[UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day

[Peter Hobbs]

 You did well Jim - I'm jolly envious!  Wall to wall rain and wind here in 
Sussex.  Having braved this to reach the shack this morning (100 yards from 
the house) it was probably reluctance to repeat that experience that kept me 
at it until nearly 1700z, by which time the rain had just about subsided. 
Actually, with no other distractions, there seemed a reasonable number of 
signals about, at least during the core hours.  I treated it as a 
resurrected 21CW event and so wasn't over disappointed with the lack of 
anything at all on 10.  Some of the best QSOs came from "crumbs", i.e. 
strategic calls and CQs to attract casuals after they'd worked a major 
player, but the highlight was an early call from J88DR for his #1 (thanks 
Dave!).  Sometimes an omni antenna can be an advantage (probably too early
 to be pointing a beam that way).

 This was my first run at the new-style combined event, but overall I 
suspect propagation was no worse than in the last couple of years - activity 
is just
 being diluted between the CW and SSB sectors.  So, a low-key effort - 
barefoot K3 to an elevated SteppIR vertical - produced 85 CW QSOs and 44
 mults, all on 15.  No need to bother with a logger either when the best 
hour QSO total is under 20!

 73
 Peter G3LET

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "MM0BQI" <MM0BQI at blueyonder.co.uk>
> To: "UK-Contest" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 9:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>
>
> Surely the magic of radio is that there is no way of knowing what 
> conditions
> will be like, sunspots or no sunspots?  Try working from the north of
> Scotland when auora is in full swing, chances are are you will hear even
> less than you did today!  Last weekend during CQWW I had some good 
> contacts
> on 15m and even managed some on 10m!!.  Today I had one QSO in three hours
> of 'listening' (Anyone know if there is an SWL section???)
> Please don't blame the RSGB for lack of sunspots (lack of QSL cards maybe
> but not QSOs!!)
> I set up my portable station with fishing rod vertical and 50w down by the
> seaside and listened and listened, it was almost as bad as 2m on a good 
> day.
> Luckily enough it was wall to wall sunshine and the natural beauty of
> Scotland on an autumn day made it all worthwhile.
> On the other hand yesterdays EU Sprint was a blast.  Lots of stations to
> work and a fantastic format.  Hopefully more of us will get on for the 
> RSGB
> organised sprint events on 80m.
> 73
> Jim,  MM0BQI
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
 > From: "Tony Roskilly" <g3zrj.morsekey at btinternet.com>
> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 8:17 PM
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>
>
>> Hi All,
>> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the Solar
>> Cycle I can't
>> understand,  mogodon via radio.   With a barefoot rig and a doublet this
>> year's contest
>> was a total waste of time.    Please can't RSGB organise a contest which
>> takes into account
>> the current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows 
>> those
>> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
>> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21 
>> MHz
>> band in the other,  I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
>> listening to it as the only copyable signal.     This is certainly no way
>> to encourage new ops to participate in contesting.
>> 73
>> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>>
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