[UK-CONTEST] afs cw gw8izr

[paul at greenrover.demon.co.uk]

Well then..

The hours of meticulous dipole trimming paid off this year :-)  Apart 
from some issues that occurred in the unit between the operating seat 
and the keyboard, nothing broke and nothing went wrong.

The qso's of which there were 181 - 3 dupes and I've no doubt some mis 
copied serials etc..

Breakdown was 121 running and 60 S&P - about 90 up on last time.

Comments on 3570-90 and QRS etc..

I really enjoy CW contesting as I find it quite hard going, hence 
rewarding when it seems to go well to me.

Whatever band I'm on I always have a spec-an running watching activity 
and I can confirm that there was comparatively little activity above 
3570 during the entire event.

My view is that until I'd gained a bit of confidence I was frightened to 
run - so the QRS "area" was never any benefit to me. Now I've gained a 
bit of confidence I just find a hole and run as slowly as I feel 
comfortable with.

One stn called me for ages - I have absolutely no idea who it was, to me 
all the dits and dahs were the same length - I know whoever it was, was 
getting very frustrated that I couldn't read it - sorry I just couldn't 
get it.

Lesson learned :

I need a bigger RIT Knob! The fiddly thing that Icom think is useful - 
isn't.

The Heil Noise cancelling headphones are nowhere near as comfortable as 
the old pro-set - which I went back to after an hour.

As usual, thanks for the QSO's and particularly the repeats as required.


Regards Paul

-- 
73 de Paul GW8IZR IO73TI
http://www.gw8izr.com