[UK-CONTEST] ARRL 10m

[Clive Whelan]

Well, I guess we can all agree that it was pretty much a non-event!

However, I think that in some ways it is more interesting than when 
conditions are good. Unless I am in denial, it seems that most Eu 
stations struggled. My own situation was compounded by the fact that  
the antenna was cranked down to 15ft because of the ( forecast) winds, 
and was therefore fixed to the East, and so I made only 25 QSOs in 11 
countries. I do confess however that I spent more time eating and 
watching soccer on TV ( not necessarily simultaneously!) than I did 
operating, since my hair shirt was in the laundry.

A quick review of 3830 postings would suggest that on the other side of 
the pond, they did at least get some genuine Es propagation, and even 
perhaps some F layer on the North/South path. However I made only one 
genuine Es QSO, and that was with DL1IAO who was strong. The rest of the 
Eu QSOs seemed to be a mixture of scatter and Es, sharing the worst 
attributes of both, viz seriously weak with intense QSB. I suspect that 
there was some side scatter, since I worked a number of OH stations as 
well as SM and OZ. Paradoxically, I worked just a single 9A staion, a 
couple of Fs, and didn't even hear  an Italian station at all . Combined 
with the above, that might indicate that the incipient Es "cloud" was 
located over Northern Europe. Somewhat to the contrary, OL5M was the 
most consistent signal over the duration of the contest, but couldn't 
hear me until his own signal rose above S6 ( which in those conditions 
is a massive signal!).


Did anyone from the UK work outside Europe, or have any contrary 
experience of propagation?


73



Clive