[UK-CONTEST] AFS CW

[QUENTIN COLLIER]

Not a lot of reports so far on CW AFS so thought I'd put on one report from a 
middle ranker (there are those who would suggest that is Cockney rhyming 
slang....).

I was operating the club call G4ALE from a different QTH from normal, as my 
normal host (the widow of a deceased club member) was in hospital. But Peter 
G3RQZ stepped in and kindly let me operate from his QTH in Godstone (Surrey) 
which sports an inverted V at about 35 feet. Accordingly it is difficult for me 
to make a like for like comparison on conditions. But certainly I worked less 
Europeans this year, although there were a large number of GMs in the log (more 
than 10% of the total). I got off to a (for me) cracking start with 95 QSOs in 
the first hour, but things dropped away alarmingly after that with only 60, 48 & 
33 QSOs in the second third and final hours, for a total of 236 QSOs including 
one duplicate. My run frequency became a crawl frequency just before 1700 and I 
had to resort to S&P - rather earlier than usual. As in previous years the 
phenomenon of traffic coming in waves was very evident - nowt in response to CQs 
for a couple of minutes or more (though it always seems longer than it really 
is) followed by 2 (occasionally more) simultaneous calls. 


Very pleased with the new FTdx5000 - the RX performed impeccably under the 
relatively demanding conditions. Operating standards were generally good - but 
the great majority of QSOs were with G(/GM/GW) 3s - a slightly worrying low 
number of new licencees.

Anyway I'd be pleased to see a few more reports (actually keen to poach a bit of 
inside info on how to do it better) so come on chaps - do share yor experiences!

73,



Quin G3WRR