could be activated easily, "the more the merrier if anyone wants to jump on a plane from the US."
The 2010 Commonwealth Contest takes place from 1000z 13 March to 1000z 14 March. For more information, please go to the RSGB web site.
It is a good weekend to use for tweaking your antennas, as the Russian DX Contest comes on the weekend of March 20-21, with the always popular CQ WPX SSB contest the final weekend in March.
This weekend, things are a bit smaller - there are two QSO parties in the USA, in Idaho and Wisconsin - the Wisconsin QSO Party will definitely have a more active presence on the bands.
It starts on Sunday March 14 at 1800z and ends at 0100 March 15.
If you are new to contesting or know someone that you want to get involved in the hobby, then the Wisconsin QSO Party might be a good place to get your feet wet, as the WIQP has established a "Beginner" entry class for this year.
Go to the WIQP website for more details.
For those interested in RTTY contesting, the North American RTTY Sprint runs from 0000-0400z on March 14 (Saturday night in the US and Canada.)
You can also use that as a tuneup contest, since next weekend brings the 48 hour BARTG HF RTTY test.
"After 45 days with sunspots, the sun took a break, and was spotless for most of the weekend," said Siggi TF3CW in his 3830, who noted that it "Made living on 20 hard at times" as 20 meters became the money band for many this past weekend.
It was obvious that 15 meters didn't have the spark of recent weeks, as spots on the DX Cluster for that band ended at 2359 - when the contest came to a close.
"We had great hope for (15m) after the ARRL CW weekend but it just was not to be," said Scott Tuthill K7ZO in his 3830 writeup for Team NK7U in Oregon.
Perennial high scorer Chas Fulp K3WW clocked in with 3.2 million points in the Assisted category, which featured 1362 QSO's on 20 meters - which was more than the number of QSO's he made on all the other bands combined.
"Not like CW but pretty busy," he said on 3830. Check back this week on radio-sport.net for the latest score updates from the 2010 ARRL DX SSB Contest.
