G3TXF : CQWW RTTY Contest : 40m SOSB (A)

Sun setting to the West behind the mast	Two 40m wire dipoles each with a balun	Trailer supporting 40m wire dipoles

The antenna used for the 40m Single Band (Assisted) entry in the CQWW RTTY Contest was a pair of wire dipoles at right angles to each other at about 80ft (25m) above ground, each fed separately through baluns.

The rate graph shows that there were only two of the forty-eight hours in which zero QSOs were made. There were also a couple of hours where there were low numbers. Overall with a total of 1,437 net QSOs, the average QSO rate during the full 48 hours was just on 30 QSOs per hour. There was active operating during 44 out of the 48 hours.

Although N1MM was used for contest logging, the above images come from WinTest, where the graphics are generally better. The Cabrillo exported from N1MM was imported to WinTest. During the contest the GRITTY decoder was added to the MMTTY and 2Tone decoders already in place. The appalling conditions during the contest made decoding of weak and fluttery signals very difficult at times. Having all three decoders running in parallel really helped, particularly the last minute (during the contest) addition of GRITTY.

W	223		F	26
DL	220		SM	25
I	137		VE	24
UR	70		S5	19
SP	69		OE	18
PA	61		OH	16
RA	48		OM	16
G	47		ON	16
EA	43		PY	16
OK	42		YU	16

The table shows the number of stations worked in the "top twenty" countries. The only non-EU countries here are W (223), VE (24) and PY (16). Although there were 48 European Russians worked, there are only 8 Asiatic Russians.

European QSOs were 73.8%, followed by North America 18.7%, Asia 2.7%, South America 2.4%, Oceania 1.9% and Africa 0.6%. The relatively poor conditions would explain the proportionally higher number of EU QSOs.

G3TXF logged into the Contest Online ScoreBoard for the first time ever during this CQWW RTTY Contest.

The screenshot shows the four SOSB-40m-(A) entries that were logged in. As well as G3TXF there was HF9M, K9OM and PY4AZ. One immediate side-effect of logging into the Contest Online ScoreBoard was the competitive impact of seeing another station in the same category with a similar score.

Had HF9M not been on the ScoreBoard and had he not also been actively taking part in the contest, G3TXF probably would not have put in the number of hours that he did in order to try to build his own score!

The competitive impact of the ScoreBoard will probably lead to increased competition and therefore bigger scores in various contests. Connecting into the Contest Online ScoreBoard from N1MM was remarkably simple.

In the category above "SO-40 HP (A)" in the screenshot there is the SO-80 QRP (A) category, which includes Ian G3WVG operating as M5A on 80m QRP. Although there are many hundreds of scores listed in the Contest Online ScoreBoard, you can adjust the view to show just those categories in which you are interested.

A few days before the CQWW RTTY Contest, we received a visit from Mike G3SED. Here Mike G3SED (l) and Nigel G3TXF (r) are seen correctly "social distancing" by means of an antenna element over 2m in length.

In the background is the trailer tower supporting the two 40m wire dipoles used during the CQWW RTTY Contest.

The CQWW RTTY Contest website has a searchable scores database going back to 2007.

The data for these entries by G3TXF have been extracted from that excellent source. CQWW also has similar searchable databases for CQWW CW and CQWW SSB. They are veritable treasure troves of interesting data.

Year	Callsign	Mode	QSOs	States/Prov	Zones	DXCC	Score
2007	G3TXF	SO HP 20M	1,195	49	29	90	494,424
2008	G3TXF	SO HP 20M	1,549	56	31	96	739,869
2009	G3TXF	SO HP ALL	1,148	66	73	212	900,666
2010	G3TXF	SO HP 80M	315	13	12	55	51,920
2011	G3TXF	SP HP ALL	1,146	131	84	236	1,231,230
2013	PJ4/G3TXF	SO HP ALL	688	105	46	135	578,006
2016	G3TXF	SA HP ALL	448	57	69	211	326,553
2017	G3TXF	SO HP 40M	1,263	40	29	88	437,088
2018	G3TXF	SA HP ALL	489	47	61	181	319,345
2019	G4S	SA HP ALL	739	45	55	202	493,468
2020	G3TXF	SA HP 40M	1,437	42	28	101	548,226

A further indicator that conditions were down this year, was that this year's score was not significantly ahead of the score made in 2017. However in 2017 the CQWW RTTY entry was UN-assisted and this year it was Assisted.

This photo shows a (near Equinox) sun setting over Lundy Island a few days before the CQWW RTTY Contest. Lundy Island is located 20 miles across the sea to the west of the G3TXF QTH.