[UK-CONTEST] GM1J (MM0BQI) 40m QRP CQWW

[mm0bqi]

Operated from holiday cottage in the north of Skye.
http://www.self-catering-dunvegan.co.uk/waters-edge-holiday-cottage-dunvegan.asp

I will post some photos on the GMDX group pages in the next few days.
Great location for US with a clear sea path up Loch Dunvegan. Strange thing
was the eastern US was easy to work but very few VE stations
heard/worked.  Overall conditions seemed poor on 40m with very little from
Asia and nothing from the Pacific
Storm force winds lasted all weekend with gusts over 80 MPH which took
their toll on the antenna.  Started off with a 12m SpiderBeam pole as a
quarter wave vertical and four elevated radials.  Worked great but snapped
in two during a really fierce squall on Saturday.  Possible cause was guy
failure as I was unable to position them properly in the dark on Friday
night. Ended up with a 6m vertical section inverted L running the wire back
towards the house.  K3 was great at pulling the DX out of the noise, heard
many DX stations like ZK2V over the weekend, never above S3 and sadly
unworkable with 10w!  I think I could have worked some pacific and
VK/ZL with 100w or a slightly better antenna.
Managed 230 Qs, 66 DXCC and 17 zones all S&P.  A receive antenna would have
helped with some of the weaker stations as it is all about timing your call
when running only 10w.  The nice thing about tuning up and down the band is
coming across some of the rarer DX stations that have maybe not been
spotted yet or the old packet pile has died down, perfect time to get them
in the log.
Stations not IDing, don't get me started!  Lots of wasted time, I am happy
for stations to work a couple of calls then ID but ONLY if the callers are
strong and all are worked first time.  Maybe it's time to put it in the
rules, you must ID at least once for every two Qs?  As for the ultra high
speed/clipped sending brigade that is the biggest pain.  Spent many minutes
trying to copy some of these guys and in the end just gave up. Heard quite
a few stations calling them and asking for repeats or sending info
slowly several times, almost like a deliberate ploy to slow them down,
brought a smile to my face as I QSYed!
All in all great fun with a simple setup, QRP is such a different mindset,
very refreshing and I think I will do the same next year.
73
Jim,  MM0BQI
GM1J, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye.