[UK-CONTEST] ARRL CW

[Olof Lundberg]

Call: M5E

Operator(s): G0CKV, JK3GAD, OH1VR, W6NV

Station: M5E

 

Class: M/2 HP

QTH: Poldhu

Operating Time (hrs): 48

 

Summary:

Band  QSOs  Mults

-------------------

  160:  218    36

   80:  537    51

   40:  861    54

   20: 1225    59

   15: 1073    58

   10:   84    27

-------------------

Total: 3998   285  Total Score = 3,413,160

 

Club: Chiltern DX Club

 

Comments:

 

The idea was born over a beer at the Friedrichshafen Hamfest last summer:

"wouldn't it be fun to use your short contest call M5E in the ARRL CW
contest"

someone suggested. Well, I do occasional contests from my suburban London
QTH

using K3 barefoot and invisible strings in the surrounding shrubs but for
most

contesters that setup only qualifies as fun if you are a masochist so I had
to

find a different solution to satisfy the request. I found the Marconi Center

and the Poldhu radio club in Cornwall based at the location where Guglielmo

made his first transatlantic experiment - see http://m5e.org/poldhu . 

 

In a field-day/dx-pedition style operation we assembled a M/2 setup on the

site. We used two K3s with KPA500 amplifiers, Microham boxes and WinTest

running on my small contest PCs. For antennas we used a 5-element yagi for
10

under a 3-element 15m yagi on a 30ft tower and on 20 we had a 3-element

monobander at 45ft. For 40 we used a 2-element broadside vertical array and
for

80 and 160 we had inverted Ls based on 18m spiderbeam poles. A 250m beverage

helped us listen on the low bands.

 

The first night and on Saturday morning we had very strong winds on this

exposed site. The verticals were no longer vertical - they went through the

letters of the alphabet as they were manhandled by the wind with S being the

most common character displayed. The beams pointed left and right but not to

North America. We lost several of the best hours on Saturday on 10 and 15

beaming 90deg off before we became aware of the problem. But other than that
we

had a great time. The Poldhu Club members were not only tolerant of our
antics

but gave us enthusiastic encouragement and support. The

computers-radios-boxes-switching-filters-antennas performed well with

essentially no interstation interference or other issues.

 

The big disappointment was of course 10m. The first day we tried to work NA
off

the side of the beam. The second day there was no propagation at all - we
worked

less than one s/e on Sunday (= station per element in the beam). But we had
fun,

great fun. There were many good runs and rewarding moments. I particularly

remember the second night on 160 which was exceptional considering the
general

state of propagation. In addition to the radio stuff we also enjoyed the
local

pubs and restaurants in the area and the conversations where we of course

generally agreed that the state of affairs in the world is miserable and
that

radio therefore is more fun even though the sun is letting us down.

 

Congratulations to the superstars at M6T who beat us. But be warned - we
might

be back and try harder next year ...

 

Special thanks to the Marconi Center and the Poldhu Radio Club for allowing
us

to use their site. Ann, W6NV's XYL also deserves a special thank you - she

helped walk out 128 radials for our low-band verticals; she is a paragon for

all XYLs.

 

This very same Wireless Broadcasters gang augmented by some local W6 hams
will

next be QRV as W6WB from a Californian hilltop for ARRL SSB.

 

73 de Olof G0CKV (SM6CKV W6CKV M5E)