Good afternoon all denizens of 222 MHz,
Tonight is the fantastic 222 Activity Night, where anyone with 222 gear
has a good chance of working someone else and it is a good way to make
sure your rig is working OK. You all know that the January VHF Contest
is not that far off. Make sure your stuff is working!
Last week I had a broken quad yagi array. One of the top yagis had
snapped in half and the front was dangling down about 30 degrees. The
VSWR was still good, so I used it and actually worked some stations with
it broken. I didn't push my luck swinging it around as the broken yagi
was acting like a bobble head doll. So when I got a break in the
weather, I enlisted the help of WA1T, and we fixed the broken antenna. I
weatherproofed the power divider yesterday afternoon during a lull in
some rain. I will be on this evening probably around 23:00 UT or 6:00
PM EST, and try to keep running until the stations all go away. I have
the internet working, so my computer can monitor ON4KST Chat and the
HB9Q 222 MHz Logger page. An interesting note...starting at about 23:30
UT, The Moon will be setting on the East Coast. I will be testing out
all the repairs on my antenna and will be monitoring HB9Q 222 Chat. If
anyone is interested we could try a sked. My Moonset is at about 00:40
or 7:40 PM EST. The Moon will be Southwest for folks in the NE.
225-230 degrees or so. It might be interesting to see if you can hear
any signals. I will use 222.085 MHz JT65b. There are other 222 EME ops
around. This might be a good time to have multiple signals available as
Faraday rotation can lock out one signal, while others can blast in just
fine. That is the way it is on 222 with linear polarization.
If you have little local activity, there is always a chance for some
skeds to produce results. A successful evening can be when you try
something new! The Moonset this evening could be a lot of fun even if
no contacts are made. I hope to see some activity this evening. A snow
storm is predicted in the next few days and my hilltop acces might go
away. This might be my last 222 night of the season if we get dumped on
with snow.
73
Dave K1WHS
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