[UK-CONTEST] 1.8MHz Contest G3LET

[Peter Hobbs]

Prepared for the (advertised) coldest night of the winter with my VP8 mukluks, gloves and a hot water bottle, however it didn't actually materialise although there was wet snow falling at 0100 in Sussex.  At 2050 the band was alive with interesting stuff but a lot of it seemed to have evaporated by 22Z.  I always forget to look around for the EU guys who disappear to bed early on.  Having finally found a PC (flat-pack ex Crawley College from the local car boot) that is acceptably quiet I had another bash at Paul's ESM (SD).  Perhaps optimistically I set auto-reply to start after 4 characters, forgetting initially that you have to delay entering the 4th character until the guy has actually finished calling, otherwise confusion reigns!  Almost got the hang of it by the end . . .
Very similar profile to Chris at 94, 44, 26, 42, for 203 good QSOs (3 dupes), 25C, 55PC, total 1009.  Failed to attract 5B4AGC, a big signal calling Gs up the band, despite some strategic CQs.  Did catch 7X0RY and 22 assorted W/VE, the pick of which was VE9DX, who was a little over ESP level.  The Orion 300/600Hz roofing filters made the band sound amazingly quiet, but of course didn't help with the F6 who seemed to be using MCW or something of the sort.  The 200 ft sloping wire performed well to the NW, but at the expense of EU, some of which was quite hard to copy at times - not ideal for this event I suppose.  But a fun bash, all in all - I think my first foray in the 2nd 1.8.

73, Peter G3LET