MM3T CQWW Phone 09

It's the day after CQWW phone 09 and I was so impressed by the K3's performance during the contest, I just needed to share.

I'm not a keen SSB operator, but I like to give some points away. The main thing I learnt this contest was that LO-CUT-HI rocks in SSB! I'd been putting up with horrendous QRM trying to work DX buried between big EU stations. I was using the WIDTH control with not much improvement apparent, when in desperation I decided to try and see if I could winkle the DX out with SHIFT / LO-CUT-HI. The result raised my eyebrows is was so good. I didn't realise that intelligibility could be so good at such narrow (shifted) bandwidths. It made me regret choosing the 2.1KHz instead of the 1.8KHz roofing filter.

On another subject,

This contest the following stations decided to start up on top of me when it was impossible to miss me:
DR5Z, DC4A and PA2MRT
They all suffered from "selective deafness" on a busy 40m.

Out the three, DC4A was the worst, he started up with no QRL at 59+40dB exactly on my frequency. I recon his chosen technique is to pick the least QRM freq, then leave the voice keyer on continuous loop whilst leaving to make himself a cup of tea. When he comes back the QRM he has caused has driven away any occupant (as it's pointless trying to reason with a recording). During the time he QRM'd me, he made no contacts. I had to comply and QSY or lose points being stubborn.

Anyway for the first time it annoyed me so much I nearly gave in with frustration. I went downstairs and had a break and before long was back on 40m doing hunt and pounce.

Another couple of times stations started up impossibly close to me and even though I caught them immediately with "please QSY the frequency is in use" they carried on regardless "selected deafness" style. In one case the station complied to my plea only to move 300Hz further away :-). I think tiredness really comes through in these eventualities and it's best not to be provolked by their stupidity and just to take a break (even though they have just ruined a run into the states after a spot).