[UK-CONTEST] More GM0F CQ WPX SSB SOAB 2006

[Cooper, Stewart]

One thing I forgot to mention was the fact that a certain G1 chastised me for running high power on 160m. Now, I must confess that I didn't know that the power limit above 1850kHz was 32 watts. I wonder if I am the only one who didn't know this? I hold my hand up to this one and admit my guilt. Just wish the guy hadn't been so snide about it!
73
Stewart


Strange how an 80m CC event generates so much reflector activity, yet a major 48 hour event passes without a single e-mail! Anyway, I had a great time. Only one failure - the 80m vertical went to 3:1 early on Saturday with a feeder fault. Fortunately I had an 80m inverted V up in the air and just switched to it, and lived with the slight disadvantage. I did this contest because I wanted to shake out the cobwebs in the shack, and give myself some serious contest experience. I suffered from a lack of enthusiasm on the Saturday, really unable to pull out all the stops. I really find serial number contests hard, in spite of what folk were saying on here about making contest exchanges harder. I expect that those who want to introduce serial numbers and other more complicated exchanges into contesing haven't really had to battle with 4 figure serial numbers on 40m over a 48 hour period. Especially when English is not the first language of most European and Asian participants.
My list of things to sort before the next major event include a fridge and kettle in the shack, pre-prepared food in the shack and a separate tri-bander pointing the opposite direction to the main antenna systems! And a checklist to follow before starting up! I set the alarm to waken at 2330 on Friday night and it didn't go off. The reason was my fault for forgetting that I had had the alarm in Korea the last time I used it, so it was on the wrong time zone! Then in the late start panic I forgot to do a number of things including forgetting to crank up the 40m tower! It's amazing how a 30 minute late start in a serial number contest really destroys your feel-good factor.
10m never actually opened at all, although I worked DR1A who were there weakly all the time. 15m was very slow all the way through to Sunday afternoon, at which time it slowly began to open. It never really took off though, and CQ-ing was a waste of effort. It was good to pluck stuff out using the second radio though. So I was left with 20m as the run band, and what a Tower of Babel that was. Finding a clear frequency was a joke. People were actually running very effectively on 14.344.999! The Mediterranean temperament really gets into gear if you don't watch yourself. But it's like tooting your horn in Naples. There's no resentment or hatred. Just 'QSY offa da my frequency'. And Oh, by the way, I'll just jump on top of you when I feel like it. So, I've added a few calls to the blacklist on the back wall of the shack. And one of them's a TG9 who, I think, owns his own 20m frequency (and doesn't like Brits). I spend more time and effort asking if a frequency is in use than is necessary in an event like this. And it's just wasted breath! I realise that.
I started (late) at the start and went on, with a couple of long meal breaks, until 0130. I then slept for 4 hours, then ran again to the end with some long breaks for meals. Just under 36 hours total. I used an FT1000mp, ETO 91b, FT897d, Collins 30S1, 160m dipole, 80m vertical and dipole, 402CD, Force12 4ele, Trident 4ele, Create 5ele. I have no idea how I have done compared to others in the same category yet, but given that 10 and 15m never really got going, I don't expect to have done that well, although I did reach my target of 3 mil. I tried to record the entrire event, so if you worked me I could send you an audio file if desired.
Band   QSOs   Pfx
160   53   33
80   272   157
40   306   121
20   1388   478
15   91   44
10   1   0
Total 2111 Q's
Total Score 3750166

Stewart
GM4AFF / GM0F






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