[UK-CONTEST] M4A - CQ WW DX SSB

[Dominic Smith]

Hi all,

Here's my annual write-up of M4A's entry in CQWW this weekend. For those 
who can't wait, here are the raw scores:

Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign        : M4A
Mode            : PHONE
Category        : Multi Operator - Two Transmitter (M2)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/...  : 14
Locator         : JO02AF
Operating time  : 48h00
Operators       : G3ZAY G4AXX G4EAG G4KNO G7VJR M0BLF M0DEG M0GXM M0HSW 
M0NCG M0SKI M0TOC M0TRN M0VFC M0ZXA M6DTW M6IZW

  BAND   QSO  CQ DXC DUP  POINTS   AVG
--------------------------------------
   160    96   6  42   1     113  1.18
    80   874  19  78  16    1409  1.61
    40   750  28 102   5    1318  1.76
    20   711  30 101   9    1528  2.15
    15  1591  33 118  24    3323  2.09
    10  1180  36 124   9    2598  2.20
--------------------------------------
TOTAL  5202 152 565  64   10289  1.98
======================================
        TOTAL SCORE : 7 377 213

The claimed score is 18% lower than last year's claimed score (8,995,410).

That was an odd contest! Conditions on Saturday were fantastic, with 
some excellent rates and lots of nice mults. By 2:00z on Sunday morning, 
our score was over 600,000 points higher than the same time in 2011. The 
high and low bands were all performing well, even though we struggled to 
get run frequencies at times. Whilst we weren't sure that the 40m 
four-square array was as good as last year, everything else seemed 
great. And then Sunday happened, and our sails really lost their wind. 
It wasn't just that we couldn't find anywhere to run, but the stations 
just didn't seem to be there when we were running, even after being 
spotted. We're going to have to look carefully at what happened, because 
at the moment I can't explain where the QSOs went. I'd be really 
interested to hear any ideas!

Aside from that, all of the equipment worked well (other than minor 
issues with the rotator on the 20m beam). Antennas were much the same as 
in previous years (160m dipole, 2x80m phased verticals, 80m dipole, 40m 
four-square, 40m rotating dipole, 4-ele 20m monobander, 3-ele SteppIR 
for 15m, 5-ele 10m monobander) but we used K3s instead of the FT-1000MPs 
we have used previously. This change was a resounding success and the 
diversity reception on 80m between the verticals and dipole was 
especially appreciated. Logging was in Win-Test.

Despite the odd conditions, all seventeen operators (which includes two 
M6s with little contest experience and nine operators under 30 years 
old) had a great time. As a University station, with at least half a 
focus on training the next generation of contesters, it is notable that 
we didn't have to do quite so much coaching this time around. We 
attribute this to the fact that many students are now participating in 
the UKACs and AFS Super-League, meaning that they are now fairly well 
versed in the essentials of contesting before big events like this; a 
great innovation!

Thanks for all the QSOs and special thanks to everyone who loaned us 
equipment for the weekend,

Dom M0BLF
Cambridge University Wireless Society G6UW/M4A