How to make a record in the CQ WW contest, MW9W
I almost missed him. CQWW. Inadvertently, the date was mistaken when booking the ticket, so a feverish phone call began at the last minute., emailing and nervousness. And that's what we've been preparing for at CQWW all year….
…. CQWW is not just a race, it is the biggest KV race and for us in the multi also an opportunity for a personal meeting. Not to mention acquaintances, who will make the effort during CQWW, to at least greet you even if they don't have the radio on all year.
Wales is a beautiful country, proud of her past, language and people. There are a number of original farmsteads as cut out of novels of the last century - stone and brick houses, some overgrown with ivy, narrow streets and thorn fences because of the sheep. Wales, as the Welsh call their country, it is also a place, where I could participate in the CQWW Contest with excellent people for the second time.
The base is excellent QTH Rubber MW0RLJ, which is located right by the sea, only a few kilometers from the town of Fishguard. Thanks to his hospitality, we go "half portable", since the 30m mast is standing in the garden and the second one is ready. Other members of the contest team are Chris G1VDP, Ant MW0JZE, Tim M0URX, Charles M0OXO, Oliver MW0JRX and my little one – OM0AAO.
I helped a little with the preparation for the exams. Very practical questions (easier voltage calculations, currents, calculations, antennas, TVI solution) and what reached me - the request to bring home-made equipment. The test takes place by choosing the correct answer from four options, and to pass it, you must answer correctly 60%.
Thursday was antenna day, but the meteorologists promised bad weather and it worked out for them 100%. The rain was horizontal rather than vertical and at times it seemed, that it also rains from the bottom up. A similar one was added to the already standing vertical at 40m 1/4 vertical to 80m and inv.L to 160m. On that one, the top part broke, and due to the worsening wind, both antennas went down again.
The sun came out on Friday and it was immediately more cheerful. The groups worked diligently on additional antennas and the antennas grew to 160m on the field, 80m, 40m and later also 3 el.yagi on 15 m and 4 el.yagi on 10 m. We brought it into resonance with the help of a saw, it was worse with the turn signal at 20m. Trapped Mosley beam was planned for this band, which does not and does not resonate on 20m. We folded and unfolded the mast perhaps twenty times, but we could not find the fault. The power supply was replaced, various clamps, the conductivity of the joints was measured, trapov,… Then it got dark and it was decision time.
We rejected the wire dipole for 20m as ineffective and preferred to come to an agreement, that we will go SOSB Assisted categories on walking lanes. The guys released the MW9W mark for 160m, Oliver MW0JRX dostal 80m, Charles used the MW0X tag and alternated with Tim (MC0SHL) and 40m, Ant collected multipliers on 15m as GW4OH and Chris GW1VDP scowled on 10m. Rob and Jane took care of good spirits and hungry necks. MNI TNX!
Friday conditions on the 160 were excellent. With 400W from the AL-811, surprisingly, the stations came on call, while calling some stations was really a problem. Inverted L went really well and only regrets the connection with PZ5Z, on which I did not indulge myself even after five minutes.
Saturday's conditions worsened and the string of W stations was no longer held. However, there were still plenty of European stations and here and there there was also a multiplier such as ZA0 or OH0. PZ5Z did not take place again, right next to it was 3V8BB with a massive pile-up. It was even worse, that multiple multipliers in the CW segment were lit on the bandmap.
The tenth was miserable even on Sunday, so I offered to Chris, let him take the 160 and enjoy at least a few connections. However, he refused in a gentlemanly manner and kept watching 10m. About fifty more QSOs were added during the last evening, while enjoying a QSO with several OM and OK stations, as well as DK5WL (according to his instructions, we had an antenna) a TF3SG, which momentarily found itself at 1840kHz, which is the lowest frequency, which I could go for.
Overall 461QSO do 61DXCC a 13 zone = 39590 points, at the time number one SOSB Assisted 160m in Wales (as well as G, GM, EI etc.) and a new record for Wales. The top band is apparently not popular in those parts, hi. The second knowledge is, that most stations are printed at 1880kHz.
The following stations are also in the MW9W logo: OM7M, OM7GW, OM7VV, OM2XW, OM3KFF, OM3X a OK1DQT, OK1T, OK5W, OK7Y, OK1MKU, OK2PAY, OK1FFU, OK2SKP, OK2JS, OK2BEN, OK1AU OK1AWZ OK1BN OK1BOA OK1CF OK1CRM OK1DQT OK1EW OK1FCJ OK1FPS OK1GI OK1GK OK1GZ OK1HGM OK1HMP OK1IC OK1IT OK1IUO OK1LRD OK1MV OK1NP OK1NS OK1RI OK1TN OK1UG OK1VAO OK1VK OK1VVT OK1VWK OK2AF OK2ARM OK2BFN OK2BN OK2NMA OK2PJM OK2PP OK2PTZ OK2TND OK2ZA OK2ZC OK2ZI OK3RM OK5MM OK7MT OK8NM OM1ARI, OK2ZV, OK1BB, OK1 USE. I did not call OK1OUE even after a long call. Many thanks to all!
After the contest, champagne was opened to celebrate. However, there was something to celebrate! There should be more of those records and championships, hi. More on that at www.mc0shl.com
On Monday we packed most of the equipment and in the evening we aired the MC0SHL club mark on 40m and made plans for the future. The antennas will definitely be improved and probably one or two more people will be added to the team.
The QSL manager is Tim M0URX. The ticket has already been designed and is about to be printed! Despite the winter, Oliver made us strip down to our club T-shirts for a photo together (it was really cold) and this shot is also on the QSL ticket. See www.mc0shl.com for instructions .
Thank you all for a wonderful experience, many nice QSOs and I will look forward to hearing from you again in a year!
