Once again we had sunny and hot conditions for the five sub-teams. Some evidence for SpE and ducting since the 2m station reported QSOs with HB ( Switzerland) and DL ( Germany ), among others).  What was noticeable though was the lack of opportunities in the northerly direction. Relatively few north of England or Scottish QSOs.  An exception was the Isle of Man. 
QSO numbers were as follows:
6m - 26; 4m - 39; 2m - 140; 70cm - 15; 23cm - 7

After publication of the last CW  results, IVARC has moved up a further place and now stands at 19 in the Local Clubs Section

The current position in the Local Clubs section is 20th. Up 1 place, with two results as yet unpublished: the last CC SSB and the last CC CW contests. When these numbers are in we will have our final position for the year. Our position at 20/45 puts us just in the top half which is a good result bearing in mind the team is just three, two of which were CW only this year!

The 2018 CW Field Day was a great success for IVARC. In our field just south of Winchester we enjoyed the best of weather and produced the club's bet ever score.  At the end our sent serials were 806, compared to 624 in 2017.  This year we used a fan dipole. Last year we had a multi band trap dipole.  For SSB FD and next year the plan is to mount a 5 band CobWebb on the top of our trailer mast together with a W3DZZ for the lower bands. Onwards and upwards!
Today is the VHF Field Day which we are running from a hilltop site near Winchester.  Report on the results to follow soon.

IVARC is still 21st of 44 clubs in the RSGB CC 80m 'local' category.  This is all more remarkable since two out of three club entrants only take part in the CW events  What about boosting our effort by volunteering to take part in the SSB or Data sections?

Please send news reports, comments, errors and omissions to Graham G3XSD via the Forum News thread.

The IVARC low noise receiving loop has achieved 19 loops built.  It has been a great success with a number of reports about the great advantage of the antenna in noisy urban QTHs.  Looking at panadapters shows the typical noise reduction equates to 2 S-points, with many stations apparent that were previously under the noise.  Given the small size of gardens these days  this performance gain  gives the ability to work more DX.  If you can't hear them, you can't work them!
This is especially true on the low bands, where the apparent large aperture of the loop compared with wire antennas is most evident. At G3XSD the loop performs as well as the full size W3DZZ  on 30,40 and 80m and allows hearing of stations on top band that are otherwise non-existent.  This is very promising for QTHs in inner city or otherwise QRM affected environments.  Many thanks to all those involved in the design and 'buildathon' sessions and particularly to Paul M1CNK for kit assembly, project organisation and final testing arrangements.

IVARC has held its mid-table position in the 80m CC,being 21st of 40 as of April '18.  Top scorer at present is Peter G3YUP, with Graham G3XSD not far behind.  Richard G3OTK has contributed admirably with his QRP entries.  In the past we have entered the General Club category and achieved around 13th in that table.  This year we have entered the local club section and although we are 21st, the score would have placed us 14th in the general category.  Thus we are holding the fort!  Doing better would require a very large jump in scores as we would be competing with the 'big guns' who take part with many more members than our current three. If club members would like to swell the numbers for IVARC please contact G3XSD at club meetings.