[UK-CONTEST] GU0SUP 80m CC

[Phil Cooper]

Hi all,

Oh boy! Some days, it would just be better to give up!
I don't enjoy SSB anyway, but I wanted to represent the Guernsey ARS club,
so I went into the shack and fired up the radio etc.
However, I noticed the last data leg is next week, and I am away in the UK,
and I was horrified to think I might miss this.
The clock came up to 2000, and I kept thinking about who I could persuade to
have a go at RTTY and/or PSK, just to give the club's placing a lift.

My first QSO in the 80m CC was with G3TXF, and then I moved on. I struggled
to get heard, and put it down to the fact that most stations were
complaining of severe QRM/QRN.
By the time I had 10 contacts in the log, most were giving out 30 to 40 and
even 50-something.
OK, I don't enjoy SSB, but there were some LOUD stations, and even they
weren't hearing me. I tried a few weaker ones, and actually made contact
with some, so I thought maybe it was conditions.
I tried hard to work G0RAF, but felt very sorry for them having to put up
with the abuse they were getting from someone complaining about the use of
that particular frequency. I wasn't able to get a callsign, but doubt they
gave one anyway.

It was interesting to hear the number of stations who said "I don't usually
use SSB, but I am doing this for the club".

Then I heard Lionel MU3GSY work someone that wasn't even hearing me, so I
started to worry.
That is when I realised I was working with about 6 watts output.
Not sure how, why or what, but yes, I was running QRP! Life is hard enough
without that!
By this time, I had 19 contacts in the log, so when I came across MU3GSY
calling CQ, I worked him and pulled the plug.

My final tally was a sad 20 QSO's.

Sincere apologies to all who had to struggle with my pathetic signal, but at
least you now know why.

And after all that, I found out that I will actually be back home on
Thursday morning, so - all being well - I will be in the final RTTY leg next
week.

Finally, a couple of thoughts for the HFCC guys.............
Thanks for all the work you have done for these contests. The log checkers
have done a sterling job!
I have seriously enjoyed the fun, and it has been good to see some actually
enjoying RTTY. I hope you guys stick with it, and have a go in some of the
major RTTY contests.
I would like to suggest that you consider running them over the winter
period, say from October/November until March/April, as many miss out due to
holidays etc. I also wonder about the start time. Would it be better to
start at 8pm local time, or maybe just run them when we are at GMT?
Since we changed to BST, the number of EU stations participating seems to
have dropped. Is that a coincidence?
It is not easy to sit in the shack on a beautiful summers' evening at this
time of year! (Not that there has been many such evenings!)
Also, consider dropping PSK from the data leg. From comments I have heard,
there are very few entrants using PSK only, and I am not in favour of using
100 watts of PSK anyway.

Thanks again to the HFCC,

73 for now
Phil GU0SUP