RSGB Commonwealth Contest, CW
Call: ZL6QH
Operator(s): ZL1AZE
Station: ZL6QH
Class: Open HP
QTH: ZL
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 67
40: 173
20: 208
15: 26
10: 3
------------
Total: 477 Total Score = 5,350
Club: WARC
Comments:
I always enjoy this contest but 2006 was not nearly as much fun as other years
when the solar flux levels were higher.
This year's score is the lowest achieved since I first entered the contest from
ZL6QH in 1998 and is mainly due to the poor propagation on the higher bands. I
only managed to make 3 QSOs (with ZL2AZ, ZF2NT and VE7CC) on 10M. I made another
26 QSOs on 15M, but these contacts were limited to stations in the Pacific and
North American regions and there was no sign of the usual evening short path
opening to UK.
The lack of propagation on the high bands made the contest frustratingly slow
during the daylight hours on Sunday. I found myself dozing off after the rate
dropped to around 4 QSOs per hour at midday, so I decided to take a break and
spent the next 5 hours working on maintenance projects around the Quartz Hill
antenna farm. This decision probably cost me some QSOs and multipliers on the
higher bands but the exercise and fresh air certainly helped to wake me up! I
also started the contest half an hour late, so that I could attend an Arts
Festival show on Saturday evening. Overall, I ended up spending about 18 hours
in the chair.
The lower bands were in better shape, especially on the Sunday morning when I
worked 17 G stations on 80m via the short path. This was one of the best short
path openings that I can recall in the contest. The long path opening on Sunday
evening was less spectacular but I still managed to work another 19 G stations,
making a total of 36 G stations in the log for 80M.
I was surprised to work GM3JKS on 40M via the short path at 1041z on Saturday
evening. My W6EL predictions usually show a weak short path opening to G at
about this hour but this is the first time that I actually made a QSO. Another
highlight on 40M was working VP8NO in the last hour of the contest.
There were good 20M short path openings to Canada and UK, but the usually
reliable afternoon long path opening to UK was almost non-existent. There was a
good long path opening to at least some parts of UK on Sunday morning, from
around 1900 to 2100. GM3WOJ was booming up to S9 for over an hour. However there
did not appear to be many other UK stations around to take advantage of this
opening.
My equipment consisted of an FT1000MP (MkV Field) radio, Drake L7 amp and
Writelog logging software. The antennas used were as follows:
80M: Rhombic (200m long legs @20m AGL), quarter wave vertical (with elevated
radials) and sloping dipoles.
40M, 20M, 15M: Vee beams (300m legs @ 20m AGL) aimed at short and long paths for
North America and Europe, plus a 20M 5 element yagi aimed at long path to
Europe
10M: 6 element yagis aimed at short path to North America and Europe
See www.zl6qh.com for more info about the station and antenna farm. Note that I
may not be QRV in the 2007 contest as it is likely that we will have to
dismantle the ZL6QH station to make way for the building of a wind farm on the
site. However we are working on plans to build a new and even better ZL6QH
station, possibly in the vicinity of the existing site depending on the level of
RF noise that is generated by the surrounding turbine infrastructure.
Thanks to everyone for the QSOs, the RSGB for this unique and fun contest, and
the Wellington Amateur Radio Club for the use of the ZL6QH facilities.
73
Brian ZL1AZE
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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