[3830] CQWW CW M6T M/M HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2023

Call: M6T
Operator(s): G0DVJ G0EGW G0PZA G2NF G4AFF G4BUO G4BWP G4FNL G4TSH G4PIQ G4WQI SM0W
Station: M6T

Class: M/M HP
QTH: JO02RF
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs   Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:  1022    19       79
   80:  2134    28      106
   40:  3171    35      141
   20:  2781    39      142
   15:  2550    39      147
   10:  2251    38      142
-------------------------------
Total: 13909   198      757  Total Score = 25,621,695

Club: 

Comments:

Well – that’s CQWW wrapped up for this year. Illness and injury meant that
we were about 2.5 operators down from what we planned and had some part-time
ops. This meant that we didn’t have the second radio slots covered as well as
we would have liked. However, it gave us all the opportunity to do a little more
operating on different bands which was interesting, and I think everyone had
fun. Many thanks to Temu, SM0X for making the long journey across from Sweden
and being a key part of the team. 

Setup was cold, damp, and a occasionally a little hairy with high winds for
winding up some of the more heavily loaded towers, but all went well in the end.
The ground remained completely sodden and there was lots of mud across bits of
site. 

Conditions were decent at the start, though the movement of available QSOs from
LF to HF was very obvious with the volumes on 40m to the US substantially
reduced (down from 1360 last year to about 960 this year), and QSO rates at the
start limited by activity. HF bands were in decent shape at the start – there
were useful numbers of QSOs to be had on 20m – and even 15m had JA workable at
0300. Due to operator shortage we didn’t 15m properly covered in that slot,
but Dave G4BUO popped into the 15m shack while waiting for the kettle to boil! 


Then, as we’re all aware, mid-Saturday afternoon the aurora hit. We actually
had visible aurora down here – and that doesn’t happen for minor auroras
this far South. This gave us some nice photo opportunities (modern smartphones
with the night modes are amazing!), but certainly hampered propagation across
more Northerly paths. There were some interesting tone-A QSOs to be made –
both traditional direct auroral QSOs like Scandinavia on 10m – but also much
extended paths like OX on 15m who was completely tone A – not just a bit
rough! On 40m – it was remarkable to listen to Germans who were more or less
T9 on the South-East facing antenna, but about T4 on the NE facing antenna.
There were also unusual QSO opportunities like KL7RA over the South Pole at
nearly midnight on 15m - long after the band had closed to everywhere else. 

The auroral conditions certainly meant that the HF bands closed particularly
early on Saturday and made some mults and QSOs unavailable to us. That said –
I was amazed that the bands didn’t close much more completely – maybe this
is a result of also having high SFI – it could have been so much worse.
Conditions on the Sunday were certainly better – but nowhere near as good as
they had been earlier in the week when the K index was consistently low. However
– a significant improvement over 2022. 

We’re happy with the overall score – it’s our highest yet for CQWW CW –
but we’re definitely missing some mults – particularly those on polar paths
on LF. As usual – there were some really ugly ‘packet’ pile-ups – but I
sensed the ruthless continual calling (when it’s obvious that the caller
can’t hear the station - even when they are in the clear) seemed worse this
year than previously. I saw a comment from one of the DX stations complaining
that stations often don’t hear themselves being replied to and people ought to
at least be able to copy their call in the mush. I completely get it – but
when the DX is S2 and the pile-up is 30 over 9 and zero beat – it’s tough
until the continual callers shut-up!

Ops : G0DVJ, G0EGW, G0PZA, G2NF, G4AFF, G4BUO, G4BWP, G4FNL, G4TSH, G4PIQ,
G4WQI, SM0W

160m : 
K3 + FT1000MP + Ten Tec Titan
22m tall T + Inv-V Dipole @ 28m
180m Beverages NW, SE, N, S. 9 circle. 

80m : 
2 x K3 + Ten Tec Titan
4sq + Inv-V Dipole @ 25m
180m Beverages NW, SE

40m : 
2 x K3 + Ten Tec Titan
3el @ 28m + 402CD @ 30m
180m Beverages NW, SE, N, S, Vertical

20m : 
2 x K3 + Acom 2000
204CD @ 30m + 204CD @ 30m, Vertical

15m : 
2 x K3 + Acom 2000
2 x 5el stack @ 30m / 18m + Bencher Skyhawk @ 20m + 40m Vertical 

10m : 
2 x K3 + Acom 2000
7el @ 30m + 5el @ 24m + Vertical


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