[UK-CONTEST] CQWW from CT9

[Darren G0TSM]

Firstly, wow, what a weekend. That was the most frustrating contest I 
had ever tried to operate in. I was located in Funchal on the South 
coast of the island with severely rising ground to the North right 
behind the hotel, roughly 25deg. I started the week using a 2.5M long 
whip on the balcony of our 7th floor room and to change band I adjusted 
the tapping on the loading coil. This caused a few probs with arcing 
with the 100W so I changed to a 1/4 vert for 30M using my spider pole 
and I placed my MFJ ATU at the feed point. For 40M I just reconnected 
the loading coil. The difference on the signals was very noticeable. I 
had 2 radials on 10, 15 and 20 but these were just cable tied to the 
metal balcony railings. The theory was that the ant is near enough a 1/2 
wave on 15M and a 5/8 on 10M. The plots looked good on eznec too.
I thought I'd just tune around and work anyone who was CQing, change 
band then repeat the process. I tried 40M but only 1 or 2 stations on 
the band that could copy me. 20M was bizarre, I managed to be heard by a 
few EU's and it was amazing to copy most of the EU's long path. In fact 
DR1A was 9+30 longpath and the direct signal was S-zero, quite odd to 
listen to. Even though DR1A was the loudest EU sig on any band they were 
totally deaf and not just to me. I was listening to their nice pile of 
VK/BY/BV/JA and they weren't copying any of them, maybe they had a bad 
freq but there were too many 'again?'s and they just kept working EU. I 
tried a number of CQs on 15 and 10M, one 15M CQ netted a W5 who said I 
was the loudest on the band, with this I carried on but gave up after 
half an hour with no other takers. 10M was the easiest but only to SA 
and the Caribbean, I had a few very small runs on 10M but unfortunately 
i think I have set the CQ world record for highest percentage of QSOs 
with a busted call. CT9-what?, - CT9TSM, - CT9G, - CT9L, - G0TSM (in 
zone 33? haha). The main issue is the oblique, I guess due to the 
internet the favourite is now 'slash' as opposed to 'stroke'. Even 
'portable' didn't help much. Anyhow besides the confusion and 
frustration we had a good holiday but I won't be doing that again on ssb 
barefoot - vertical (not at the water's edge) - and with a long 
callsign. It was far easier on CW from TF last year with my 100W and 
windom at 30M high.
I now have planning permission to change my slimline mast to a 
versatower so hopefully I'll have that up in time for CQWW/CW and I'll 
be able to get my antennas up at 16M high.

73 Darren G0TSM