Marconi CW contest

The 2 meter CW Marconi Contest took place on 2nd and 3rd November 2013.

The Marconi is the longest of the VHF CW Championship events and runs for 24 hours. Last year I dabbled in it but was never going to be a serious contender. As I have entered into all of the VHF CW Championship events on 4 meters and 6 meters this year I was determined to have a better shot at it.

Bob, G1ZJP, very generously and diligently supplied the station so that I could go /P. The antennas alone were very impressive. Bob had fixed up a huge array of 4 X 12 element M2 yagis. Antenna always look bigger on the ground and he shot a photo of me being dwarfed by set up. They are colossal on the ground!

 Dwarfed by the huge 4 X 12 ele array

Weather forecasts indicated that we could expect very high winds and heavy rain over night and, for once, they were not wrong. At their highest the antenna were up at 23 meters agl. Well over twice the height that I could manage with my single 11 ele. on a pneumatic mast at my home QTH.

Antenna at full height seen across the fields.

The contest started at 14.00 z on Saturday and radio conditions were not very good. Working Europe was not very easy especially  considering the Continentals were working the contest as well. Most of them only turned their antennas to G land as a last resort so they were a bit thin on the ground. The UK activity level was not very high either. Maybe the promise of stormy conditions kept antennas lowered in readiness.

As night fell, Bob took on the duties of safety officer as the weather conditions outside deteriorated. The wind strengthened and, more importantly, got more gusty so he was outside in the riving rain lowering the mast to about half height. I ventured out a couple of times during the evening to get some air and seeing those antenna being buffeted by the wind was rather scary. 

The run rate in these events is never as high as during the UK AC Contests that I am more used to operating in, and 24 hours is a long time with very little activity. At 23.45 with only 1 qso in the previous hour I decided to get some sleep. I drove home and was amazed to get a few hours of shut eye despite consuming large quantities of coffee and still hearing CW ringing in my ears. Up bright and early on Sunday I was back on the key by 7.45 the next morning. In total I managed just over 16 hours of intensive CW operation in the 24 hours available.

Using the rotataor controls to peak the Continentals!

Last year I worked 30 other stations, this years tally was a more respectable 80 qso's. Upon analysis there was one dupe and one other non-scoring contact so that dropped to 78 contacts.

I must admit that I was quite relieved to see 14.00 z come around on Sunday. Concentrating on mainly weak CW signals for long periods is exhausting. CW decoders are virtually useless in these conditions so it was all reading by ear and sending was with the aid of a memory keyer and some manual sending to break the boredom.

The best DX worked was DK9IP at 759 Km and the average distance per QSO was 324 Km. 80 contacts in 24 hours is mind numbingly slow but the difficulty level was quite high so that kept me alert for most of the time. As I had been wearing headphones for all of the contest, my ears were plastered to the side of my head. As I write this they are just starting to get back to normal.

One of the most satisfying QSO's was with M1CDL. John is one of the members of our CW beginners group at Spalding and District Amateur Radio Society (SDARS). I could hear his nerves but he completed the contact in   a very proficient manner. Well done John.

I am not a very fast CW operator and the contest exchange is quite long in the Marconi, RST, Serial Number and Locator so maximum speed for me was about 17 wpm. Most other stations came back to my CQ calls at roughly the same speed, maybe a bit faster. I cease to be very accurate above 22 wpm and there was loads of time so I did not see any point in rushing contacts and jeopardising points. 

It was great fun but I was pleased when the end came. I left Bob to dismantle the antennas and get ready for his next contest on Tuesday. A huge thank you to him for all of the work he put in so that I could indulge myself in the 2013 Marconi VHF CW Contest.

Mni tnx fer qso and pts 73 es gl de G0HGH/P

Tower flexing in the wind - it got a lot stronger!

Thanks to Bob, G1ZJP, for the photographs.