[UK-CONTEST] CQWW CW G6PZ M/S HP

[Simon Pearson]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: G6PZ
Operator(s): G6PZ M0CLW M0DXR M0RUN M0TTT G3TJE G4DRS SP4ZO
Station: G6PZ

Class: M/S HP
QTH: Somerset
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  293    18       72
   80:  881    26      108
   40: 1409    34      120
   20: 2011    37      127
   15:  564    36      134
   10:   32    11       32
------------------------------
Total: 5191   162      593  Total Score = 7,952,415

Club: 

Comments:

One word to sum up this one: WOW!

A couple of issues before the contest resulting in what we thought could impact
our final score - one being the fact the 160m quad loop, which is supported at
one end in a high tree, fell to the ground the day prior to the event which
meant the only solution was to tie it off to a fence at the end of the field.
The end product was one end was at about 90ft sloping to only 15ft above the
ground at the other end. However, we have never been able to work NA stations as
well as we did so we are now thinking that perhaps the newly positioned loop is
actually worth leaving as-is?! 

Secondly, we finally got the Titanex V160HD 27m high vertical operational on
80m but not without some smoke, soldering and running backwards and forwards
between aforementioned field and shack. Oh, and laying out radials in the
dark/cold! We had an old Ten-Tec tuning unit lying around which we utilised [at
the base of the antenna in the field] for the vertical, but we kept blowing
input caps when shoving a bit of power through it; luckily we were able to bodge
it and bypass the input caps which resulted in perfect tuning and no further
issues. The only thing left to do was to place a plasic bag over the tuning unit
;) CQWW weatherproofing. 

We were able to lay out four(!) 20m long radials for the vertical, but the angle
between the first and last radial was only 90 degrees (damned fence in the way).
Of course, we were expecting 80m to be relatively noisy with the newly
functional antenna but this was far from the case! What we actually found was
that the antenna was very quiet - indeed, much quieter than the 80m quad loop
which we had used in the past (and which we also had in conjunction with the
vertical in this contest) but it proved to be very useful for us. After some CQs
before the contest kicked off, it was very evident that NA stations were much
more audible on the vertical than on the loop and noise levels were lower on the
vert, but an added bonus is the European crap, er, QRM was also much lower than
on the loop. Basically, it was like we were running a beverage in the direction
of NA, and this proved incredibly useful of course. However, what we found
during the contest is that the loop performed much better to the east and far
eastern multipliers were always worked on/with the quad loop. 

We still do not have receive antennas at G6PZ, the main reason being that where
the Titanex vertical is situated now is where the K9AY loop was some time ago
(c. mid-2004) and we haven't got around to relocating it (gotta keep the XYL
sweet as well of course). The field is much longer than it is wide and it is
maybe only 100ft across; and yup, you guessed it, NA is in that direction. I
don't think a 100ft beverage would work particularly well, right?! ;) Hopefully
we can get the K9AY reinstated before the contest season next year but we need
to ensure we have RX protection circuitry as well as a system to share/split it
between the run and the mult operating positions. 

And, what about HF? 15m was utterly dire, with only some small runs into the
States and only some big far eastern stations worked (e.g. JH4UYB). Let's not
even bother talking about 10m (only the usual SA and Caribbean stations logged).
On the other hand, 20m was totally awesome. Nice to have broken the 2000 QSO
barrier and was equally nice to be called by some interesting mults! Thanks to
KH6WW who called in just as the band was dying out for country and zone
multiplier credit. 

40m also rendered some interesting QSOs although it seems we are slightly
lacking on mult performance here in comparison to our local G-land competition
with G5W. However, this band produced one of the best clock hour rates for the
entire event: 201 QSOs in the first hour (the other was between 14-15z on
Saturday on 20m where 205 stations were logged). Lots of JA worked short path on
both mornings, both VERY loud and VERY late (c. 2-3h after sunrise). 

Our 80m performance, as mentioned before, was much improved courtesy of our
newly functional vertical. We had some really excellent rates to NA and
multipliers in that direction (NA/SA, incl. Caribbean) were very easy to work
and often on first call. What really made a difference was to be able to switch
to the vertical to work multipliers but to have a lot of the European QRM simply
disappear which made it much easier to hear who the DX was coming back to.
However, this is something which we still need to work on for eastern mults as
we still struggled to get through pileups to some of those far eastern stations
on the loop. Nice to be called by some interesting stations which I guess kinda
proved that performance was better on this band (e.g. ZD8A, CT3EN, ...)

160m totally ROCKED, with NA just booming and SA/Caribbean again very easy, just
like on 80m. This was with our 'revamped' (unintentionally) quad loop!
Basically, our 160m mult count *should* have been much worse than it actually
is, but it seemed someone/something was on our side! If 10m had been open, we'd
have had a lot more 6-band QSOs, but stations such as HC8N, PZ5C, 8Q7DV, VP5W,
ZD8A, FP/K8DD, PJ2T etc all worked on 160-15m. 

So, the conclude, a big thanks to everybody who called [and spotted] us, and I
think for once we should thank Murphy(!) due to giving us some issues as
mentioned previously in this essay, er, write-up which probably resulted in a
better score than we'd have had if he hadn't dropped by! ;) 

Also, thanks to G6PZ of course for the hospitality, to G5W for the excellent
local G competition and to OM8A, EI7M, G5W, 9A1P, DP4T etc for the great scores
- it looks like M/S is going to be very close this year in Europe! 

-- 
Simon Pearson, M0CLW
WWYC #452