[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night is this evening!

[David Olean]

I am actually doing work up on the hill, but unfortunately running the 
station is not really possible, as I have removed the delicate gear to 
avoid condensation issues and rust problems.  My work besides emptying 
out the shack of delicate gear was to do some maintenance on the big 
diesel generator.  Last Spring, I had a low coolant situation which got 
solved by adding straight water to the anti freeze mix.  I got to 
thinking that maybe I should check how well protected the solution was 
before winter really sets in. Good thing I did, as it was only good to 
about 10 below zero. Yikes. I added more anti freeze and now it is 
protected to -28 degrees F. The generator is pretty well made with good 
components etc, but some of the finer points seemed to get lost in the 
design. It is difficult to change the oil, as there is no room to fit 
anything substantial under the oil pan to catch the oil. (Duh!)   My 
solution was to get a manual dipstick oil pump for removing old oil.  I 
also need to flush the coolant system, as it looks pretty dirty at this 
point.  That is a problem as there is no running water on the site. I 
would have to lug water from down at the house.  Anyway, I was working 
on the diesel engine today and lamenting that I cannot get on the air 
this evening for the fantastic 222 Activity Night.  BTW, the only way I 
could get up there to remove gear with the truck, was to use 4WD and a 
set of tire chains! The road was all ice!

Last week's 222 night  was quite the success in the NE, and there was 
good activity in the Pacific NW and some activity as well in 
California.  I am counting the days until about the end of March, when I 
will be able to bring gear back and the weather is warm enough.  I hope 
the antenna holds together over the bad months of January, February, and 
March.  In the meantime, I will be updating equipment down in the shop 
for next year. I have my 2 x 16 el FO yagis all re furbished and tested. 
They show about 1.2:1 at 222 MHz and about 1.06:1 at just above 223 MHz, 
so they are both looking good. They will be side mounted on a tower in 
the Spring.

So don't forget to get active this evening and dust the cobwebs out of 
your 222 MHz gear. This is the time to make a few QSOs and check things 
out before the January VHF Contest too!

Good luck to all.

73

Dave K1WHS