[UK-CONTEST] 80M CC Contests

[John MacLean MM0CCC]

Jim MM0BQI said:

>From a northern (Edinburgh) perspective this is a change for the better.
>My totals in January were 7, 9 and 8 QSOs.  Conditions and QSO
>numbers slowly improved as the year went on..  It was a hard slog and
>on many evenings running less than 50w to a loaded dipole, a few feet
>above the roof,  seemed like a thankless task.

>That is possibly why there were so few entrants from GM.  Although we
>seem to have lots of operators at the multi stations up here, when it
>comes to participation in national (smaller) contests many of these
>individual calls are never heard.

I think you'll find the work/life balance affects the participation levels
more than any other factor, Jim.  Perhaps that's why GM's, and others,
target specific contests throughout the year and make a concerted effort to
be active during these.  I can think of several folks from multi-op calls
I've been involved with who have little or no station at their home QTH,
myself included.  What better way then to channel our contesting enthusiasm,
than coming together to form a multi-op station?  That said, the short
duration of the CC Contests do make it easier to steal a couple of hours of
family time, and dust the contest cobwebs away.

>I wonder where these operators learn
>the skills required to operate the multi stations during the three or four
>major contests each year?

Not much different to learning on an individual basis I'd say, with the
added requirement of being a good team player.  CW contest training programs
like PED, RUFZ, Morse Runner etc help the cause, and we sometimes record
audio from SSB contests for review/analysis.  Post-contest discussions are
carried out by email and at occassional get-togethers.   As Colin GM0RLZ has
mentioned, some of us also make an effort to do some VHF Contesting from GM
as well.

>Moves to increase participation and make short contest fun and
>accessible are to be applauded.

Absolutely, and the CC contests appear to have picked up where the LF
cumulatives left off in this respect, with the added bonus of SSB and Data
legs to boot.

73
John MM0CCC
op, GM5A/GM2T/MM0CPS


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