As we all know the CQWW events are the biggest in the Contests Calendar…with this in mind I was very pleased to be invited to help with a team which were going to give it a ‘serious’ go from GU in last years CQWW SSB.

This was going to be a different ball game for me as although I had been involved in many group contest efforts and had even done a little bit of DXpeditioning (MC0CDX from St.Tudwals Island) I had never taken part in 'yer actual' Contest DXpedition.

The initial idea came from Don G3XTT and Steve G4JVG who thought that this might be been the last year (of this cycle) to have a stab at beating the previous Multi-single record held by GU6UW in 1991…. both Steve and Don being members of that team effort.

Based on the successful team of 8 from GU6UW a plan was put forward to replicate this number with the team being split into two groups of 4 operators…. this would enable a 4 on, 4 off rota system. This had worked very well in the GU6UW/1991 as well as GJ6UW/1990 efforts, as it enabled a ‘fresh’ group of operators to be rotated every 8 hours…it all sounded pretty logical to me!

The team selection was a rather drawn out affair as getting 8 people together for a 6-7 day expedition can be quite a convoluted task to say the least…however after a large degree of to’ing and fro’ing a group of 8+ were assembled: -

Don G3BJ

Don G3XTT

Hilary G4JKS

Steve G4JVG

Tim G4VXE

Phil GU0SUP

Bob GU4YOX

Paul G0WAT

And at the last minute…

Dave WW2R/G4FRE

As with all such enterprises there was a lot of organizing to be done…and to this end a voluminous number of e-mails started to fly about between group members (having a tot-up post event they number over 300!)…To aid such an enterprise Tim G4VXE set-up a Yahoo Group for the members so that they only had to send the one e-mail to the Yahoo address, rather than to all the members individually…this certainly helped smooth the process and is to be recommended to anyone contemplating a similar exercise.

Of course a large number of these e-mails regarded equipment planning…with draft inventories flying to and fro with people adding this radio and that antenna…in fact the volume of equipment was soon starting to build up! We intended to use the Guernsey ARS shack as the base of operations…as well as their TH6DXX (on a 60ft tower) for the 20m antenna…this would really be the only in-situ antenna…all other antenna farming would have to be imported…we ended up taking with us the following antennas: -

For the Run and Mult Stations

1 x Cushcraft A3S

1 x Cushcraft 10m 4-element Yagi

1 x Force 12 15m 4-element Yagi

1 x 40m 4-Square

1 x Carolina Windom (mainly for 80m)

1 x 160m dipole

This of course was not the half of it on the antenna hardware side as we would also be taking masts (4), rotators, guy ropes, 4 Square accessories (of which there seemed an endless supply), coax (oh! lots and lots of coax), stakes, Antenna Analysers, patch leads, barrel connectors etc…etc…

We also had the little matter of Radios and Amplifiers…which after much deliberation ended up with: -

FT1000D

FT1000MP

FT990

And on the big stick end of things…

Henry 2K

Alpha 89

TL922

To this of course were added Bandpass Filters, Low Pass filters, Stub Filters, Heil Headsets, DVK’s, Laptops, Networking cables and equipment, tools, and a veritable plethora of other accessories!

This seemed like a lot of equipment to say the least!…In fact to paraphrase Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws when he chucking bait over the side and the Shark first appears…’We’re gonna need a bigger boat!’

I remember thinking if this is what we need for a just a 48 hour contest, the logistics involved planning for something the size of D68C must have been some feat indeed.

So we had the team, the equipment and the location…next would be transport.

Of course Bob and Phil would already be there, but the rest of us would have to make our merry way to GU…for the Tuesday before the Contest.

Don (BJ) and Hilary would not be able to join us until the Friday (a prior engagement being unable to be put off) so they were going to fly in from Manchester…Dave was in the country on family matters and would be join us on the Thursday…the rest of us however would be travelling by Ferry on the Tuesday.

We were also to be joined by Edward (Don XTT’s Son) on the Tuesday by air…Edward is an old hand at helping his Dad set up …and his help would be most appreciated by us all.

Steve booked the Ferry and it was to be a 0915 sailing from Portsmouth…this suited us from a getting-up point of view, but unfortunately it would be the long trip (about 8 hours)…we could have sailed from Weymouth on the Catamaran, but this would have meant a middle of the night setting off time…which no-one thought would be a great idea.

