[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB G3ZQH SOAB LP

[G3ZQH]

First post on this reflector. Great to read other people's contest reports,
a veritable mine of useful information.

I've been back on the air for only the last 3 years after a very long break
(for all the usual reasons) and this

is the first 'big' contest I've done from my home QTH in a semi-serious way,
though having seen the unbelievable 

45hrs+ put in by the real experts, I see I have a long way to go to put in a
fully serious effort.

 

Band    QSOs    Pts      Cty       ZN

1.8        25         26         15         3

3.5        193       237       43         8

 7         151       210       47         11

14         254       461       64         23

21         147       249       42         17

28         10         11         3          2

 

Total     780       1194     214       64

Score: 331,932

 

QTH: Nottingham, UK
Operating Time (hrs): 26
Radio: FT1000MP, 100W
Antennas: 44ft+88ft doublets @ 45ft at 90 deg (40/20/15/10), 45ft vert.
(40/80/160m) 

 

Managed 26 hours of operating, starting early and finishing late so that I
could fit in 

essential family duties during the day. Almost entirely S&P- the longest
'run' I had was 12 Qs.

but it still felt busy despite my fairly low QSO rates- my average was
around 30 and my best hourly 

rate was 60 but I think I would be hard pushed to get more than this S&P.  

 

15m was by far the best band to work on with low power (10 would have been
even better, 

but sadly it hardly opened for me), but I made a mistake of leaving some of
the nice 

AS/OC mults until the next day, thinking that it would be easier to get
through once the big 

guns had done their stuff.  Sadly 15 was poor on Sunday- so lesson learned
to take mults 

when they are on offer. 20 was horrendous with some awful EU splatter and my
100W/doublet

was always going to struggle, but in the evenings, once the eastern QRM died
away it was great 

to pick up lots of easy mults from the Caribbean area.

 

40m/80m were much better than I'd expected. 40 was good when 7.1-7.2 was
clear, but otherwise 

far too crowded- like others I noted a lot of stations calling well out of
sub bands. The highlight 

on 80m was working a dozen or more of the 'monster' North American stations
on the trot and getting 

through first time every time (I guess they were desperate for Qs since it
was the second morning.).

 

Overall a very enjoyable experience and even with a simple set-up and 100W
it's still possible

to generate that contest buzz!  My modest total at least gives me a target
for improvement next year.

 

Dave G3ZQH