The year 2020 is truly memorable one, even in the world of Ham Radio. The effects of the global pandemic is felt everywhere. With mostly negative COVID-19 news around, ham radio operators were constantly on the lookout for some "diversion".

The 2020 edition of the Marcos T. Yñiguez (DU3MY) Memorial Contest provided DU hams with an opportunity to forget about COVID-19 even for just the 30-hour contest period. It allowed us to do what we hams love to do: communicate with our fellow hams, with a dash of competition to boot. As a result, the level and scope of participation we got for this year far exceeded what we at DX3H expected.

A total of 146 logs were submitted for the contest, nearly a 100% increase from last year's tally. There were at least 1 log from DU radio districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. (We hope that hams from districts 5 and 9 could send in their logs next year.)

A review of the submitted logs revealed that 721 stations made at least 1 QSO during the contest. There were a total of 5,681 QSOs in the logs this year, easily another new record. We are also happy to note there were at least 2 QSOs with hams from all 9 DU radio districts (another first). In addition, there were 282 unique ZIP codes and 55 unique prefixes claimed in the logs. Thirty-four (34) clubs were also represented by their members who submitted their logs for the club competition. However, only 12 clubs submitted at least 3 logs, the minimum required to qualify for the competition as per the rules.

Needless to say, checking the logs provided a bigger challenge for the organizers. Two blown laptops and countless meetings later, we are pleased to announce the results of the 2020 Marcos T. Yñiguez, Jr. (DU3MY) Memorial Contest. Other than the record number of participants, 4 new national and 12 new district record scores were established this year.

Despite the record number of QSOs this year, we also noted that nearly 1 out of 4 logged QSOs were deemed invalid due to various reasons, including:

•        Blank fields

•        Incorrect band and/or mode

•        Out-of-band QSOs

•        Incorrect date and/or time

•        Invalid date and/or time format

•        Busted call signs and/or ZIP codes

•        Duplicate QSOs

Majority of the rankings would have been different if only the invalid QSOs were minimized. We therefore advice future participants to review their logs thoroughly before submission, making sure that the log entries conform with the rules of the contest.

Congratulations to our national winners:

            DV1YUU (Single Op, All Band)

    4I1RBF (Single Op, Single Band, 2 meters)

            DW3JJS (Single Op, Single Band, 2 meters QRP)

            DX1EVM (Club Competition)

As with last year, the Yñiguez family graciously sponsored plaques to recognize the efforts of our national winners. Maraming salamat po sa Yñiguez family!

We at DX3H are also very thankful to everyone for all your support. We hope that you enjoyed your participation in the contest, and all the more mature contesters after the experience. We look forward to seeing you again in next year's contest.