I was tasked with sorting out the accommodation for the trip…we settled on the New Vazon Bay Hotel…it seemed like a good idea at the time…but we were to find out that they don’t only have a Fawlty Towers in Torquay, they have one in GU as well!…more on ‘The Vaz’ later…

The big day finally arrived and it was to be three cars taking the equipment. Steve and I were travelling together, whilst Don (XTT) and Tim were to meet us at the Ferry Terminal in Plymouth. I must admit with all that equipment (and Luggage) crammed into the car(s) things were a bit snug…I was in the back of Steve’s car as putting the front passenger seat down was the only way we could get the A3S in!

The trip down was uneventful and we all met up for a coffee in the terminal before departing.

Stowed and ensconced in the Ship’s café we set off on time…it was a rather blustery day with intermittent showers…enough to preclude all but the most foolish standing on the deck for sightseeing purposes (I was that fool)…

We had a bit of a quandary a couple of months before the off in that the CQWW committee announced out of the blue that a new section would be added to the contest…that of Multi-Two…this allows you to have two stations running at once (on separate bands) as opposed to Multi-single where you are allowed to run on one band and Mult on others…none of us had taken part in a Multi-Two section before and, of course, there would be the opportunity for another new British Isles record so we decided to give it a go…. a lot of the discussion on the Ferry took place around M2 tactics, how we were to split band openings and when we should run and when we should Mult…as although it allows running all the time there would be times when we would need to S&P about a bit to get the Mults who hadn’t yet called us.

We arrived in the Channel Islands in hazy sunshine, the wind and rain having finally abated. We were rewarded by great views of the other smaller islands and outposts before we docked in St.Peter Port. We rolled off the boat and grouped up before making off for the GARS clubhouse, which is in the grounds of a Hospital roughly in the middle of the Island.

After successfully being bamboozled by Guernsey’s rather unique give way systems, and losing and regaining Tim, we pulled up and the Clubhouse to start unloading our equipment.

This in itself was a task and gave a taster of the degree of equipment lugging and humping to be had on subsequent days…the GARS Shack was absolutely stuffed to the gills by the time we had finished.

A quick shufty of the field next to the GARS shack gave an idea of the space we had to play with…it was a local farmer’s field, normally frequented by a Bull (thankfully tethered at the far end of the field for our visit) which sloped gently away towards the U.S.

We also had the facilities provided by the GARS 20m Tower as well as a pole lashed to the local Civil Defence Building, which was next door.

Edward was already at the shack, having been collected from the airport by Phil GU0SUP just before our own arrival.

By now it was getting dark and we thought it best to repair to the Hotel.

After going this way and that to the opposite side of the Island, including a stopover at Bob GU4YOX’s lovely QTH, we pulled up at the Vaz early evening. We should have had an inkling that perhaps all was not as it should have been with the Vaz when we had to dig a receptionist out of the bar to allow us to book in.

A quick wash and brush up and we went down to dinner…it was a quiet night at the Vaz and we were greeted by the Waiter who produced the wine list with great flourish…after much debate (left to those who know about such things) a wine was chosen…Very good Sir and off he sauntered only to return a moment later to inform us that they did not have any of that particular vintage left…more perusal ensued…further sauntering off and yet further apologies as that one was also not available…ringing the changes another wine was selected…Waiter pronounces it a good choice, only to inform us again that this also was not available!…the look on Tim and Don’s face at this point was an image I will savour from that evening…and so it was finally decided, two bottles of House Red it was to be.

Despite its other failing the food was pretty good that night and a long journey behind us we were all flaked out and slunk off to our rooms.

It was an early start on the Wednesday but I managed to spend a ½ hour promenading along the seafront…the wind had picked up quite a bit overnight and the waves were washing over the seawall…I was surprised to see some surfer’s braving the elements...they build ‘em tough in GU!

After Breakfast, we found out that during Edward’s morning run (he being more of the run, than promenade disposition) he had been swamped by a wave whilst running on the other side of the road from the seawall!..the weather was starting to look a bit ominous.

Then it was off to the GARS Shack to start the set-up. Phil GU0SUP met us there and the previous evening’s Shack-stuffing exercise was reversed and cobbling together of Antennas started.

We split into groups each with an antenna to assemble and get into position. Phil and I on the Force 12 15m beam, Tim and Steve on the 10m Cushcraft and A3S, Don and Edward on the 40m Square.

