G3TXF in CQWW CW Contest - Nov 2005
G3TXF entered Single Operator All Band (SOAB) in CQWW CW

Claimed score : 3.8 m points

3,665 QSOs 118 Zones 398 Countries

QTH : North Devon QTH (WAB = SS44)
 Operating time : 39 hours.

Highlight : working TZ5A on all six bands.

Lowlight : realising on Monday morning (after the contest) that the 10m and 15m rotator boxes were accidentally reversed. This explains why the 'runs' to the USA were so thin. The 15m beam was pointing N-E at the time!.

Station set-up : Spent the three days prior to CQWW CW putting up the antennas for six bands. All was ready by about 19z on Friday evening, just in time for a few hours snooze before the start of the contest.

During the contest there's so much going on. There's no time to think. I had noticed that signals on 15m weren't getting louder when I turned the beam, but I didn't think much of it at the time. I just thought it was the conditions.

However when I went outside early on Monday morning after the Contest in order to start taking down all the antennas, I noticed that the 15m beam was to the North-East. That's an odd direction for 15m at the end of the contest. Then it struck me. In my haste to assemble everything at the last minute (and in the dark), somehow the 10m and 15m rotator boxes had got swapped over. When "turning the beam on 15m", in fact I was turning the 10m beam and vice versa. Do-oh!

Apart from this unbelievably stupid error on my part, it was a fun contest as usual. A six hour sleep session on Saturday night plus some other short breaks resulted in 39 hours operating.
G3TXF shack : Alpha 87 (160m), FT1k Mk V and Quadra linear (80m-10m). Log = CT. L-R : Three towers 10m - 15m - 20m with string for 40m dipole running up to 15m.
20m yagi at 70ft + two 100ft trailer towers in foreground in early morning light.
Stacked rotator box chaos : 20m on the top, but lower two (10m/15m) reversed in error!
Snow fell on the Friday morning before the Contest, not the helping antenna work.
Monday morning view of the CQWW CW antennas just before take-down starts.
4el 10m beam at 70ft, which picked up a few valuable multipliers.

Antennas:

160m : Dipole at 70ft
80m : Dipole at 60ft (also = 160m RX ant!)
40m : Dipole at 50ft
20m : 3el at 70ft
15m : 4el at 70ft (but with the 10m rotator!)
10m : 4el at 70ft (but with the 15m rotator!)

Station : Yaesu MP MkV + VL-1000 Quadra amp, plus an Alpha 87 for 160m
This "stunning view" (as seen on the Monday after CQWW CW 2005) explains why the Devon QTH gets out so well to South America and JA on the long path.
CT screen at 2359z on Sunday evening, showing TZ5A worked on six bands!
Activity in CQWW CW Contests [1968 onwards]
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