Hi all,
First the claimed score! (I say claimed, as I am sure there is one bad QSO
in there!)
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Guernsey
Operating Time (hrs): 15
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts
-----------------
80: 53 218
40: 48 200
20: 210 473
15: 145 377
10: 15 43
-----------------
Total: 471 1311 Prefixes = 311 Total Score = 407,721
Running about 70 watts into an MQ1 mini-beam for 10, 15 & 20, plus an
invterted L for 40/80.
Wow! Was that fun or what? I had some good fun, despite being missing for
most of Saturday evening. Took the XYL for a nice Valentine's meal at a
hotel just across the road from home, and enjoyed good food and some good
wine.
Before the contest, I wasn't sure what target to set, as I knew I would miss
out on a good chunk of operating time, so I just worked what I could.
Having an antenna for 80m was very useful, and I was amazed by how many
strong W's there were around.
I started the contest at about 0600UTC on the first day, and worked KA4RRU,
KM4M and NO2T easily, but just could not get John W8WEJ to hear me, despite
the fact that he was strong into GU, right up till about 0715 (sorry John!).
There were some amazing signals floating about, such as KH7X early on
Saturday evening, VK6GOM on 20m on Sunday afternoon, and - probably the most
impressive - was Richard 9M2/G4ZFE, who was strong all day on Sunday on 20m,
and was even audible (just) on 40m on Sunday evening, but not enough for me
to work him. 9J2KC was a nice catch on 15m for a new band slot for me.
There seemed to be plenty of folk giving RTTY a go for the first time too!
Sadly a few seem to have good output power, but less in the way of receive!
Lowlights: Too many exchanges without callsigns! Not good practice at the
best of times, but in a busy contest, it is not wise.
No DG8 :-((.
I also wish some folk would realise bad conditions, and NOT just send the
same report twice when asked for a repeat of the number!
On a few occasions, I got GU0SUP UR 599123 599124 BK so I asked for a
repeat, only to get :
GU0SUP UR 599123 599124 BK
GU0SUP UR 599123 599124 BK
That does NOT suffice, especially when I have had to ask for your callsign
several times!
Self spotting!
The rules clearly state that self-spotting is not allowed as per Section IV,
Terms of Competition, where it says:
"However, no self-spotting of any form on DX spotting nets is permitted for
any category. Selfspotting is defined as generating packet spots for your
contest callsign, including, for example, the following methods: (a) using
your own callsign; (b) spotting your callsign while using another callsign;
or (c) spotting of your callsign by other stations as a result of
prearranged solicitation."
It does state "for example" ! So I guess spotting DX that called YOU on YOUR
run frequency may also be counted?
Mind you, there were plenty of stations simply spotting themselves!
Oh well, despite all that, I still bettered my score from last year, so I am
pleased with that.
Very best 73
Phil GU0SUP
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