[3830] CQWW CW M6W(G0DEZ) SOSB(A)/15 LP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: M6W
Operator(s): G0DEZ
Station: G4EHT

Class: SOSB(A)/15 LP
QTH: IO92cq
Operating Time (hrs): 26:29

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15: 1113    38      122
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1113    38      122  Total Score = 370,000

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

2013 has not been much of year amateur radio-wise for me. The shack has been
turned back into a bedroom fit for our 2-year old son so it was barely a
hardship to see the wire antenna come down at home. Parenting three young
children and the busy life that leads means I am all but QRT.

However, the XYL understands my needs and I get permission to operate 2 or 3
weekends each year which usually means operating from dad's very modest station
in Lichfield (Bill, G4EHT).

For CQWW CW 2013 I initially planned doing an AB entry but an invitation to a
family wedding reception quickly ruled that out. That basically meant choosing
between SB10 or SB15. I went for the latter as my country count on 15 is lower
than it really should be.

In the true spirit of ham radio, the antenna was a shortened rotary dipole,
consisting of 2 x 8 feet fishing poles back-to-back. With wire elements taped
to the 8' poles, the remaining 3' of each leg left dangling. Yes, even a 15m
full-size dipole is too big for G4EHT's postage stamp plot! The antenna was up
around 25 feet for good measure.

Propagation predictions suggested that 15m should be open from around 0500z
which proved to be about right. However there seemed some uncertainty when the
band might close. On Saturday I could not operate beyond 1800z to attend said
wedding reception, so hoped the band would be closing by then. Annoyingly
though, 15m was still very much alive when I pulled the plug. I estimate I lost
around 80~100 QSOs finishing early on the Saturday (not to mention the mults to
the west). Overall though, 15m was really rocking and for many hours I was
hearing my own signal echo round the world. With an overall target of DXCC, it
was easily achieved after the first 12 hours.

Sunday opened about the same time but the overall rate was slower. I felt
conditions were not quite so good on Sunday with less JAs. The zone count was
creeping up and it became a challenge to make WAZ. Sadly though, I felt short
by two zones needing Z06 and Z31 - both of which I heard strong the previous
evening and thought I'd leave them to catch easily on day two. That never
happened as XE and KH6 were both much weaker on Sunday and 15m closed a lot
earlier just to rub it in!

Conditions were superb at times, especially on Saturday. The shortened low
dipole seemed to have around 6dB difference front-to-side so barely any null.
It goes to show that when the bands are in such good shape, any old bit of wet
string will work.

Z8 was an all-time new one (I believe the current vernacular is ATNO) and 9 new
band slots to boot. There were many strong signals from G, especially G9W. 15m
seemed a good choice, all things considered, so my ham radio year has ended on
a high.

Now to pick 3 weekends for 2014.

73

Dez, G0DEZ, G3WW, M6W


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