[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello 222 folks,

Well, I picked the right time to bow out of the Tuesday evening activity 
periods. The weather has turned much in favor of winter here,  and there 
have been three ice storms and enough snow to make me realize that 
winter has arrived for good.  Everything is now ice encased and covered 
in white stuff.  Temps have plummeted.  To make the trip to  my shack, I 
need to strap on the snow shoes and trudge uphill about 1/2 mile then 
shovel out the doors to the shack, then nurse the diesel generator on 
and start the heating units to warm up the room.  The problem is that 
when the temps drop to single digits, heating up such cold metal items 
as HV supplies, and transformers will cause water to condense on the 
cold metal. HV arc overs and all sorts of failures can occur. It is not 
smart to try and operate with such conditions.

Just before all the bad weather hit, I climbed the tower to lower the 
entire H frame so that the main mast does not have to support a 300 lb 
antenna system perched 4 ft above the tower top. Now the center of 
gravity is only about 18" up. I think a 2"  high strength steel mast 
with 1/4" wall will support that! In the Spring I can raise it back up 
with a come along.

What I did not get done was to haul the K3, the transverter, and other 
"delicate" electronics out of the shack.  I really need the vehicle up 
there to haul it all, and I missed that window! Unless we get some 
significant melting, the truck cannot get up there. I might have to 
rescue them with a sled and plastic bags!

It sounds like last Tuesday was a good evening, activity wise, and I 
hope it continues thru the winter months and that I can join in again in 
the early Spring when the temps moderate. In the meantime, I am 
researching how I can keep a 222 station up there with heat.  No heat is 
very bad as condensation will ruin anything in short order. Big tube 
amps seem to take it if you don't turn them on, but delicate circuit 
boards and teeny weeny coils tend to fare much worse.  (Been 
there...Done that!) I am looking into another propane vented heater. The 
only problem is there is very little room for one in the cramped shack!

I have been toying around with a few ideas for 222. One idea involves a  
new meteor scatter antenna. I am hoping to stack a pair of 16 element 
yagis  one over the other on a side arm, to be partially rotatable from 
SW to NW. I tried running two skeds with ND0B in N Dakota during the 
Geminids, but we did not complete. The distance is a bit over 1400 
miles. We heard each other but did not have enough meteors to complete a 
contact. The signals were strong but very scarce. I suspect my 4 yagi 
EME array is too sharp. The pair of 16's will be over twice as wide in 
beamwidth, and probably have enough gain to make the trip.  I have been 
re furbing the yagis in my shop, and they are ready to go as soon as I 
can get some decent weather.

I was also thinking about resurrecting the K5FF 220 Activity Newsletter. 
She had a mimeographed newsletter that was mailed out to interested 
operators.  It had all the news of what the 220 MHz ops were doing back 
in the 1980's.  The time factor was better than seeing results in the 
QST VHF column. Today, one of the good methods would be to have a 
website with chronological entries maintained so they could be accessed 
at any time.  I think Stan KA1ZE had a similar page for promoting 144 
MHz morning activity back a few years ago.  Another method might be a 
222 Activity @Groups.io  type e mail, but graphics would be a bit more 
difficult.   I don't have a website that I can use, but I have a feeling 
that a 222 Newsletter in some form would be a good activity builder. It 
might draw in new 222 operators when they see what people are 
accomplishing on the band. What do you think? Is this a good idea, or as 
K1OR tells me..... "You are NUTS!"

So plan to get on 222 this coming Tuesday evening. All you need is a 222 
rig and an antenna! I wish I could join you there.

73

Dave K1WHS