[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night

[David Olean]

Well, I am still hoping for some real tropo on a Tuesday evening. The 
Hepburn site shows some Mississippi Valley extended conditions. The 
Southland is swimming in elevated conditions, but the Northeast is 
rather devoid of any projected enhancement. That still does not mean 
that conditions will be poor here in New England.  So the trick is to 
get on and prove the Hepburn map is wrong. For those folks west of the 
Mississippi, things are typically grim except for the California 
shoreline phenomenon. That is no excuse to not be on the band though!

Conditions have been getting more Summer-like as the weeks go by. I did 
see that at least one 222 MHz sporadic E contact was made over the VHF 
Contest weekend. It was made possible by having lots of activity with 
stations making noise and turning ther beams in many directions. Here in 
the NE, we all swing our beams a lot!

For my part, I will be using my shiny new Q5 Signals transverter phase 
locked to a Wenzel Associates 10 MHz standard. Who will be the first to 
make a QSO with my new transverter? A prize will be awarded to the first 
lucky winner who first contacts my new transverter. I did some checking 
and see that the LO is about 250 Hz low, but after about 10 minutes, the 
Wenzel oscillator is on Freq.  The oscillator inside the transverter 
seems very accurate as well. Having a 10 MHz outboard standard is 
probably overkill for 222 MHz.

Oh yes, the prize for the 1st person who works Dave and the new 
transverter will consist of the winner getting a free beer from Dave at 
the Fall VHF Conference. That is unless the actual winner is gainfully 
employed. in that case, the winner will have to buy the beer for Dave. 
In these times, those who on fixed incomes are in big trouble!

I just bought some stainless steel drive screws to rebuild the raft at 
the lake, so the grandkids can play and swim. A few years ago, I bought 
a 5# box on sale for $8. I am not sure what the original selling price 
was , but it must have been around $13.95 or so. I just bought the same 
5# box and only paid $104. I was going to get a real lightweight raft 
made of aluminum with ersatz wood planking. Before the Covid episode, 
the raft cost $1500. I just received a quote for$3000 for the same 
thing, and the price was only good for 7 days. So I am rebuilding the 
old raft!!

I can't wait to get on 222 MHz tonight. My plan is to turn the beam and 
make noise starting at about 2300 UT.

73

Dave K1WHS