Well I had an interesting time between working on clearing tower
wreckage and then getting on for the 222 MHz Activity Night. I had a
70ft Rohn 45 tower outfitted with three five element yagis for 28 MHz.
When the 144 tower fell, it took out the ten meter tower. It hinged at
the 30 ft level where the bottom guys were attached. It has been an
eyesore for months. Today, I finished clearing the wreckage. I cut down
40 ft of buckled tower. I modified one ten ft section and turned it into
a flat top section by cutting out a few diagonal braces and fitting a
top plate to the cut down section. I also managed to remove the
uppermost section that was damaged, so now the tower is ready to have
new sections added. I even removed the big heliax and salvaged it
despite a horrendous crimp when the tower folded over.
So then I came up to the shack at 22:30 only to find that the station
was not working. There was no receive and the cause was a blown out 24
VDC power supply. It was all buried in a rack mounted cabinet. I found
a blown fuse inside after removing the rack mounted assembly. I had to
go home to get a meter and a new fuse. I put t all back together and I
had 24 VDC again, so I re mounted everything back in the rack. I got
things going well after 23:00 UT so I am sure I missed a few stations.
Local activity seemed down and I found very few stations on FT8 I did
manage to work KC3FQF/r via FT8 and he peaked up very loud at -03 dB or
so at one point. I had seen his good score in the recent sprint and
wondered how I had missed working him then. It was nice to make the
connection this time on the following Tuesday. I worked WA4YA on FT8
and then was surprised to work K3SK in FM07 on FT8. That is about 575
miles or 915 km. Other long distance contacts include W1XR at 654 km,
WA3EOQ at 805 km and WA3NUF, KA3FQS, KC3FQF, and W2BYP all at around 500
km. Things slowed down after 00:30 so I went looking for EME contacts.
There was quite a group all making noise, but the two guys on the East
Coast (K1WHS & K3SK) were out of sync with everyone else and Faraday
Rotation prevented a few contacts with stations farther West. I could
not hear WQ5S, W5EME, and K9MRI. WQ5S was horizon only and did work
W7JW. He heard me, but I heard zilch here. Later on K9MRI was worked as
the conditions changed. W7TZ and VE6TA rounded out the evening. I ended
up with six EME contacts. Here is the log:
QSO worked by K1WHS (FN43MJ) on all bands
Type of propagation: All Mode: All mode
From 10/07/2025 to 10/08/2025 Distance over: 0 Km. Page: 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/07/2025 23:17 WA3NUF FN2ØKE 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 496
10/07/2025 23:23 W2KV FN2Ø 579 579 220 MHzCW
TR 460+-
10/07/2025 23:25 W1XR FM19HX 559 559 220 MHzCW
TR 654
10/07/2025 23:26 W1AUV FN32II 559 220 MHzCW
TR 223
10/07/2025 23:28 WA1NLG FN41XF 59` 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 252
10/07/2025 23:29 KA3FQS FN2ØJF 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 498
10/07/2025 23:30 WA1MBA FN51AS 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 198
10/07/2025 23:31 KC1V FN31SX 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 200
10/07/2025 23:32 K1PXE FN31 57 57 220
MHzSSB TR 290
10/07/2025 23:33 K1BX FN43EB 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 65
10/07/2025 23:34 WB2VVV FN41CR 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 197
10/07/2025 23:42 WW1Z FN42ET 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 84
10/07/2025 23:43 KC2KAE FN2ØXX 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 370
10/07/2025 23:47 WZ1V FN31RH 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 266
10/07/2025 23:52 W2BYP FN13IB 57 55 220 MHzSSB
TR 514
10/07/2025 23:54 WA4YA FN42KJ -4 +2 220 MHzFT8
TR 112
10/07/2025 23:59 KC3FQF/R FM29 -10 -14 220 MHzFT8
TR 544+-
10/08/2025 00:15 K3SK FMØ7TJ -15 -15 220 MHzFT8
TR 915
10/08/2025 00:47 W7JW EN82FJ -27 -23 220 MHzQ65
EME 1030
10/08/2025 01:01 WA3EOQ FMØ9JO 439 439 220 MHzCW
TR 805
10/08/2025 01:03 W4ZST EM84AO -14 -14 220 MHzQ65
EME 1486
10/08/2025 01:49 K3SK FMØ7TJ -17 -28 220 MHzQ65
EME 915
10/08/2025 02:11 K9MRI EN7ØIU -23 -24 220 MHzQ65
EME 1213
10/08/2025 03:13 W7TZ CN83IA -16 -22 220 MHzQ65
EME 4168
10/08/2025 03:31 VE6TA DO33 -24 -28 220 MHzQ65
EME 3239+-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 25
12 SSB QSOS
4 CW QSOs
3 FT8 QSOs
6 Q65 QSOs
Conditions seemed a bit better than last week. WA3NUF and KA3FQS were
rather loud. W1XR had strong QSB and started out quite weak, but got
better. WA3EOQ was quick but not Q5 for the most part. Still a great
signal for 95 watts and 805 km. N1AV, W4ZST and W7TZ were all very loud
off the Moon typically. When things were good, K9MRI and K3SK got loud
too. The EME condx were FB other than some one way Faraday issues. It
was an interesting evening. I am glad I repaired the 24 volt PS and
could get on!
73
Dave K1WHS
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