CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: G5W
Operator(s): G5W
Station: G5W
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Woolston
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1034 State/Prov = 30 Countries = 58 Total Score = 497,464
Club: Chiltern DX Club
Comments:
Well either I have some big technical issues here, or that was an awful weekend
(until Sunday) of conditions. The contest started well, with good signals from
the US even at 22.00z and I was thinking that this boded well for the contest.
Then �" zap. Someone turned the band off. Signals went “mushy” here
and the band sounded as if it was full of intermodulation products. I suspected
the receive antennas or preamps, but it was just the same on the main antennas.
The strange thing is that on 3830, US stations report conditions were good.
Anyway, I plugged on, but the US only appeared for a short while on the Friday
night. For a brief while I had that delight of a 160m contest �" a pile
up of US stations calling, but it was short-lived. The rest of Saturday morning
was hard going, with just a slight lift in conditions to the US around dawn,
which allowed CO and AZ into the log. Otherwise the US were only along the
eastern side, down to TX, KY and FL and over as far as WI and MI.
Saturday night was worse if anything �" I had worked most of the
Eu/asians I could hear (no JA then) and was reduced to auto-cq mixed with
second VFO S&P. Very hard work.
The only bright spot on Saturday night/Sunday morning was being called by C5X
(thanks guys �" great signal) and also PJ2T, who I’d tried to work on
the previous night without success. ZF2DX was a good signal, but for the rest
it was poor. There were a few outstanding US stations coming through
consistently, but they were few and far-between. Again no JA heard on Saturday
although I could hear the Southern Eu’s working JA, but not a sound here. QSO
rates dropped to the giddy level of 9/hour at one point, which gave me plenty of
time to read the Sunday Times on my iPad in the early hours.
Sunday evening was a lot better �" the “fog” cleared and the band was
quiet and productive �" good signals from JA and BA and HV0A was strong,
of course.
Compared to recent years, the outcome is pretty dire.
Nonetheless, a great contest - I hope for better conditions next year.
Thanks for all the QSOs.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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