[3830] CQWW CW M6O(G3WGN) SOSB/15 LP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: M6O
Operator(s): G3WGN
Station: G3WGN

Class: SOSB/15 LP
QTH: IO80bs
Operating Time (hrs): 27.75

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 1176    34      117  Total Score = 380,671

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

As some will know, although I have been contesting since the 70s, most of my
experience is either low bands or as a hired gun at major multi-op stations,
many outside the UK.  My last HF band contest from my own home in the UK was in
2000 (ARRL Phone SO 10m as G5M).  As a result my HF band propagation knowledge
from UK is rather limited, so I looked at the possibility of operating from
home in CQWW as mostly a learning opportunity.
Our rented house has a very small garden, but I have understanding neighbours
who indulged my idea of a Folding Hexbeam on a VPA Systems rotating pole (with
Yaesu rotator at the base).  The beam is just 30ft high.  However, it’s not a
bad location (ask G4RRA who is just a couple of hundred yards along the ridge
from me and gets incredible success on 6m from here) and (fingers crossed)
it’s a remarkably electrically quiet village.
15m seemed like a good choice, confirmed with some excellent DX success in the
week leading up to the contest.  Looking at UK scores from prior years
suggested I may be able to make a decent showing with my low power setup (K3
barefoot) if I could get to about 600 Qs �" not record breaking, but a
good target.  In the event, it went way better than that, as the score above
shows.  It looks like Lee G0MTN’s 1998 record (256,100) is at risk.  Sorry
Lee, but it had to happen sometime…
A couple of observations:
-	Low power did not seem too much of a handicap.  I could work pretty much
everything I heard, often first call.  The big exception was YB4IR, who I only
heard at 0700Z, when propagation was marginal at best �" lots of calling,
no response.  That meant no Z28 for me.  However, I did listen for a couple of
minutes each on M3i's frequency and G5W’s �" those big guns were
hearing lots of stuff I could not hear.  30ft is too low for my antenna, even
with a high QTH (220m/720ft) with downslope north and south.  I wonder if the
neighbours would mind if I put the guys for a 60ft pole in their garden?
-	The two best hours started at 1900Z each night.  This won’t be news to UK
15m regulars, but it was like someone fired a starting gun at that time, and
all the US, especially the west coast, started calling at once.  The WinTest
last 10 rate meter was in the 200s for part of the time and west coast signals
were incredibly loud.  That really piled on the points with more than 100 3
pointers logged each night in that hour.  All efforts earlier in the afternoon
to get a US run going just sent me back to S & P �" it would be hard
to see how to amass a winning score without making the most of that ‘starting
gun’ effect.
-	Entering Non-assisted gives a chance to play ‘real radio’ �" I
actually had to operate that big knob on the front of the radio and listen
hard.  That paid dividends with several juicy double mults being discovered
hiding in busy corners of the band �" very satisfying to winkle them out.
 I haven’t abandoned point-and-click operation, but this was a nice change.
-	On Friday I finally got round to installing the SVGA adaptor in the P3
Panadaptor.  This was a big step forward for a station running without external
assistance.  I could easily see the weak ones (50kHz span); and at least as
useful, the waterfall told me where there was an unoccupied frequency I could
move to for a CQ.  Saved quite a few minutes of frequency fights and
unproductive S & P, so undoubtedly added significantly to the score.


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