[UK-CONTEST] ARRL SSB - G5W

[Don Beattie]

After good fun in the CW section two weeks ago, Marios, 5B4WN and I were looking forward to some good conditions for the SSB section. It really did not turn out quite as well as we had hoped. Again we were in the MS section. 

LF conditions did not seem as fruitful as in the CW leg, and the first night was quite heavy going. On the Saturday, we did not find 15m particularly rewarding, and ended the first day with just 29 mults on that band. On 20, however, we were just short of New Mexico NU and Labrador for the full house. NM came in on Sunday, but we never heard NU or Labrador.

15m picked up on the Sunday, with some good runs, although the volume was down on what could be expected from a fully open band. 160 improved on the Saturday night, although I got the impression that on all three LF bands, many of the signals were covered by quite high solar noise. The fact that the A index went to 12 on the Sunday probably did not help.

Nothing whatsoever on 10m - although we had the second rig monitoring the big signal freqs on that band we heard not a sound.

Pleased to say, no equipment problems - running 2 x K3 + linears. Win-Test its usual reliable self.

Some DQRM on the Sunday from a G station. The signal did not seem to be back scatter, so I suspect it was relatively local (say 30-40 miles maximum). The individual concerned seemed to take delight in commenting on my operating technique. He also seemed to have a reasonable beam, as he was hearing the weaker US stuff quite well, so this may help recognition. As we recorded the whole contest, I will post some sound clips of this "gentleman" shortly, in the hope someone might recognise the voice - it is quite distinctive. I would like to speak to the person concerned to explain which way is up. So any help in confirming the identity will be much appreciated. I just need to extract the relavent clips from 48 hours of audio !

Despite the less than ideal conditions, which meant that 20m carried a lot of the traffic, and was a zoo for long periods, it was great fun. Even better fun because Marios did most of the operating, and I had a (relatively) relaxed weekend ! (Thanks Marios)

Here's the numbers:


 BAND   QSO  S/P DUP  POINTS  AVG 
----------------------------------
  160    92   31   0     276 3.00 
   80   332   44   4     996 3.00 
   40   640   54   9    1920 3.00 
   20  1637   61  26    4905 3.00 
   15   294   40   4     882 3.00 
   10     0    0   0       0 0.00 
----------------------------------
TOTAL  2995  230  43    8979 3.00 
==================================
TOTAL SCORE : 2 065 170

73



Don, G3BJ