[UK-CONTEST] SSB FD - G3SJJ/P

[Chris G3SJJ]

Very enjoyable but hard work with just the two of us, G3ZQH and myself, to assemble and disassemble the station ourselves. We managed 3 hours sleep 
each overnight and had a cooked breakfast on Sunday morning so no complaints.

After analysis of last year's results when we came third in the Restricted section with 620 and 97 mults, we set a target of 800 Qs and 120 mults.The 
final tally was just 3 Qs short of target but a super total of 130 mults for 418,600 points. That is better than 2nd place score last year but we 
suspect we will still only be third or even worse! 15m produced some good Asiatic mults but our Q total was down on last year. 20m was OK but teh lack 
of a beam and amp was very noticeable on not being able to attract good runs of US stations.

Only one negative comment really. Something I have noticed particularly in this event over the years. Many mainland Eu stations make QSOs longer than 
they need to. Almost a reverse of the silly speeding up stuff on CW!

Eu - CQ
Me - G3SJJ/P
Eu - G3SJJ/P 59 216
Me - 59 314
Eu - Thank you 73 good afternoon, have a nice day, my name is Suzy, how may I help you etc.
*** pause for me to say something** !!!
I've tuned off to find another QSO by then but I am supposed to hang around and say 73 etc
Eu - after more pause - CQ

All the equipment worked to plan. We used Dave's FT1kMP which has 1.8KHz filters in both IFs plus a 2kHz filter out of my MP for the sub receiver. We 
had hoped to use a new design state of the art SR2O unit but the electronics box was dlievered until Saturday morning. Even though all the software 
was installed on both laptops we couldn't risk spending last minute time on setup so we used the 15 year old SO2R unit originally designed for our 
GU8D operations. Sub rx operator was able to grab the mic by hitting his footswitch but had to press the 2nd vfo tx button first. The new unit gets 
round  that. We spent a lot of time on s&p using the system but ran when activity peaked.

The basic antenna was an Extended Double Zepp for 20m with an 84 foot span suspended between two 50ft scaffold tube masts. We also had jumpers to 
make  an EDZ for 15m and also to add end sections for 80m. Since Q rate isn't high it was a quick job to lower the antenna and make or break the jumpers.


  Bnd     Qs      Pts  DXC
  3.5     221    1039   21
    7     211     879   27
   14     276    1043   43
   21      80     220   34
   28       9      3     5
Total    797   3220   130
Score: 418,600

Off to Provence tmw for a well earned rest!!  Chris G3SJJ