[UK-CONTEST] CQWW CW G4IIY SOAB(A) HP

[Ian & Steph Fugler (G4IIY)]

For once, the winds held off for a CQWW event, up here in rural Cumbria. 
But we had a few inches of snow.  I could tell when it started snowing. 
There was massive snow static on 80m on the first night and the score 
suffered as a  result.  I did experience something very odd.  The snow 
static was 60db over 9 on the 80m quarter wave vertical.  Yet, there was 
absolutely no noise on the HF2 Butternut.  The two aerials are only about 
150' apart.  So, I used the Butternut as a rx aerial for a while, but was 
manually switching between the two - far from ideal for maintaining a decent 
rate.  It has been suggested the coil across the coax connections on the 
Butternut may have acted as a DC leak.  The fact that there was absolutely 
no QRN on the Butternut, compared with 60db over on the full size 
quarterwave does suggest that was probably the case.  It has made me 
consider putting a similar coil across the quarterwave now.

 Highlights included working ZL8X on 80m on Sunday morning well into 
daylight.  I had a great little run on 10m in to Ukraine and UA.  Not 
exactly DX, but there was just a steady stream of them and hardly anything 
else.  I was pleased to catch the 10m opening late yesterday 
afternoon/evening and worked a load of Caribbean mults.  There's nothing 
like double mults late on a Sunday to boost the score (and morale).

No lowloights as such, but there are some points for me to keep in mind for 
next year.  I went far too late in the day to 20m on both Saturday and 
Sunday, missing or struglling with some easy mults.  I was chasing things 
like OZ/HB/LX late on Sunday evening, but competing with US stations by then 
and having to rely on a lull in the callers for them to hear me.  As a 
result, the mult score on 20m is down on where it should be.  I think the 
next step is to consider SO2R, which would address that.  I have still to 
resolve the ADSL connection issue when on 160m.  I cannot find a wireless 
router that is sufficiently immune to RF at 1.8Mhz.  And I really have to 
sort out a better 160m aerial for next year, or at least throw a few more 
radials around the base of the Inverted L.

I agree about the constant calling, mainly by big multi-op stations trying 
to get a new one.  The worst case that I heard was when GJ2A attempted to 
run on 80m on Sunday evening.  Despite his huge signal, he was just drowned 
out by people calling and calling.

If I had not had four hours sleep on Saturday night and spent time yesterday 
evening with the family, I would have hit my 3m target.

Congratulations to all others.  There are some great scores being posted. 
Barry's (GM3YEH) QRP entry on 40m was truly impressive.

 Ian G4IIY


 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
 ------------------------------
  160:   75     9       36
   80:  813    17       88
   40:  675    27      108
   20:  635    23       93
   15:  427    22       92
   10:   75    12       20
 ------------------------------
 Total: 2700   110      437

 Total Score = 2,838,383

Rig - FT1000MP
Amp - Linear Amp UK Explorer 1200
Logging  - N1MM
Aerials - A3S, 80m GP, Butternut HF2V, 160m inverted L (35' up, 100' across 
and inadequate radial system!)