WPX SSB 2010 - G0RIF/p
A tip for you. Planning late is the same as not planning at all. It you want to do anything properly make sure all he planning is done well ahead of the event. Case in point, WPX SSB 2010 when I’d ‘planned’ to get out and operate G0RIF/p from Piggot’s Bottom.
I say ‘planned’. It’s probably more accurate to say I’d ‘intended’ getting out and stringing up a few temporary antennas amongst the trees at Piggot’s Bottom - there had been precious little actual planning. It was a busy weekend one way and another so time was limited but come Sunday afternoon I had a chance of 3 or 4 hours on the bands. Time to get out and work a few!
As the page I linked to earlier says of Piggot’s Bottom, ‘Just don’t ask me to find it again‘. Prophetic words! I set off having not bothered to check a map only to find myself driving along miles of narrow lanes trying very hard to find anything that looked familiar. Fortunately my phone has built in SatNav and that plus the ‘Google Maps’ application gave me enough information to find the spot I was looking for…only half an hour later than expected.
My antennas today were to be an old favourite in the form of a Par 20m End Fedz dipole suspended vertically from a tall tree branch, and a simple 15m dipole in an inverted-V configuration. Sounds simple doesn’t it? The reality is somewhat different. Suffice to say I’d not really given it enough thought (or planning) and my first efforts to erect the 15m dipole would I’m sure have been very amusing to any onlookers. I did eventually get both antennas erected but I have learnt my lesson and there will certainly be a lot more planning and forethought next time.
So, having got myself hooked up I had a slow tune up 20m, starting around 14.110MHz. I logged a few interesting stations including VK4KW (Australia, new one on SSB), KG0F (new WAS state in the form of Nevada), ER4KAA (Moldova), T77GO (San Marino) and TA2DS (Turkey). It was hard work at times because conditions weren’t great and there were lots of strong stations spread out across the band.
A move to 15m (where the inv-V dipole was only some 6m high at the apex) resulted in lots of interesting stations heard but working them was another matter. Brazil and Argentina (many stations) were heard and not worked, so too Senegal (6V7M) and Sudan (ST2AR), heard and not worked. Throw in South Africa (ZS2DL and ZS10WCF) and the Turks & Caicos Islands (VP50V) also heard and not worked and you start to get the picture. The take-off on 15m was much better to the east and south-east where Cyprus (C4I) and Crete (SV9DJO) were both easy catches. Highlight of the day on 15m though was KP3Z in Puerto Rico…also hard work.
It was nice to log a few and give away a few points to the serious contesters. I really don’t know how those guys keep going for the duration of these 48 hour contests! My 4 hours was hard work enough for me! But maybe that was just a result of insufficient planning on my part.