[3830] Commonwealth VA3RAC(VE3FU) Multi-Op HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    RSGB Commonwealth Contest

Call: VA3RAC
Operator(s): VE3FU
Station: VE3FU

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  147
   40:  318
   20:  274
   15:  243
   10:   67
------------
Total: 1049  Total Score = 10,645

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

Wow!  That was a lot better than the last two years!  I'm not sure if it was
just because I was an "HQ" station or if it was because of conditions. 
Probably a bit of both. Either way, I'll take it :=)

I seemed to lose some momentum around the 14Z hour when I was having trouble
deciding which band to be running on and kept bouncing between 10, 15, and
20m.

Around 1825Z I was on 15m and just about to call 9J2BO on the second radio when
I heard my friend VO2AAA call him and move him to 10m. I followed them there,
heard them complete the QSO and then VO2AAA asked 9J2BO to move to 20m. I
desperately tried to get the attention of either of them before they moved, as
did 9H3ET.  Unfortunately neither of us could before they moved.  I followed
them to 20m, but couldn't raise 9J2BO there either (I'd already worked VO2AAA
on 20m).  I did eventually work 9J2BO on 15m though, the original band I heard
him on :=) 

Around 2215Z I had for the first time that I can remember during the BERU, what
I believe was deliberate QRM.  Someone was sending “CQ BERU BERU G3UJE G3UJE
G3UJE”pretty much right on top of me and repeating continuously for what
seemed like 30 seconds before stopping for 5 seconds and starting again.  I
thought it was strange for “G3UJE” to do this, especially since I was
pretty sure “G3UJE” could hear me since I was still able to work stations
(mostly Gs) through the QRM.  I knew it was deliberate QRM when the real G3UJE
called me while the QRMer was still calling CQ :=)  I guess one of us must have
ticked someone off earlier in the contest ;=)

Around 2300Z (QSO #760) I realized that 1000 QSOs and 10K points was within
reach. At that point I only had 30 QSOs on 80m and still had the full night
ahead of me.  When I went to 80m around 2330Z I began to have doubts as the
band was quite noisy.  I kept plugging away, bouncing between 40 and 80m, with
an occasional venture to 20m to snag some VKs, ZLs, and western VEs. Around
0500Z, and the band now less noisy, I started a nice run on 80m to the UK.  I
passed the 10K point mark at 0553Z and the 1000 QSO mark (including dupes) at
0640Z.  I passed the actual 1000 QSO mark about 30 minutes later.

I got a little scared around 0830Z when N1MM locked up. I was using the N1MM
rotor control program to turn the 40m yagi. When the N1MM rotor control program
stopped, a couple of error windows popped up that I couldn't dismiss. (I was too
busy panicking to note what the errors were! :=)  I rebooted the computer and
crossed my fingers.  I was still able to use my keyer while the PC rebooted and
managed to work one station and logged it on paper. Luckily when N1MM started
again all my QSOs were still there. After entering the hand logged QSO into
N1MM I realized that I had sent the same serial number twice. I'm sure the
adjudication software will handle this and a few skipped serial numbers :=)

I finished the last hour of the contest with a nice run of VKs, ZLs, and Gs on
40m.

Looking back over my log I see that all my QSOs in the last 3 hours were all on
40m. Despite scouring 80 and 20m on the 2nd radio, I couldn't find any stations
that I hadn't already worked. I'm sure there were occasional CQs on 80 and 20m
during that time, but the only band that seemed to have any activity was 40m.

Here's a breakdown of some of my log:

	QSOs	Raw	Dupes	Bonus	HQ	PTS	BCA
	------------------------------------------------------------
80m	148	147	1	27	2	 925	  17
40m	323	318	5	64	4	2310	  34
20m	280	274	6	46	4	1830	  27
15m	250	243	7	20	4	1240	  15
10m	 67	 67	0	14	2	 515	  11
	------------------------------------------------------------
	1068	1049	19	247	23	10645	 145

Thirty-seven 5 band QSOs: 6Y6T, 9H3ET, CF3A, G0ORH, G3KMQ, G3LIK, G3RLE, G3SWH,
G3TKK, G3TQZ, G3UJE, G3WPH, G3YBY, G4AZN, G3BUO, G4DBW, G4FAL, G4HZV, G5LP,
G6PZ, GB5CC, GM0NAI, GM3SEK, GM3WOJ, J34G, J88DR, M0DHO, VA3DX, VE3EJ, VE3JM,
VE3KI, VE3KZ, VE3OI, VE7JH, VK4CT, VP2EC, ZF2XF

HQ Stations: GB5CC, VE1RAC, VE7RAC, VO1RAC, VU2PTT, ZL6HQ

145 Band Call Areas

690 QSOS in the first 12 hours, 378 in the last 12 hours.

G:	423 QSOs with 189 unique stations
VE:	221 QSOs with  90 unique stations
VK:	 31 QSOs with  23 unique stations
ZL:	 30 QSOs with  16 unique stations


80m
G:	82
VE:	55
VK:	2
ZL:	0

40m
G:	204
VE:	66
VK:	23
ZL:	9

20m
G:	193
VE:	48
VK:	3
ZL:	13

15m
G:	193
VE:	32
VK:	1
ZL:	6

10m
G:	34
VE:	19
VK:	1
ZL:	3


Still one of my favourite contests!  Thanks for all the QSOs and to all the DX
travellers who make this contest more interesting!


73,

Chris VE3FU / VO2AC


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