[UK-CONTEST] CT9L M/2 CQ WW CW

[Cooper, Stewart]

Although I was just a member of the CT9L team, and the only Brit, I feel it only right that I submit something to the UK reflector on behalf of the CT9L team. I'm sure the other team members won't object.
No one would have expected that Madeira would have been so cold, so wet and so windy. We lost an element on our 40m yagi, the rotator on the main tower stripped its gears, and we lost power on Saturday evening for about 40 mins, as did the rest of the island (including Jose CT3NT). The direction of the 40m and TH5 yagis was more or less random throughout Saturday afternoon and Sunday! Each time the broken element (which was still hanging in space) struck the tower it tripped the amp, so it was a trial to simple run on 40m.
The operation from CT9L is almost a field day style operation, with the only fixture being the 35ft tilt-over tower. The basement of a small guest house is commandeered and all antennas and equipment are set up and dismantled before and after the weekend. But it was great fun, and the pile-ups were fantastic. The gear comprised a TS850, FT990, Acom 2000, Acom 1010 and a barefoot IC735 for mult hunting. Antennas included a 160m inverted L, 80m 1/4 wave vertical, 80m dipole, 40m 2 ele, TH5, DJ2UT tribander and a GPA40 multiband vertical. I carried three laptops in my luggage (along with other bits and bobs) to make up the computer network and tried to smile as I lifted the case onto the check-in scale (32kg). We all carried a great deal of equipment, with Lars DF1LON bringing an Acom 1010 and a TS850!
10m never really got going although we had a brief opening on Sunday morning. I think, with north/south propagation, we were slightly too far west to get any benefit, but we did manage to grab a good few mults. All the other bands provided constant fun, with 15 and 20m closing very rapidly after sunset. 40m provided hours of pile-ups. 80 and 160m were not particularly noisy. I erected a Ewe receiving antenna in case, but it never really performed at all, which was strange - perhaps due to a poor earth.
Madeira certainly seems like a place to be to do well. CT9L is located on the north of the island, which provides a great take-off to all populated areas of the world. It is, however, always windier and wetter than the south, but this weekend was something else (although perhaps not as bad as Shetland).
To all who worked us, many thanks.
 
Operator(s): DF1LON, DJ0IF, DJ2YE, DK7YY, GM4AFF
Class: M/2 HP
Summary:

 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  548    14       67
   80: 1579    28      104
   40: 2183    34      127
   20: 2385    33      132
   15: 2219    28       96
   10:  159    11       38
------------------------------
Total: 9073   148      564  Total Score = 19,224,000

Club: Rhein Ruhr DX Association

73
Stewart GM4AFF
 
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