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Valuable points are up for grabs this weekend in qualifying for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships, as the 2008 edition of the EU HF Championships hits the contest bands.
In this 15th running of the EU HF, WRTC qualifying will be an important sub-plot, as this contest is weighted behind only CQ WW and Russian DX, making it an important stop for any Europeans keen on going to Russia in 2010.
If you are looking for where to forge a winning score in the Single Operator ranks, Russia may be the place to go for some.
Russian contesters have won the Mixed High Power EU HF title the past three years, with Max Pustovit RK3AWL the latest winner in 2007. He will now get the chance to defend that title this year.
Over in the Mixed Low Power category, the one to beat is Ged Lucinskas LY3BA, who is on a two year winning streak. He has also won that title three of the last four years.
As for propagation, the recent IARU test showed that the bands certainly have a lot of action in them when it comes to European contacts.
Last year's high power winner RK3AWL made most of his 1603 contacts on 15 and 20 meters, as he tallied over 505k points for his win.
Pustovit's worst band was 160 meters, where he made 144 QSO's. 10 meters was a little better with 188 Q's.
In the low power category, Lucinskas LY3BA also did the best on 20 meters, but his 40 meter total of 233 QSO's was more than his 210 on 15 meters.
He did much more of his damage on CW, as did RK3AWL.
As for single mode entries, they continue to be popular in EU HF, as the Slovenian Contest Club hands out plaques for both the top High and Low power entries in both CW only and SSB only.
One note though, is that the winning plaques sometimes are not awarded by the SCC if stations don't follow certain guidelines, such as listing the exact frequency for contacts.
That cost two stations their plaques in 2007.
In terms of more serious rules violations, the SCC showed last year that it means business in the EU HF test, as three disqualifications were handed out in 2007, the most prominent of which was Valery Komarov RD3AF, who was the 2006 CW High Power champ.
"It's heartening to know that the Slovenia Contest Club cares," said Jim Neiger N6TJ, one CQ WW Hall of Famer who has crusaded against contest cheating.
Komarov RD3AF was DQ'd for "excessive number of unverifiable QSO." He claimed 1848 contacts, far more than Igor Serikov UT7QF, who ran up 1,392 from Ukraine. UT7QF was awarded the win after log checks.
The DQ's did more than take Komarov and two others out of the running for awards last year and in 2008, as it also disqualified all three from qualifying for the 2010 WRTC in Russia.
LY9A - Mixed Low Power
UT7QF - CW High Power
UT9FJ - CW Low Power
ES5QD - SSB High Power
HA3NU - SSB Low Power
See the results of the 2007 EU HF at the Slovenian Contest Club website.
The reports detail every invalid contact and the reason why they were not counted, whether busted calls, dupes or exchange errors.
Also included, band by band summary sheets, claimed scores and final scores for each competitor.
Such log checks are kept private in CQ and ARRL contests, viewable only by the individual contestants.
The Slovenian Contest Club has done it much differently, and the public nature of those log checking reports has not seemed to generate any complaints.
You can see the log checks by going to the results of last year's contest above and clicking on the calls listed for each category.
Here are the log checking reports for all six winners in the 2007 EU HF Championships:
