[UK-CONTEST] 2009 RSGB Commonwealth Contest - P3J (longish)

[Alan Jubb - 5B4AHJ]

Raw Score:

Band             QSO           Bonus
80                  119               42
40                  296               65
20                  319               65
15                    82              30
10                    14              14
Total:             830

Points claimed: 8470

OBJECTIVE
As always my objective was to beat  my previous year and my best ever score
(Points/QSOs/BCAs) 2008:6780/648/118. Best ever: 2007: Pts 7560, Qs 900,
2008: BCAs: 118. Objective achieved for points (the main thing!) and BCAs,
but not best ever QSO total. I put that down to conditions.

Also, of course, it's nice to do well against one's peers. Time will tell
how that worked out.

OVERALL
Conditions generally poor, and on Sunday were diabolical. Less than 70 QSOs
in the 6 hours from 0100z to 0700z, and it didn't get a lot better after
that. I didn't hear Bob 5B4AGN after late Saturday evening, so I guess he
did the sensible thing and went to bed! These were probably the worst
conditions I've experienced in a CC from 5B.

WX
Cyprus suffers from Coptic winds, which come regularly at various times
through the winter. They are around the same dates every year. So far as
BERU is concerned, the relevant ones are on 10th and 20th March, +/- a few
days. Last year, the first of the two arrived on the Saturday of BERU and
damaged my 40m antenna. This year, we got the first out of the way before
the contest and I was hopeful that the second wouldn't appear over the
weekend. However, on Thursday, the forecast was for high winds for a 48 hour
period, starting Friday evening. Therefore, I spent a couple of hours on
Friday checking guy tensions, and also was able to borrow a HF9V from John
(5B4AHK) as a backup antenna, to avoid a repeat of last years problem. In
actual fact, although there was some blustery wind, the high winds didn't
really materialise.

BAND by BAND
10m - I was please there was some activity on this band,although 2008 was
better, with 13 DXCC entities worked. I moved a number of stations to 10m,
most of which resulted in a QSO, but VK6 and 9H3JT and ZS6KR didn't work
out. Best DX was VP8KF and VK9AA. No G heard.

15m - this was the big disappointment, giving me my worst result on the band
for any CC I've entered from 5B. The prop forecast posted on the BERU
website didn't show any propagation to G, and it didn't work out much
better. Apart from Clive GM3POI, all Gs worked were in a 90 minute period
between 1200z and 1330z. Clive was a big signal at 1056z. Usually, there is
a good opening at the end of the contest, but I only heard a few weak Gs,
all of whom I'd worked already. With 20m being so poor on Sunday, I turned
the beam SSE and worked a few VKs on 15m (mostly 6s, one 4) and some
Africans plus AP and VU. I did come across 6Y8XF CQing on 15m, at about S5,
on Saturday afternoon. He wasn't getting many takers, and I called a number
of times, but only got a solitary ? once, Even Nigel's legendary ears are no
match for dire conditions.

20m - The work-horse band as always, giving almost my best ever QSO total (7
Qs short of my best). This also provided the most embarrassing moment of the
contest, when I found an enormous pile calling 6Y8XF. In the heat of the
moment I pressed the callsign button on my ETM-9C keyer instead of F4. Nigel
heard me first call, so came back to 5B4AHJ instead of P3J.!! I compounded
my embarrassment, by sending the wrong serial. For some reason I sent the
serial manually, and not via WinTest. So apologies to Nigel and the waiting
pile who must have thought I was a complete plonker! (I was!)

40m - another workhorse band. It says something about HF conditions when my
40m QSO total, using a low inverted vee, is not far short of my 20m QSO
total using an Optibeam 11/5.

80m - always a difficult band for me as I have a low inverted vee (apex 50ft
AGL). Last year, having no 40m antenna, I spent a lot of time on 80m, so I
was pleased that my 80m QSO total this year wasn't far short of last years,
and I made 7 more BCAs this year. I spent some time on 8om looking for Nigel
6Y8XF, but he obviously had a problem as he didn't turn up there until quite
late (my QSO was at 0315z). Thanks for a new DXCC band slot Nigel.

5-BANDERS
5X1NH, VQ9JC, ZC4VJ

4-BANDERS
7Q7BP (no 80m), 9J2BO (no 80m), AP2NK (no 40m), G0IVZ, G3BJ, G3IAF, G3KMA,
G3KMQ, G3KZR, G3LET, G3LUW, G3PHO, G3PSM, G3VYI, G3WPH, G4BUO, G4CMQ, G4CZB,
G4FKA, G4TSH, GB5CC, GM3POI, GM4FAM, GW3NJW, MD0CCE, (all no 10m), V51YJ (no
80m), VK2BJ (no 10m), VK6HD (no 10m), VK6LW (no 10m), VU2PTT (no 10m), ZC4LI
(no 15m), ZS1EL (no 80m), ZS4JAN (no 80m) , ZS4U (no 10m), ZS6C (no 10m),
ZS6KR (no 10m). Most of the Africans were missed on 80m, something to work
on next year.

OVERALL
Apart from the dire conditions on Sunday I really enjoyed the contest, as
always, and will certainly plan to be back next year. It was gratifying to
achieve most of my objectives. There was tough competition from Cyprus, but
I reckon the VE-s will take the honours. I suffered more this year from
non-Commonwealth callers, and had to get quite ratty with some, they mostly
went away after that.

73

Alan P3J/5B4AHJ