[UK-CONTEST] 144 AFS G4ZTR Report

[Tony Collett]

Strange how the same contest can appear different to stations in a similar area.
 

I was operating from G4VHF just W of Cambridge approx 200yds across the border into IO92. Gear was IC7400 + 4CX350 to a 17ele so hopes were high for a good contest.
 

Soon shattered that illusion with a very poor QSO rate at the start. Hourly rates were just 20, 12, 32, 18, 9, 8, 11 and 13 in the last hour. At the half way stage we were on identical QSO numbers with M0VFC. It was only in the last 2 hours that we pulled ahead so we are grateful for the full length of the contest!
 

Perhaps we shouldn't complain about the length of the contest but bemoan the lack of activity (esp compared with UKAC's)? For us a break around lunch time would have been ideal....

 
Never heard any F activity but found 3 PA, 2 DL, 1 ON, 3 GM, 3 GW plus GJ + GD, otherwise 109 G stations (but only 15 with IO83).
IO70 and IO93 (3 QSO's) finally appeared in the last hour.
Ended up with 19 Locators worked and best Dx of 587Km but extremely poor average of just 138kms/QSO.

 
We had to contend with a high local electrical noise level that got worse as the afternoon progressed - hope we didn't miss too many stations calling us through it.

 
Totally agree with your comments John re somewhere to find all contests - would also be nice to find some of the results a bit easier as well. (and sorry for hitting the wrong button earlier....)

 
73 all, and thanks for the fun
Tony G4NBS


--- On Mon, 5/12/11, John Lemay <john at carltonhouse.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:


From: John Lemay <john at carltonhouse.eclipse.co.uk>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 144 AFS G4ZTR Report
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Date: Monday, 5 December, 2011, 9:10


Morning all

Another report from the South-East ...........

The contest got off to a slow start. I knew there was a French contest
running, which would only last for a couple of hours, so I concentrated on
looking for them while the time was right. Unfortunately conditions were not
helpful and many of the French stations were not looking north. Not a lot of
qso's were made in the first hour and the best dx was down into JN16.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again, it would help if there was a
comprehensive on-line European VHF/UHF contest calendar to help all of us
increase scores and activity. If I had IT skills and language skills I'd do
it myself .......... I have neither, as my friend will testify.

I beamed alternately east, west, north-west and south-west and as the day
progressed, so did my score. Even the last hour was quite lively, but I
concur with others that 8 hours is too long for this contest.

My target of 150 qso's was missed by just one. My score was higher than the
last three years, which is good under the circumstances. The IO83 effect was
noticed again, but not at nearly the same level as the UKAC's. 20 of my
qso's were with IO83.

No GI stations made it into my log, and I worked no-one east of the
Pennines. Where was everyone ? I even worked a GM who had never appeared in
my log before - thanks GM3YXM.

On Saturday I modified my sequencer to provide positive TX Inhibit of the
rig until the footswitch was hit. This meant that inadvertent use of VOX or
the XMIT button would not have unfortunate consequences for the masthead
pre-amp. It worked flawlessly.

Setup was a K3 with internal transverter, running 8w into a GS35B amplifier,
about 150w out to 2 x 12 ele from M Squared.

149 qso's, 9 DXCC's and 28 WWL's, with a best DX just over 600km.

Regards

John G4ZTR



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