This kept us busy for most of the morning…an unforeseen ‘feature’ of the farmers field was the amount of cow (or bull) pats it contained…I don’t know what the farmers had been feeding the field’s occupants, but whatever it was they ate a lot of it and nature surely played its course. When we met up with Bob YOX during the day (on one of his numerous ‘Site Visits’) he referred to them as Landmines and I can but agree…they appeared to ‘go-off’ when you least expected it..such as when you are trying to manhandle a 15m 4 ele monobander over the barbed wire fence for example.

We had one minor hiccough with the 4 Square. The stickers indicating which cable went to what hole on the 4-Square relay box had dropped off!, puzzled looks all round…a quick call by Don to Tony G0OPB managed to sort that one out.

A quick spell of wiring up and testing the rotator for the A3S which would be used as a Mult antenna and then it was on to the mast for supporting the Carolina Windom.

This was to be our 80m antenna as well as provide a second ant for 40m for the more local stuff, that would not play so well on the 4 Square.

We had two 30ft masts made up of 5ft sections…we were going to try to put this up at 50ft…after an age of faffing around getting the guying of each 15ft section right we finally hauled her up and tied off.

For those of you who have used a Carolina Windom before you will know it is a pretty good antenna, however it downfall is that it is very heavy and being a Windom rather oddly balanced as well…so we spent quite a while getting it ‘just so’ to ensure that it didn’t place too much strain on the poles, but was as high as we could reasonably get it.

We also had intended to run an Inverted L up the side of the 50ft pole and tie this off to a tree…hopefully to give us a better Low angle signal on 80m for the DX stuff...unfortunately the wind was really starting to get up by now and the pulley rope we had fitted just below the top of the mast had got tangled and try as we might we could not free it…we did not fancy dropping the whole lot to sort the problem out so in the end the Inverted L never flew…in retrospect I don’t think we missed it , much because the Windom turned out to be a good performer anyway.

We were fairly blessed with good weather and managed to do nearly all the more involved antenna work over the day in relative Sunshine and mild breezes (Oh how were to pay later on for this good weather during the set up days).

After Dinner that night Tim, Don and I returned to the GARS shack to give the antennas a bit of an airing.

This was my first opportunity to use a 4 Square and I must admit it was a bit of a revelation…working CW mostly around Europe I detected a very faint VE signal, the 4 square was firing into EU…a simple flick of the switch to W/VE and the VE jumped up about good number of S points…from in the noise to perfectly readable…it was like magic...as they say ‘Must get one of those’…although I suspect the neighbours may complain a bit when I’m staking out the verticals in their gardens rather than mine…I’m not sure trying explain that they have to be ¼ wavelength apart will cut much ice with them either….ho hum!, getting to play with Antenna like this is all part of the fun of such events as CQWW from GU.

Thursday and was dedicated to setting up the computer network and the station proper.

There had been some debate prior to the contest as to which Logging Program to use…most favoured CT, although a significant number felt it may be time to give Writelog a try…however as all were familiar with CT that was the one we plumped for…it was set up by Tim with a network of three Laptop PCs linked together with Ethernet using K1TTT’s CT networking program…it performed flawlessly…now if only we could have Tim there to aid us in all networking scenarios…I have had many hiccoughs with CT when cobbling together networks when Steve and I have activated GB3RS…it just goes to show how easy it is when you know what you are doing!

Later on the Thursday Tim collected Dave who was flying in…and no sooner had his feet touched the ground than he was at work commissioning Don G3BJ’s TL922 into the station equation…however there was a problem in that one of the screws which held part of the 3-500’s in the amp had disappeared…Dave sorted that out as well as fashioning a new connector to get computer control of the FT990.

I’m always impressed by anyone who can turn there hands to sorting out such Contesting Murphy’s… I think both Tim and Dave could hire themselves out as Contest trouble-shooters…you break it, we fix it!

Thursday evening we had a rather nice evening out at Crabby Jacks Restaurant…we were joined by Keith MU3EFB, Richard GU4CHY, as well as Bob and Phil…this was I am ashamed to say quite a boozy affair, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all....Crabby Jacks if you are over GU way is to be recommended.

Stumbling back along the Seafront (Crabby Jacks being but an inebriated shimmy from the Vaz) we noticed that the wind was still picking up…a taster of things to come..A bleary eyed awakening followed the previous nights outing to Crabby Jacks Restaurant…it probably had been a windy night, but certain sedatives had precluded my taking any notice of it!...after breakfast under the beady eye of Angelo the Vaz Hotel’s Head Waiter …it was back up to the GARS shack to continue preparations for the battle ahead.

