In 2017 I happened to be on a DXpedition to Ghana with G3VMW, G3XAQ, G4BWP, 5B4AGN and G6MC. Of the team members I was the most enthusiastic about the Commonwealth Contest and so for the 24 hours of the contest I had the shack pretty much entirely to myself.
Some more details of thetrip are on the 9G5X page.
For the contest I had a K3, KPA500 driving a 3-band Spiderbeam on the roof of the building, a 40m Dipole broadside to North and an 80M quarter-wave vertical. Band conditions were pretty good on the North-South path.
Band QSOs Pts Cty Sec Pt/Q
3.5 113 1025 0 0 9.1
7 217 1845 0 0 8.5
14 414 3370 0 0 8.1
21 248 2100 0 0 8.5
28 2 50 0 0 25.0
Total 994 8390 0 0 8.4
Score: 8,390
Even though my QSO totals were a long way ahead of anyone else I was beaten on error rate and band-call area bonuses by VE3EJ. Sadly during the night I wasn’t able to turn my beam as there was no safety railing on the upper balcony and in the dark it wasn’t safe enough to go up there on my own.
Thanks to my team mates for allowing me the opportunity of entering the contest, one of my favourites. My efforts landed me with 2nd place in the Open section.