[UK-CONTEST] Jubilee Contest from GQ3VQO

[Les Allwood]

Callsign      :     GQ3VQO
Claimed Score : 5700 
Mode       :        CW
Single/Multi Op: Single
Section    :        Single operator, unassisted, CW

                    80m  40m  20m  15m  10m  Total

Valid QSOs:           0   39   97   79   13   228
Total Mults:          0    0    4    1    0     5
Total Points:         0  195  485  395   65  1140

It was never going to be a major effort, sandwiched as it was between the World Cup and a fairly early night before a morning shift on the Sunday. A first look at the bands around 1330 showed that conditions were less-than-ideal, and that my normal "small signal" technique of doing it all "search & pounce" was not going to achieve much. So I spent most of the time calling CQ and, much to my amazement, I found lots of stations to work. At times the "last ten" rate climbed above 90 QSOs/hour, albeit briefly - perhaps it was the attraction of the GQ prefix. Even when I had to call it a night, I was still getting a good response on 40m, and I never got around to trying 80m.

I'm sure it was not quite how the HFCC envisaged the event, but I had great fun "running" all those Europeans. Only five multipliers turned up in the log - VE2, VE3 (on two bands), VO1 and ZB2. It was interesting to realise, when checking through the log subsequently, that a significant proportion of the stations worked were all-time new callsigns for me, contest or not. That suggests that the format was attractive to a lot of casual band-users, or perhaps it was the GQ prefix activity. Either way, the Jubilee Contest made its mark.

So, all in all, it was a most enjoyable few hours for me. I'd love to do it again, with better conditions and no outside time constraints. To the HFCC I say - please leave things just as they are and make it an annual event. However, already the dark rumours suggest that from 2003 it will be a shouting-only contest - please reassure me that this is not true!!!

73 de Les, GQ3VQO


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