Good morning to the contest group.
The IARU contest was held with the solar flux at an all-time
low of SFI 68-A0-K0, and in the New Zeakand winter,
when ionisation is at a low point. It was disappointing to find
15m totally closed.
Entered as SSB, single op for this contest.
Fortunately static was low- contacts on 80 and 40m were
good to NA, but surprisingly difficult to JA.
The contest started at local midnight, and activity was sparse,
so I took a rest period at 0200z. Started again at 2000z,
too late for 40m, so struggled along on 20m.
At 0000z the contest was half over with only 51 entries in the log.
Best QSO run rates:
Hour 80 40 20 Total Cumul
03 42 42 104
04 111 111 215
05 110 110 325
06 96 96 421
07 52 52 473
08 21 21 494
09 14 21 35 529
10 27 27 556
11 6 9 15 571
12 15 15 586
20m came alive between 0230z and 0700z with a strong peak
to NA. For the rest of the contest it was a struggle
to reach double figures each hour. The usual JA runs
did not happen, and there were no good openings to EU.
Murphy struck with a bad antenna changeover relay- no contact
cleaner, so I often had to trip the vox again to hear properly.
-sorry for the fills. Left the antenna selector on 40m
when operating on 20m - discovered when turning the beam to JA
made no improvement to signals!
So thanks to the W and VE stations who made it worthwhile,
and glad to give out zone 60 to those who needed it.
Pleased to work 20 HQ stations- Highlights were working
both W1AW/7 and NU1AW (operating from K1ZZ), on the
80, 40 and 20m bands.
Regards,
Martin ZL1ANJ
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