[UK-CONTEST] CQWWCW - more tales of derring do

[g4fka at aol.com]

Or should that be wet string? Anyway yours truly decided it was time to  
exercise said string (30m geometrically and altitudinally challenged  inverted V 
doublet) on the delights of 80m for a single band spasm. 80m is  the bogey band 
for my 5BDXCC so the only way to get' em is to work 'em. I  operated in three 
sessions, 0000 Sat to 0645 Sat, 1630 Sat - 0345  Sun and 1630 Sun to the end.
 
Mainly S&P as usual but a few useful short runs as well.  Typically each 
session would start with a sweep of 3500 to 3600 and  work anyone I could. Then do 
the same again. Then either spend a bit of  time trying to winkle out the 
weaker ones or find a slot and put out a few  calls. Then back to general S&P 
again.
 
Assuming I've ended up in all the right logs, from 688 QSOs I made around  14 
new DXCCs (including one all time new one) and a couple of new mode  slots on 
the band so that made it all worthwhile. Takes me that bit  closer to the 
magic 100. Still got to get them all confirmed of course but glad  to see that a 
few of the new ones have already hit LOTW. Long may it  continue! I wont tempt 
fate by listing the new ones here.
 
Although I've done 80 overnight many times with the Bristol/Bere  
Island/Curacao/etc multi-faceted combo it was the first time I'd put  in the hours 
overnight from home. Amazing how different the band is. It also  opened up to the 
east for a short while on Sunday evening with VK, YE  and JA all heard but I was 
never going to break the pile-ups. JA3YBK was very  strong but I and a few 
other callers just couldn't get through and he soon moved  on. Other good 
signals included VK6HD and YE1ZAT. 
 
Lots of zones "got away" over the weekend. Not enough low angle from the  
little doublet to bust the pile-ups.
 
A few people have mentioned the operating discipline. I did find a few of  
the pile-ups rather unruly and there were some DX stations who even after 10-15  
minutes listening I still didn't hear their calls because of the  zoo. One or 
two operated split but all that meant was that the racket moved  up. No point 
moaning; they'll just have to wait for another day.
 
Just to complete the picture, the rig was the IC756ProIII which held up  very 
well against some very loud EU signals.
 
Good fun as ever.
 
 
Geoff G4FKA