[UK-CONTEST] S79K - all home now !

[Dave Sharred]

Firstly thanks to Fred (G4BWP/A65BD), Yei Lei; Martin (G4XUM) & Michael
G7VJR) for such a fun trip !  Special thanks should go also to Robbie GM3YTS
and Gavin GM0GAV for their help and advice too, following their operation
earlier in the year.

 

And thanks to you guys for the interest too; and the QSO's.

 

This is only meant as brief account of our efforts; and your feedback is
invited direct on any aspect of our operation.

 

All arrivals went well as planned; station was laid out last Tuesday, but
Fred's arrival with antennae and coax wasn't until Wednesday; so most
antennae went up then.  Complete antenna farm included a 160/80 BCS;  40m
quarter wave vert; and 2 element VDA's for 20-10. We dubbed the VDA's "B&Q
Specials" - these are wire element dipoles on fibre glass poles, that have a
horizontal spacer made from very cheap 20mm B&Q plastic tubing, complete
with in line push fit  T pieces for a centre stay and a dipole T piece .
These are very simple, light weight antennae, and work very well on a
seafront.  

 

We tuned the 40m vert for WARC bands for a smaller number of QSO's before
the contest too. Additionally we had a receive loop; but this was not needed
so much after all.

 

160 - had static, but European signals in particular tended to be quite loud
!! Worked no ZL's here unfortunately; but our opportunities were limited.
Michael made 200 QSO's on 28th October here; and a smaller number on 29th

 

80 - Static also noticed; but still easily workable. I did most operations
here; and made about 500 QSO's on 27th October. We modified the base of the
antenna with a "Sprite bottle" additional base loading coil; since we
resonated the antenna for SSB. I logged ZL1AZ and ZL1TL on 80m; I am hoping
they were good calls ? (ZL1AZ could always have been AZE).

 

40 - Whilst Michael was busy on 160 on 28th; I also tried 40m and got big
pile ups, once we got spotted. Problem here is our license was only for
7050-7100; so it took a long while to get spotted on CW so high up the band.
I QSXed 7006; since that way it would alert interest to others in the known
pat of the band. I am surprised that I did not see adverse comments about
what might have looked like a strange operating split here! We made 130
QSO's here; but had to QRT early for tea. We worked no ZL's that night;
guess you were all tucked up in bed!

 

30 - all operations were on 28th; and I think it was Michael operating; he
made 130 QSO's; no ZL's

 

20 - we made 500 QSO's on 28/29th; and it seemed like all of the northern
hemisphere was workable around 16-1700z !! We would interleave JA with EU
with USA east and West coast !! We also worked Zl's 3JT, 1BYZ, 1AYZ, 4AD,
3OU, 3NB on the morning of the 29th - I had insomnia!! 

 

17 - 260 QSO's were made on 29th Oct here; ZL3JT made it into the log

 

15 - 780 pre-contest QSO's took place here; mostly CW; but no ZL's. This was
our first antenna up; so we were QRV 27-29th. I thin we all had a hand in
the QSO's here.

 

12m - 70 QSO's were had here; all on 29th; again no ZL's. We never really
spend much time here; it was just an exercise to get on the band. I think I
made these QSO's but could be wrong !

 

10m - 100 QSO's were made on 10m mostly on 29th. !st QSO on 29th was ZL4CR !
10m never really performed that well for us, I don't think .

 

The VDA's were pointing north, but have a 120 degree pattern to them. It was
not possible to rotate them unfortunately; so was interested to see cluster
comments from ZL on Long path openings!

 

 

Contest - we made about 7000 QSO's; and are quite happy with that. It is
amazing to be in AF, and yet have such a small percentage of QSO's in our
home continent! Everywhere is a long way away; but we did hear some pretty
amazing signals !  Often we observed that only 1 band seemed to be open at a
time; which was a pity in M2 category. I don't think we will be laying claim
to world domination, but a great deal of fun was had all the same. Michael
suffered a cold too; and lost his voice only 12 hours in !! I  know he was
gutted about that !!

 

Seychelles seems to be hugely in demand; there does not seem to be a
resident amateur active now. It is very easy to get there; and licensing was
easy too.  I hope that more would be dxpeditioners will consider this in
their planning; and I hope that this account will show that you do not need
to take big beams to be successful - all of our kit was taken with us.

 

73

 

Dave

G3NKC