[UK-CONTEST] 80M Contest

[G3WVG]

Interesting comments about this contest ..re propagation, antennas and
location.

I suppose I made all but 10 of my  QSOs by calling CQ...around 3745ish
actually..   At no time did I have a quiet channel , in fact very much the
opposite with loads of EU splatter. The splatter level on the 930 s-meter
never dropped below S9+10db....the vast majority of stns that called were
very difficult to copy.  The "good" thing about splatter though is that it
is intermittent and there are tiny breaks in it!

I reckoned that with signals as weak as they were, then the  substantial
portion of entrants that were QRP with 10Watts or had poor antennas wouldn't
be making any QSOs themselves except by S+P......so the only way I would get
to work them was if they replied to my CQs .     So even if it seemed
hopeless I carried on CQing through the noise and in turn did get called by
quite a few stations who were very very difficult to copy. .Generally
working them letter by letter and number by number through the splatter.
I only have one 80M antenna so I can't comment on which would be best ..
mine is a dipole at 65ft.running north/south .I like the idea of putting a
refector underneath ...has anyone of you ever actually tried this I wonder?

73 Ian G3WVG  .. Woking Surrey.