[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB 2006: G0AEV @ G0KPW

[Steve Reed]

Slightly late CQWW SSB report - SOSB 10m unassisted high power at G0KPW.

The plan was to put in a "competitive" score and to prove the 10m component 
for a planned resurrection of the M6T multi-multi station.  The first of 
these objectives was a non-starter because conditions were just too good! 
 Half a sniff of F2 and stations further south have too much propagation 
advantage.  But it was fun trying.  The station and antenna systems were 
built more or less from scratch (apart from placing the towers) in the two 
days before the contest.  Everything came together with time to spare 
(thanks to assistance from G4BAH and G4PIQ) - it made a nice change not to 
be fixing things right up to the wire!  There was even time enough to find 
a clear run frequency - tough job on 10m at night - and create a little 
noise before the start.  First QSO was at 00.02, then the rate slowed just 
a wee bit...

It's difficult to set meaningful targets for a band where several different 
and difficult to predict propagation modes have the potential to make a big 
impact on the score (especially at solar minimum).  10m DXCC and 1000 QSOs 
were certainly at the top end of the target range but both these targets 
were exceeded.  The band stayed open in some form or other for long periods 
on both days.  Saturday afternoon produced a 3 hour opening to North 
America, though signals were mostly weak: it was impossible to get any 
decent runs and only 85 W/VE stations were worked.  Sunday's highlight was 
a 15-minute period just before 0900 when I nabbed 3W, 9N, 9M2, BY, HS and 
XX9. No W/VE on Sunday but zones 8 and 9 were workable both evenings to 
19z, zones 11 and 13 to 21z.

Probably of no surprise that Europe was the staple. There was plenty of 
inter-European propagation: reliable early morning meteor scatter, tropo 
across the N Sea, some excellent sporadic E, and both F2 direct path and 
(lots of) F2 scatter.  I particularly liked the late Saturday evening Es 
opening to UA1, Scandinavia and zone 40 that I seemed to have to myself for 
the first hour, though I did miss a JW.  Eu rates were never high but there 
was nearly always something to work - last QSO was at 23.56 on Sunday via 
sporadic E.

Valid QSOs - 1074 (Africa - 34, Asia - 26, Europe - 837 [includes 32 Gs], N 
America - 97. S America - 79, Oceania - 1)

Dupes 43.  G3B (or is it G2B) called and worked me 3 times - maybe they 
plan to resolve the busted call problem by working everybody (even 
same-country stations) several times?

Mults - 136 (Countries - 110, Zones - 26)

Raw score - 206176.  Points/QSO - 1.41.  Operating time - 42 hours.

Station - FT1000D/Titan +  two 5ele monobanders each at 100'

Thanks to Bob G4BAH for the invitation to operate, and for making his site 
and hardware available.

Steve, G0AEV