My wrap up of the weekend below for the website.

After returning from an interstate trip, I just had a couple of days to repair the 40m beam and get the tower back up again, fortunately the VK6 weather relented and we had a couple of days of slightly cooler weather. With both towers up and all antennas/gear checked on the Friday afternoon I was very happy with the progress. 

After a few hours on Saturday looking after 2 grandsons, (maybe not the best contest prep) and a quick final check of the receive antennas I was ready for a short afternoon nap prior to the start of the contest (6pmlocal time). I awoke at about 5.15pm to discover that we had no power. This is not entirely unusual in the hills of Perth with dodgy poles/wires and maybe I’ve been very lucky in that it’s not happened before or during a major contest. 

The power company send a text to tell me what I already knew, and then another to give me the good news that the power will be restored at about 9.30pm local time and thanking me for my patience and understanding aargh….At this point I also get a text from Steve VK6VZ, he also had no power. I’m thinking maybe this is the year to do 12 hours, I’ve got enough time for a walk with my XYL and dinner at one of the local pubs with power. 

Magically about 20 mins before the start the power is restored. I was still a bit nervous as to how long it might last, we’ve had false starts before. 

My usual tactic of a quick start on 10m with run of UK stations did not materialise, 15m wasn’t much better either, although it did improve later with both SP and LP signals to the UK. I soon found myself on the lower bands picking off the bonuses, 20m also showed some good signs of activity, but the high solar indices were having an effect. It reminded me of how the contest was during low sunspot years, with a heavy reliance on 20 and 40m. 

A good early opening on 40m to the UK at about 16z was followed by a nice 80m opening at the UK sunset time. 20m was open throughout the night, signals were weaker than normal but workable. Now with all the UK call areas counted as bonuses the contest is more attractive to DX entrants.

At the halfway point my score was looking good, but the second half of the contest was a real grind here in VK with many hours passing by with very little action. It’s making the 12 hour section look very attractive, which is reflected in the participation level for this category

Maybe the conditions this year discouraged some of those with modest setups? However it was good to work some more VU and ZS stations this year. 

Overall the contest was as challenging as ever which is part of the attraction for me, every year is different and the tactics required need to be flexible for the best result.

Thanks again to all the HQ station operators and travellers to exotic locations, your efforts are appreciated.

73’s Kev

VK6T (VK6LW)

My station

FLEX 6600M, FTDX101D, SO2R

15/10m, 4 ele quad at 20m

20m, 2 over 2 stacked X beam at 26m 

40m, X beam at 22m 

80m, dipole at 28m 

RX antennas: 

DLOG (Delta loop on ground) for EU and VE (LF bands)

Beverage for EU (LF bands)

Small loops for 40 to 10m (HF bands)