This e mail is a bit early to remind folks about 222 Night, as I am
secluded in a camp in the Ossipee Mountains and there is very limited
internet service (only thru a cell phone hotspot which should really be
called an *almost cold spot* as coverage is rather "iffy".) I am stuck
here until Tuesday, so I'll be traveling on Tuesday morning and I do
want to alert everyone that the next 222 Night will be a good one with
lots of activity. The Moon will be up on Tuesday evening, so maybe we
can make a few EME contacts as well as some more of the more common
terrestrial QSOs. KL6M had his 222 MHz feed in his 30 ft dish, so maybe
he might be available much later in the evening. The Moon rises in
Anchorage at about 0130 UT or 9:30 PM EDST. It might take more time for
the Moon to clear the trees and hills as Mike's eastern horizon is
somewhat blocked by a rather large chain of big hills. Most of the USA
should have a visible Moon on Tuesday. I sure would like to practice
with Q65 as I was having trouble decoding K3SK last week. He was
decoding me, but I was getting zilch on the terrestrial path. Last I
checked, Faraday Rotation does not bother tropo signals. So, if you have
EME capability, why not show up Tuesday night and look for a QSO or
two. If we get a few folks on the Moon, it will make for a very
interesting and thrill packed evening!! I will be on starting before
2300UT and will monitor the HB9Q chat page as well as ON4KST, looking
for tropo and EME skeds. My Moonset is at about 0700 UT so there is
plenty of time to try EME as we go later on Tuesday night.
I am chomping at the bit to get back to my hamster projects. I managed
to get a rock drill and drilled the footings for my new ground mounted
solar panel frame. I have the pipes, new battery, cables and the charge
controller all ready to be installed. When finished, I will have 1.5 KW
worth of panels for faster charging, along with a 600 Amp Hour battery
capacity. I even made progress on removing the old collapsed 144 MHz
tower. It has finally been removed from the trees and cut up and ready
for the dump. The rock drill will be used for some new guy point
hardware for the new 144 MHz tower. The new antenna there will be much
smaller, but it will be a step or two up from phased Ringo-Rangers. Once
the new holes are drilled, the new tower will start to grow.
My 903 MHz system is in the middle of being repaired. I will be doing
much tower work during the week and hope to get 903, 1296 and 2304
running again. So all these projects are lined up, and I am away from
the shack and forced to be fly fishing for trout. I guess someone has to
do it. My luck there has been great these last few days as I landed
three nice hefty 14" Brookies along with about an equal number of 13"
specimens. These are all around the one pound class and are a hoot to
catch. I lost count on the smaller guys.
So please try to get on 222 MHz for Tuesday evening. Good Buddy Ron,
WZ1V and I made well over 20+ contacts and we are shooting for thirty
QSOs for the first time. What better way to test out ur 222 setup for
the upcoming June Contest than to get on for Tuesday night! It will
also be a good time for me to get re trained on Q65. CU Tuesday night!
73
Dave K1WHS
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