ZD8Z (N6TJ) Takes Narrow SOAB Mixed Claimed Lead Over 5B4AII (RW3QC) in 2008 IARU Test

By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted July 21, 2008

Almost perfectly splitting his SSB and CW Contacts from Ascension Island, Jim Neiger N6TJ is the clubhouse leader for now in claimed single operator scores in the 2008 IARU HF Championships.
Operating from his familiar ZD8Z station, Neiger made 1,832 SSB contacts and 1,818 CW QSO's for 4.168 million points in the contest.
That gives him a lead of more than 120k points over Jack Danielyan RW3QC, who operated 5B4AII to 4.04 million from Cyprus.
Unlike Neiger, Danielyan was much more focused on CW contacts, as he split his CW and phone QSO's 63-37%.
Danielyan's contest operations from Cyprus have drawn attention in the past, but not always in a positive way.
The WRTC veteran was disqualified from the 2006 CQ WW CW contest, a decision that also made him ineligible for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships in Russia.
ZD8Z and 5B4AII were the only two stations to claim over 4 million points in this year's IARU.
A year ago, only IARU winner YT1AD made it over 4 million, with Danielyan RW3QC finishing second as C4M.
A comparison of the top two logs show that ZD8Z made more QSO's overall, 3.650 to 3,122. Their zone totals were almost even, 116-113 in favor of 5B4AII.
The big difference was in HQ mults, where Danielyan took advantage of his proximity to Europe to tally 168 mults to 130 for Neiger.
5B4AII had 78 HQ mults on the low bands, while Neiger mustered 53.
In the US, the SOAB Mixed leader continues to be Doug Grant K1DG, who tallied 2.27 million points.
John Sluymer VE3EJ is the Canadian leader at 2.18 million.
The Mixed scores are important for another reason, as they award the most qualifying points for the 2010 WRTC.
Notable scores from the US along those lines include the solid 1.79 million from Dan Craig N6MJ, who had by far the best score from the NA #4 region in the western US.
In NA #2, which comprises W5 and W0, Kevin Stockton N5DX leads the Mixed shootout that could have an impact on the WRTC race, as he bested K5NA, K5PI and N3BB.
One WRTC score that's still out there is that of Jeffrey Briggs K1ZM, who insiders believe ran up a solid score from his VY2ZM contest post.
Briggs has had a series of good contest outings, as he makes a claim for one of the three WRTC team leader slots from the NA #1 section.

RW1AC, RA1AIP Win RRTC 2008

Battling bad summertime storms and more, the team of RW1AC and RA1AIP emerged as the winners of the 2008 Russian Radio Team Championship.
Billed as a "dress rehearsal" for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships that are to be held in Russia, twenty one select teams competed from portable locations in a rural area near Moscow.
Unfortunately, their eight hour battle on the airwaves was complicated by bad weather that made setup and travel difficult.
"The weather was not in favor for our teams," reported WRTC Organizer Igor "Harry" Booklan RA3AUU.
"Heavy lightning, thunderstrms and rain, rain, rain," said Booklan.
"Some roads in the fields were washed away. In several cases we had to use tractors...to carry vehicles to the fields."
Finishing first with 399,438 points were Vladimir Askenov RW1AC and Alexey Mikhailov RA1AIP. They were the only team to make over 1200 QSO's, netting 1138 after log checks.
Their winning margin over the team of RW3QC & RN3QO was 35k points after log checks, but that team had 18k chopped off its score, as they were penalized for "poor recording quality."
All the teams - even though they were operating Field Day type setups - were required to record the eight hour contest to help with log reviews.
"We received almost 500 logs from you guys right after the contest, so it helped a lot in log checking," Booklan said.
Also penalized were:
* RA1ZZ/RL3FO for "self identification"
* RV3BA/RA3CO for no recording and no serial numbers in log
* RV9WHN/RV9WLE for time shifting

The full results can be seen at the SRR website.