[3830] CQWW CW M6T(G4BUO) SOSB/20 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: M6T
Operator(s): G4BUO
Station: M6T

Class: SOSB/20 HP
QTH: Saxmundham, England
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20: 2733    39      139
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total: 2733    39      139  Total Score = 1,002,496

Club: Chiltern DX Club

Comments:

I had wanted to enter SOAB from the M6T station for the third year running, but
work commitments and lack of time for preparation/sleep led to the decision to
enter 20m single band instead. With help from G0VJG and M0MDR, on Wednesday we
put up a dipole 230 metres away from the shack in order to be able to listen
in-band, and this proved invaluable. The main 20m antenna at M6T is currently a
Cuschcraft 204CD at 95ft, and the Bencher Skyhawk at 95ft on a separate tower
was used as the second system, with a homebrew switch box.

It was surprising that the band stayed open throughout the first night, but
naturally with low rates and all S+P. Conditions to the States on Saturday
afternoon were good but as is common these days, the band closed very early at
about 8pm. Nevertheless with 1750-odd QSOs in the log at the halfway point it
became clear that I could beat G3VHB's G record from 2003. I slept from 9pm
through to 1am and felt myself to be less tired on the Sunday, though still
don't feel I made quite enough use of the receiver and dipole. Unlike Saturday,
I had some good runs of JA on Sunday though got bullied off my run frequency
several times.

High winds were forecast for Sunday. When I got up at 1am on Sunday morning it
was dead calm, so in the dark I lowered both towers to 60ft and re-set the
guys, and backed up with a second stake in the windward direction. This
provided some peace of mind on Sunday, when it did indeed get very windy.
Unfortunately the high wind had already caused a problem with the 204CD which
had come loose on the stub mast, meaning frequent trips outside to see which
way it was beaming, and frequent re-setting of the pointer on the rotator
controller! By Sunday evening I was almost exclusively using the Skyhawk, which
has three full-size elements on 20.

Sunday afternoon brought some good runs to the US again but the band closed
sharply with very few South Americans on the band. I knew it was possible that
the band could come back to the east, and it did so with a vengeance in the
last hour. As well as surprising several BYs, I picked up BV and VR2
multipliers with 35 minutes to go, which pushed me past the 1 million point
mark, not only beating the G record but also GI0KOW's UK and British Isles
record also from 2003, and this in 2015 when the band shut both days around
8pm! So a new UK record, but I'm a long way behind Mike at SJ2W who put in an
amazing QSO total.

It seems to me that one of the pernicious effects of Skimmer is that people
decide to change frequency more often, in order to get re-spotted by the
Skimmer. This leads to even more ops, mainly in Europe I have to say, thinking
it is ok just to plonk themselves on a frequency without checking or asking. I
had more such frequency fights in this contest than in any other that I can
recall, and M6T is not a little pistol! I hate losing a frequency fight and, of
course, it means I have to go looking and that wastes lots of time on a crowded
band but during Sunday morning's JA run I was bullied by 'operators' further
east and north who could easily kill my rate to JA completely, so the only
option in these situations was to QSY. This is very unsportsmanlike and I would
like to see persistent offenders DQed.

As well as the two zone 27 mults at the end, the highlight was being called by
Atsu 5W1SA the first evening, he was in the noise and told me after the contest
he was using a delta loop and KX3 at 5 watts. I'm looking forward to seeing him
in person in a month's time. Missed zone was 34 - I never heard the SU.

Thanks to station owner G4BAH for the use of the M6T station, and to G0VJG
M0MDR M0RYB and Colin (not licensed) for helping set up and keeping me company
before the contest started.

Dave G4BUO

K3+Acom 2000 + Cushcraft 204CD up 95ft, Skyhawk up 95ft
K3+Acom 2000 + dipole up 35ft
Win-Test


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