CQWW WPX Contest, CW
Call: M6W
Operator(s): G3WW
Station: G4EHT
Class: SO(A)SB80 LP
QTH: IO92cq
Operating Time (hrs): 21:13
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
160:
80:
40: 429
20:
15:
10:
------------
Total: 429 Prefixes = 325 Total Score = 327,925
Club:
Comments:
The weekend of WPX CW will be remembered for the constant thunderstorms and
spectacular displays of lightning rather than the low bands being lit up.
For most of the contest 80m was a tough place to be for 48 hours with static
crashes and high QRN. With no RX-only antenna this was going to be a battle of
man versus nature and at times nature won.
I operated from Lichfield at G4EHT’s QTH and used my trusty FT1000MP into
either a butternut vertical or random length wire around a small garden. The 27
feet tall butternut was slightly better into North America but for Europe the
wire had the edge. I’m only talking about a single S-point either way though.
The goal was 400 QSOs and 250K pts and Win-Test was loaded up with various
targets for me to track, however the public log of G3VDB (80m low assisted
record for G) was not available for some reason. In the end I tracked DL7URH’s
entry which was a good carrot to chase.
May time on the low bands is always a challenge with the short nights so I was
determined to stay awake both nights. The first night was probably when
conditions were at their best and I managed 100 QSOs in the first two hours. I
worked the band until sunrise at 0400 UTC then continued for another hour but by
0500 UTC everyone had migrated off 80m so it was off to bed.
For the rest of the weekend I averaged 20 QSOs per hour which was slow going.
Naturally barefoot to a negative gain antenna on 80m, almost all the contacts
were search & pounce. Don G3BJ reported problems with the RBN but I never
experienced any such issues with my feed but I highly filter using VE7CC
software; it also helps reduce Internet bandwidth as I don’t have broadband at
G4EHT’s and the 4G signal is weak.
I ran my G3WW skimmer on 80m which was around 100 mile away down in
Hertfordshire giving a public feed. For sure it was spotting stuff which I
couldn’t hear in Lichfield.
Saturday night into Sunday morning and I was on track, in fact probably ahead of
my predictions. I aimed to work around a dozen North Americans but in the end
managed to dig out 25 US/VE stations. Unfortunately, an electrical storm planted
itself directly overhead from 0200 to 0300 UTC early on Sunday morning, so I
reluctantly disconnected and watched the light show for a while. It was rather
annoying as I felt really awake and there were 6-pointers out there to be had.
Shortly after sunrise at 0430 UTC Sunday I was sitting close to the G record.
The band once again went quiet as everyone migrated HF and I took another nap
before waking up for the Monaco GP. Watching the race was a bit like listening
to WSPR – nothing much happened.
The final push on Sunday evening was spent picking off new multipliers as they
appeared on the bandmap punctuated with and the odd attempt at CQ-ing to try and
temp some UK prefixes out of the woodwork.
The final tally surpassed my goals, much to my surprise and I think given better
weather conditions and a half-decent antenna a considerably higher score is
within reach.
FT1000MP, 100w
Butternut HF9-V
End fed wire
Win-Test 4.27
73 Dez, G3WW / M6W
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