We were almost ready by early afternoon and were keeping an eye on the weather reports as we were expecting Don G3BJ and Hilary G4JKS to fly in from Manchester, but as the afternoon progressed this was seeming less and less likely as the wind was really starting to pick-up.

Late in the afternoon we were planning to undertake a TVI test with the building next door (there had been problems with interference during previous contests)…Don (XTT) and Steve went outside to meet up with the representative of the Administration building next door who was versed in undertaking these sort of things…there had been instances when the alarm had been set off and the Fire Brigade called automatically…something we were very anxious to avoid!

Whilst they were waiting for the chap to arrive and glancing out onto the antenna field, noting with admiration how well they were all standing up to the increasing gusts…the 50ft pole from which the Carolina Windom was strung keeled over!...probably there is a moral here about calling the Devil’s name…which on this occasion may well have been Murphy…

This was a bit of a pain as it was by now getting dark and clouding over ominously…it was a case of all hands to the pump…which on this occasion also meant our two German amateur visitors (Rainer DL2MDZ and Gerhard DL3NBL) who had stopped by on their way to the ferry.

Rainer and Gerhard had been on GU for a couple of weeks and we were worried prior to the actual event that they would steal some of our thunder as the only big GU Mult….as it turned out they were going back to DL before the actual contest started…or would have had the ferry not been cancelled!

There was much cursing and swearing at trying to get this metalwork back up in the air…the Gods were also looking down on us and having a good old laugh as they chose this moment to open up the heavens…it started absolutely lashing down!...it is always best at moments like this to hold fast to that sentimental notion of what fun contesting can be, especially when you are manhandling 50ft of aluminium pipe, assorted wires, whilst slip-sliding about in assorted cow land-mines and a torrential downpour.

Eventually job done but we did not quite manage to get the antenna up the pole as far as it had been…still it was standing again and this seemed good enough for us.

After securing the shack, roping down any movable objects and that sort of thing we retired back to the VAZ to grab something to eat and await Don and Hilary.

The Hells Angels Chapter from the previous night at the Vaz did not seem to be gracing us with their presence tonight so we just had time for a quick S.S.S and a bite when G3BJ/G4JKS whistled in looking like they had just arrived after a journey from Manitoba rather than Manchester!

Luckily for them they were on the second team and could get a good night’s rest before the trials of the weekend commenced….we had decided long before the off that we would split up into two teams…one on, one off for 8 hour shifts…this had worked well before on previous GU/GJ trips.

Team A (alphabetically, rather than merit-based you understand) was to be Steve G4JVG, Tim G4VXE, Bob GU4YOX and myself …while Team B was to be Don G3XTT, Don G3BJ, Hilary G4JKS, Phil GUØSUP and Dave WW2R.

We all repaired back to the GARS shack to get the show on the road…the wind was still quite strong, but at least it had stopped raining…everything still appeared to be standing although the verticals on the 40m 4-Square were really flying about in the breeze.

I think the period just before any big contest can always be a nerve wracking time…did we bring the right antennas?, are the tactics correct?, even, in my case, was I up to the job?...all thoughts such as these are banished when the clocks tick over and it’s time to go, go, go!

I seem to remember that Steve and Bob kicked off on 40m and 80m…as is usual at the start of a big one there is an awful lot of jostling for position…unless you’re one of those who camps out on 3.799 three days before the contest starts!

Reasonable rates ensue for the next few hours with 100+ rates on 40m, 4-5 a minute at points, mixing and matching with running Stateside and Europe…here of course the 4-Square really comes into its own…not having used a directional 40m antenna before it’s a real treat to be able to listen to certain parts of the world only…or cut down on some of the cack coming from EU.

Actually, the QSO rate on 80m was zero at first, and would have remained so if we hadn’t spotted the fact that the 80m antenna had once again ended up at ground level! Fortunately this time the pole was still intact, and some judicious repair work in the dark and wet got us QRV again.

We ended the 1st hour with a combined 164 in the log and went on to have reasonable rates throughout the night on the 80m and 40m…we did not get going on 160m until the second night…we burst onto 20m about 0600z but it took a while to get anything going, but eventually we managed an 80 and a 111 hour on that band before Team B descended to relieve us…we had 1235 Q’s and 256 Mults in the bag.

