Good Buddy Dave you are the catalyst and top Kielbasa.
As usual, a few contacts fall off the edge of
my cocktail napkin log while transcribing to email.
So KB2KIR makes 23 for me last night.
K3SK was much stronger than usual last night.
The tropo continued this morning with strong signals
from KD4AA and K4RVR FM17.
P.S. increasing the voltage to the cooling fans
and lowering the bias on the MOSFET gates
on the Larcan was a big success,
33 Ohms cut the 50 V by 8 V for 21 V per fan.
Originally it was 250 Ohms (as marked and measured).
I wound up setting all 4 FETs to 350 ma idling current.
Only slightly less than before, but more stable.
The amp runs much cooler now even on FT8.
73 Ron WZ1V
----- Original Message -----
From: David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net>
To: "222 >> 222Activity@groups.io" <222Activity@groups.io>,
"vhfcontesting@contesting.com" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>,
"NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net" <NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2025 07:52:44 -0400
Subject: [NEWSVHF] 222 Night Summary K1WHS
> Quite a bit of activity on 222 MHz last nite for the weekly gathering of
222 MHz fanatics on a Tuesday night. I made 27 QSOs and managed to work
K1FMS twice on FT8 and SSB. I did note that about half of my contacts
were at 500 km or more. That is 300 miles or better. There were 13
contacts of about 500 km or better, so I guess conditions are looking
up. One unusual contact was K3SK at 915 km or about 575 miles on FT8. I
think I have only done that once or twice. If I can work Dave K3SK, it
is usually Q65B on tropo or via the Moon route which is far easier. An
FT8 contact is much more difficult for me.
That brings up a point. I seem to not have much success at FT8. Many
times I can easily see a trace on the waterfall, but cannot get a
decode. It is not due to timing or multi path. I also have been
experimenting with narrowing up the passband and have had mixed
results. I need to talk with an expert to set me straight. Does MSHV
program provide better results?
My weekly try with WA3EOQ was successful on CW at 805 km but signals
were average (very weak!) Howard runs 95 watts in the shack, so the
cntact definitely means that my receiver is not broken! After working
K3SK previously at roughly the same heading, I thought that maybe
conditions were up. To be fair, K3SK is on the flatlands of Virginia,
while WA3EOQ is in the hills of Western MD.
I did note with some sadness, tht W7TZ is giving up on 222 EME as his
QTH is deluged with local RFI noise which is killing his receiving. He
is even using a WD5AGO cavity preamp to minimize RF overload from TV
stations etc. I would say that his TX signal on 222 is great off the
Moon and he is offering his entire setup at the rock bottom price of
about $1200 including his FT736 loaded with bands. Someone in the PNW
should snap it up before I drive out there to get it.
here is my log from last night. Missing are unsuccessful tries with
VA3IKE in EN82 on tropo scatter, along with W7JW on MSK144. W7JWhad 12
decodes from me, while I only had two decodes. We quit after 20 minutes.
I think my problem is too sharp of an antenna pattern. I need to fix that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
08/05/2025 22:40 KA2ENE FN13FE -04 -05 220 MHzFT8
TR 533
08/05/2025 22:50 K1FMS FN32QB +24 +17 220 MHzFT8
TR 201
08/05/2025 22:58 K1FMS FN32QB 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 201
08/05/2025 23:01 KA3FQS FN2ØJF 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 498
08/05/2025 23:03 WW1Z FN42ET 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 84
08/05/2025 23:08 KB2KIR FN22EN ` 220 MHzSSB
TR 391
08/05/2025 23:13 WW1Z FN42ET 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 84
08/05/2025 23:25 W8ZN FMØ9TE 539 559 220 MHzCWK
TR 776
08/05/2025 23:36 K2AEP FN32OW 539 220 MHzCW
TR 157
08/05/2025 23:46 K3SK FMØ7TJ -18 -16 220 MHzFSK
TR 915
08/05/2025 23:50 W2BYP FN13IB +7 220 MHzFSK
TR 514
08/05/2025 23:52 NZ3M FN1ØPD -06 -14 220 MHzFSK
TR 598
08/05/2025 23:53 N1SV FN42BL +32 -15 220 MHzFSK
TR 126
08/06/2025 00:02 K1PXE FN31 +32 220 MHzSSB
TR 265+-
08/06/2025 00:03 K2RMX FN2ØXE 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 439
08/06/2025 00:05 K1RZ FM19JH 559 549 220 MHzCW
TR 691
08/06/2025 00:06 W1AUV FN32II 559 220 MHzCW
TR 223
08/06/2025 00:10 WA3NUF FN2ØKE +16 +15 220 MHzFT8
TR 496
08/06/2025 00:13 W9KXI FN12NE -08 -08 220 MHzFT8
TR 501
08/06/2025 00:15 N3ITT FN2ØKL -00 -02 220 MHzFSK
TR 473
08/06/2025 00:19 WA1PBU FN42EK -00 220 MHzSSB
TR 120
08/06/2025 00:26 N3RG FM29KI -55 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 568
08/06/2025 00:30 W1XIV FN34JJ -55 220 MHzSSB
TR 212
08/06/2025 00:33 W1AIM FN34 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 203+-
08/06/2025 00:39 K1BX FN43EB 59 220 MHzCW
TR 65
08/06/2025 00:41 WA3EOQ FMØ9JO 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 805
08/06/2025 00:45 KC2SGV FM29FN 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 572
08/06/2025 00:45 WB2RVX FM29MT 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 519
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 28
73
Dave K1WHS
ps. We are awaiting news from the 222 MHz Activity Committee on who
might possibly win the properly aged Kielbasa from Chiciopee, Massachusetts.
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