[UK-CONTEST] UK-Contest Digest, Vol 67, Issue 19

[Geoffg4afj at aol.com]

Well done GB7HQ!
 
I worked the gang in all 12 slots without a great deal of  difficulty despite 
my ropey cw. A Midlands location probably helped plus some  reasonable 
aerials. I think it's always going to be difficult to work  all UK stations on the 
HF bands ie 10, 15 and 20 and a lot of  luck may be needed for those that are 
less well equipped. I guess the best  chance is when the bands are closed to dx 
but from what little I observed  it would appear that they were open for 
large parts of the night and I  guess not many casual ops would wait 'til 2 or 3 
in the morning so the dx had  died down. It was mentioned in one or two of the 
e-mails about beaming in  particular directions so as to reach the more 
difficult parts of the UK. It  might be worth doing that in the future and there's 
no harm in doing as is done  on VHF and UHF and stating which direction you are 
beaming to encourage the  small stations especially when things are quiet. 
 
40m in GM seems sensible as they may work South Coast easily. Maybe a more  
modest HF station centrally placed in the UK may have merit to mop up smaller  
signals. I have no doubt that a great deal of thought and effort goes into 
this  contest and I would take it that if people are interested in  commenting 
they are interested in improving and working GB7HQ next time.
 
No complaints on the qsls from last year they did state the correct  'entity'.
 
Well done once again and I hope you get a better placing this  year.
 
73, Geoff, G4AFJ
 
 
73, Geoff