P.S. I'm not on 432 right now and, of course, that's where everyone was. Oh
well.
________________________________
From: VHFcontesting <vhfcontesting-bounces+callbill=hotmail.com@contesting.com>
on behalf of Bill Olson <callbill@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 6, 2023 3:10 PM
To: David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net>; VHFContesting
<vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] 432 Sprint Summary K1WHS
Hi Dave and all, yesterday afternoon, before I headed to a gig, I checked my
222 propagation indicator, the KO1I beacon in Otisfield Maine. It's about 80
mile SW of here and has proven to be a good indicator. When I left around 4,
signals were maybe a tiny bit above normal, say S2 or 3. When I returned home
around 10, the atmosphere was sort of quiet and foggy. It just "smelled' like
there was a lift on. I checked the beacon and sure enough the beacon was well
over S9, my guess would be at least a 30dB improvement. Of course there was no
one to work at that time.. This morning, sure enough, S2.
bill, k1DY in the blob-free zone
________________________________
From: David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 5, 2023 9:45 PM
To: Bill Olson <callbill@hotmail.com>; VHFContesting
<vhfcontesting@contesting.com>; NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
<NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: 432 Sprint Summary K1WHS
Hi Bill,
Being in the blob free zone is a common occurrence up here in northern
New England as you know. This morning, I was finally in the blob
although the map said otherwise. I heard very little on 222 and 432
though. I worked stations that I had worked last night, including AA4ZZ
and K4LY. Everybody else was on 144 where the pickings were easy. AA4ZZ
peaked at 59+20 or so on SSB, and I saw a +40 from him on FT8. I did not
know FT8 would go that high. Last night he was very weak on CW (529 )
and the best I heard him on FT8 late at night was around -5 to 0. This
morning at about 1300 UT the signals were going down fast. At one point,
AA4ZZ actually faded into the noise, so I quit about 13:30.
As for the sprint, It is rather frustrating to hear people 150 or 200
miles farther South working them one right after another, while I hear
nothing. Last night was a bit different in that a few signals dd finally
make the grade, but it was like pulling teeth. The DX was slow to appear
here in FN43 Mumbo Jumbo.
23:00 UT Start of 432 Sprint. All sorts of activity down in southern NE
and mid Atlantic states. I called K1TEO right away at 23:00, but had to
stand in line as everybody in the NYC area was doing the same thing. I
worked 15 stations in 12 minutes, then it petered out a bit.
23:26 I worked WA1T/r while he was driving home from a job in NY. He was
in Connecticut on RT84 FN31. I ended up with three Qs from WA1T/r in
FN31, 42, & 43!
23:30 I struggled to pull out a SSB contact with K2CKA in FM06 in NC.
This was the first DX heard here. I almost fell over when he sent FM06.
00:02 KT1R in FM09 on CW. I had terrible cell site switching transients
that made copy almost impossible.
00:20 K3SK in FM07 on FT8. Dave is about 575 miles away. Signals
were pretty good. I started to get optimistic. Things were improving.
00:40 VE3ZV barely copyable on 432 CW. Apparently no enhancement
westward at all.
01:03 AA4ZZ calls on CW. He is very weak but a steady signal. Paul is
in EM96.
01:34 K4LY worked on FT8 in EM85 S. Carolina It took awhile for Doug
to peak up so I could her him. Another squeaker!
01:46 KO4YC is quite loud FM17
01:56 N4LAZ in EM95
02:07 KO4LZ FM05
02:15 K4RCA in FM06
02:39 KG4HOT FM07
02:43 K4LY calls again on SSB this time.
02:53 W4DEX in EM95.
So you can see how the night started out with nothing, but signals
really started to appear after 01:30 and things got good at about 02:00
UT. It seems that the band was wide open in Connecticut right before the
Sprint began. That was not the case up here. I had been at the shack in
the afternoon and monitored beacons on 222. W3CCX got louder as the Sun
set, but that was about it. No DX beacons audible on 222 or 432 at the
start.
Right around when the DX started to appear, WA1T/r walked up the hill
and brought some nice IPAs and we celebrated a nice night on 432
working a little DX while enjoying the brews.
It would be interesting to compare notes around northern New England and
see what was actually worked. On Wednesday night, I was out of the red
blob. On Thursday morning I was out as well, but the distance to the red
blob was a bit closer. AF1T was in the DX in the morning, but caught
very little on Wednesday evening. Dale is South and west of me and at
1260 ft. My antennas are at about 980 ft here.
I am just thrilled that we have any DX as the last few years have been a
real drought up here on VHF.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 10/5/2023 11:16 AM, Bill Olson wrote:
> As usual I'm sort of in the "blob free zone". BUT, if someone wants to try on
> 222, I'm game.
>
> bill, K1DY FN54JQ Maine
> ________________________________
> From: packrats-bounces@mailman.qth.net <packrats-bounces@mailman.qth.net> on
> behalf of PHIL MIGUELEZ via Packrats <packrats@mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, October 5, 2023 3:08 PM
> To: Packrats Reflector <packrats@mailman.qth.net>; VHFContesting
> <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> Subject: [Packrats] The Red Blob is back
>
>
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