[UK-CONTEST] CQWW CW

[Jim Martin]

Great fun weekend combining  contest entry and the search for new countries.
Managed 12 new ones on 80m which is great news.
During last weekend I  set up temporary dipoles on the roof for all bands
and was looking forward to this massive improvement in the station.  When I
came home on Friday evening I found builders had moved in next door and put
up a scaffolding and taken down all the dipoles!  So I reverted back to the
old faithful 40m dipole which always gets me on the air and into the thick
of things. The builders had another trick up their sleeves in the shape of
noisy power tools.  How many people dismantled a power chisel during the
weekend to clean up the motor connections? Anyway they were very helpful and
managed to restrict the power tool usage to certain times which helped me
out no end. We may even have a new recruit as the foreman roofer spent more
time in my shack on Sunday than on the roof!
Conditions were  up and down but there was always plenty to work as I tuned
up the bands exclusively S + P.  Managed HC8N and J3A on five bands but
missed  XT2DX on 80m.  Spent an hour trying as they were a good solid signal
but it was not to be this time.  That is the beauty of competing against
yourself because the thrill of working rare DX stations or new countries
adds to the success of your efforts.
Logging with N1MM was a joy. Working your way up the band map turning all
the
red (mults) spots grey (worked) is a great confidence builder and being able
to create your own bandmap for stations you want to come back to brings a
lot of focus to the operating.
To do well in future events as the sun spots decline I must improve on the
antenna situation.  Most of the time I have problems hearing the DX so  the
only solution is to develop better antennas  and make them work. I carried
out the first improvement today by replacing the Westflex with Heliax from
the roof right into the shack.
Thanks for all the Qs and the fun
Jim   MM0BQI

PS. Worked S2G on 10m. Is he real and does anyone have QSL info ?

CQWWCW Score Summary Sheet
N1MM Logger Version 2.0.67
CallSign Used : MM0BQI
Band : ALL  A LOW POWER
Operating Time:  abt 20 hrs
Club/Team : GMDX GROUP / N1MM Users

      Band  Contacts     Zones Countries     Score
      ----  --------     ----- ---------     -----
       3.5       104        10        49      9617
         7       119        14        57     15265
        14       148        19        65     21504
        21        75        19        50     11592
        28        82        17        49     13398
     Total       528        79       270    350745

     Final Score : 350745

   Rig : FT1000MP  (250Hz Inrad filters fitted but could do with something
narrower)
   Antennas : 40m dipole in back garden abt 5m high.  HF2V on roof  50 watts
output