[UK-CONTEST] IOTA Contest 2005 GU8D

[G3SJJ]

Generally an enjoyable weekend. Good crossing both ways, good hotel (Le
Friquet, wine supplier GU4CHY), good hospitality (BBQ at CHY's, Apres
Contest at Da Nellos (wine by guess who?)  A special thanks to all the GU
guys.

- Good teamwork. Groups allocated to assemble and erect antennas, set up RF
side, set up computers and network.

- Run team selected on basis of good run skills, likewise Mult team selected
for ability to find and work the Mults.

- RF equipment worked well. The Drake 4B Line didn't blow up despite not
having been switched on for 18 years.

- All the antennas worked as planned, despite last minute restrictions on
use of the adjacent field.

- Strategy was that Run A Op runs, Run B op works in-band same-mode Mults.
Mult A op works other bands plus Run opposite mode. Mult B other bands.
Spotter spots on campus cluster.

- Band conditions were superb. We had been monitoring Space Weather and
anticipated it.

So what happened. I'll tell you what happened, we had mHam Keyers on both
radios and it looks as though Router v2.14 was bug----d. Numerous times we
lost rig control and CW went crazy. We had to close down several times and
the re-boot all computers and re-access the network. I calculate we lost a
good 200 Qs on the Run station and the resulting 10%, ie 20, mults, plus
Mult station Router crashes which prevented us accepting moved mults and
also calling and moving mults. As an example, I worked P3J on 15m SSB on the
Mult station, agreed 21CW and then 10mCW, only to find that Router crashes
when I go to CW. It was a farce. My impression of proceedings is that we
would have been on for around 3K Qs and 500 plus Mults. It just didn't
happen. I have since experienced this problem at home so it is real and
still current.

Writelog also didn't perform. It wasn't as stable as last year. OK, we had 5
laptops instead of 4, but otherwise the same. It added serial numbers and
missed a block. We are not sure whether that is connected with the mH Router
problem or not.

More highlights - 20m open over night, 10m open. Rich M5RIC almost pleading
for us to use the Optibeam on Run and not Mult! (Nope) The 80m and 40m
verticals working DX Mults despite SVL's insistence they needed more than 20
radials. Working some JAs on the HF bands! Good UK support (Thanks guys),
plenty of Cluster spots.

Run FT1kMP, Mult FT1k Mk5, Spotter FT1kMP rx only.
Alpa 87A and Acom 2000a amps
Optibeam 3/11, A4S, 40m diamond loop, 40m GP
80m dipole, 80m GP and Spotter rx antenna

5 laptops Wified. Write(c)log

                      CW                            PHONE
BAND   Qs    Points Multipliers  Qs    Points Multipliers
80       198    1338     37           167    1557    37
40       251    1461     45            478   3486    56
20       209    1275     45            579   3381    77
15       121      795     30            303   1677    49
10         23      333     23            270   1290    29
           802               180          1797            248

16593 points x 428  mults = 7,101,804

Disappointing considering all the planning and a total expenditure
approaching £3K. The value of the gear packed into my Freelander on the
return journey was probably around 20K. Oh yes, The Drake line!  We didn't
use it. I was running it up on the Club's Variac before bringing it home to
renovate. Seems to work ok so far.

May have some photos to share soon.  Chris G3SJJ
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