CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: G5W
Operator(s): 5B4WN/G0WWW
Station: G3BJ
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Shropshire, UK
Operating Time (hrs): 44
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 323 13 53
80: 646 17 74
40: 681 29 90
20: 1309 31 105
15: 795 28 85
10: 18 2 9
------------------------------
Total: 3772 120 416 Total Score = 4,282,640
Club: CDXC
Comments:
Raw score with 2-3 mults not recognised.
Story:
I was not planning to operate this year due to work commitments [in the UK],
but a last minute on-call duty swap in my favour meant that I was free for the
weekend Although invited to join a few MS teams outside the UK, travelling was
simply a problem (working on Friday and Monday). A little disappointed that I
wasnâ??t going to operate I thought I should ask Don G3BJ 3 days before the
contest, whether he was planning anything from his QTH and needed more ops and
to my most pleasant surprise he said: 'NO but why donâ??t you come and do
SOAB?'. I was very excited...
I drove for 4 hours and turned up at the QTH on Friday just 3 and a half hours
before the start of the contest, had a quick briefing about the station (I had
operated from Don's station before so I was familiar with the setup) had a
quick bite and went to sleep for about 3 hours. The plan had no specific
strategies but I wanted to try really hard to use SO2R.
I found the first few hours slower than what I anticipated with 40m being
disappointing to the US. The slow pace allowed me to use the SO2R setup to
improve my multiplier scores. It wasnâ??t until later in the afternoon when
there were some good openings to the US on 15 and 20, and those were fun. Just
before the turn of the day I took a 1.5 hours sleep to improve the
concentration for the low bands. The rate remained stable throughout the night
and I was able to pick a few mults on the 2nd radio. The sunrise 40m opening to
the US was very short-lived and I had to move to 20m to try and keep the rate
up, with frequent visits to 15m for mults (overall I found things very slow).
Around 14:00 when NA started coming through on 15m with some good rates (200
was the best hour). After 15m there were some good openings on 20m to the US
and despite the crowded conditions managed to get some decent rates also. The
last few hours were difficult in terms of no rates and tiredness kicking in,
but managed to get through to the end.
Station:
FT1000MP x 2
ACOM 2000
Quadra Amp
Force 12 C4XLD at 80 ft (40-10)
SteppIR 3 el yagi (10-20)
Titanex vertical: 80/160
Wires for 80/160
EZmaster SO2R box
G3BJ antenna switching box
Good points:
-The station was superb and the hardware worked flawlessly, with almost no
cross band interference during SO2R: Don has done a fantastic job in
RF-proofing his station.
-SO2R (KISS approach with EZmaster in BASIC mode) worked great! I am happy with
how efficiently I worked mults with minimal effort.
Bad points:
-Conditions were worse than I expected especially on HF although there were
some good opening to NA in the afternoon.
-I believe I may have missed 1-2 openings to the US on Day 1 which brought my
QSO total down.
Once again I am grateful to Don (G3BJ) and Hilary (G4JKS) for giving me the
opportunity to operate from this great QTH, their great hospitality and support
during the contest.
Not a winning score but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.... and it definitely
added value to my SO2R training. See you in November from C4W.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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