[3830] Commonwealth ZL1AZE Open HP

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                    RSGB Commonwealth Contest, CW

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

Class: Open HP
QTH: ZL2
Operating Time (hrs): 22

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:   58
   40:  172
   20:   61
   15:   17
   10:    2
------------
Total:  310  Total Score = 5,060

Club: WARC

Comments:

Equipment:  FT1000MP (MkV Field) + AL80A amp
Antennas:  Half wave dipoles supported from a 15 metre pole

It was good to be back in this contest after missing it in 2008. In earlier
years I have entered the contest from ZL6QH, so I did not have great
expectations this year for achieving much from the modest set up at my city
QTH. As expected, the total tally of 310 QSOs is well down on ZL6QH numbers,
but the score is better than anticipated due to a high number of bonus QSOs. It
was difficult to run stations from my home QTH so I had no choice but to spend
more time moving around the bands and working bonus QSOs.

As usual there were some unplanned events that I could have done without!

Just before the contest started I found that the Writelog Commonwealth Contest
module would not start up correctly on the computer that I normally use for
radio logging. This was a surprise as I had already checked that the software
worked correctly on another computer. After reinstalling the Writelog software
several times and trying various other modules I eventually ended up using the
CQ WPX CW module. This module does not identify Commonwealth bonus QSOs or
apply the correct scoring, but these are not essential features and I could
live without them. Overall I ended up with over an hour of downtime between
1000z and 1200z while I was trying to sort out this problem. The lesson here
(even though I should have learnt it well from previous experiences!) is to set
up the actual contest log well in advance of the start time, not 30 minutes
beforehand.

The level of local man made noise level was also much higher than I had
anticipated. A new noise source (or sources) showed up over the weekend, just
in time for the Commonwealth contest. This noise was particularly troublesome
as it raised the noise floor for the entire contest on all bands by about 20 dB
and wiped out several layers of weak signals.  Consequently there were many
occasions when I could hear stations calling but it was impossible to copy them
through the local QRN. I was determined to try tracking down the source of the
noise on the Monday after the contest, but there was no longer any trace of it
to be found!

Propagation seemed very poor on the upper bands, and not helped by the low
dipole antennas at my home QTH.  I only ended up making two QSOs on 10M (thanks
to ZL2IFB and ZL2AZ) and heard no other stations on this band. 15M QSOs were
limited to ZL/VK stations and 9 VE stations. The 80M and 40M bands were in much
better shape, although 80M QSOs were often difficult due to S9 lightning QRN.

My city QTH is about 100 metres above sea level on a steep hill side. The east
facing downhill direction provides a good clear takeoff for the long path to
Europe, and the short path to America.  However the takeoff for the short path
to Europe and Asia is poor as it is in the west facing up hill direction.
Consequently, as expected, I struggled to make QSOs via the short path to UK
and to the Asian areas, especially on the upper bands where a low take off
angle is more important.  The fact that I only made 2 QSOs on 20M prior to
1921z is evidence of this constraint. The good news is that there were
excellent 80M and 40M long path openings on Sunday evening, and I made use of
these to put some G QSOs in the log. Of particular note were the very early
QSOs with G4BUO and GM0GAV on 80M at 0550z, one hour before our sunset.
Unfortunately there was no 20M long path opening, except for a few isolated
QSOs on Sunday morning with G4MEM, G6PZ, G4BUO, G4TSH and G4BJM.

I was pleased to work all of the stations in the ‘Rest of The World’ team
as well as 3 stations from the VU team. The only African station worked was
VQ9JC, on 80M and 40M. There was no sign of 9J2BO in the usual 0530z slot on
20M. I did hear a weak ZS1 station working VE stations on 40M around 0530z but
decided not to waste premium QSO time trying to get through the QRM.

The noise and software problems were very frustrating but overall I enjoyed the
contest and reckon it is still one of the best events on the international
contest calendar.  I plan to be back next year, hopefully from a new ZL6QH
station, or from another location which is less noisy than my home QTH.

Thanks to everyone for the QSOs, especially those who travelled to the more
remote parts of the globe.

73

Brian ZL1AZE


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