[UK-CONTEST] May 2m Contest - follow up

[John Lemay]

Hello all

Steve White said:

< there were some East Coast portables who were relying more on working
Continents than beaming towards the UK and working more mults >

Crikey Steve, how many east coast portables did you hear? There was us
(G0VHF/P) and M0BAA/P.

We beamed inland a lot and it wasn't for lack of trying that we missed some
multipliers, especially in the west country.

I'd better start from the beginning: Our intention was to have two aerial
arrays, relay switched at the operating position for quick response to those
"off the back of the beam". After a quick bit of beacon spotting and
comparison of the two arrays, and some software tweaks for the logging
system, we appeared to be ready for the contest before 3pm. That's unusual.
At this point, one rotator decided it would only work in the clockwise
rotation. Continuity and voltage checks on the rotator cable showed a
curious number of problems and it was a wonder it had worked at all. The
cable was sorted out and the rotator still refused to go anticlockwise. We
nursed it round to east and there it stayed for the duration. The rotator
was at the bottom of a 55 ft pole and we figured we'd be unable to lift the
pole enough the retrieve it. We had also cunningly located the tent in such
a position that the mast could not be luffed over until contest end.

At the end of the contest we needed to "park" the array on a particular
heading so that the aerials could be removed one by one while the mast was
lowered. Whereupon the rotator performed faultlessly in both
directions......

The other set of aerials was used to hunt down the all-elusive multipliers.
Even though London is not very far away, there were many multipliers there
that simply don't seem to be active at all on 2m SSB. The west country, as
mentioned earlier, was difficult for us. In contrast, conditions to GM
seemed quite good at times, and the ability to claim for 3 contacts with
each region makes for an interesting challenge. From memory, we worked 7 or
8 stations in DG, so the novelty wore off after a while.

Highlights included working a /P on Lundy Island (bet it was windy there!)
and the last but one qso produced a much needed NE post-code for us.

Our qso numbers and our score are up compared to last year, but the number
of multipliers is down.

Regards

John G4ZTR G0VHF/P



-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve White
Sent: 17 May 2009 20:28
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] May 2m Contest - follow up

I was interested to read Ray, GM4CXM's post on the subject of the 2m contest

that took place this weekend. Splitting my 6-hour single op entry between 
Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, I enjoyed the event despite never 
being overly busy. I also felt that postcode mults helped to promote 
inter-UK activity, although there were some East Coast portables who were 
relying more on working Continents than beaming towards the UK and working 
more mults.

I didn't go on FM to elicit local QSOs, because such people would be very 
unlikely to work anyone else in the contest and I would be concerned about 
having too many unique calls in my log. Maybe the Contest Committee could 
comment on whether they consider working locals on FM as within the spirit 
of the contest, if these people don't work anyone else.

QSOs: 98
Countries: 6
Postcode mults: 61
Claimed score: 1,516,545
Best DX: GM8OEG in IO86NM, 639km

Steve, G3ZVW (IO80MS)

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