[3830] TBDC G3BJ Single Op HP

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                    Stew Perry Topband Challenge

Call: G3BJ
Operator(s): G3BJ
Station: G3BJ

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Woolston
Operating Time (hrs): 14

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 513  Total Score = 3,152

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

I was wondering whether I would be able to enter this year, after the
predictions of fierce gales last Friday night. In the event the gales came, but
the vertical remained ! So I had a moderately serious entry, but with some
unexpected challenges.

I started around 17.15, planning to go through to 08.15 with an hour's sleep
sometime when things quietened down during the night so as to end the permitted
14 hours operating exactly at sunrise. All went well initially, but then I
became aware of intermittent noise on the receive antennas (much worse on the
main antennas) which didn't appear to have an identifiable source direction.
Just after midnight, the penny dropped that we were the subject of vicious
static rain attacks and I got pretty dismayed that SP this year would be a
disaster. Whether it was conditions or my noise, I did not hear a single far
east station - no JA and no 9M/HL/DU which have been so strong recently. By
just after 02.00 the noise was masking all but the strongest of the US signals,
so I took the decision to take my hour's sleep and if still noisy afterwards, to
give in.   An hour later the band was transformed. No noise, and very strong US
stations. So a blissful couple of hours running to the US put a goodly number
of state-side locators in the log. The only concern was "how long had it been
silent whilst I was asleep?"

Then a strange thing happened. Rather than the usual sunrise peak, the band
(for me at least) did entirely the opposite and quietly petered out before
dawn. Perhaps I'd worked the US down quite a way, but I heard none of the
"beacon" west coast stations (at least that could hear me), and there was a
concentration of locators in the East/Mid-West. By 08.15 it was just the
occasional Eu caller, despite regular S&P sessions to catch the few US stations
I could hear and had not worked.

But an enjoyable contest, nonetheless. Without the rain, the score would, I
think, have been quite a lot higher.

High points: Being called by V55V early on (good for the motivation) and
getting  CE1/K7CA first call in the early hours of the morning. Also, using
locators - makes this contest something different and refreshing. 

Low spots: Apart from the incessant noisy drizzle, some very clicky signals.
Also a scrum for prime frequency real-estate in the JA window until the
possibility of JA propagation was over.

Oddity: Russian signals peaking South-East for a goodly while around midnight.
Seems rather close for a skew path, but it was very pronounced.

Ended with 513 Q's and 3152 points. Not as good as it should have been, but in
the circumstances probably OK.

Thanks for all the Q's and the fun.

Rig: FT5000 + linear. 90ft vertical and beverages and K9AY


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