[3830] CQWW SSB G5W(@G3BJ) M/S HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: G5W
Operator(s): G3BJ G3WGN G3XTT 5B4WN
Station: G3BJ

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  295    12       60
   80:  682    21       84
   40:  765    34      110
   20: 1206    38      145
   15: 1518    39      141
   10: 1272    40      153
------------------------------
Total: 5738   184      693  Total Score = 11,279,097

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

Well I blame the Meereologicalt Office. Towers here at a “safe” height in
case the much-heralded storm decided to come to Shropshire. Dire warnings on
the radio discouraged me from taking a risk, with full height, and so we ran
the whole contest with sub-optimal patterns from the antennas. In the end
hardly a breeze, which was frustrating.

This was a great shame, as conditions were a blast on HF. As others have
commented, 10m was fantastic, open all day from early to late. A memorable
weekend in terms of that band. 15 and 20 were good also, but I got the
impression that lots of single transmitter entries migrated to 10m, to take
advantage of the superb conditions, leaving 15 and 20 relatively quiet for some
of the time.

The antenna height issue here showed through on 40m, where we were definitely
sub-optimal. 80 and 160 didn’t seem to yield their usual crop of DX, and
were, from our point of view, disappointing. 

The usual crop of wide signals �" I asked one 9A6 to try to use less than
20 kHz of band, and for a few minutes he did turn the wick down �" then
edged it back up. So it is intentional in some cases.

Spoof cluster spots from “K5ZD” caused mirth here �" and as we were
not using VE7CC we could not block them from coming onto the local network.

No major equipment issues �" rabbits got one of the loop guys on the
K9AY, which explained why it was not really delivering the first night. It was
a quick fix once identified. We also had a strange effect on the Microham voice
keyer, which I have yet to resolve. For some reason it hung in transmit for a
couple of seconds after the message end. The delay seemed to grow longer as the
contest progressed �" all very strange. I’ll need to have a hard look at
that.

Some enormous signals from DX �" I’d pick out HK1NA, of course (on all
bands), but also FO4BM from Polynesia on 10m, who was very significantly over
S9 on Sunday evening. Nice to stumble on 7O2A on a number of bands �"
that was an unexpected operation (at least to me!)

Usual equipment �" 2 x FT5000, linears, yagis and dipoles,  Titanex on LF
and beverages/K9AY for LF receiving.

Thanks to Don, G3XTT, David, G3WGN and Marios, 5B4WN for coming to the wilds of
Shropshire for a fun weekend. Let’s hope the conditions return for the CW
leg.

Thanks for all the Q’s

73

Don, G3BJ


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