[3830] CQWW CW GM5X(GM4YXI) SOSB/10 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: GM5X
Operator(s): GM4YXI
Station: GM4YXI

Class: SOSB/10 HP
QTH: Ellon
Operating Time (hrs): 23

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10: 2398    35      124
------------------------------
Total: 2398    35      124  Total Score = 800,247

Club: 

Comments:

Having had a very ‘different from usual’ CQWW experience for the SSB leg as
ZK2X, it was back to the home QTH for CW. My antennas are in a bit of a mess at
the moment so it was a choice of 15 or 10m single band and given propagation of
late, I, like many others, decided on 10m. I had my 5el yagi re-installed at
70ft and a C3E â€" effectively 3el on 10m at 40ft as a second antenna.
The band opened just after 0700 on Saturday for me and by 0740 it was runable.
Like others have reported, I had no JA run what so ever and only worked 5 or 6
in total all weekend. I did work one zone 19 though I am a wee bit suspicious
about it â€" he did confirm but…… On Saturday, the relatively short skip in
to Europe was very patchy with few western and central EU stations.
On beaming west both days I worked one or two JAs on some kind of skew/long
path.
North America rolled in all afternoon but it was not until 1500 that I really
felt it was open well. The 1600 hour was my best of the whole weekend at 156. I
actually worked relatively few zone 3 stations all weekend. All VE7s were ESP. 
The band went out like a light about 1800 and I scraped a few mults for 45 mins
or so and that was that. 1335 QSOs
I could not work anyone until 0730 on Sunday but the band opened real fast and
felt better than Saturday. The skip into EU was shorter and better signals were
heard from W/Central EU. Still no JAs but a few other mults appeared, including
a few Chinese stations. The CB QRM from UA/BY was awful. 
There was tremendous echo on close in signals, making them very hard to read,
and on my own signal - I could hear the last few bits of my last character
going back to receive both days for one or two hours either side of noon.  I
wondered if things would be better to NA on day 2 but I don’t think they were
and I still did not get much joy from zone 3. The band hung in for about an hour
longer on Sunday then just went out again, just as fast as Saturday.
I probably should have spent a bit longer on S&P but the runs were generally
pretty good. I missed zone 39 â€" not sure if there was anyone on, but I expect
there was. I never heard a squeak from zones 1, 2 or 32 (no ZK2!!) and I found
KH6LC far too late on Sunday evening â€" he just faded out on me in the space
of 5 minutes â€" no zone 31 either.

Many others have commented on the following:
The Russian wall. Great activity from there but if you are in a pile up on an
Asian or Oceania station with these guys â€" forget it unless the DX is 599. I
can confirm that, having been on the receiving end of it as ZK2X. I gave up
calling a number of mults, thankfully a few of them found me later on. AH2R was
especially welcome.
No IDs. Well, what to add. Not much. I think limited use is of value in
controlling your pile-up and giving the weaker stations a chance â€" it is
surprising how often the 3rd guy (before you ID again), turns out to be
‘interesting’. Otherwise, it is a total pain when you are in S&P mode. 
QRM and clicks. Lots of both, attempts at frequency stealing etc. It is
remarkable how many operators just start CQing while you are trying to work
somebody. It is great to see 10m back but the CB QRM is really horrible â€"
worse than 10 years ago and was crippling out in the Pacific too.

73 Keith GM4YXI/GM5X


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