MX5A : CQWW-160m CW Contest : Jan 2020 : Poldhu, Cornwall
Ian G3WVG at the Jan 2020 CQWW-160 Contest MX5A operation:

Where better to operate an LF contest than the place it all started?

Over one hundred years ago Marconi made the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission from Poldhu in Cornwall. His aerial are long gone, but the wireless field together with its iconic stone monument remains. The Poldhu Amateur Radio Club GB2GM have a comfortable club house there and maintain the popular Marconi Visitors Centre.

The club kindly gave me permission to operate from one of their rooms and set up my antennas in Marconi's wireless field. I opted for a top loaded 18m Spiderbeam vertical together with approximately 1.5km of radials. The receive antenna was a K9AY switched array together with a simple "beverage on the ground" antenna. The radio was an Icom 7610. All in all I ran out 450m of coax and a seeming endless amount of radials.

It sounds easy if you say it quickly, but on an exposed headland looking over the Atlantic Ocean it was physically demanding. My operation was essentially a temporary field day style operation but with a comfortable shack with a 240 volt supply.

The contest nearly went without a hitch. However he gap in the Win-Test graph reveals that I fell asleep for an hour at 0400z on the Sunday morning. That was followed by a lost 90mins at dawn when a vicious squall blew in, ripping off my top-loading wires. Fortunately I was able to fix these before the last session. I discovered after the contest that there had been a few "easy" multipliers that I had missed but I was very pleased with the number of US/VE contacts I'd made. It seemed as though my decision to operate at the edge of the Atlantic had been a good one.

I was grateful for the meals at nearby Poldhu Beach Café. Fortunately it stays open during the winter. I can assure you that my "breakfast in a bun" tasted great and my picture doesn't show it at its best.
73 de Ian G3WVG at MX5A
Marconi Visitor Centre : home of the Poldhu Radio Club GB2GM
DX - - EU -
W
429
 - DL
240
UA9
34
 - UA
140
VE
32
 - OK
80
EA8
6
 - UR
76
UN
6
 - G
64
YV
5
 - SP
61
4X
4
 - I
46
KP2
4
 - S5
46
4J
2
 - LY
36
5B
2
 - OH
32
Ian G3WVG at Poldhu, Cornwall with the ocean in the background, setting up to operate MX5A in the January 2020 CQWW-160m CW Contest.
Given the excellent westerly sea take-off towards the USA, 429 W's were worked (461 W/VE) in 52 State/Prov Mults.
160m vertical at MX5A in CQWW-160m.
K9AY Loops Switch.
Poldhu Beach Café's "Breakfast in a Bun".
Monument to commemorate Marconi's transatlantic transmissions.
Part of the 1.5km of radial wire at MX5A for CQWW-160 Contest.