[3830] ARRLDX CW M5E M/2 HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: M5E
Operator(s): G0CKV, JK3GAD, OH1VR, W6NV
Station: M5E

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Poldhu
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  218    36
   80:  537    51
   40:  861    54
   20: 1225    59
   15: 1073    58
   10:   84    27
-------------------
Total: 3998   285  Total Score = 3,413,160

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

The idea was born over a beer at the Friedrichshafen Hamfest last summer:
"wouldn't it be fun to use your short contest call M5E in the ARRL CW contest"
someone suggested. Well, I do occasional contests from my suburban London QTH
using K3 barefoot and invisible strings in the surrounding shrubs but for most
contesters that setup only qualifies as fun if you are a masochist so I had to
find a different solution to satisfy the request. I found the Marconi Center
and the Poldhu radio club in Cornwall based at the location where Guglielmo
made his first transatlantic experiment - see http://m5e.org/poldhu . 

In a field-day/dx-pedition style operation we assembled a M/2 setup on the
site. We used two K3s with KPA500 amplifiers, Microham boxes and WinTest
running on my small contest PCs. For antennas we used a 5-element yagi for 10
under a 3-element 15m yagi on a 30ft tower and on 20 we had a 3-element
monobander at 45ft. For 40 we used a 2-element broadside vertical array and for
80 and 160 we had inverted Ls based on 18m spiderbeam poles. A 250m beverage
helped us listen on the low bands.

The first night and on Saturday morning we had very strong winds on this
exposed site. The verticals were no longer vertical - they went through the
letters of the alphabet as they were manhandled by the wind with S being the
most common character displayed. The beams pointed left and right but not to
North America. We lost several of the best hours on Saturday on 10 and 15
beaming 90deg off before we became aware of the problem. But other than that we
had a great time. The Poldhu Club members were not only tolerant of our antics
but gave us enthusiastic encouragement and support. The
computers-radios-boxes-switching-filters-antennas performed well with
essentially no interstation interference or other issues.

The big disappointment was of course 10m. The first day we tried to work NA off
the side of the beam. The second day there was no propagation at all - we worked
less than one s/e on Sunday (= station per element in the beam). But we had fun,
great fun. There were many good runs and rewarding moments. I particularly
remember the second night on 160 which was exceptional considering the general
state of propagation. In addition to the radio stuff we also enjoyed the local
pubs and restaurants in the area and the conversations where we of course
generally agreed that the state of affairs in the world is miserable and that
radio therefore is more fun even though the sun is letting us down.

Congratulations to the superstars at M6T who beat us. But be warned - we might
be back and try harder next year ...

Special thanks to the Marconi Center and the Poldhu Radio Club for allowing us
to use their site. Ann, W6NV's XYL also deserves a special thank you - she
helped walk out 128 radials for our low-band verticals; she is a paragon for
all XYLs.

This very same Wireless Broadcasters gang augmented by some local W6 hams will
next be QRV as W6WB from a Californian hilltop for ARRL SSB.

73 de Olof G0CKV (SM6CKV W6CKV M5E)


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