[UK-CONTEST] G4PIQ/P BERU Report

[Andy Cook, G4PIQ]

    Callsign Used : G4PIQ/P

   BAND   Raw QSOs   Valid QSOs  	Bonuses 	Points	Bonus Points


   80CW       49          48        30		240 		600
   40CW       90          87        57		435 		1140
   20CW      122         120        68		600 		1360
   15CW      107         105        66		520 		1320
   10CW       79          79        56		395 		1120

 Totals      447         439       	277		2190 		5540


    	Final Score = 7730 points.

	Total Band Call Areas : 170

My first serious attempt at BERU and I'll confess that I wasn't sure what I
was going to make of it - a 24 hour HF contest with lower rates than a 2m
contest...... However - I have to say I really enjoyed most of it (had a
small dozing off fit around dawn when the rate really fell off the planet).
I took some stuff along to read, but SO2R meant that I never had time to
deal with that! It felt a bit like a VHF contest - trying to wring the last
drips out of the band!

Was worried by 10m - thought it might not would open beyond VE3, but in the
end worked a decent set of left coast stations. Good to catch some of the VK
and ZL folks on 80, but I couldn't hear all that Clive, POI was working. 80
was definitely my worst band - didn't feel very loud and got beaten out in
more pile-ups on that band.

Had an awful start - putting station together until 10:02 (so that's
normal), but took an hour for me to remember how to drive the station (TR!)
properly.

Tied myself in knots sometimes moving by two stations in different
directions at the same time - need to press the enter key to capture the log
band at the right time!

Site noise not too painful on this contest until Sunday morning where it
cost me several QSOs on 15/10 to VK/ZL. Seems there are a few intermittents
on the antennas which need looking at, but other than that nothing went too
wrong.


Gear : 2 x FT1000MP + LK800 + Alpha 87A
80m :  Delta loop @ 23m
40m :  402CD @ 24m
HF  :  TH5 @ 24m + KT34A @ 16m + A3 @ 26m

Now off to get some sleep.....

Andy