Call: ZS6AA
Operator(s): ZS6AA
Station: ZS6AA
Class: Open HP
QTH: Johannesburg
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs
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80: 7
40: 156
20: 122
15: 209
10: 15
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Total: 509 Total Score = 5,800
Club: Team Africa
My station is set up for low power contesting, but not within the antenna restrictions of the Restricted class, so I spent the morning connecting up an FL-2100B to give my signal more punch for an Open Class entry. Due to my antenna switching and SO2R filtering, the linear had to be manually band-switched by changing coax jumpers. I initially set it up for 80m but later used it on 40m and 20m as well.
The contest started well, with a nice opening to the UK on 15m for much of Saturday afternoon, and even a very brief opening (8 QSOs) on 10m. There was a lot of thunderstorm activity and I eventually had to give up my run with a hurried “QRT LIGHTNING” as the thunder crashes became deafening through the headphones. I was off for about an hour, which was a pity since the rate had been quite good – I managed 207 QSOs (40% of my total) in the first six hours.
20m was disappointing on Saturday evening, with only a short run of about 40 minutes yielding 47 QSOs, plus a few from S&P. 40m and 80m were very noisy due to static from the thunderstorm which was still active a few kilometers away. I tried to run on 40m, but found that although my signal was strong enough to attract a small pile-up, I couldn’t make out individual calls in the pileup due to all the QRN. So I would work a few S&P, then try to run, then give up the run because I couldn’t make out the calls, then S&P for a while again – quite frustrating.
I tried 80m a few times during the evening using a new end-fed dipole in an inverted “L” configuration. The results were disappointing, with only 7 QSOs in total, but this may not be a fair reflection on the antenna. I eventually went for a nap at 3am local time, hoping that things would be better in the morning. This proved to be a mistake as propagation was horrible on Sunday – from 6am until noon I managed only 51 QSOs, mostly to Australia and Asia. The high point was working the VU headquarters station VU2UR on 15m and my honorary African team mate VU2LYX on 20m. I also managed to double my 10m tally to a grand total of 15 stations!
It was an honour to be invited to captain Team Africa for its first appearance in the contest. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the brief messages of encouragement when working team members, and the added motivation of wanting to do as well as possible for the team.
