[UK-CONTEST] M6T (G4PIQ) SOABHP CQWW SSB Wimp out.....

[Andy Cook, G4PIQ]

I feel a bit guilty about this year having bottled out, but in reality I had
little choice!

I looked at the weather forecast Friday night and saw the forecast for 70mph
winds in my part of the world late on Sunday. I wondered how accurate the
forecast was and decided to start the contest and see how it went.

20 wasn't open properly to the US at the start so had to kick off on the low
bands. Had some decent runs during the day on 15 and 10, but it took a long
while for 10m to open properly. Shortly before 20m closed I received a text
message updating me on the forecast - saying 90mph gusts forecast...... This
was a bit of a kick in the teeth and I operated pretty casually for the next
few hours, not at all focussed and with quite a lot of breaks. Finally I
checked out the BBC web site which forecast 56 mph average wind speed and
that capped the decision to wind the towers down and quit. I hadn't taken a
long trip somewhere and certainly couldn't afford the chance of a tower
falling over at work (where the station is located). Winding the tower down
also meant that I lost the 80 & 160 antennas and I really didn't feel
inclined to operate without 80/160 and the other antennas at 25/30ft. Cudos
to those who stuck it out.

On Sunday afternoon I went back to the station to clear up the beverage, and
found that the site had been shut for safety reasons anyhow, so I'd have
been forced to quit on Sunday morning anyhow.

So - the final result is here..... Maybe next year.........

Operating time : 23.5 hours

   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs   Points   Countries   Zones
 ___________________________________________________________

  160SSB      92          92         98        36         7
   80SSB     500         500        665        59        11
   40SSB     388         388        869        59        15
   20SSB     424         424        877        69        22
   15SSB     627         627       1368        82        27
   10SSB     824         824       2026        88        29
 ___________________________________________________________

 Totals     2855        2855       5903       393       111


    Final Score = 2,975,112 points.

Rig :	2 x FT1000MP + LK800 + Alpha 87A
Ant :	160m : Inv-V @ 22m
	80m : Delta loop @ 23m
	40m : 402CD @ 24m
	HF : TH5 @ 24m + KT34A @ 16m + A3 @ 26m
	160m un-terminated beverage