Not many times in life we get the opportunity to get involved in a new contest 1’st edition ever.

As I stated before, I do deserve my “QRO destroyer” nickname.

• • 8 hours before… raised a 80 meter band  inverted vee antenna , but  the apex 8.5 meters above ground and lower ends about 1.3 meters above  made this antenna as MMANA simulated, very low impedance and NVIS pattern. Made few SSB qso with is but something was clearly wrong, RF output suddenly dropping , resetting QRO temporary  solving this issue.
  • 18:00 EU-DX contest started but at 19:29 utc my QRO died, apparently input relay is bad but being at country house did not have a spare one, so this is it, I did go with TCVR only which at 12.2 V SMPS power supply was pushing only 80 to 85 watts output.
  • As I am a human being with complex impedance big issues , a psychological factor made me feel that “contest not working great ‘, so went to sleep.
  • Next day made few more contacts, but 1 hour before ending I’ve notice icy rain getting on roads so decided to stop there, pack my things and went to city.  Made 50 Km in 2 hours, nightmare road as car drifting away at o Km/h on downhill, no steering control and 3 times almost hit the ditch.
  • Overall score is 468 QSO, 4111 points , 131 districts and 40 dxcc zones with a total of 702.981 pts in 40 meters band only CW.
  • Will have to write an email to EUDXCC team to explain QRO problem, qro stop timestamp and qso / points made with it versus qso/points made in low power to determine if I can go with LP category or HP, or better to set me up as check log, first time when QRO crashes during contest so got no clue where I am sitting at.

73’s , Gabriel YO8RXP