[UK-CONTEST] AFS SSB - G3SJJ

[Chris G3SJJ]

Cor blimey Guv!      393 Qs, hourly rate 155, 93, 82, 63. Probably my highest ever.

Nothing physically changed from what I have used for the last 3 years. K3 with 2.1KHz roofing filter and bw set at 1700Hz. Mic gain and compression 
set only slightly higher than normal rag-chewing levels as I prefer to have minimum tx bandwidth, (only temporarily increased once when a station came 
very close, and I mean within 1KHz!) Acom 1000. Dipole, apex at 57ft, ends at 45ft, over water logged heavy clay soil. I did use my 80m Delta Loop on 
receive a lot to copy calls and exchanges of some eastern Eu callers. It certainly helped incredibly to reduce the splatter from adjacent UK stations. 
Annoyingly I hadn't bothered to reduce the loop circumference from its CW end length to make it resonant so SWR was too high for tx. Calculated I 
needed to have reduced it by about 15ft.

The only aspect that had changed was my phsycological approach -

Mission - to maximise hourly Q rates in order to maximise overall Q total.

Focus - to stay in the chair for all 4 hours, focus 100% on the contest and keep making QSOs at an "assertive" rate.

Technique - minimum data exchange, maximum transmit time. Only used F1 (CQ) canned message and changed it on the fly several times. After QSO logged 
and said "Thanks G3SJJ" if no caller I hit F1 immediately. Went S&P in the last 20 minutes which seemed about right.

Probably the main aspect though was that I chose a good freq in terms of no deliberate QRM to speak off. my team mate GW3YDX managed to bag prime spot 
which earned him over 10% more Qs.

A funny - A GW0 called, insisted on giving his name and QTH as well as his serial number then had the audacity to ask for my name and QTH. Probably 
the only time I hit F3 + F1 (Thanks G3SJJ + CQ)!!

An awful - One station with what seemed to be Reverb / Echo. Yuk!

A great session for me, just goes to show you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Chris G3SJJ