[UK-CONTEST] G0MTN CQ WW SSB effort

[Lee Volante]

Hi all,

Pleased to see that we all seem to have survived okay, even if most of us
have stories of "if only the WX was better" to tell.   It was reasonably bad
I suppose in the Midlands.  Malvern recorded a 76 mph gust.   Birmingham
Airport were quoting 40 knots (about 48 mph)   The next lane lost power and
only had it return on Monday night.

Unfortunately my biggest problem wasn't the weather, it was a chesty cough /
cold I'd not managed to shake off for the previous week.   I lost my voice
almost completely by mid-morning on the Saturday.   I could still Search and
Pounce okay.   I was left with my half decent sounding "G0MTN" and "5914"
recordings in the voice keyer.  I struggled a bit though when anyone said
'hi' or asked me a question - I'd only got "CQ Contest" left :-)   I needed
VOX on to key the voice keyer, but as I kept coughing over pileups (how
rude!) I disconnected my own microphone.   When I did call CQ I did get a
few funny comments back about my 'audio quality.'

I didn't quite manage to nod off and get any sleep before the contest, and
was feeling a bit rough by 4pm on the Saturday.  After deciding to lie down
for 10 minutes, (bad choice) I came to with a start at 8 o'clock.  I was
absolutely convinced that my bedroom alarm clock was in 24 hour format, and
hence it must have been 8 a.m., which meant I had missed the storm, but left
the tower up which was presumably therefore in next door's garden in pieces.
After trying to work out what day it was and finally realising it was still
Saturday, I then wound the tower down.

I lost the will to carry on and did a few hours on the Sunday, but couldn't
compete with the QSO machines in full swing.  The contest sounded
excellent - rates were high, mults were everywhere, it was a great party -
but it was galling not being able to join in and I had to go to bed.

Monday of course was sunny, calm and serene, and was spent getting jabs
ready for the CW contest.  (You've got to suffer for the art.)  The
conversation went like this:

Nurse "How do you feel?"
Me (hoarse whisper) "Not very good"
Nurse "These will make you feel worse."
Me "Oh good."

We seem to have gales every year, and I remember it being especially bad in
2000 and 1998.   Shall we all up sticks and go Multi/Multi somewhere warm
next year ?   We'll leave it to somebody else to activate G.

Continuing with the funny stories......

A local friend was operating for the first time since we'd helped him put up
some new antennas a few weeks ago.  He'd carefully tucked the feeders behind
shrubbery in his garden.   As the wind picked up, the branches pulled at the
feeder, meaning that his radio actually started to move away from him across
the table as he was tuning.....

Scores....

TS850 / 100w
C3SS @ 9m (for a bit) / Windom @ 8m (for a bit) / Butternut HF6V (excellent
bend radius on Butternut verticals - they are to be commended)
12 Strepsils / 8 Paracetamol / about 28 hours worth.

Claimed Score  : 783744

                160m  80m  40m  20m  15m  10m  Total

    Valid QSOs:   28  124   52  305  301  340  1150
   Total Mults:   19   54   40   78   97   96   384
  Total Points:   26  145   61  504  526  779  2041

    Zone Mults:    2    7    7   17   22   21    76
 Country Mults:   17   47   33   61   75   75   308

Oh dear.  Next time.......

Lee G0MTN