Hi all,
I had hoped for better conditions than I met when I switched the rig on this
weekend. Someone stole the propagation, but I tried to make the most of it.
I was totally amazed to work three W's on 10m. They were AA3B, K4GMH and
W3MF. So surprised that I have now checked back to see the last time I
worked a W on 10m. The real last one was WN1GIV in 2005, but that was the
ONLY contact on RTTY, although there were a few on CW that year. The last
time I worked more than a few on 10m was back in 2004, so that is SIX years
since W opened up on 10m to really work into the USA.
Other than that, the bands seemed to have little noise, but also little
activity. Stations were well spread out on each of the higher bands, but
oddly, from this location, I seemed to be able to work the weaker ones, but
could not raise the loud ones.
There was strange skip on 20m, in that I was working G, GM, ON and PA on
20/15, but interspersed were calls such as E21YDP and DV1JM who were also
quite loud.
Apart from working W's on 10m, I was very surprised to hear, and work, both
K7IA and N8BJQ on 20m. I could not hear the usual W1/W2's, and could only
hear a few W3/W4's.
Most contacts were EU, so I tried to work as many countries as possible,
bearing in mind the extra points for working DL stations.
I also CQ'd as much as possible, but runs tended to be short. my usual bane
was that one or more stations I worked would then park so close I could not
hear any more callers. Why do they do that?? And why is it usually the same
few stations??
By early afternoon, all the higher bands seemed to go quiet, so I had a
short burst on 40m, but after an hour or so, I had worked all I could hear,
and CQ'ing didn't bring much, so I closed for the night.
Intesntions of getting up early were shattered by a lousy sleep, but I made
it into the shack for about 0710UTC. Oh boy! I wish I had stayed in bed. 40m
had one signal from a station already in the log, so I went to 20m. Only a
few audible stations there, so I tried 15m.
That proved better, but I just could not get a run going. Some kind person
was tuning up on me, so I QSY'd and got the same there too.
Up to 10m. That was OK, and I pciked up a few nice mults, but after a dozen
or so contacts, it was as though someone switched off the lights!
By about 1000UTC, I was trying any band, working whatever I could, but 10m
gave me a nice run, including many new mults.
For the last hour, I was mainly S&P on any band that had something new to
work.
I did make one mistake at the end though! I called an E7 station for an
extra mult, and as I had worked him on other bands, I expected a decent
score from him, but he gave me 001. This puzzled me, so I queried this, and
he sent RRR 001 IN CORONA TEST DL-DX FINISHED.
Oooppps! It was 1101UTC. I had it in my head that the contest finished at
midday (which it did, in local time), and then realised the 1059 finish
time.
OK, the previous QSO was with Hans DL1YFF at 1059, so that was good. I
marked the E7 station as not counted, and closed down.
Perhaps I ought to have done the 6 hour section, but it is such a hard
choice to make about when to start/finish.
In the end, I went for the 24hour all band, and although my score is poor, I
had great fun, especially saying hallo to everyone I met last weekend in
Friedrichshafen.
Here is my tally for the weekend:
QSOs Points DX: Call Areas
80m: 0 0 0 0
40m: 23 257 11 0
20m: 87 1007 31 4
15m: 56 616 23 0
10m: 60 669 22 2
Total: 226 2549 87 6
Total multipliers: 93
Score: 237057
My thanks to everyone for the fun. My log is now on LoTW too.
73 all
Phil GU0SUP
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