'LOFTY' GOALS AS VK4EMM LOOKS FOR OCEANIA DX DOUBLE REPEAT

By Jamie Dupree NS3T 

After winning both the SSB and CW runnings of the 2006 Oceania DX contest, John Loftus VK4EMM seems more than ready for the green flag to drop again this year.

"I will certainly be back for both ends of the Oceania contest," says Loftus. "I always enjoy the thrill when operators around the world turn their ears toward Oceania."

Last year, Loftus ran up over a thousand contacts on SSB and over 1100 on CW. He told radio-sport.net this past week he's again ready for a full effort to defend his titles.

"I always plan to operate the full 24 hours of the contest. The only breaks are when I walk outside to hand-rotate the beams."

That statement should be a reminder to all that you don't need the very best equipment to compete seriously every week of the year, one reason Loftus says more ops should give this contest a try.

"Antennas are always an important part of contest strategy," said the Aussie contester, who in real life is a business school teacher. "However, the Oceania contest enables anyone to do well with a modest antenna system."

Loftus has yagis for 10, 15 and 20 meters on water pipe poles. He uses a vertical on 80 and a three element vertical array on 40.

"At my latitude of 26 degrees South, I always pray for zero storm activity during the October and November contest season," said Loftus.

In terms of strategy, Loftus says for stations in his region of the world, "there are always multiple paths open on different bands to Oceania at any time during the 24 hours."

VK4EMM's rates ranged from a high of 113 on CW and 92 on SSB down to 7 CW and 14 SSB. "Meeting the challenge of staying awake can be difficult in any contest where low run-rates are normal," said Loftus.

One good piece of news for Oceania DX organizers is that the number of submitted logs were up by 13% in 2006, mainly due to an increase in VK participation.

"Yes, we would love to repeat that," says Brian Miller ZL1AZE, the chair of the OCDX Contest Committee. "The sharp rise in activity by Oceania stations is mainly due to a significant growth in the number of VK entrants."

Miller says much of that is as a result of promotional efforts by the VK Contesting Club and the VK contesting community.

"It is also pleasing to note the increasing participation of YB (Indonesia) stations," said Miller. Also of note is a significant increase in the number of phone logs from Europe."

"It appears that the increased activity from Oceania stations, along with the availability of new awards for the 2006 contest, has also spurred the participation of non-Oceania stations, particularly those from Europe," said Miller.

"Brian ZL1AZE is a tireless champion and team-leader for building the Oceania contest," said Loftus VK4EMM. "The Oceania contest is successfully building the critical mass that is needed to encourage more participation."

Miller says he would still like to see more "participation from some of the rarer Pacific Island DX locations," but overall, he feels the contest is heading in the right direction.

The Oceania DX Contest covers two weekends. The SSB contest runs from 0800z on October 6 to 0800 October 7. The CW contest is a week later, 0800z Oct. 13 to 0800 Oct. 14.