[UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC

[Nigel]

I have to agree with Nigel G3TXF. I only live about 3 miles from him, but 
last night I was 90 qso's behind him. Now I know he is a much better op than 
me, but 90 in an hour and a half is a bit too much to put down to operating 
style. (At least I hope I am not that bad) I thought that I as doing ok. 
Called CQ most of the time, and most callers scores were behind me. Then 
someone gives you a huge score and they are so far in front, it could make a 
grown man cry. I dare say what antenna you are using plays a big part. I use 
an 80 metre loop at the moment at about 45 ft at it's highest, and draped 
around the garden. I seems to work ok. But it does not seem to be what I 
would call a killer signal. A G5RV has been used and seems to be a total 
failure. Never even managed to get across the pond with it. I dare say 
location plays a big part. My ground is always wet. I often wonder if this 
is acts as a bit of an attenuator.
 Will be building an 80 metre Windom, to try sometime in the near future. 
This I will be able to get up in a straight line, so we will see how it 
performs.
 Nigel G0VDZ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nigel G3TXF" <nigel at G3TXF.com>
To: "UK Contest Reflector" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC


> Yes, there's more to this propagation stuff than anyone of us knows. 
> Antenna
> height, antenna orientation as well as the propagation must play a bigger
> role than we suspect. G3WVG (aka G0AAA) is about five miles from me. And 
> yet
> we get remarkably different results in different CC's. Sometimes WVG is 
> way
> ahead. And sometimes, like last night, TXF is ahead. Being lucky with a
> 'good' frequency also makes a huge difference. Unusually for me I had just
> such a frequency last night. The whole 90 minutes was spent CQing. As I
> recall there were only two 'dull patches' when absolutely no-one came back
> for four or five minutes. Otherwise it was a steady trickle.
>
> 73 - Nigel G3TXF
>
> PS : Although the K3 is supposed to be the dream-radio for CW ops, 
> seemingly
> it isn't too bad on SSB either!
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Don Beattie
> Sent: 03 February 2009 11:23
> To: Uk-Contest at Contesting.Com
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC
>
> Yes, I too was puzzled, Malcolm. I was running my dipole at about 55 ft, 
> and
> found it really hard going here in Shropshire. I was kept pretty busy, but
> with a lousy channel - I know there were callers I could not copy - and 
> yet
> by the end of the contest I was some 40 QSOs below the leaders. I think 
> most
> of these were in the South-East, so wonder if a relatively high density of
> "local" stations helps in this contest ? It was noticeable that the Eu
> stations (DJ and beyond) were very strong, but (for me) few in number. So
> yes, skip was long, I think, and high-angle absorption was high.
>
> Ended up with 132, but a real struggle to emulate the leaders.
>
> 73
>
> Don, G3BJ
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "g3pdh" <g3pdh at btopenworld.com>
> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:50 AM
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC
>
>
>> Does anyone have an explanation of last nights 80m CC conditions. From
>> this
>> area (Norwich) the band was just mushy noise with a few signals, mainly
>> continental and a few G's. More noticeably the few G's heard could hardly
>> hear me, as if one way paths existed, and despite this some were still
>> exchanging relatively high numbers. It would be interesting to see some
>> analysis of this phenomena as to whether it was propagation, antennae 
>> etc.
>> All stations in our group did poorly despite running decent rigs and full
>> size dipoles. Such conditions hardly seem to reflect text book theory.
>>
>> Malcolm G3PDH
>>
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>
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