[UK-CONTEST] Fw: CQWW CW G4IIY SOAB(A) HP

[Ian Fugler G4IIY]

I can empathise with Don's description of late night excursions in the 
freezing cold to investigate aerial problems.  I had a similar issue with my 
40m vertical, which had a perfect SWR throughout Friday, but was around 3:1, 
when I went to work a few mults on 40m about 4 hours in to the contest.  It 
was now resonant below 7Mhz.  A 100m trip to the aerial showed it was 
completely iced up.  Anyway, after about 20 mins, including unloading a can 
of de-icer it was fine and stayed that way, despite the temp only going 
above freezing for the first time today.  The doublet and inverted L also 
looked like they were pipes, not wire, although the SWR was fine.

I only managed 30 hours on the air, as my intended 'nap' on Saturday evening 
turned in to seven hours' sleep.  I also finished a few hours early.

My router still loses its ADSL connection when I operate on 160m.  I will 
have to re-route the aerial which runs close to where the telephone line 
enters the house.  My old router (pre-lightning strike) never had this 
problem.  Can anybody recommend a decent wireless router that is immune to 
RF on 160m, please?  It must have the ability to connect directional 
aerials.

I guess the highlight was running on 80m with my new 70 foot vertical and 
never being challenged for the run frequency.  Must have been putting out a 
reasonable signal.  I lost count of the number of Zone 3 stations that I 
worked on 80m - a new experience for me.

Ian


 Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
 ------------------------------
  160:   76     9       37
   80:  705    18       80
   40:  524    23      101
   20:  626    23       93
   15:   68    17       44
   10:    1     1        1
 ------------------------------
 Total: 2000    91      356  Total Score = 1,648,983