Blackwood Cup Competition

Since 1930, the Blackwood Cup has been awarded by the Wellington Amateur Radio Club to a deserving member. In recent years, the cup has been awarded to the winner of a competition for homebrew equipment. This year’s Blackwood Cup run-off will be held at The Collective Hub in Johnsonville from 1pm – 3pm on 1 October 2023. All are welcome. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available after the competition winner is announced.

Bring out your homebrew construction project to have a go at winning the Blackwood Cup. This can be any electronic or radio related project you have made over the last 12 months. You have several weeks still to put something together. You will be required to give a brief presentation of no more than 10 minutes about your project. Kit projects also qualify. Voting is by secret ballot of all club members attending the meeting.

George ZL2AG is the current holder of the cup.

Blackwood Cup October Meeting

The Blackwood Cup

Three members brought out their homebrew projects to have a go at winning the annual Blackwood Cup. We met at The Collective Hub,  1/33 Johnsonville Rd on Tuesday 18 October from 1pm to 3pm (followed by tea and coffee). The winner this year was George ZL2AG (not for the first time!).

The Blackwood Cup has been fought over since the early 1930s. The most recent winners:

YearWinnerCallsignProject
2021J P MoriartyZl2JPMQRP Magnetic Loop & Autotuner
2020J P MoriartyZL2JPMQRP Antenna Tuner modules
2019R G NewlandsZL2AGArtificial ground system
2018D McNeillZL2AOVuBITx Txcvr & mods
2017M H WoodsZL1AXGBITX40 Txcvr mods

Who will win the cup in 2023? You have 52 weeks to get your project completed!

18 October Meeting – Blackwood Cup Competition

Blackwood Cup – in its 90th year

Our Sunday 18 October meeting (from 1pm – 3pm) at Waitohi (Johnsonville Community Centre) featured our annual Blackwood Cup competition. This was the 90th year of the cup being awarded, so it has a long history. There were only three entries this year, but the winner as voted by members was John ZL2JPM for his QRP three unit combination.

One of those winners from 1974, Derek ZL2AKS, asked the club to dispose of his equipment, as he is moving out of town to a retirement village and will not be operating on HF any more. Bernard ZL2BD oversaw the sale of this equipment. A list of equipment was sent to members. We celebrate Derek’s long-term commitment (60 years) as a member of the club.

We held a moments silence for Don ZL2BL, who became a Silent Key earlier in the month.

Ian ZL2HUT also gave a presentation on Radio Spectrum Management. Ian explained how the radio spectrum is managed, via various legislation, policies, regulations and rules.  

Annual Blackwood Cup Competion

At our October 2016 meeting (held on 16 October at the Lutheran Church Hall, King St, Mt Cook in Wellington) we held the annual Blackwood Cup contest for the best homebrew project over the last 12 months

With only one contestant, Doug ZL2AOV, the outcome was pre-determined and Doug was awarded the Cup for his QRP SSB project.  It’s interesting that Doug’s late father Frank (then Z2CD) won the Blackwood Cup back in 1931 with an Emergency Transmitter.