[UK-CONTEST] ARRL DX CW G5W (M0DXR)

[Mark Haynes]

Contest         : ARRL International DX Contest
Callsign        : G5W
Operators       : M0DXR
Station         : G3BJ
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/...  : DX
Locator         : 
Operating time  : 41h56

 BAND   QSO  S/P DUP  POINTS  AVG 
----------------------------------
  160   197   41   2     591 3.00 
   80   541   50   8    1623 3.00 
   40   720   52   7    2160 3.00 
   20  1027   59   8    3081 3.00 
   15   729   52   6    2187 3.00 
   10    33   18   0      99 3.00 
----------------------------------
TOTAL  3247  272  31    9741 3.00 
==================================
     TOTAL SCORE : 2 649 552

Rigs: FT-5K, K3
Antennas: Force 12 yagi (4 ele 10m, 2 ele 15m, 2 ele 20m) @ 80ft, Titanex & 
Dipoles for 80/160 with K9AY RX system and beverages.
 
My thanks go to Don G3BJ and Hilary G4JKS for allowing me to operate from their 
super station in Shropshire. They were amazing hosts, provided me with good food 
and drink, and Don didn't mind me waking him at 5am to see to a techincal 
problem - now that's what you call on demand support!
 
Congratulations to Gerry GI0RTN (op at G6PZ) for a fantastic score. Knowing 
Gerry was going strong kept the motivation levels high for me. It's nice to have 
domestic competition.
 
Propagation was very interesting. 10m did not really provide what we hoped for 
having had the previous weeks excellent openings. Don really has the ticket when 
it comes to 160. I've never known receiving antennas to work as well as the K9AY 
and beverages at 'BJ. The location is a very quiet one, which really helps on 
the low bands.
 
The best hour was a 192 on the evening of day 1 on 20m. Very good signals to the 
west coast at this time.
 
At the end of the contest, I did my traditional listen to 3830 which is the 
venue for the exchange of the Multi-Multi USA claimed scores. All I can say is 
WOW. K3LR and W3LPL exchanged the QSOs and DXCCs by band followed by the overall 
bottom line. All the band numbers were quite different between the two stations, 
so we were a little surprised when they claimed exactly the same number of total 
QSOs, exactly the same number of multipliers and, you guessed it, exactly the 
same overall score! How amazing! I have since been informed that 'LPL has 
removed 3 QSOs from the log after a check - it just goes to show how important 
every single QSO is.
 
There is so much work that goes in to keeping a contest station maintained and 
preparing it for the big event, and more often than not I rely on my host for 
this. Thank you again to Don for a super fun weekend. Roll on the next one...
 
73,
Mark Haynes, M0DXR