[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity night.

[David Olean]

Hello 222 addicts,

Well, things have started to settle down around here. I worked most of 
the day getting all sorts of things put back together and it paid off.  
I made a few trips up the tower to get the preamp back up and running. 
That seemed to be working again and I was encouraged when the old 8877 
amp came up with the new tuning hardware and now resonates properly.  I 
had to recharge a dead lithium battery and check it all out with the 
solar charge controller.  I got a late start on the Activity period, 
showing up a bit after 2300 UT. The activity had already started and 
W1RGA (FN33) was the first in the log. The Maine contingent was well 
represented by N1BUG, KV1J, and K1DY. With me that makes four stations 
in Maine.  Vermont was represented by W1AIM and N1JEZ. I may have missed 
W1GHZ in there.

At 00:31 I tried with Howard, WA3EOQ in FM09. I tuned to his operating 
frequency and there he was calling CQ at about 539. He then built way up 
in strength to a good 559 with the S meter really bouncing around. This 
was about the best I have heard Howard, so don't let cold temps and 
windy nights keep you from trying long haul skeds.  I heard N1JEZ 
complete with WA3EOQ as well.  I tried a few longish skeds with KB8VAO, 
K9MRI, and N8WNA. None were successful, but it was sure a lot of fun 
trying. Pings were heard. All were well over 600 miles.

Other interesting contacts included N2JQR in FN13, running 20 watts. He 
peaked up at 56 on SSB. There was QSB too as he went down close to the 
noise. N2SLO was another low power effort. Dave went from perfect Q5 to 
zip zero nada in about a minute.  Speaking of noise, I noted lots of 
power line noise both SW and out West too. When I worked WA3EOQ, the 
noise level was quite high but that did not wreck anything. I was 
surprised at how good the signals were at times. I did note that my 
audio level on the horizon was 450 mv, and with the beam elevated 12 
degrees, the noise was down over 1/2 to 210 mv! early April

Total Qs for the evening was 20. That is not too shabby for early April 
with windy conditions.  I was thrilled to be getting the station put 
back together. Getting the wrinkles out can take some time and effort. I 
have a feeling that my freq readout was off a bit. I had re calibrated 
my 222 setup by setting the K3 oscillator as well as checking the 
crystal osc in the transverter. Possibly I goofed it up. I'll check it 
again.

I am ready to start running some EME skeds again on 222.  I think it is 
all working fine, and I hope there is more activity this summer.

73

Dave K1WHS