RSGB Commonwealth Contest - 2020
Call: VE3BR
Operator(s): VE3BR
Station: VE3BR
Class: SO-Restricted-24 LP
QTH: FN03es
Operating Time (hrs): ~17
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 44
40: 72
20: 114
15: 1
10:
------------
Total: 231 Total Score = 3,475
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
Radio: Ten-Tec Orion
Antenna: DX-Eng 80/40 Thunderbolt 55ft Dual Band Vertical
Software: N1MM Logger+ 1.0.8230.0
I felt like I was doing better than expected (using my usual method of setting
very low expectations and being fully prepared not to meet them) until late on
Saturday I was called for a work escalation and had to spend a lot of time on
it. Managed to take care of it working remotely, but sharing my time between the
work and the radio certainly threw a wrench into my contesting gears. Or, given
that it was a Commonwealth contest, perhaps it was a spanner not a wrench.
The good side of it was that maintaining motivation in the second part of the
contest, when I usually run out of stations I can hear and work with my
vertical, was less of a challenge - I was busy otherwise.
Propagation has marginally improved over the last year, but still much worse
than the top of the cycle. The best that can be said for 10 and 15 m is that
they gave me the sensation of a coma without the worry and inconvenience; 20 m -
average, but not much that I can do with 100 W and an 80/40 vertical; 40 and 80
m - noisy, but otherwise OK. 80 m was a trickster: I felt deaf and inconsiderate
for the longest time as I knew the callers were there when I tried to run, but
couldn't quite get them out of the noise and felt really bad causing hurt or
inconvenience to others; and then, late in the game, it opened for a couple
hours allowing me to fairly easily get my usual share of Gs and assorted
others.
Strange this, but have not heard a single VK or ZL the second sunrise and the
only band I heard them at any time was 40.
As usual it was tough slogging with LP and an 80/40 vertical. But a positive
side of not using a yagi or even a hexbeam is that it builds character and grows
hair on your chest.
And, as usual, I cannot help it - I like this contest very much. See you next
year...
The final usual: it's the emptiness of a giant arctic ice floe out there... when
you are running low power to a vertical.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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