[UK-CONTEST] SSB FD M0VSQ/P

[Darrell G0HVQ]

One of the first outings for this new contest group, and my first time with the team.

Interesting to read the comments about lack of support for contesting in clubs, that's one of the reasons our group formed: members are in various local clubs that have little or no interest in contesting, so those of us into contesting formed our own group.

The team begged, borrowed and donated various bits of kit: 30ft mobile Tennamast and genny, unknown-make tribander bought off eBay, Cushraft MA8040 vertical, K3 transceiver and Expert 1k amp. We set up in the middle of open farmland in north-west Gloucestershire.

Scores (sorry, just have QSOs count):

80 - 85 QSOs
40 - 277 QSOs
20 - 195 QSOs
15 - 29 QSOs
10 - 2 QSOs

Claimed Score: 224,910
Ops: M0PCB, M0SPF, M0TAY, G0HVQ, M0GEJ, 2E0OKK, G0NXA

Great time was had by all. Despite the dire weather forecast, it was actually pretty good, with the only rain 0400-0800 on Sun. Fair to say that it was a pretty relaxed affair, with a lot of chatter and banter outside the tent, although we did have someone on the radio the whole 24hrs.

Score-wise, unusually 40m seemed to be our main band: I know the MA8040 is a superb vertical, as it's my main low-band DX aerial, and it did the job admirably. Maybe a dipole would have been better on 80m to get more local QSOs? The tribander was a little disappointing: as a regular in HF contests, I know that 20m is usually the main band, but it seemed pretty quiet at times and we struggled to get a good run, even with 400W. Likewise there were bits and pieces on 15m and 10m but it didn't feel quite right, think that further investigation is required: didn't get time to try the aerial out prior to arriving at the contest site, it tuned up OK and the guys worked some DX (e.g. BV100) prior to the contest, it just didn't seem to have the 'oomph' in the main event.

However, a good time was had by all, we learned lots of lessons, andI think we have the makings of a good contest group. And a young-ish group too, with the majority of people in their 20s-40s. Some photos up on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67160711@N07/sets/72157627593531206/

73
Darrell G0HVQ