[3830] CQWW CW C5A M/M HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: C5A
Operator(s): OK1DSZ, OK1FFU, OK1NY, OK1RI, OK5MM, OK8WW/OM2TW, OM2IB, OM5AW, OM6NM
Station: C5A

Class: M/M HP
QTH: Banjul
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs   Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:   825    20       82
   80:  2121    34      118
   40:  3461    38      133
   20:  4443    40      152
   15:  4108    38      156
   10:  4045    39      159
-------------------------------
Total: 19003   209      800  Total Score = 57,182,048

Club: 

Comments:

Our third field day style operation in last two years (fourth counting the first
one in 2007) from the sunny beaches of Gambia populated by a lot of cows, goats,
dogs and plain trash and for a week some aluminum and fiberglass. We have
changed the layout of antennas compared to SSB part.
There was absolutely horrible interference in SSB leg from 80m 4SQ to 160m RX 4
SQ. We wanted to eliminate this. So first thing we set up was the 80m 4SQ and
the 160m RX 4SQ and voila - nothing - SUPER ! So we continued and already on
Wednesday the station was ready.
We just failed to test 160m RX 4SQ with 20m 4SQ of vertical dipoles beaming
both to the USA before the contest. They were a bit over 400m apart - the two
most distant antennas (!!) nevertheless, the interference was there. We tested
everything we though might be causing it during the first night to no avail. So
we had to live somehow with that and do apologize to you NA guys for 1) being
deaf on 160m and 2) being considerably weaker than we would be normally on 20m
due to very reduced power - sometimes well bellow 50W, when both bands were
open to NA.

During the week prior to the contest there was a blackout several times a day
and without exception every day. We got so scared that we even rented a
generator of course not capable to support the complete setup but we would be
with 100W per station still in the game. The last blackout was Friday around
15Z for only about an hour but after it was switched on there was noise on all
bands ranging from as low as 59 to 59+60dB. We started to joke about the idea
that we might already start to disassemble the antennas ! OK we found out it
was caused by a connection on fuses on 11kV lines to the transformer for public
lights which was just idling during the day and consuming over 20A per phase on
11kV during night. Our "power company friend" said it might go out when the
lights go on or they will try to fiddle with the fuses by an insulated pole and
that we should trust them that for sure they will solve it and that the
electricity will be fine for whole 48 hours !!! Well as it sounds unbelievable
in Africa that was the case !!! On Monday we happily returned the unused
generator.

The nature was nice to us no thunderstorm this time, no extreme waves so we
could be whole 48 hours on the air. We are more than happy about the final
result. It seems to be historically second highest score ever (behind CN8WW).
The propagation was GOOD - almost as good as in the SSB part.

I also want to say a few words about IDing discussion going on. I understand
how it is having spent of course most of the time on the other side. In a
situation when the pileup is huge i.e. literary hundreds of stations are
calling and they behave as we all know they do behave. You say "AB" and how
many stations are than on ??? All, 50% of the crowd or only AB ? To ID less
often is a way to regulate the pileup. Of course when the pile-up is too huge
the rate goes down it is inevitable and also other way round the better the
"crowd" behaves the faster the operator can go, he has to ask less often ! If
the "constant callers" would wait i.e. shut up during a QSO with someone else -
they would make their own QSO MUCH MUCH MUCH faster !!!!! When someone very loud
sends for 5 rounds CALL?  I do believe it is a sufficient reason not to send the
call, we were trying to ID immediately if we heard ? or at lest every 5-10
QSOs.

Once more we all have had GREAT time and we do thank you for a call and do hope
to hear you in the NEXT ONE either from Brezina as OL4A or again from C5.

SETUP:
5xIC756PROIII+IC7600  + 6xOM-power PPA + Microham
160m 29m vertical + 7m high RX 4SQ full size
80m 4SQ
40m 4SQ
20m 4SQ of vertical dipoles
15m 2x4SQ of vertical dipoles + monoband spiderbeam at 10m
10m 2x 2x5Y at 14.5/7m
+ a few hundred kilos of other junk like cables, switches, filters,
notebooks......
73 !

on behalf of C5A group - Jiri OK1RI


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