Hi all,
At 1800UTC on Saturday, I was still arm-pit deep in pond-weed, filters,
various fish and wet water, so I didn't start at the beginning. By the time
I had finished, had something to eat and drink, it was almost bed-time in
this household, so I decided to try an early start on Sunday morning.
OK, 0600 isn't early, but it seemed like it at the time!
Conditions were very poor, the weather here was absolutely wonderful (it was
+20C here at that time in the morning) so I decided to take it easy, have
some fun, and see what was about.
The answer was not a lot, really, although there were some odd openings, but
brief. Nice to work Dean 8P6SH, who had a great signal here, but he was the
ONLY signal from that side of the pond!
It was much later in the day before I managed to work any VE's, and later
still before I got a W in the log.
Signals from JA were good, but they weren't hearing me as well, and there
seemed to be some skewed propagation about too. From here, JA is at 30
degrees, but they were stronger when I beamed between 70 and 90. Odd.
There was also some very short skip about, as I managed to work PA, ON and G
on 20m, which is not a good sign.
There seemed to be quite a few "new" calls about, which is good, although
some seem to listen a little before they hit the Tx key! On several
occasions, I was calling CQ, someone responds, and after I send their
report, they don't come back. I sent QRZ?? and they call again, so I send
the report. Nothing, so I call CQ, and then they send ME a report. On a few
occasions, I responded to a CQ call from someone, and then I get called,
just as I am getting the report sent to me, so I have to ask for it again,
and then again!
Not sure why some of these folk don't just watch a little, just to see how
it works!
On Saturday afternoon, before I started cleaning the pond out, I managed to
call Gerd V51GB, and it took us almost 6 monutes to complete a simple
exchange of 599 + name, as each time I sent him a reply, someone called me.
Ah well, this is preaching to the converted anyway, but some of these guys
need to learn.
As it was so warm, I spent time in the garden, and only dabbled from time to
time, but I managed to clock up about 7 - 8 hours of operating time.
My XYL wondered why it is I would prefer to spend time in a darkened room
when most folk were on the beach, on what has to have been our hottest day
yet!
My excuse was that I had to miss the Volta contest, so wanted to make up a
little lost ground.
Anyway, here is what I managed:
Class: Single Op LP (100 watts)
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts Mults
-------------------------
80: 0 0 0
40: 18 180 14
20: 134 1455 47
15: 46 490 24
10: 18 180 10
-------------------------
Total: 216 2305 95
Total Score = 218,975
>From my schooldays: Could do better!
73 to all
Phil GU0SUP
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