CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: G5W
Operator(s): G3BJ
Station: G3BJ
Class: SOSB(A)/160 HP
QTH: Woolston
Operating Time (hrs): 32
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 1259 20 91
80:
40:
20:
15:
10:
------------------------------
Total: 1259 20 91 Total Score = 176,934
Club: Chiltern DX Club
Comments:
As others have commented, not a contest that will go down in history as
outstanding!
It was a last minute decision here as to which category to go for. As I could
not get a team together for multi-op this time, it was a question of how much I
wanted to beat myself up for a good single op entry. In the end the choice was
between 80 and 160 assisted, and I finally opted for 160. As it turned out, not
the right choice.
The first hour was fun �" nearly 160 Q’s �" but mainly Europe.
Then things went downhill fast. The US on the first night was dire �" a
few popped up in the noise, but K3LR was very weak and it was clear that
openings to the far west were going to be hard. By the end of Friday night
there were just 516 Q’s in the log. A good sleep and back on the band at
around 15.00. The Far East was there �" but not for me. DX signals were
ESP and the Eastern Europeans had the pickings. Later on, the US appeared a
little better than on the Friday evening, but still way down on normal levels.
The band seemed very noisy �" signals that should have been good copy
(even some Eu’s) were hard work. I switched between transmit antenna, K9AY
and beverages, but just could not get the noise level down. It was not helped
by the storms in the Mediterranean, but was intensely frustrating. At the close
on Sunday morning I had added another 590 Q’s. However, one bright spot at the
dawn peak. I nearly fell off my chair when ZL7/W1XGI called in with a cracking
signal �" shortly followed by Greg, ZL3IX. Given the general malaise in
conditions, it was a real surprise to hear the ZL’s so strongly.
Sunday evening was the usual mult-fest. Running was slow, but a number of mults
popped up �" some a lot stronger than earlier in the contest. 8Q7DV was
big, as was the 3B9. I was also able to pick up some of the Caribbean ones that
had eluded me earlier.
Low spots �" conditions, intentional jamming with strings of dots and the
fact the skimmer/RBN network crashed a few times.
High spots �" staying awake (!) and getting calls from ZL7, ZL3 and some
South Americans �" it was not all me having to chase mults!
Let’s hope for a better set of conditions in the Stew Perry and next year
�" this really was the pits.
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