The Covid rules across the UK provide a confusing mish-mash of restrictions:
On Wednesday 2nd December, the current English national-lockdown comes to an end, being replaced by a three-Tier system, which will last until (at least February).
In Wales, new restrictions (which have not yet been finalised) will come into force from Friday, 4 December.
Scots now find themselves in Level 4 restrictions, which will remain in place for three weeks.
Northern Ireland has entered a new circuit breaker, which will cover the two-week period from November 27 until December 11
Team GxFF have considered the available information and have decided that decisions whether to perform an activity should be left to the judgement of the activator, with due consideration to the rules in force at their home and at the target reference, and in particular with regards any travel restrictions in place.
Team GxFF reiterate that this is not an encouragement to undertake any activity, and accept no liability for any consequences of any decision by an activator to perform an activation.
We will, of course, keep monitoring any changes in the Rules…
Some users have reported that they keep getting “logged out” when accessing Logsearch.
This appears to be linked to those using the Logsearch image link, in the home page gallery – but not for those who use the Logsearch menu link!
WWFF Logsearch
After investigation, the (with hindsight, obvious) observation was that the gallery links were still non-HTTPS… so that the (secure) login details were not being shared with the (now non-secure) page.
I have now updated the links, and (hopefully) this problem is no longer apparent.
Wow! Get Your Park ON! Celebrating Earth Science Week just completed, and wow. This is the third year for the event that is run in conjunction with Earth Science Week, a fabulous national and international program sponsored by the American Geosciences Institute advancing educational programs focusing in K-12 schools teaching our youth about responsible stewardship of the Earth.
Lots of KFF activity that was aided by some good propagation to make for quite an event. And there were many, many European hunters too with the top European hunters logging over 100 KFF references during the event. Ironically, the top European hunter logged more KFF references than the top U.S. hunter. I don’t think that is so much a damnation of the U.S. hunters, but a testimony to the good propagation and the international interest that is developing for Get Your Park ON! So, here are some statistics:
KFF References activated: 214
KFF Activators: 58
KFF Activators QSOs: 13,000
European Hunters: 103
NA Hunters: 284
The addition of the Special Event Stations (SES) added a nice flair to this year’s event. Hats off to the eleven SESs activators who did an outstanding job in terms of both references activated and the quantity of QSOs. Several Europeans managed to work all eleven of the SESs, quite a feat. Of the group, N9G (N9JF) and N3G (KB3WAV) activated the most references with 16 activated. N5G (N9MM) had the most QSOs logged with 1,628. K6G (W6LEN) deserved recognition for working the European openings from the west coast with approximately 40% of his 582 QSOs being Europe. Top SES goes to N9G who had 14 of 16 qualifying activations and 1,214 QSO. Here are the total SES statistics:
KFF References activated: 95
SESs Activator QSOs: 6,736
With so much activity, many qualify for the GYPO 2020 participation certificate which requires only working 25 WWFF (not just KFF) references. Also, an endorsement is available for those Europeans working five 1×1 SES stations, or 10 for NA stations. If you’d like one, email n9mm@arrl.net with the total number of WWFF references (and SESs) worked during October 10-18, 2020.
Even before the smoke clears on GYPO 2020, we are thinking about next year when propagation will be even better with the new sunspot cycle. For sure the Special Event Stations will be returning. A couple have already reserved their 1×1 call signs. And it will be great if more European activators join Dave G1OCN, and GYPO becomes a more international event. Remember ALL WWFF Activators and Hunters are invited to participate.
Thanks everyone for making GYPO 2020 so much fun! Until 2021…
One of the frequently asked questions is “Why can’t activators upload their own logs?”. And the answer we give is “Because, even with the checking process of the National Coordinator (or National Log Manager), too many errors still get through.”
Mistakes happen… it is easy enough to transcribe a paper log and get transpose letters in callsigns, or get a P2P reference wrong (either by mis-hearing or mistyping).
But the following (quite common) mistakes should never make it as far as Logsearch… firstly, the Activator should check their own log, but equally the NC/NLM should spot them (or, at least the first four):
Incorrect STATION_CALLSIGN
Incorrect OPERATOR
Incorrect DATE
Incorrect REFERENCE
Incorrect BAND
Incorrect MODE
So a gentle request to all activators: please check the log before submitting it. And to National Log Managers: please do some basic checks (Date, Station Call, Operator, Reference) before uploading.
For interest, the following activity (grouped by Programme) took place during August 2020, and have been uploaded to Logsearch. To add a little competitiveness, it is sorted by Average Number of QSOs per Activation (with a qualifying reference count of two references).
Having said and done that, a special shout out to KFF, whose KFF Marathon has certainly got the activators out, whilst VKFF maintains a good presence “down under”!
Also, a “Mention In Despatches” for UP44WFF’s activity in UNFF-0082.
