Hello all,
It just goes to show what can happen to plans made for the contest!
My goal was 1k QSO's for 1m+ points. I had a great session last year, and
thought I could easily hit the 1k QSO mark this time, but I hadn't bargained
for a serious dose of some flu bug.
It would have been very easy to forget it all and stay in bed on Saturday
morning, but I struggled out to the shack with the obligatory cup of coffee
and thought I was ready to hit the bands.
Well, I hadn't realised that it was -2C outside, and my shack was only a
little warmer at +10C.
Still, plenty of layers, and another coffee and I was in there and going,
despite a throbbing head and aching limbs.
I thought conditions were a little down, but there were some good signals
around. After a little S&P, checking out any new band-slots, I tried calling
CQ, but the head wasn't up to it, so I settled in to S&P for most of the
day.
After tea on Saturday, I thought I would go out to the shack and close
things down, as I just felt too lousy to play. However, I ended up having a
little play on 40m, and was very pleased to bag ST2AR for a new band-slot!
I ended up with a very poor score on Saturday, and felt quite disappointed
with myself.
On Sunday morning, I felt a little better, so got up a bit earlier, and had
some fun on 40m. I then tried the higher bands, and had a go on 10m while
there were signals around to work. BA7IO was really loud here (a real S9),
so that was neat, but no JA's here.
15m was way better than 20m up to around midday on Sunday, so I made as much
of that as I could.
During the afternoon, 20m seemed better, and I had some nice CQ runs there.
I also ended up CQ'ing on 40m, which is rare for me, as I hate the jamming
that goes on there. In EU, we get a lot of "Ditters" who just sit sending
dits or strings of K's for hours on end, and then there are the PSK folk who
don't know how AFSK works and end up all over the band.
Despite that, I had a good run or two.
I do have a few gripes from the contest though.......
There were a high number of folk only sending a serial number once, and more
than a few sending it only twice, resulting in way more repeat requests from
me.
Also, there were more than the usual number of folk sending an exchange with
NO callsigns at all.
I also have to disappoint Nick W4GKM, in that we didn't have a solid contact
at all, despite him trying on two bands. On both occasions Nick, you were
under another station, and I only realised what was happening AFTER the
event. I can't remember the first occasion, but the second time round, you
were under NN3RN, and I think you accepted the serial meant for him.
There also appeared to be someone using my callsign for their advantage. I
was tuning around on one occasion, and saw GU0SUP GU0SUP scroll across my
screen. The CQ'ing station then sent a report for GU0SUP, and got no
response. He called CQ again, and once more I saw GU0SUP GU0SUP appear on
screen.
I have no idea what was going on, but it wasn't me, and after I got several
stations sending me QSO B4 PLS QSY I began to wonder.
I also had to wipe a few contacts from the log from folk who
can't/won't/don't send an acknowledgement for a contact. PJ2/WI9WI lost one
contact as he sent me a report, I sent him one, but he then just called CQ.
As he had sent me a number, I sat and waited for his next contact, and LO!
He sent the same serial number to that one too.
I'm not sure who was at the keys of NR4M on 15m on Saturday around 1217UTC.
Whoever it was sent me 052, but then sent that same number to UX1IL.
I was sorry to miss out on any VE2's as well! I didn't hear ONE of you guys
anywhere.
I saw the spots, but couldn't hear a thing.
Highlights for me? Well, a few.
Managing to get ST2AR in the log on 40m was a definite highlight for me.
That was my only new band-slot for this contest. I also enjoyed working
BA7IO on 10m . Others were the likes of Steve VK3TDX on 40m, who gave me
1000 as a serial number.
There were obviously many contesters new to the RTTY contest scene, judging
by the number that didn't recognise my callsign! I was G0SUP, GW0SUP and
GM0SUP at times, and had some fun in trying to get them to log my call
correctly.
Well, my goal of 1k contacts was well short, and here is what I ended up
with:
Band QSO Pts Pfx
80m: 0 0 0
40m: 176 722 118
20m: 178 392 142
15m: 178 464 159
10m: 20 58 17
Totals: 552 1636 436
Claimed score: 713296
Thanks to all for the fun, and see you in the next one!
73 de Phil GU0SUP
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