[UK-CONTEST] GB5HQ - Not complacent

[Dave Lawley]

My thanks to the contributors who don't see it the same as G3LET, but I
want to stress
that the team is not complacent. I have received some constructive comments
and
we have a whole list of items, software and others, that we want to address
for next
year. And to retain some competitive advantage I'm not going to go into
details here.

Our target is DA0HQ as they have such a great record of wins but they are
vulnerable.
The majority of EU contesters are in zone 28, so when they work one it's
worth one
point and when we work one, two points. My view is that the main threat
longer term
is TM0HQ and maybe also R9HQ. But you've got to give the Germans credit -
the 
number of DL calls that appear in their logs is little short of
unbelievable.

Our best chance was in 2003 when we did it for the first time. They weren't
expecting 
us and if we had just done it a bit better, we would have stolen it. By
2004 they were
more prepared and they raised their game, but the gap is narrowing. There
were 
a few critical things we did wrong in 2003: two stations underperformed
significantly,
and I made the unwise decision to have a combined phone and CW station on
160. 
Also we did not make sufficient use of spotter stations. We learned, and
corrected
those deficiencies. We are still learning.

To address Mike G3VAO's point: six of today's GB5HQ operators were in the
M6T team
which still holds the European multi-multi record in CQWW SSB, the biggest
contest
of the year. Most times, 15 and 10m shut down overnight. I know, because as
the
chief 20m op. I was the one closest to the opening of the trailer and it
was damned 
freezing at night with the East Anglian wind blowing in at you! Not sure
what your contest
credentials are Mike but if shutting down at night is good enough for the
likes of G4PIQ
G4BWP and G0AEV and gets you the record, it's good enough for me.

Please share your constructive comments on this year's GB5HQ operation with
the 
reflector, or privately with me or one of the team. We really want to win
this one for the UK.

Cheers, Dave G4BUO