Hi Paul:
You were first in my log last night, with a great signal too.
I listened for K3SK in FM07 both on SSB and FT8 but no joy.
I've got a good shot that direction, but at 415 miles tough for 25 W.
WA3EOQ in FM09 was easy copy on CW.
Worked 11 others:
N1JEZ FN44, K1WHS FN43, WA3NUF FN20, K1PXE FN31,
W9KXI FN12, K1TEO FN31, N1SV FN42, W1GHZ FN34,
W1AIM FN34, WA1T FN43, and N1DPM FN32.
TNX for the QSO's. I'll be on 432 tonight 8 to 9 PM or so.
73 Ron WZ1V FN31RH
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul N1BUG FN55mf <paul@n1bug.com>
To: "NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net" <NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net>,
"vhfcontesting@contesting.com" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>, "222 >>
222Activity@groups.io" <222Activity@groups.io>
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2022 06:09:00 -0400
Subject: Re: [NEWSVHF] [222Activity] 222 MHz Activity Night
> Hi 222ers and contesters,
>
> I didn't dare say anything in advance as that always seems to be a
> curse, but I managed to be on for the first few minutes last night. I
> worked K1WHS, N1JEZ, WZ1V and K1TEO right off the bat on SSB, all with
> great signals. K1WHS was nothing short of a massive signal as always. A
> few minutes later N1SV answered my CQ on CW. I heard W9KXI working K1WHS
> but when I turned the antenna his way he disappeared. That path over the
> mountains can be weird. I heard K1PXE on SSB calling one of the other
> FN31 stations I think (QRM), then later quite strong on CW working
> someone up on 222.110 but he faded almost to zero at the end of that
> QSO. Unfortunately I developed a case of QWERTYitis just 40 minutes (?)
> into the activity. My day had started at 2 AM as it often does.
>
> I had some time yesterday morning to make cables to run from the Trimble
> Thunderbolt in the workshop down the rack to a floor bulkhead, under the
> house from there to another floor bulkhead in the ham shack, and from
> there up another rack to the Q5 Signal REF10-8 behind the transverters.
> I used temporary cables that were laying around to connect the 222 and
> 432 transverters to the REF10-8 while I wait for some connectors I
> ordered to make permanent ones for all three transverters. For now I
> have to disconnect the Thunderbolt from the homebrew splitter feeding a
> couple pieces of test equipment to route it over to the shack but
> eventually I will get a Q5 Signal L10-4 or L10-8 to make everything
> permanent.
>
> The ~16 month old 432 transverter's internal standard TCXO is about 220
> Hz off. 222 is about 80 Hz off. I haven't checked 144. Just for grins I
> checked the internal reference in the REF10-8 and found the difference
> between that and the Thunderbolt to be only 5 Hz on the 432 transverter.
>
> I spent the afternoon working on weeding the antenna farm. I tackled a
> 70 foot oak that was very crooked, nearly V shaped, and leaning severely
> toward one of the towers. I climbed up about 30 feet and attached a
> safety cable to a very heavy duty comealong chained to a tree in what I
> thought was a clear enough direction to drop the oak without hitting the
> tower or guys. It had to be pulled in some direction or else it was
> going to hit the tower for sure. Unfortunately the top branches of the
> WUR (Weed Under Removal) got hung on the branches of massive 95 foot
> pine tree! I spent hours trying to pull it this way or that to get it
> free but no luck. The bottom ~25 feet is now leaning at a 40 degree
> angle toward the pine, with the remaining ~45 feet nearly vertical. I've
> got to figure a way to get it out of there.
>
> If I am awake and quasi-functional, I will try to be on 432 this
> evening. Uh-oh... the curse! I have a great antenna but only 25 watts on
> 432 so it will be tough going.
>
> I plan to be on some in the contest on 144 (1300W, YU7EF 13 el at 120'),
> 222 (800W, K1FO-22 at 115'), and 432 (25W, K1FO-40 at 110'). No 6
> meters. The 6 meter antenna is still down waiting for me to try adding
> rope inside the elements to tame a serious vibration problem. I might or
> might not make a serious effort of it. Contests have been very
> disappointing since my return to VHF. If I work hard I can scare up 20
> to 30 QSOs on 144, 8 or 10 on 222 and a few on 432. That's pretty darn
> discouraging compared to the 90 I used to be able to get on 144 with an
> inferior setup but I guess it is a sign of the times. VHF+ activity is
> WAY down, especially big stations that can reach up here.
>
> Somehow I am going to get my schedule sorted so I can be awake well into
> the evening Saturday, but will be off the air for an hour or two after
> 0130 UTC to try listening for the DL0SHF beacon on 10 GHz EME. Now that
> I have the LNB GPS locked and moved to 432 IF, the 432 transverter GPS
> locked, and doppler tracking working it should be a lot easier than last
> time with a drifting LNB and old non-TCXO RTL-SDR stick!
>
> 73,
> Paul N1BUG
> FN55mf
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