Worse for wear we retired to the Vaz for perhaps a spot of breakfast and a bit of shut eye…however Angelo the ‘I’m only here to help’ Waiter was having none of it as we arrived 5 minutes after breakfast had finished being served ‘Just a Bacon Sandwich then’ pleaded Tim ‘No, Breakfast is finished’ he rather emphatically announced and that was that!...I’m sure Tim will carry the mental scars of this rebuff for many years to come.

Still we had no trouble getting off to sleep!...Team B started going great guns on the HF bands were we were more competitive with 4-ele Monobanders on 10m & 15m and a TH6XX for 20m…they managed to pull out impressive runs of over 230 & 256 per hour on 10m alone…we got back to witness this later in the afternoon. I watched as Don (XTT) really racked them up 5, 6, 7 a minute continuously…I was deeply impressed…it really was a case of watch and learn young man….I wish we had recorded some of this because it was a joy to hear, really fast runs, banged into the computer without a pause for breath…

They had had problem with the wind causing a lot of leverage on the GARS tower so they had had to drop it in height for safety’s sake…which was a shame but not half as much as the whole thing going over would have caused.

We also had problems with the A3S which was a Mult antenna on a 20ft Scaffold pole…it had managed to turn around on itself, shearing the rotator cable, and was hanging rather limply and just flapping in the breeze…

As I remember we then took over with 3298 Q’s and 508 Mults in the log. Team B went out to investigate the Mult antenna and whack back in the guy stakes which were straining at the leash in the wind.

We had a good couple of hours with 135 on 15m and 162 on 10m, followed by a 155 and 182 hour on 15/10m…things were going quite well when what must come as one of my short contesting career’s most memorable moments happened.

Bob was on 10m with the 1000MP and the Alpha whilst I was on 15m with the 1000D and Steve’s Henry 2K…rates were good and I was happily chuntering away when an almighty bang and a blinding flash came from under my nose…I’ve been near quite a few amplifiers when they have decided to keel over, but I have honestly never heard anything quite so loud from one before…the whole shack went deadly quiet (apart from the ringing in my ears)…I think the others thought some one had died in the incident!

Upon calming down, changing my trousers and letting the amp cool down enough to handle it, the cover was removed…surprisingly, considering the hubbub which had just emanated from it, there were no charred components to be seen!

An assorted work team of Don (BJ), Dave and Bob concluded that the voltage interlock leaf switch had bent upwards under the heat and touched the roof of the chassis...with the resulting November 5th display we had just witnessed…a large number of kV going to ground…in best amateur tradition Bob suggested (don’t try this at home folks!) that a bit of folded up paper between the chassis and the switch would allow us to turn the amp back on to see if anything terminal had occurred…Bang! another arcing flash to add to our collection and a big hole blown in the paper ‘insulator’…Don then suggested we try a bit of insulator cut out of an old piece of RG213 that was lying around the GARS shack…Bingo! On it came seemingly none the worse for wear…in fact it continued to churn out the watts for the rest of the contest…they don’t build ‘em like that any more!

We also hit Topband for the first time later this evening and managed some pretty healthy rates including a 117 hour.

We handed over our stint to Team B with 4826 Q’s and 650 Mults…and quickly whizzed off to the Vaz for some well earned rest.

We were in luck before going back up to the shack in the morning as we could have breakfast…we could not be denied this time!

When we got up the weather had taken its toll on the site in the night…a 40m Vertical had blown over, the 10m beam and mast had come down and the 50ft mast with the Windom on it had snapped at the top pole and come down.

Team B tired from the trials of the night left us to it with 5561 Q’s and 719 Mults…Tim and Steve cracked on with the bands they could use whilst Bob and I went out to see what could be fixed…We were lucky that when the 10m beam/mast came down the beam actually flew out of the stub at the top and landed fairly intact on its back on the ground rather than burying itself up to the balun in the cow pats…Bob’s call to arms was ‘Right Paul, lets get this #@*$%* back up’...I can’t put what he really said as those of a nervous disposition would stop reading at this point!...still we managed to get the thing bent back into shape and up and running again in fairly short time…the Carolina Windom would be a different matter as we had to get it onto a totally different pole…in this case the one which had held the end of the 160m dipole…this all took quite a time as I am sure you can appreciate...when you’ve got a 160m dipole and 80m Windom around, it’s raining (again), windy, and there is a lot of the green and brown sticky stuff about, then things can be a touch trying!

We knocked off late afternoon with 7161 Q’s and 764 Mults to our name…we had had reasonable, but consistent, rates for the whole day, the best being on 20m and 10m…20m probably picked up as we could raise the beam back up a bit as there seemed less imminent danger of us, it and the shack blowing away.

