[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz night

[N1BUG]

Wow, I finally managed to be on for one of these! Evenings are still 
really tough for me but I got a nap in the afternoon and was 
quasi-functional at 7 PM! I made 12 QSOs total. 10 stations were worked 
on SSB/CW. Later two of them were worked again on FT8 for a total of 12 
QSOs. I didn't expect to get more than half that many from way up here.

Every QSO was much appreciated! But the biggest thrill was easily 
working N3NGE on SSB. According to the software I'm using, that is 497 
miles. Any time I can get a 500 mile QSO on SSB it's pretty darn good. 
For some reason I always seem to do better on 222 than I do on 144 or 432.

I wasn't sure if I could still send anything more than my call sign, 
grid and maybe an RST report on CW. It has been a while since I was 
really on the air with that mode. But I had a short CW chat with WA1T 
and Al's responses seemed to indicate he understood me, HI HI!

I would like to say a special thanks to Dave, K1WHS for not getting too 
annoyed with me when I broke in on two of his QSOs to work the other 
station. I don't usually feel comfortable doing that but excitement got 
the better of me, especially when I was hearing N3NGE so well. Thanks, 
Dave! That really made my evening.

73,
Paul N1BUG
FN55mf
900 watts, K1FO-22 at 117' and mast mounted preamp