[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB M4R (G4AXX) SOSB 14 HP Assisted

[Mark Marsden]

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB 2002
 
Call: M4R
Operator: G4AXX
Club: Granta CG & CDXC
Class: SOSB 14 HP Assisted
QTH: Debden Airfield, Essex, 
Locator: TL559438,  JO01DX
Operating Time: 38.5 hours

QSOs 1207  
QSO points 1842  
Zones 32  
Countries 109 
Multipliers 141 
Score 259722

Equipment:
FT1000MP 
Homebrew 4CX1000A linear  (blew up on Sunday afternoon)
Homebrew 3 ele yagi at 62ft
5kVA Belle G09 petrol generator (used 44 litres of petrol)
4m packet link to home QTH in Saffron Walden getting internet DxCluster spots 

Comments:

Quite some weather to be on an exposed hilltop for 4 days.
I'd checked a few websites for wind speed predictions and was prepared so I set up the tower at only 62 feet and guyed it down very tightly.

An ear infection kept my left ear blocked throughout the contest. 

On Saturday the rotator slipped and the beam swung round to the East by about 100 degrees making pointing the antenna quite challenging.

The storm really got rough on Sunday and I lost half of the reflector at about 10am, a fishing pole split. At about 2pm the director spun around so it was nearly cross-polarised. 

At 3:45pm on Sunday afternoon the power output of the linear dropped to 200W, there was a burning smell so I switched it off and went barefoot till the end of the contest  

By Sunday afternoon the rotator was slipping badly, the thick scaffold pole I used is deeply scored. I just couldn't turn what was left of the beam.

Even with just 100W, the antenna damaged (my signals must have been down by about 10-15 dB) and no way to turn it, I managed to work a surprising amount of good dx.
 
Monday morning had a glorious sunrise, the sky was clear, bright winter sun, no wind, beautiful. I took from 7am to 2pm to tear down the station in a post-contest euphoric afterglow state of mind.

Photos are on the web, take a look at  http://devel.digital-crocus.com/mark/cqww02/index.html

Info on the linear is on www.granta.cjb.net

73 Mark G4AXX