After dinner we joined Team B for the last run in…obviously at this stage in the game rates were much lower and there was a fair degree of S&P and band hopping going on when rates could not be sustained.

Nothing more critical happened to the station in the last hours and we finished up with the following statistics.

We were tired but on the whole pleased with the results…we had set ourselves a higher target than this, but considering the problems we had, all agreed that it was a job well done.

We reconvened on the field on the Monday morning after a good night’s sleep and breakfast…Angelo the waiter was powerless to refuse as there were more of us now…strength in numbers you see!

It did not take too long to take everything down…if only it went up as quickly as it came down, eh?...so we all went for a bite to eat at Phil’s local ‘The Rockmount’ followed by a walk along the beach at Cobo Bay…this was really nice as the weather was now of course SPLENDID!...warm and sunny with just the mildest of breezes blowing in off the sea, as the water lapped at the beautiful pink granite in the bay…you had to laugh considering the tumultuous conditions over the past few days.

After we said our goodbyes to Phil, Steve and I took the car for a tour around the Island…having not had time to do so before…if you get a chance to get out to GU for radio or not, do yourself a big favour and have a look around. It really is a beautiful place.

On the Monday evening we all met up at a wonderful Italian Restaurant in St.Peter Port for a very enjoyable meal and celebratory drink (or 2).

On Tuesday we loaded the cars up at the GARS shack and then sauntered down to St.Peter Port for something to eat and a bit of sight-seeing…it’s a very nice place indeed…then it was all over and we said our goodbyes to those which were flying out and went down to the Ferry terminal to catch the Catamaran Ferry home to Weymouth…

I really enjoyed my time on GU and learnt a lot from some really A1 op’s as well as meeting some great people…Bob, Phil thanks a lot and thank you to everyone else who helped us in GU…Keith, Ken, Richard Mike …if you get a chance to go to GU or do something like this yourself then grab the chance you will enjoy it…I did.

I asked my fellow Team members for a few memories from the contest, so I could share some of them with you here…I did have stuff from Bob/Don XTT and Steve as well, but they appear to have vanished without trace from my computer?...curse of Murphy I suppose…

1. The accounting prowess of the Vaz, which followed me back even to the USA, after they double-billed my credit card.

2. The demonstration of the (lack of) dielectric properties of paper on G4JVG’s amp after being assured it is used in a lot of power cables on GU.

3. An enjoyable end to the weekend, when we had a snack at the Rockmount and the walk along the beach afterwards.

4. Being sent back to keep the station QRV during the antenna work Sunday morning in my full waterproof gear and being unable to detect the foot switch with my climbing boots on!

5. The hospitality of GARS.

1. Meeting all you guys on GU soil!

2. trying to sort antennas in the field in the middle of the second night, knee deep in smelly stuff, trying to remain standing in the wind, and wondering why!

3. The Cluster staying up for most of the weekend.

4. Meeting Dave & Tim, and agreeing that RTTY isn't the pits!

5. An enjoyable end to the weekend, when we had a snack at the Rockmount, and took a walk along the beach in such nice weather, especially after what the weekend had thrown at us.

6. Some lessons learnt!

1. Not being able to stand up on the sea front outside the Vaz, because of the wind.

2. The "quality" of service at the Vaz - Manuel is alive and well there.

3. Being on 80 metres working the states when all of a sudden the signals and noise dropped 5 or 6 S-points. I completed the QSO with the W2 I was working at the time (he could still copy), and went out to find the 80 metre antenna on the ground!

1. Calling CQ at the start of the contest for 10 minutes on 80m with no replies. Finding out that the antenna was on the ground. It worked FB on receive.

2. Arriving back at the Vaz after a night shift, to have bloody Angelo refuse to serve me breakfast because it was 9.07. I never forgave him for that.

3. Paul's face when the amplifier blew up!

4. Sheer astonishment that the CT/Ethernet network operated first time.

5. Outstanding and unforgettable hospitality from our hosts at GARS.

One more thought from me before I go…I remember we had quite a good run going on both stations on the Saturday afternoon when for one joyous moment the Rate Meter on CT hit 975 per hour for the last 10!...you don’t get those sort of events very often when your just a plain old G!

Anyway that’s that, MUØC is now history and will certainly be remembered very fondly by this amateur.

73 Paul GØWAT

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