[UK-CONTEST] CQ160 CW-G3P

[Mike Chamberlain]

One of my favourite contests and with Nigel (TXF) out of the country I
thought I might stand a chance in the newly introduced
single-operator/assisted category.  The plan was for the full 30 hours, but
unexpectedly falling asleep at the key at about 4am on Sunday morning and an
unplanned visit from my sons on Sunday afternoon reduced operating time to
about 27 hours.

As reported elsewhere conditions on both days were down on last year - I
suspect we were still suffering the impacts of the sun's activity earlier in
the week and any Northerly path was out of the question. To the East I
didn't hear any VK, far East or zone 18 & 19 stations on either night.
Things were a little better to the West - on Saturday morning around 1 am I
had a weak opening to a limited part of the Eastern seaboard,  ME, NJ, PEI &
NS, followed by a really strong (well S7) signal from HK0 and QSOs with PJ2,
NP2 and KV4 but couldn't hear any of the C6s.  Things then went quiet again
until the hour proceeding my Sunrise when I worked a few North Eastern
states plus a couple of Texas stations.  On Saturday night/Sunday morning
the band opened weakly  to the Eastern Seaboard at 2330 and supported QSO
through to a few minutes after my Sunrise.  There were strong peaks around
1:45 am and the hour before my Sunrise.  Furthest West was Idaho and South
down to TN. Worked a C6 and CE1/K7CA but no real opening to the Caribbean or
South America. Overall I worked 112 W/VE stations, all but a handful on the
second evening.

Most enjoyable was the lack of stations with key clicks this year - are we
at the end of the generation of clicky rigs?  In reaction to being spotted
on the cluster, rare stations are beginning to adopt the approach of split
operation.  I appreciate split operation in contests is frowned upon but it
appears to work well so I guess we better get used to it.  That comment
should spawn an interesting thread on the reflector!

Which countries contributed most to my QSO count?  No prizes for guessing
Germany with 171 QSOs. I had 53 UK QSOs, mostly with the old hands at
contesting - we need to spread the word this is a great contest for
beginners with many low speed QSOs taking place between 1855 kHz and 1875
kHz.

This year yielded 451,617 points from 924 QSOs with 28 states/provinces and
59 countries.  Last year was 732k points from 1096 QSOs, 40 states/provinces
and 73 countries.

Operating conditions were, FT2k, ACOM 1000 at 400 watts output (yes really),
40m sloper held aloft with a Helikite and a 4 direction K9AY for receive. 

Slow at times but as always enjoyable.
Mike /G3WPH