So near, yet so far away

CQ contest, CQ contest...

I'm not a great conversationalist, and I run relatively low power (about 25 watts on 40, 20 and 15 metres, and 5 watts on 10 metres) into a number of wire dipoles that hang on the walls above my head. This makes it almost impossible to have 'proper' QSOs with any station on HF. In order to make use of my (now free) licence, I tend to operate only when there's a contest on. This allows me to prove to myself that the signal is actually getting out. Sometimes, I work a bit of DX (though not the rare stuff); most of the time I can only get into central Europe.

I've held a Full licence for nearly 20 years but, in spite of passing the 12wpm morse test, I can't do CW for toffee. I don't need anyone to tell me that I'd fare better with my current working conditions if I ditched SSB (not the easiest mode for a female operator) and went on the key. I also don't need anyone to tell me that I'd fare better if I didn't use a straight key. I do, however, need someone to tell me how to use a paddle!

Anyway, even though I'm hopeless on the key, I still have been known to give it a go. I didn't get a chance to check out the CQ WW WPX contest at the end of May (not the SSB one, as I reported earlier), so I decided that I would try to give away a few points during NFD at the beginning of June. I managed a dozen contacts, including some Gs and a GM on 40 metres (where I use a dipole that goes round half of the flat!). This little haul completed the page I was on in my logbook, leaving three pages to go before the end of the book. Why is this significant, I don't hear you ask? Well, I've been on the same logbook since I was licensed in 1988!

I bought a new one on my first and only trip to the Leicester show in 2003, and joked with the guy at the RSGB stand that I'd see him in another 17 years. I don't think he realised how serious I was. 2003 was really my last little burst of activity on the bands and, the way that conditions have been going since then, it may turn out to be my very last burst of activity!

Until today, that is. Yes, my second-favourite contest, the IARU Region 1 contest, took place this weekend. The bands were fairly quiet at the start, and for the first few hours, but I managed a few contacts on 20m in the evening, as well as the Polish HQ station on 40m. This is real DX for the likes of me, as no one can hear me on this band! Things were quiet this morning, too, up until about 09:00z, and then 10m came alive. I worked anyone who could hear me on 10, 15 and 20 but try as I might, I couldn't raise the dead on 40. I did, however, eventually get the RSGB (GB7HQ) on 40m CW. At 12:00 GMT, it went quiet. It was all over. I had made 48 contacts, two short of the end of the second-last page of my log. 6m was open, but all stations were too weak for me to contact. I had a short QSO with a special station from Dunkirk, but that was that. It was not to be. I wish I hadn't had that tea-break at 11am...