[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB G4ERW SOSB/20 HP

[DAVID LURCOOK]

Having only dabbled in CQWW in the past I thought I would try a serious entry this year, particularly as the weekend was 'clear' of other commitments. I decided on a 20m single band effort as I currently only have a decent antenna up for that band and band closures sort of coincide with normal sleep patterns. On that basis I guess I could have done a 10m single band effort and slept for most of the weekend! In the end I only managed 26 hours in the shack.
 
Highlights 
Nothing 'broke' - even the flimsy fishing pole quad spiders survived the odd gust! Managed to work J88DR (Dave, G3TBK) on first call whilst he was working a strong wall of North Americans. Being spotted by XE2EX. 
 
Low lights 
Just no space! This obviously affected everyone but I spent far too much time trying to find a frequency to 'run'. On the occasions I did find a clearish (!!)frequency I realised that I was getting out OK but then had the problem of hearing stations calling over QRM. 
Consequently rate was low and was far off the 2000 QSO target I had set myself. 
 
Observations 
- Good conditions to W/VE West Coast on both afternoons. 
- Some very poor signals from Europe! 
- Was forced to move below 14.150MHz for a 'clear' frequency and good for working Europeans and VE's; also called by US stations who then realised they were out of band! 
- Noticed than some stations I called went on to call CQ without waiting for my '59 14'. Haven't noticed this before. A problem with predictable exchanges I guess! 
- Used voice keying for the first time and although SD handles this well I'm not sure soundcard voice keying is ideal (any suggestions - apart from don't use soundcard keying!). 
 
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: G4ERW
Operator(s): G4ERW
Station: G4ERW
Class: SOSB/20 HP
QTH: Ashford
Operating Time (hrs): 26
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 
80: 
40: 
20: 1263 33 104
15: 
10: 
------------------------------
Total: 1263 33 104 Total Score = 364,557
Club: 
Comments:
Transceiver: TS850
Linear: Ameritron AL811
Antenna: Homemade 3 ele monoband quad on 7m boom @ 12m 
Logging: SD
 
G4ERW - Zone Multipliers for 20m Metres
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 13 14 15 16 
17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 28 30 32 33 34 35 
37 38 40 


G4ERW - Country Multipliers for 20m Metres
3A 3DA 3V 4L 4O 4X 5B 6W 6Y 9A 
9H 9K BV BY CN CT CT3 CU D4 DL 
E7 EA EA8 EA9 EI EK ER ES ET EU 
EX F FM G GM GW HA HB HC8 HK 
HR HS I IG9 IS IT9 J3 J8 JA K 
KH2 KL KP2 KP4 LA LU LX LY LZ OA 
OE OH OH0 OK OM ON OZ PA PJ2 PY 
PZ S5 SM SP SU SV SV5 SV9 TA TF 
TI TK UA UA2 UA9 UN UR V2 V3 V4 
VE VK VP2E VR XE YB YL YO YU YV 
Z3 ZF ZL ZS