Hello VHFers,
Conditions seemed quite bad during the 222 Sprint. We had a storm pull
through earlier in the day that actually caused a fair amount of damage
in the Southern New Hampshire area with fallen trees and power outages.
There was wet snow just a bit North of my location, but at least I
missed the white stuff. Apparently that vortex really messed up the
tropospheric propagation and signals up in the North were quite a way
down from normal. I monitored the K2DLL beacon early on, and noted that
it was barely audible at times. It barely reached 10 dB on the
panadaptor. Typical strength is 20-30.
When the Sprint began, it was pretty apparent that all the signals were
struggling. W1XR in FM19 was OK on CW but weak. Usually he is SSB
quality. K1RZ was worked on FT8 and was not his usual good copy. I
tried to find a good spot up above 222.100 and make some noise. The
callers were pretty fast and furious for the first hour, then things
slowed down. The poor conditions took their toll. I ran with VE3DS and
heard him fine for awhile, but he was not hearing me. The good news was
that he was in sync with my calls, and eventually I thought I copied his
grid. (heh heh) I may have copied his grid, but he was not sending
it!! That was the kind of night it was. Very weak and watery signals
with fast QSB that could mutilate any letter and spit out something
else. We had to try a second time before Dana caught a slight peak and
pulled me out. The same thing happened with WA3EOQ in western MD but
with worse results. Normally Howard and I can work most Tuesday
evenings. Just last week, he peaked at 559 with his 95 watts, but this
time, I think we ran four different times, all with the same result. I
heard just bits and pieces of his signal. I think the best time was our
first or 2nd attempt where full calls were copied just once. Talk about
frustrating. After four attempts, Howard and I gave up!
Somehow, I missed connecting with Al W9KXI. He is a normal easy contact
too, but this evening, we never found each other. I never heard KR1ST
either, and I am not sure why. I guess we never got lined up. That can
happen in a sprint with limited time. I tried to use my wide beamwidth
antenna as often as possible, but the very poor conditions usually meant
that I had to rely on the sharp but rotatable yagis more often than I
would have wanted. I guess it is what it is. I can go on and on. The
night was resurrected when WA1T showed up at the shack and he was
bringing gifts!!! He had a bag with a few nice locally brewed IPAs that
were infused with some fruity stuff and we had a good time sipping the
beers and complaining about how weak everything was! He walked up the
hill, as the road had turned into a small river (actually two
rivers...one in each wheel rut) and he decided to park and walk to
preserve what little remains of the woods road bed.
Normally, the Maine contingent of N1BUG and K1DY are gud copy off the
back of my LVA. Not this time. I had to turn the rotating antenna to the
NE to work them. I did note that Paul was up way past his normal
bedtime! Thanks for the effort, Paul. The Vermont guys (W1GHZ & W1AIM)
were quite weak here. There must be a huge obstruction between us. The
Moose Mountains form a serious blockage here to the NW, and I do note
that the path goes right through Mt. Moosilaukee in the White Mtns.
Moosilaukee is a huge chunk of rock. Other notable contacts included
VA3ELE, VE3FN, VE2XX, N2JMH, KD2LGX, N2WK, W2BYP, and N2RC who was
portable on a 1600 ft hill in FN21 running 10 watts! The good news is
that there is notable activity on 222 MHz. I figure that 39 QSOs & 19
grids from Maine is a good effort, and only made possible by people
getting on the air and digging for contacts. Thanks to all who tried!!
Thanks to the sponsors for this activity builder too!
Dave K1WHS
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