[UK-CONTEST] RE: [UK-CONTEST] GM4YXI in ARRLSSB 2002 SOABHP
g3ory at lineone.net
g3ory at lineone.net
Sat Mar 9 12:11:09 EST 2002
Keith,
I wonder if this is the same "german-accented anal retentive" who was on
80m dispensing the same advice during AFS ssb leg? The sound of that guy's
signal on 80m placed him a little closer than DL, I felt Holland or maybe
Belgium. He answered the question "Do you have a callsign" with "Yes but
I am not telling!". Sign of a good English speaker but not a native English
speaker. In last week's contest the F2 critical frequency was so high,
the skip was much shorter than usual on 20m.
I wonder if there are any readers of this reflector on the Continent who
might be able to place this guy better than we can?
Bob
G3ORY
-- Original Message --
>Hi Folks,
>Last year's debacle with the weather and antenna disasters
>left me determined to put up a better show this time. I was
>mostly prepared in the shack in the days before. A grim
>week at work finished with me not getting home until 8pm on
>Friday night. Not much preparation for an 'all
>weekender'....then I remembered I needed to resonate my 80m
>and 160m antennas for SSB!
>The bands sounded in good shape at the start and I decided
>to begin on 20m. This went quite well with a 118 hour and
>the band open all the way west. I left at 0130 (?mistake)
>to go to 160/80/40, to spend 15mins struggling to work KC1XX
>and W3LPL on topband, then tried 80m, which was slow. Got in
>a mess with the DVK and fitted the footswitch for it, which
>I should have seen to before the start....obviously! Jumped
>between 80 and 40 until about 0830, when I went back to
>20m. The low bands seems OK, 40m in particular. All the
>usual problems with QRM and listening frequencies. It was
>often obvious someome else in Eu was using the same
>listening QRG and what can you do when a W/VE turns up
>CQing on that clear spot you have found to listen on, even
>when they ask 'Is the frequency in use?'!! I had listened
>on 160 during the night but KC1XX and W3LPL were the only
>sigs here and they were weak. I heard Andy running East
>coast at about 0600, but most of these guys were totally
>inaudible with me. Not good for morale!
>I had a bit of a dilemma about what to do now. 20m seemed
>in reasonable shape but I felt very tired. A major blunder
>before the contest was failing to get some domestic/social
>arrangements coordinated! Confusion over dates meant I had
>promised to go to a dance this night (!!!) I'd miss some
>15/20m propagation so I had to try to make up for it. I
>stayed on 20m and did OK. Then my first frequency fight. I
>had a nice clear frequency and reasonable run of rather
>weak stuff on 14304, when I started being berated by a
>German-accented anal retentive who refused to give me his
>call and insisted I was not allowed to have contest QSO's
>above 14300, by international agreement. My emotional state
>was such that I was not about to give in here, but, in
>retrospect, as ever, I should have swallowed the pill and
>QSYed. Basically I tried for 15min, worked 2 stations (but
>one was a mult!)then left. Interestingly, both USA and Eu
>stations pitched in, telling this guy where to go.
>Broke at 1030...slept....restart 1215
>20m then 15m then 10m. Tried not to get to 10m too early
>for the reasons already mentioned, but 15m got slow about
>1430. I had decided to make the most of 10m. The QRM is
>less, rates are better and I seem to do well on that nband
>from here, when the Aurora stays away. The band didnt
>disappoint and the 15-18 hours saw 4 consecutive 200+ hours
>(best was 1800 @ 238). I even managed a few passes to 15m
>and 20m in that period. I went to 15m at 1845, leaving a
>good 10m pileup, 'cos my 15m Q score was pathetic. I stayed
>there for 45mins and put on about 100 Q's. It was warming
>up nicely, CT last 10 reading >300 and I had to pull the
>switch at 1930. VERY DIFFICULT!!!
>
>Back at midnight, a few Q's on 15m, then a 163 hour on 20m,
>admixed with VE1JF on 160m, who was 59+......better than
>the night before. 0130 (tired, voice straining, still
>fretting about what I've missed while out doing eightsome
>reels and the like. I don't recommend this, by the way,
>which is understatement of the year, of course. Hours of
>contesting gives me a degree of hyperacusis. In the dance
>hall, all the music and conversation really rang in my
>head. Not happy!).....then disaster. The same 20m yagi,
>which was the source of grief last year, and which had
>worked perfectly in the interim, went on the blink. High
>SWR. Energy levels plummet. Have to sleep. Back 0300, 20m
>antenna still caput and the band is just jumping here. So
>it's the low bands for me. Rates were OK for the first 2
>hours but after 0500, things fell off, though 80 and 40
>were open and some good mults appeared. I went to 160 at
>0400 to find LPL, XX and VE1JF 59++. A CQ prouced a good
>run for 15 min and completed my 160 activity for the
>weekend. Further visits at 0600 and Sunday night were
>useless. Just after 0800, 40m seemed to dry up (though I
>note Steve's comments about late QSO's) and so was I.
>
>I elected to have a look at the 20m antenna, since there
>was no other band open and I was still very light on this
>band. This is an especial pain in the **** 'cos I really
>don't feel like doing it and I have to drop my 80m vertical
>and 160 inv-L to tilt over the tower. The Shorting bar on
>the gamma match seemed to be loose and a bit black where it
>was making contact. Without dismantling the 15m and 20m
>yagis, the 20m driven element is well off the ground and
>its a bit of a pantomime working on it but 2 hours later,
>all the antenna are back up and working. Sleep.......
>
>Back about 1220 for 20m....15m until it slows, which was
>again 1430 so it was to 10m. Rates not remotely close to
>Saturday and lots of QSB. I could pass a few mults to 15m
>to fill in the huge gaps, and found a couple on the 2nd
>radio on 20m. 10m died quite quickly at about 1930. 15m was
>OK for a while with a 2000 hour of 180 but it too went out
>on me real fast. I had hopes (and needs!) for 20m but it
>was dire. Lots of aurora and poor rate. 80m sounded dead,
>so I finished on good old 40m which at least produced some
>QSO's. Straight to bed, 'cos I had to up at 0530z to catch
>a train!
>
>Overall, I had a good time. I could have well done without
>the 20m antenna failure and the 'social break'! Once again,
>most stations were very willing to move, when asked, and
>KE3VV (DC) deserves special mention. We did 10-15 on
>Saturday and 80-40-80-20 (QRP + rig tuner on 20m!) early
>Sunday am. Andy and I ended up on the same run frequency on
>Sunday night (I left), and I had some grim QRM from N2NT
>and OH6RX on 10m on Sunday (the former too wide, the latter
>too close!)
>
>I am well short of Andy's excellent score and about one QSO
>short of matching the 'old' Eu record. Had I not been
>dancing and fixing antennas, would I have made up the 610
>QSO deficit on Andy's score?.....NO WAY! Well done, 'PIQ!
>
>GM4YXI ARRL SSB SOAB HP 2002
>
>Time ON 34 hours
>
>Band QSO Mult
>160 31 13
>80 203 36
>40 506 53
>20 713 60
>15 756 60
>10 1706 60
>
>ALL 3915 282........3,312,090 pts
>
>73
>Keith GM4YXI
>
>----------------------
>
>
>
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