[3830] Commonwealth ZL6QH(ZL1AZE) Open HP

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                    RSGB Commonwealth Contest, CW

Call: ZL6QH
Operator(s): ZL1AZE
Station: ZL6QH

Class: Open HP
QTH: ZL
Operating Time (hrs): 21

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:   43
   40:  150
   20:  195
   15:   90
   10:   16
------------
Total:  494  Total Score = 6,250

Club: Wellington Amateur Radio Club

Comments:

Overall, conditions seemed to be slightly better than 2004 and this observation
is reflected in the higher score this year.

However it was still a struggle to work much on the higher bands and there were
long idle peiods during the Sunday daylight hours while the low bands were
closed. The 10m QSOs ended up being imited to a handful of North American and ZL
stations.

The long path 80m opening to UK at our sunset also seemed to be poorer than
usual - I only made 17 G long path QSOs this year compared to more than 20 in
previous years.

Unfortunately I had problems with the Drake L7 amplifier just prior to our
sunrise on Sunday. The amplifier went QRT with a huge bang and also blew the
shack fuse. The sun was high in the sky by the time I recovered from this event
so I missed much of grey line short path opening to Europe. It is likely that
some short path 80m QSOs would have been possible as I heard G4CWH just prior to
the amplifier failure and note that I was also spotted by G4WFQ at 1812.

Highlights of the contest were working ZS6ME, ZS75PTA and 7Q7BP on 15m towards
the end of the contest. Unfortunately I missed any Africans on 20m this year -
even the usually reliable long path QSO with 9J2BO did not occur.

As usual, the top signals from UK were from G3BJ, G4BUO and G4PIQ/P. Their
signals were similar on all bands although I did note that G3BJ seemed to be
noticably louder than the others on 80m.

EQUIPMENT
FT1000MP MkV Field radio + Drake L7 amplifier (AL80A after Sunday morning
problems) + Writelog

ANTENNA FARM
10M: 6 element yagis aimed at North America and Europe
40M, 20M & 15M: Vee beams (20m AGL with 300m legs) to North America and Europe
80M: Rhombic, quarter wave vertical and a sloping dipole

See www.zl6qh.com for more info about the ZL6QH station.

Thanks to everyone for the QSOs, the RSGB for this unique and fun challenge, and
the Wellington Amateur Radio Club for the use of the ZL6QH station. CUAGN in
2006.


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/