[UK-CONTEST] G4PIQ/P SSB AFS ramblings

["Andy Cook" at contesting.com]

183 raw QSOs, 1800 points
FT901DM, 100W, Twisted 80m dipole @ 5-20ft.

Fell off a plane from South Africa on Saturday morning and so didn't have the time (or with a 40 degree C change in temperature feel very inclined!) to go over to my main station and put up the 80m antennas from scratch! Decided about an hour before the off to have a play from home just to see how grim the QRM laden SSB AFS is for folks stuck with small domestic stations. Made a small improvement to the normal end-fed antenna to try and keep RF out of the ADSL connection and stuck up a pretty bent dipole - one leg mostly straight at about 20ft, and the other one twisted round like hell, mostly just above head height! 

I'd always figured that SSB AFS would be a real dog for small stations with action pretty much limited to S&P. In reality I got a bit of a surprise and I could find spots where I could run perfectly well for at least 30 mins at a time. After about that period someone would move in close but then I'd be able to find a new slot after a bit more S&P. The difference in rate between a clear and noisy frequency was huge. 

Didn't get started at the gun 'cos was still putting the antenna up and spent quite a lot of time trying to chase down the source of S9+ noise which was present for 75% of the contest, so apologies if I was a bit deaf. Not managed to trace it, but sounds like its coming from something in one of the neighbours' houses. With a bit more focus well over 200 would have been a piece of cake.  

Was also interesting to spend a bit of time tuning around and seeing who was loud and how this changed through the event. I didn't take any great notes but what was very noticeable was that sometimes one person would be loud and later someone else. All the usual suspects were loud at times. Chris SJJ complained of being squashed between bad splatter. There was some QRM there but it didn't look too bad to me, but Chris was simply not as loud as the folks around him with me.

So - interesting experience, but good fun as usual, and it's good evidence that these SSB contests aren't effectively closed to small stations. 

73

Andy, G4PIQ