[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB G0MTN SOABHP

[Lee Volante]

Hi folks,

I'd intended on doing a low power SO2R entry this year, but after worrying
about lack of potency of second radio antenna (especially in the CQ WW
environment) I had a rethink.  Using the second radio optimally would
normally mean you're expected to be running on the first radio, which again
would be hard in this contest.   So far, my best use of SO2R has been
listening to Chris G3VHB in the 21/28 CW contest whilst I was on 20m having
a go at JARTS RTTY.   When Chris started working people, then maybe it was
time to change bands and start CQing. :-)

Anyway, I thought, let's turn the amp on and have a play.  I'm not going to
win any prizes in the HP section, and I'd have been blown away again by Dave
BUO in LP anyway !

I actually managed to get a couple of hours sleep in before the start of the
contest, which has always been difficult for me, and felt pretty awake at
the start.  I then did the first 24 hours, before getting a few hours sleep
when things slowed right down, but was up before the morning grey line, and
then worked through till midnight.  From a dietary point of view, this year
I stuffed myself.  Cereal, sausage rolls, mini choc chip muffins (FB!),
sandwiches, lasagne - all with minimum preparation time.  I'd got a
veritable hamper lined up on Friday night.  I was up and about at 10am on
the Monday and felt ok, so perhaps a 47 or 48 hour contest isn't just a pipe
dream.   Even today (Wednesday) my ears hurt after being squashed by my
headset though.

Instead of watching bad TV with the sound off or reading a book, this year I
played DVD's on the second PC. That kept me amused when my lack of progress
in the contest didn't.   Also the DVD's had the benefit of subtitles so I
could at least half follow what was going on.  :-)

Running high power made it noticably easier to break pileups, and generally
getting QSOs on 40 / 80 / 160 than my previous experience from home.  It was
still very very hard to run though, and the change in rate as people
appeared (and more rarely disappeared) was noticeable.   Saturday was
steady, but after 20 had died on me completely, 40 was a mess, and I'd
ground to a halt on 80 and 160 I took a few hours off.

Sunday morning was great to the USA on 40 and 80, and I was surprised how
late and how light it was considering VE3EJ was still booming in on 80.  On
Saturday morning, I was more conscious of getting to 20 and 15 as soon as
possible to start running EU.  On Sunday morning, after I'd left 40 very
late I went virtually straight to 15 in order to 'get a space' and try to
get some volume QSOs in.   The 10m propagation was a godsend - nice signals,
lots of room, nice rate, lots of mults.  I was glad to get there early on
Sunday as it didn't hang around as long.  It was fun to park the second
receiver on other UK stations on the same band as me and try to match rate.
I never had the nerve to try and move anyone.

Looking back, I have a very low amount of 20m DX QSOs.   40m was entirely
Search and Pounce.  160m was an improvement on previous years.  The inverted
L does not work well on 80m though.  (Must make sign to stick on antenna
switch for next time to cope with tired operator.)

Seemed that this year only the DX stations were calling very low on 40m, and
they got away with it more than an EU operator would.  I also have an
interesting story about a tired Gator at K5ZD on 40m involving an A/B
button.  Another time though....

Highlights....

Finally worked the USA on 160m from home.  New little inv-L and radials do
their job.  I can say I was in the right place at the right time when Andy
was running them on Sunday morning, but didn't quite have the same success.
Getting called by VK9 on 10m.
A momentary last 10 rate of 461/hour.
Have now completely RF tested the neighbourhood with no complaints.
116 DXCC total.  I think 3 all time new ones, and about 18 band countries.

Not quite so good stuff....

Still very hard to hold a run frequency.  Not enough CQing.
Missed GW on 40m :-)  Other silly mults missing on higher bands.
Struggling for ages with a 'busted' partial call.  "I've got 5J0X something,
give me it again."  And then he was an apparent dupe. oops.
Am around 1,000 QSOs short of where I should be.  Where did they go ?
Far too much EU on 20m.
SWR on Windom on 80 is a bit high - guess at 8m it's just not high enough.
40m and above is great.  Can anyone else confirm ?
The odd JA that I found was loud, but huge chunks of Asia was missing.
A61AJ attempted to make up for that of course.

Claimed Score  : 1,621,894

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

    Valid QSOs:   87  324  142  443  553  481  2030
   Total Mults:   38   60   76   86  106  113   479
  Total Points:   87  357  209  646 1090  997  3386

    Zone Mults:    5    9   13   17   22   24    90
 Country Mults:   33   51   63   69   84   89   389



Station:  FT1000MP + A1000 to C3SS at 9m / HF6V at 0m / Windom at 8m /
Inverted-L at 9m

Food:  Sainsburys.   DVD:  I recommend the HMV sale.

Overall - pleased with the results from my 'midi' station.  There were no
gales.  I did not get the 'flu.   Not record breaking by any means though.
Question is, what do I do to it for next year ?

See you in Manchester.

73,

Lee G0MTN  (Golf Zebra Mike Tango November - according to many)