[3830] WPX SSB GW9T

[Adrian Rees (M1LCR)]

Hi all
we aired our new contest call for the first time last weekend, as GW9T
(Wrexham ARS aka Barking Mad Contest Group the Barking Mad bit came from a
club member who suggested that we are Barking Mad to go out and play in
contests in the middle of winter ! But hey, why not !).

QSL info: PO BOX 3390, Chester, Cheshire, UK


Summary:
              GW9T
      CQWPXSSB Score Summary Sheet

      Band  Contacts     Mults     Score
       1.8        65        21      2856
       3.5       224        80     39680
         7       354       148    117216
        14       725       322    404110
        21       206        86     26746
        28         4         2        16
     Total      1578       659   1975682

It was our first time out in WPX, although we did operate in CQWW SSB, and
SSB Field day last year. The station was operated by Steve (MW1STE) and
myself (M1LCR). We operated for a total of 41 Hours. We ended up changing
our 160,80 and 40M aerials as we had considerable difficulty loading them (I
flashed a Palstar 1500CV ATU at 2am !).

Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and learnt a lot about aerials and contesting.
(Incidentally we operate Field Day style, as none of us have sufficient
garden space for anything decent below 14MHz. So last Thursday and Friday
Steve (MW1STE) and myself, ably assisted by James (M3JRP) erected two 72
Foot masts, two 35 Foot masts and a mobile tower. We ended up as follows:

10-15-20 Cushcraft A3S on Mobile Tower
40 Delta Loop at 72 Foot (Apex) / Quarter Wave Vertical
80 Quarter wave Vertical
160m Dipole at 72 foot dropping to 35 Foot.

Icom 756PROII + Dentron ML2500 Linear +Daiwa Auto ATU / Palstar 1500, all
powered from a Honda 6.5KVa Diesel Generator.

The whole lot coming down on Monday morning. I am now barred from using the
family caravan for contesting, due to the significant amount of mud trooped
into the thing, during the contest. So we're off to buy an old caravan to
convert to our contest shack. We operate from a disused airfield, 10 Miles
South East of Wrexham, with a reasonable 360 Degree take off.

As you can gather we are beginners at this sort of thing, so any advice
would be welcome ! As would any volunteers to join us !

Adrian (M1LCR)