[UK-CONTEST] 80MCC from Finland

[Ian Greenshields]

It's been a busy week at FSU Towers: first, NFD weekend at G6YB/P, then an
0dark:30 start on Monday morning for a flight to Helsinki.

But, as chance had it, I would be on the island of Emsalo by Wednesday &
able to come on for the 80mCC CW contest - if anyone could hear me.

I knew it wouldn't be easy as midsummer is barely a week away and it'll be a
few more weeks yet before we see any sign of dark here. At close to 2000km
to the UK, it's pushing it for daylight on 80m.  And that's before the
static; with a summer storm rumbling away to the south over the Baltic
towards Estonia, it was worse than usual. But I was hoping for a few
contacts at least towards the end of the contest when it should be dusk in
the UK. And so it turned out.

As the clock passed 19:00z (22:00 local), instead of the usual frenzy, it
was more a case of 'can I hear any Gs?' And the answer was: no. It was
uncanny. There's a Russian activity contest, much like our own, which ended
at 19:00z. Right up to the start of the 80mCC, the band was heaving with
S9+20 signals (St. Petersberg is less than 300km away), then, right at our
start, all of a sudden, nothing! Crash, bang, crash, the storm is getting
closer - I can see the tops of the thunder cell far out over the sea, but
live signals: nope, nothing, where did they all go?!

Eventually, a few weak signals did start to appear and, tuning up & down the
band, I started to pick out the odd G3 & TEST though the crashes. The first
full callsign I got was G4RCG so I called him. Incredibly, he came straight
back. Good start, first QSO at t+20 minutes. It hasn't been this slow since
the 21/28! Next QSO was with fellow team mate G3TKF & then nothing again for
about about 40 minutes.

I completed a grand total of 13 contacts, only 2 in the first hour and then
11 more in the final half hour.

Inevitably I called many stations without success, some never hearing me,
others giving up quickly to maintain rate (why does a '/' after the prefix
create so much more confusion than after the suffix?). Some signals really
stood out from the pack. Strongest up here were G4RCG, G3RVM and G3OLB all
of whom also heard my first call.

Equipment was a K2 and W3DZZ inverted vee, hoisted up the ubiquitous Finnish
flagpole, 10 metres high. SD for logging on a Linux eeePC netbook. I know, I
know, the back of a business card would have sufficed!

A very sincere thanks to those who stayed with me to complete the exchange.

So, if CQWW can add new categories, I see no reason why 80mCC cannot. Here
is my challenge for 80mCC extreme radio category: any submitted entry with a
non-zero score from the furthest distance from the UK wins! Results,
trophies and disputes to be settled in the bar at the HF Convention in
October.

73 Ian OH/G4FSU
Emsalo Island EU-097