[UK-CONTEST] CQWW SSB 2012: SOAB HP P3F (M0DXR)

[Mark Haynes]

Dear UK Contest,
 
Thank you to others for posting your experiences of the contest. It was always interesting to hear about how others got on. I thought I'd share my experience for those that may be interested.
 
Firstly I would like to express my thanks to Bob
5B4AGN and Karen for their hospitality over the weekend. They were wonderful
hosts!
Having been at work on Thursday morning
and driving to Gatwick for my flight, I arrived at Paphos on Thursday evening
and was collected from the airport. On arrival at the QTH Bob and I discussed
tactics for the contest. We set up the log and I made some QSOs as 5B/M0DXR to
the USA on 10m which, propagation wise, was a good sign of things to come. The
station impressed me - it is set up very well indeed. Bob has clearly thought
carefully about the set up of the shack as everything is where it should be - instinct
takes you to the controls you need.
On Friday we did a check of the hardware
to make sure all was functioning as it should be and it became clear there was
a problem with the YCCC SO2R control box. Using it with wintest, we could
switch between radio 1 and 2, have both 1 and 2 out of each headphone ear, but
we could not have audio received from radio 2 whist radio 1 was in TX mode. The
'latch' facility could not be selected within wintest. Don G3BJ spared time
trying to help us which was very much appreciated. Bob and I were confused,
seeked help, but in the end it was just too late to investigate any further. We
went out for dinner to a Taverna not far away and had a lovely meal with other
locals including Alan 5B4AHJ (aka P3J). We got back to the QTH about 10am when
I then went to bed. Got 3 hours sleep before getting up for the contest which
was a very good thing. At 3am local time the contest started and I began in the
low segment of 40m to Europe. It was great to be 'semi' rare - and also being in
Asia all the Euros are 3 pointers. The first night was super and it was quickly
clear this was going to be a fun contest. I was concerned that I may get tired
and need sleep - both were true! I hit 80m and worked a bunch of stations, but
it didn't produce much propagation to the states so it was mainly EU. I decided
not to touch 160 for the first night. At 4am UTC went to 20m and had a great
run to the USA - fantastic signals from the west coast at this time. When the
sun came up. so did 15 and 10. Boy were these bands in good shape! 10m was wide
open with signals up to around 29MHz - just how I remember it years ago :)
Breakfast arrived - a lovely bacon
sandwich with a cuppa. This boosted the energy levels and allowed more
energised operating. So I kept going all day. It was getting a little
frustrating not being able to use the second radio effectively. Every so often
I'd use it to quickly swtich to another band to do a quick sweep and work a
mult that I've passed from radio 1 but it was not true SO2R. It was great to
work so many UK stations, so thanks for the QSOs!
I was interested to read the comments
about Sunday not being as good (such as that from M4A). I found it the opposite
- Sunday produced some amazing runs on all bands. My best clock hour was on Sunday with a 256
on 10m to Europe which was very satisfying.
It got to midday on Sunday and I felt
really quite tired. Being so tired, strange things started to happen to my mind and I had
spells of losing the concept of the contest. QSO structures became difficult
to grasp and I was operating purely out of memory/instict rather than thinking
about the real QSO taking place. Quite a unique experience! But I still knew
that this was quite normal having been awake for such a long time. Also I was
thinking that I'm three quarters of the way through this contest with just 12
hours to go. I was determined to keep going without any sleep at all. I decided
to take a shower to freshen up which took 15 minutes out of the contest. This
turned out to be my only break for the duration of the 48 hours. I had a QSO
with UP2L and he asked if I was single op. I said yes, and he said "me
too". I asked him "how many QSOs so far". He said "over
6000". I said "me too" and we left it at that, with a small
laugh from each of us! I knew I had competition from Asia. I wasn't too
concerned about the QSO totals, but multipliers worried me.
Five minutes before the end, Bob came in
to the shack and placed a cool beer next to me, which was a real sight! At the
end, I could not quite believe I'd done it with no sleep. I really did not
think I could do it. At the end, Bob and I chatted about about an hour whilst
we enjoyed our beer.
So, after 50 hours I remember going to bed
and my head hitting the pillow but was then out light a light. I woke up
sharply 9 hours later at 12:30 local time Monday afternoon! UP2L got me! He claimed 12.6 meg. I had over 500 more QSOs, but he had 105 more multipliers. My fear was realised! Having said that, I am in line for the Cyprus record which was previously set in 2003 by Marios 5B4WN (C4W). I apologised to Marios, but he is pleased as he can beat it next year :)
Thank you to everyone for all the QSOs.
See below for summary. It was so much fun for me. We have the best hobby in the
world!
Good luck in CQWW CW next month for those
taking part. I'll be on as usual on 20m from K3LR (going with G4BUO and G4TSH).
Cheers,
Mark M0DXR (P3F)
 
Rigs: Elecraft K3
Antennas: C31XR @ 70ft, 2 ele 40 @ 80ft, TH11 @ 40ft, Vertical and dipole for 80, shunt fed tower for 160


Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest
Callsign        : P3F
Mode            : PHONE
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/...  : 20
Locator         : KM64FV
Operating time  : 48h00
 BAND   QSO  CQ DXC DUP  POINTS   AVG 
--------------------------------------
  160    84   8  38   1     245  2.92 
   80   364  11  51   0    1062  2.92 
   40  1367  26  86  16    3954  2.89 
   20  1695  30 101  14    4991  2.94 
   15  1321  27  85   6    3901  2.95 
   10  2215  26  88  23    6536  2.95 
--------------------------------------
TOTAL  7046 128 449  60   20689  2.94 
======================================
       TOTAL SCORE : 11 937 553
Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations
Operators       : M0DXR