[UK-CONTEST] CQWWCW: M0PCB

[Iain Kelly]

Evenin' all,

Just thought I'd stick my numbers in. Was a fantastic weekend, though I 
did continue to hear CW well into Monday, and that was only after about 
10 or so hours in the chair over the weekend. Having had a phone call 
with the bad news from G6M (lack of mains power for a large chunk of the 
contest) I ended up playing from my place here in York (term time 
residence). Having just installed a new Sandpiper MV5+3 vertical it was 
a good opportunity to try it out, plus it doesn't give me RFI problems 
like the doublet does.

As a typical student would I had lie ins on both days, which meant that 
by the time I got up 15M was rocking, though the times I hopped up to 
10M there was nothing to be heard. Though I did manage to work G6M on 10 
on Sunday, I was pleased to see they were back on the air. By 6pm on 
Sunday even 20M had tailed off for me so decided to have a bash on 40M 
before calling it a day and almost fell off my chair when I managed to 
work 8Q7DV on my 2nd call.

Signals from EU and Russia were generally big, though those from the DX 
were often quite weak. Everyone had good ears. Managed to catch 5A7A on 
3 bands, though that took a lot more effort than it should! It was 
easier to work HC8N etc. 3B8/OM0C was strong with me on 20M for a while, 
but he had a huge zoo so I eventually gave up on him, though it would 
have been another new one for me.

At the end of the day I made 113 QSOs, worked 9 all time new DXCCs and a 
large number of new band/modes for other countries. Getting close to 
DXCC on 15M and 20M now, which is only a humble accolade in present 
company, but nonetheless I have great fun with the more 'Heath Robinson' 
station I manage to get on the air with. Hopefully I'll have something a 
bit more permanent and more effective when I finally graduate :-).

Band    QSOs    Pts  Cty   ZN
    7      17      35   15    9
   14      48     118   27   13
   21      47      99   38   18
   28       1      0    1    1
Total     113     252   81   41
Score: 30,744

I'm still coming to terms with how well the weekend went for me, only a 
small score, which will be donated to WWYC of course, given that the 
antenna I was using is only about 12 feet tall! Saying that I am 
convinced that I was able to work stuff with it I wouldn't have heard 
with the doublet, except ZC4LI on 40, which required the bigger antenna, 
but maybe that's the exception to prove the rule ;-)

73 all see you in the next one,

Iain
M0PCB/AD5XI