[UK-CONTEST] ARRL 28MHz - G4FKA

[g4fka at aol.com]

Sub-titled, a contest of four halves or the keying Whelans.
 
Well that was fun wasn't it (not). Having two antennas configured as full  
wave verticals was never going to be an ideal solution but Saturday came and I  
remembered there was a contest so on with the rig to see what  happened.
 
Four halves? Well from one perspective it was Saturday versus Sunday; from  
another it was what I could hear versus what I worked. We'll come to the  
keying Whelans in a minute.
 
Saturday got off to quite a reasonable start. On from around 0830 up to 10  
QSOs quite quickly and each QSO a different DXCC. An indication of good  
conditions to come I thought. Hah! thought the ionosphere we'll soon put a stop  to 
that. Like everyone else I heard the UA3 and heard the 3XM6 and heard the PYs  
and LUs. Could I work them? Not likely so after 30 Qs I gave up and went off 
to  write some Christmas cards. Came back up around 2000 but band had gone to  
bed.
 
Up on Sunday; heard a C4 at 0900 Oh good maybe better to come. In fact it  
was dire. I only heard around half a dozen stations all day and I'd worked all  
bar one yesterday. On SSB in the afternoon all I could hear were the  Newport 
and Kington Langley beacons! On CW there were three of us and the other  two 
were both called Whelan. I felt out of place. Sunday bought the grand total  of 
1 QSO so not a lot to write home about. Lost interest very early and went off 
 to write more Christmas cards and put the decorations up.
 
Oh how I wish I'd had something to beam at them all. It wasn't a  weekend for 
wet string.
 
Time to hibernate now so wake me up when 28 comes back!
 
Geoff G4FKA