Here is my summary from Tuesday evening on 222 MHz. The Hepburn website
showed some minor enhancement over much of the East Coast, but it was
very minor. I was hoping that we would see less QSB than those evenings
with disturbed condx and 20 dB swings in signal strengths. At no time
did I see any enhancements in any direction except for SE toward Cape
Cod. WA1MBA and WA1NLG were both very good copy. QSB seemed reasonable
with 10 dB swings.
My weekly try with WA3EOQ was rather funny in that I was looking over
all the switches etc in the shack to make sure that I had selected the
proper antenna for the try, but I forgot to verify that I had turned the
rotator to his proper heading. I called for two sequences and heard
nothing, then noticed that I was 18 degrees off his azimuth. That would
put Howard in my first null. I quickly turned the beam and he
miraculously appeared. WE worked quickly and then I heard a pileup of
callers all calling WA3EOQ. There were at least three callers I could
hear when I stopped! Pretty exciting to hear those callers off the back
of their beams!
I tried a tropo sked with K9FW after about 00:30 UT. We could not hear
anything on FT8 or Q65. After no luck with tropo, we tried a MS sked as
I was hearing numerous meteor pings on his signal. It took awhile, but
we completed the meteor sked, and then I tried another one with K9MRI.
We had some better condx and completed pretty fast. AJ6T near Nashville
was also listening. He was hearing meteors as well at about 1000 miles.
I wish he would connect up his 1500 watt Larcan and get in on the
action! I tried with K3SK on meteors, but it was slow going. We are a
bit too close and it shows. (575 miles) Interestingly, K9MRI was still
hearing me fine with my beam aimed at Virginia. I did not hear K3SK even
with 5 degrees of elevation cranked in. I think K3SK had one burst from me.
WA3EOQ had mentioned that the Moon would be coming up at 02:27 at his
place. I hung around and Howard came back on the chat page at his
Moonrise, so I swung the beam East, and started calling him via the
Moon, rising in the East. He heard me pretty well. I did not copy him,
but Faraday Rotation did not seem to be moving fast as my echo stayed
the same over a long period. WG3K was also listening and heard WA3EOQ,
but it was only the direct signal that he heard. K3SK also was on and
as the Moon got higher I asked him to try calling. ( I was callingWA3EOQ
at the time) At first I could not detect Dave K3SK, but all of a sudden
I decoded him at -27. His next transmission was at -23 followed by
another one at -20. So things were changing between Virginia and Maine.
We completed easily and by that time the Moon was well up and Howard
went QRT. It was getting late! His best copy on me was at -19, which is
pretty good and no doubt audible in headphones! At one point, I lost the
TX audio which was frustrating. I also had a suspected WSJT hiccup so I
rebooted the computer. Aren't computers wonderful until they go
fruit-loops on you?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB (km)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/23/2024 22:46 K2RMX FN2ØXP 58 220
MHzSSB TR 398
07/23/2024 22:53 WW2Y FN2ØTK 58 58 220
MHzSSB TR 434
07/23/2024 22:58 WB2VVV FN41CR 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 197
07/23/2024 23:03 WA1NLG FN41XS 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 196
07/23/2024 23:05 W9KXI FN12NE 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 501
07/23/2024 23:08 WZ1V FN31RH 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 266
07/23/2024 23:13 WA1MBA FN51AS 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 198
07/23/2024 23:14 N1GLT FN42 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 97+-
07/23/2024 23:16 K1PXE FN31 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 303+-
07/23/2024 23:17 W1XR FM19HX 55 55 220
MHzSSB TR 654
07/23/2024 23:20 N1ROZ FN32TF 55 55 220
MHzSSB TR 174
07/23/2024 23:26 W1GHZ FN34 57 57 220
MHzSSB TR 203+-
07/23/2024 23:29 K1ZK FN34JJ 579 599 220 MHzCW
TR 212
07/23/2024 23:33 KC1V FN31SX 589 589 220 MHzCW
TR 200
07/23/2024 23:38 WA3NUF FN2ØKE 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 496
07/23/2024 23:42 W1AUV FN32II 559 599 220 MHzCW
TR 223
07/23/2024 23:51 WB3IGR FN1Ø -03 -03 220 MHzFT8
TR 590+-
07/24/2024 00:15 WA3EOQ FMØ9JO 429 220 MHzCW
TR 805
07/24/2024 00:26 WA1T FN43LK 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 8
07/24/2024 00:29 VE3FN FN25DK 559 559 220
MHzCW TR 440
07/24/2024 00:35 K1TEO FN31JH 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 296
07/24/2024 00:36 AA2SD FM29MS 55 220
MHzCW TR 522
07/24/2024 00:38 K2AEP FN32OW 58 59 220
MHzSSB TR 157
07/24/2024 00:53 W1AIM FN34UJ 559 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 154
07/24/2024 01:13 WA3DRC FM28AS 559 220 MHzCW
TR 663
07/24/2024 01:55 K9FW EN71KC -03 =00 220 MHz
MSK MS 1192
07/24/2024 02:01 K9MRI EN7ØIU 220 MHz MSK
MS 1213
07/24/2024 02:30 K3SK FMØ7TH -23 -23 220
MHzQ65 EME 922
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 28
I did see that AJ6T, near Nashville managed to work W5EME in Louisiana
on a path just under 500 miles. Walt is running only 30 or 35 watts I
believe. Not bad for such low power.
All in all, it was a relaxing night with no high winds and no grizzly
bears ransacking the shack. I keep looking into the Western path to
Indiana, checking for enhancements Sadly it was not there last night,
but it was fun trying. It sure beat sniffing glue down at the mall.
I am working on my 144 tower today. I want to haul up all the 5/16" guy
wires to the 110 ft position in hopes of adding temporary stabiity when
we get to the last two sections and the star guy. It is gratifying to
see the tower coming back to its' former glory. Onward and upward. The
222 and up contest is coming up, so shine those elements and grease your
feedlines!
73
Dave K1WHS
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