[UK-CONTEST] 21/28MHz Contest

[Andy Summers]

Band      Q     M
21MHz:    42    12
28MHz:    12    11
Total:    54    23

More of a serious effort this year. Did the full painfully slow 12 
hours. I'm sure some might suggest I go mixed mode, but I'm a long time 
supporter of this contest specifically because I can run SSB in a 
restricted section - which better suits mine and my station's abilities.

Thank goodness for the Russians! Despite better conditions in this 
contest than I can remember for some time, they must have made up 90% of 
the stations running - that I could hear anyway. I could hear 9J2BO 
rag-chewing down the bottom of 15m, so he must have given it a miss this 
year. My own CQ's generally were fruitless, but did bag a few. Most of 
the time was spent persuading stations not in the contest to give me a 
serial number. I am a bit worried whether the adjudicator will believe 
that many 001 serials! Indeed I worked one station who gave me 001 and 
straight after worked another G and gave him 001 too!

The antenna was the same as last year - a fan of 1/4-wave verticals, 
ground-mounted on a common feed and radial system. I'd put some more 
effort into the radials this past year and this does seem to have 
helped. Generally I could work all I could hear - the problem being that 
I couldn't hear what others were obviously hearing! Nonetheless, I never 
cease to be amazed by what can be worked with such a simple setup - 
YF1AR an example on 10m. I was also really lucky to work ZS1AFS on 15m 
towards the end of the contest when he decided to stop going for WAS and 
turn the beam towards blighty.

I did a lot better this year, but I can't compete with a Guernsey prefix!

73 Andy G4KNO.