[UK-CONTEST] P3J 2011 BERU

[Nigel G3TXF]

Dave,
 
Guess my earlier mail (sent five minutes after end of BERU!)
got lost.
 
VP2MXF was 758 net QSOs and 8,600 points. Summary sheet
attached.
 
Just off for airport in Montserrat now (and back home from
ANU on BA tonight - Monday). In total got 5,500 QSOs during
the short VP2MXF operation.
 
I'll be in contact again the next time there's WiFi!
 
73 - Nigel G3TXF

  _____  

From: alan.jubb at googlemail.com
[mailto:alan.jubb at googlemail.com] On Behalf Of Alan Jubb -
5B4AHJ
Sent: 14 March 2011 08:35
To: Nigel G3TXF; Mike Harris; microwaves at blueyonder.co.uk;
richard at g3rwl.demon.co.uk; John J. Bautista; Steve and Judy;
David Cree
Cc: David Runyard; 5B4AGN - Bob Henderson; UK Contest
Reflector
Subject: P3J 2011 BERU


Hi Gang
Here's my WT4 summary:

 BAND   QSO DUP DXC  HQ  POINTS BONUS   AVG 
--------------------------------------------
   80      100    0      18    2     500       580
10.80 
   40      180    1      26    2     900       840
9.67 
   20      332    5      32    2    1650    1100
8.28 
   15      264    7      25    1    1315      800
8.01 
   10        19    0      15    0      95       380
25.00 
--------------------------------------------
TOTAL   895  13    116    7    4460    3700           9.12 
============================================
            TOTAL SCORE : 8 160

Last year:  944 QSOs, 9240 pts.
This doesn't include 3 QSOs, on 3 bands, with ZL50 stations,
which WT4 scored as zero points, so I guess there's another
75 pts to add to the above.

Having monitored 10m prop to the UK for the 2 days before
the contest, I planned to start this year's contest on 10m,
as there had been loud Gs from all parts of the UK at that
time.
Fortunately, I did some 10m prop checks at 0930z on
Saturday, and realised that this was a bad plan, so started
on 20m, for the third successive year.

After all the excitement on the HF bands during the previous
week, propagation on all bands this year was worse than the
proverbial damp squib.

Even in the busy first 2 hours, my QSO rate was down on last
year. My performance wasn't helped by an inexplicable
inability to grab much sleep on Friday night.
Like Mike, VP8NO, I was troubled, more than usual, by
non-BERU callers, mainly S9 Italians, followed by SP, UA, DL
and EA, and other. I dealt with the Italians by sending "NON
ITALIA SOLO BERU" which did the trick in all but one case.
It was difficult to shift the others, until I remembered
last year, after explaining BERU only, and still being
called, I expressed scorn by sending a series of "HI HI HI",
which usually did the trick also. All this, of course, slows
down the rate.

This was the first contest that I have participated in
seriously, using my FTDX5000. At around 1600z Saturday, I
stopped for a brief bathroom break, and on return, found I
could not key the radio on CW - it was OK on SSB. The
problem was there whether I used Winkey, or the ETM-9C, each
of which uses a separate key-jack on the radio. Powering off
and on had no effect, and there were no knobs & switches
that had inadvertently got knocked. After 20 minutes of
attempting to get the rig working again, I was about to get
the FT1000MP out of mothballs, when the 5K thankfully burst
into life again. I didn't have another problem with it for
the remainder of the contest. I have no idea what the
problem was, so this is a big concern for the future.

OK, that's got the excuses out of the way!

Here's a comparison with last year:

              2011:                             2010: 
BAND     QSOS   DXCC                QSOS   DXCC

80           100         18                    88         12
40           180         26                   235        39
20           332         32                   293        36
15           264         25                   265        28
10            19         15                     56        14

Of course, the DXCC count doesn't tell the full story on
BCAs, which I will analyse in due course. However, it's
obvious that my BCA total is well down.

10m didn't really open up this year. I only worked on G
(G6MC), in spite of regular CQs, and several QSYs to try,
with well-known super-stations, all to no avail.a
A couple of VK6 stations refused a QSY request to 10m, when
I knew it was open to there. I did point the beam to the
West Indies at 1800z on Saturday, and CQ'd for a while on
10m, but in vain. 
J68PJ was a great signal on 10m at that time a couple of
days earlier.

However, 40m was the most disappointing band this year,
which is where I lost most of my score compared to last
year. I was using the same antenna on both occasions. The
morning LP to VK/ZL appeared to be non-existant in Cyprus.

Even on 20m, although my QSO count was up, the DXCC count
was down, maybe due to my semi-zombie state through
sleep-deprivation!
I have a poor antenna on 80m (low inverted vee, about 50
feet up at the vertex), so don't hear too well, although
people seem to hear me OK. I did find the FT5K's DNR
excellent for improving the signal readability, but still
struggled with some stations.

It was good to work the other ROC team members - thanks,
chaps:
VP8NO on 4 bands, a first for me in BERU - unfortunately
missed 80m - looked for Mike, but as he says, he was mostly
S&P.
Also, VP2MXF, VP2V/G3PHO, J88DR, 8P6DR (4 bands- no 10m), 
J68PJ (only worked 80/40),  although I searched 15/20 on
several occasions looking for Bob.
ZB2EO (20/15), ZC4LI (5 bands), C4Z - n/a - but heard on
many occasions slogging away. I suspect Brian did better
than I did on 10m.

I didn't hear the CY0, did anyone work them?

It never ceases to amaze me how poor some people's dupe
control is. One GM was a dupe on his 9th QSO! 

For the first time in BERU, I can't say that I particularly
enjoyed  the experience this year.

Thanks to my XYL, BJ, for supporting me with finger food &
cold drinks!

73
Alan
5B4AHJ - 5B50J - P3J