[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night wrap up from FN43 Mumbo Jumbo
David Olean
k1whs at metrocast.net
Wed Nov 2 11:00:20 EDT 2022
I had a great time hanging out in my shack in the woods last night. It
all started a bit early, as KA6U in EL87 set up his portable EME system
near Tampa and was on the air starting at 21:00 or so to avoid pointing
toward all the big RF sources that kill his frontend. (There is a hidden
message here, folks. Most places now suffer from the same problem. It
happens in Maine and in Vermont too. Big digital TV signals start to
raise the noise floor and you may not notice if you are not really
paying attention!) Anyway, I showed up around 22:30 UT and people were
all calling K9MRI who had rigged up his antenna to aim at the Moon. I
got in late, but did decode him at -23 at best, and he heard some
signals off the moon as well. Faraday rotation was in evidence as it
was just after Sunset here and the ionosphere does quite a dance at
Sunset, so things were constantly changing. Signals were really good
when Faraday lined up. When 23:00 rolled around, I did not want to quit,
but I knew there would be some good terrestrial activity starting up by
then. I dropped the antenna to point at the horizon.
Conditions seemed rather normal, but activity was up. I worked about 18
stations around the NE along with five stations via the Lunar route.
KA6U in EL87 was my first contact and it seems that his portable station
is working great in time for his DXpedition to Georgia and South
Carolina coming up. He has quite the itenerary coming up with 23 CM, 70
CM and 222 MHz all on EME. Other stations who got on include WA1NLG who
fixed his transverter in rapid fire mode, replacing a blown hybrid amp
that died just last week! He is working on a LDMOS KW amp for 222 and
promises to have it running in a few weeks. So get ready for big signals
from Cape Cod! N1SV was back for the evening. I worked Warner, K1KG
who got on for activity night as the XYL was not home, and he had no
committments so he fired up the 222 MHz gear. His signal was super
strong, and it was great to hear him banging away working people.
Interesting when Warner first called, there was another caller
underneath him who turned out to be K1PXE and Pete had forgotten to
energize the amplifier and called with just his low power exciter. We
had another great QSO and discussed the old Benton Harbor lunchboxes.
Pete actually had a Super Twoer way back in the 60's and we got talking
about what a neat conversion that was. It added a superhet receiver and
the power output was raised as well I think. "Rig here is a 6CX8
final". It would be fun to find a Super-Twoer today just to see what
things were like in the 60's. K2AEP reminded me that he has a Twoer, a
Sixer and a Tenner sitting in his shack right now! Pete grew up in
southern Connecticut and was familiar with all the old names from 144
MHz AM years ago. We got laughing about Alex Labounsky, WA2MTB who
lived across Long Island Sound in Oyster Bay on Long Island. The guy was
a real character and would embark on long discourses on 2M AM, that
could last from 45 minutes to over an hour. It was common for the
person on the other end of the "conversation" to disappear. Even my
sainted mother used to listen in from her nearby sewing room when Alex
was pontificating. He was the butt of many jokes and Harry,
K1PLR,started a club called the ALA Network. (I had a membership card. )
ALA stood for the Anti Labounsky Association. K2AEP and I had a great
time recalling those times. WA2MTB actually wrote an article for 73
Magazine. He also submitted a number of rules proposals to the FCC (RM
464, RM 771 etc.) One proposal asked for an Engineer license class with
difficulty well above that of the Amateur Extra Class. Alex was in a
league all his own. But I digress!!
VE3KG was on and was looking for tropo from rare FN24, as the Hepburn
map showed some enhancement out in western NY and Ontario. I know that
he did hear K8TQK on tropo. For my part, I think he tried with K9MRI as
well, looking for tropo. I tried a sked with K8TQK over a 700 mile path.
At one point I thought I heard him but local QRM on 222.100 covered him
up. We moved to 222.095 but all I heard were some meteor pings. Bob had
the same results. It was fun trying.
Here is a copy from the log.
DATE TIME CALLSIGN FREQUENC. MODE SENT RECEIVED SENT
RECEIVED PRO LOCAT. REMARKS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/01/2022 21:54 KA6U 222.100 JT65 -18 O O *EME
*EL87 Sunny Florida
11/01/2022 22:54 W4ZST 222.080 JT65 O O *EME* EM84AO Georgia
11/01/2022 22:56 WA4NJP 222.080 JT65 O O *EME* EM84 Georgia
11/01/2022 23:09 N1SV 222.100 SSB 59
59 TR FN42
11/01/2022 23:09 WZ1V 222.100 CW 599
599 TR FN31
11/01/2022 23:17 WA1NLG 222.100 SSB 59
59 TR FN41XS
11/01/2022 23:20 K2RMX 222.115 SSB 57
57 TR FN20XP
11/01/2022 23:22 K1PXE 222.115 SSB 59
59 TR FN31
11/01/2022 23:22 WA2ONK 222.115 SSB
57 TR FN20
11/01/2022 23:29 KC0IYP 222.115 SSB
57 TR FN42
11/01/2022 23:34 K2AEP 222.115 SSB 57
57 TR FN32OW
11/01/2022 23:39 W9KXI 222.115 SSB
57 TR FN12NE
11/01/2022 23:45 K1KG 222.115 SSB 59
59 TR FN42 800 watts on 222
11/01/2022 23:58 W1GHZ 222.115 CW 559
559 TR FN34
11/02/2022 00:03 WA1PBU 222.115 SSB 59
59 TR FN42EK
11/02/2022 00:10 W1JR 222.115 SSB 59 59
TR FN42
11/02/2022 00:19 W1AIM 222.115 SSB 59
59 TR FN34
11/02/2022 00:21 VE3KG 222.115 SSB 57
57 TR FN24AV
11/02/2022 01:01 VE6TA 222.075 JT65 O O *EME *DO33GS Alberta
11/02/2022 01:13 K5QE 222.075 JT65 O O *EME* EM31 Texas
He peaked at an insane -7 dB on JT65
11/02/2022 01:57 W2BYP 222.075 CW 579
559 TR FN13IB
11/02/2022 02:04 K1DY 222.075 CW 559
559 TR FN54JQ
11/02/2022 02:27 K8TQK 222.075 CW
TR EM89JE Not a complete
contact. signals heard both ways.
11/02/2022 02:28 KO4YC 222.095 SSB 55
TR FB sigs on SSB!
I actually hung around long enough to hear K1DY get on after ten
o'clock, and we had a good contact. Then I finished off with another QSO
with KO4YC in FM17. At 530 miles he was peaking 5X5 on SSB no less.
KO4YC is usually worked most Tuesdays.
I was really enjoying the stability of the diesel generator. It seems to
be 100% fixed with no evidence of any speed oscillations. The EME
activity made for an exciting evening. I never got to try with W5EME,
and I did not hear K7KQA, but having five EME contacts during activity
night was a real bonus!
73
Dave K1WHS
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