[UK-CONTEST] M4R - IARU/WRTC2002

[Mark Marsden]

GRANTA CONTEST GROUP - M4R - IARU/WRTC2002 

 BAND  QSO  PTS ZON  HQ
160 CW  11   15   1   5
 80 CW  33   83   2   2
 40 CW 151  531  10  11
 20 CW 171  649   8   5
 15 CW 208  934  12   3
 10 CW  23   65   3   8
160 PH   9   11   1   8
 80 PH  31   63   4  16
 40 PH 104  348   8  16
 20 PH 419 1476  30  24
 15 PH 246  950  23  26
 10 PH  38  152   8   8    

TOTAL 1444 5277 110 132

CLAIMED SCORE 1,277,034

Operators
G4AXX Mark SSB
G4KNO Andy SSB
G4EAG Simon SSB & CW
G0CKP Steve CW

Equipment
FT1000MP, FT1000MP Mk V, TenTec Titan
DxCluster spot feeds on 4m.
Wrtitelog 10.33C

Antennas 

160m  1/4 wave vertical GP with 4 radials
80m 3 dipole sloper array at 80ft
40m 2-ele phased array wrapped around 20m yagi
20m 3 element monoband yagi at 82ft 
15m 3 element monoband yagi at 95ft 
10m 4 element monoband yagi at 40ft 

WRTC Stations worked

OJ1C, OJ1F, OJ1M, OJ1N, OJ1S, OJ1W, OJ1X
OJ2F, OJ2J, OJ2Q, OJ2Y, OJ2Z
OJ3A, OJ3D, OJ3N, 
OJ4A, OJ4M, OJ4W
OJ5A, OJ5E, OJ5M, OJ5T, OJ5U, OJ5W
OJ6C, OJ6E, OJ6K, OJ6N, OJ6Y
OJ7A, OJ7C, OJ7M, OJ7N, OJ7X
OJ8K, OJ8N, OJ8W


The station set up field-day style from Debden Airfield near Saffron Walden, Essex (TL 559 438, JO01DX) using a 2.2kVA petrol generator. This was the first time we had arranged 4m access to the DxCluster and the first time any of us had used it. It certainly helped increase the QSO rate and at times working spots was as fast as running.   

The last time we entered this contest was in 2000, when we were the Country and Zone 27 winners. Foot & Mouth disease had prevented us entering in 2001, so this year we were keen to compare, and improve on, our 2000 log.

We kicked off on 15m and made a fast start easily exceeding our 2000 rate. 10m was very poor to start with but started to open up later in the afternoon (about 18:50z).

We had a lot of RF feedback in the shack and spent time adjusting levels and fitting ferrite clip-ons on the leads.

We made the most of the 10m opening until 20:12z on Saturday, which was just as well because it didn't open again for the rest of the contest.

Shortly after at 20:35z we left 15m and dropped down to 20m. As the grey-line swung over us propagation was amazing, allowing us to work, amongst others, Japan (x4), US, Panama, India, Thailand, Australia, Argentina and South Korea in just 12 minutes between 21:41z and 21:53z! It felt like 20m was wide open, to the whole world at the same time and everyone was 59+, quite outstanding!

The limited hours of darkness at this time of year saw us eek out 20m until 23:00z then we moved to 40m. This may have cost us short skip European Q's.

It certainly seemed to all start going wrong at this point. 80m didn't provide much of a pool of activity, and 160m was dire. We have pretty decent antennas for 80m and 40m, and we rather expected decent runs to NA using split, but this didn't really transpire. We were thankful when 20m started opening again at about 04:00z!

We're frankly amazed that Tim, M5ACC, managed to accumulate the score he did during the night!

On Sunday morning things had slowed down a lot and by 09:00z our Q total was the same as at that time in 2000.

The expected early morning 20m path to JA never materialised, and we never did hear ZL.

The low MUF forced a lot of activity onto 20m and it was clear that the new 1.8kHz InRad's were making a huge difference on SSB! 

15m struggled into life late at about 10:00z and that's where we finished. At the end we had 42  less QSOs than in 2000 but 8 more zones & 18 more HQ stations giving a 10.7% increase in score. 

It sure looks like we can say a fond farewell to the highs of cycle 23  - it's been good to us.

Listening to the quality of the WRTC operators was a pleasure, but we only heard 37 of the 52 teams.
The weather was rather hot during tear-down and we got sunburnt.

Our hats are off to M5ZAP & M0TTT for an even better performance this year, well done!

73 de Mark, Andy, Simon & Steve



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