RSGB Commonwealth Contest, CW
Call: ZL1AZE
Operator(s): ZL1AZE
Station: ZL1AZE
Class: Open-24 HP
QTH: ZL2
Operating Time (hrs): 23
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
80: 83
40: 164
20: 115
15: 62
10: 15
------------
Total: 439 Total Score = 6,125
Club: WARC
Comments:
I was pleased to find that my 2010 claimed score of 6125 points is well up on
the 4705 points achieved in 2009. As explained below, the improvement seems to
be attributable to three factors.
Firstly, conditions on the higher bands were noticeably better this year.
Unlike last year, the 10M band provided some QSOs outside ZL, with the best DX
being VE3OI, VX7CC and VE7XF. The number of 15M QSOs is also up from 15 in 2009
to 62 in 2010, including good openings to VE and the Caribbean, but nothing to
UK.
Secondly, I learnt my lesson from 2009 and made a point of checking that the
computer logging was functioning properly well before the start of the contest!
Last year I lost an hour of operating time near the start of the contest due to
software problems. The period at the start of the contest is critical for ZL
stations as this is the best time work the short path to UK on 20M and the
higher bands (when they are open), and also catch the sunrise opening to VE and
the Caribbean on the low bands.
Thirdly, I used a terminated receiving loop this year to help null the high
level of local man made QRN that plaques my city QTH. The noise is often up to
S9 on 80M (with 250 Hz filters) so is a real problem when trying to work weak
DX signals! The receiving loop allowed me to dig out many weaker signals on 80M
and 40M that were impossible to copy on the TX antenna. In particular, it meant
that I was able to log 39 UK QSOs on 80M at our sunset, compared to only 12 in
2009.
The local QRN also raises the noises floor on the higher bands and made it
difficult for me to copy weaker signals below about S2 or S3 on these bands. I
appreciated the patience of callers who often had to send repeat information,
and apologise to others whom I was unable to dig out of the QRN.
My QTH is on a steep hill side facing east so signals are noticeably attenuated
in the uphill direction towards the west, including the short path to Asia,
Africa and UK. It was frustrating to hear other members of the ZL team easily
working stations in this direction that I could not copy or the stations could
not copy me. The good news is that I do have an excellent takeoff over ocean
towards the long path to UK. Consequently, the last few hours of the contest,
when the long path to UK is open, were the most productive towards my QSO
count.
Overall the contest arrangements worked well for me this year, but there were
still a few unplanned events!
An unusually strong southerly storm with winds in excess of 130 km per hour
blasted our QTH on the Friday evening before the contest and damaged the 80M
dipole antenna. Fortunately I was able to repair this in much calmer weather on
Saturday.
Shortly after the start of the contest I also discovered problems with RFI
causing erratic computer generated keying. Adding ferrites did not help much so
I eventually solved this problem by rebuilding the layout of the shack and
moving the computer to a location further away from the antenna coax cables.
Overall I lost about 30 minutes of operating time while addressing this
problem. I do apologise to those who were wondering about my poor CW sending
skills at the start of the contest!
The only station African station worked was VQ9LA on 20M. I heard 9J2BO on 40M
at around 0445z, but unfortunately there was too much QRM from non-BERU callers
to allow a QSO!
I noted that the Commonwealth Contest module in Writelog is incorrectly scoring
bonus point QSOs for Canadian stations. It appears to be treating VE, VA and VX
as separate areas for the purpose of calculating bonus points. I will raise
this issue with the author of the module.
Equipment : FT1000MP (Mk V Field) + AL80A amp
Antennas:
40M to 10M: Half wave sloping dipoles supported from a 15 metre pole
80M: Half wave inverted vee dipole, Inverted L with 6 x short elevated radials,
and a delta shape terminated receiving loop.
Thanks to the RSGB for one of the best events on the contest calendar, and to
everyone for the QSOs, especially those who travelled to the more remote parts
of the globe.
73, Brian ZL1AZE
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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