[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night & 222 MHz 1500 watt Amplifier status report
David Olean
k1whs at metrocast.net
Fri Apr 7 20:28:35 EDT 2023
Hi Pete
This is a long e mail. My apologies, but lots of territory to cover.
I would agree that last Tuesday night had some really good tropo peaks
if you could catch them. At other times it seemed normal, but I really
wanted to try a sked with K3SK at 575 miles. I think it was possible
given some time to try. Last year there was one night when KE8FD came
through weakly on CW (after I worked him on FT8) and that was a good one
too, but I have never heard WA3EOQ as loud as this past Tuesday. He was
S8 or so at his peak, and I mistook him for a local!
One of the reasons I got on the 222 MHz kick was to exercise the 222
array before it all fell down in an ice storm or what ever. I realized
that it only was used on a few weekends and that was not good. We built
it to optimize our multi op contest station and were amazed at how well
it seemed to work. I am glad it is finally getting some regular use. I
don't have a lot of money invested in the VHF gear, but there is
definitely a lot of sweat equity in the project. Most of the gear is
homebuilt and the antennas are similar. Even the towers are scrounged.
I think I can recall buying three or four new Rohn 45 sections in my
career. While my investment in cash is low, my time involved is
astronomical. I admit it. So it is fun to get to use the ham gear on a
regular basis.
Last summer I dredged up 13 Larcan 1500 watt amplifier pallets and my
plan was to pass them out but only to people in rare sections of the
country in an effort to build up activity. It sounded like a good idea
to me, but I am not the typical ham. I realized it today, as have spent
the last several days entirely working on ham projects non stop from
dawn to midnight. It seems that if I am home, I am working on a ham
project. I would gladly grab an amp pallet and make it into something
that was very usable in a New York minute. Many hams are not that way,
which brings me to this point. In conversations with many VHFer friends
whom I admire greatly, they have convinced me that the amplifiers should
be a turn key operation and should not be given away. There must be
value attached to every endeavor or it will be valueless to the person
or persons involved. In other words, There must be some sort of hoop to
jump through to prove that you are serious both to yourself and to
others. I hope I am making sense. The plan has now evolved into making
a turn key amplifier available to prospective VHFers around the country
at a very agreeable price, but they will not be free. I have tied up
about $3K in parts to accomplish the project with more on the way. I
have made one trial run with a single 500 watt amplifier to develop an
idea of the magnitude of the project. The end result has me all excited,
as the amplifier is a sweetie and works so well. I made up a 500 watt
version as I did not have QRO caps for a 1500 watt filter in house yet.
So here is a summary of the amplifier specs:
Honest Dave's 222 MHz LARCAN
AMPLIFIER Conversion Project
Frequency: 222-225 MHz
Power Output: 1500 watts peak
Devices: All solid state 6 X MRF151G FETs with combiner These are NOT
LDMOS and have more tolerant gates. (just a little bit!)
Power required: 50 volts at 70 amps. (You supply the 50 V power
supply) No other voltages needed
Drive power: 35-40 watts
Harmonic filter is built in and tuned for low loss.
Sequencer: built in (two phono jacks ) Ground on TX
Directional Coupler: Included (no output indicator though)
Built in cooling fan with fan ramp up at higher temps.
High VSWR Protection: built in
High Temperature protection: built in. Amp overheats and it
shuts down.
Form Factor: Front panel will be about 15" wide X 5" high and contain
an AMP enable toggle switch plus four LEDs to indicate Power On, Xmit
ON, VSWR Fault, and Hi Temp Fault. Basically you will see a rather large
15 x 23 " heatsink fins on top and a buttoned up bottom. The protection
and filter circuits are built on a mezzanine just above a portion of the
heatsink on top. I tend to rack mount these things, but most folks do
not. this arrangement is low cost but effective. The fans are also above
the heat sink.
While there is a relative forward power voltage available in the amp to
indicate RF power, no indicator will be included in this amplifier as a
cost constraint. Most folks have a Bird 43 or similar instead. The plan
is to put it on your desk, apply 50 volts and then start transmitting.
This power level is not trivial and would be a shot in the arm for 222
MHZ WAS activity as you would become EME capable right away with any
sort of 15 ft long antenna! My first order of business is to offer these
amps at a relatively low cost to 222 MHz ops in the less populated areas
of the country that have no good EME activity as a rule.
Here is a list of people who want the amplifiers as of today's date:
KB7IOG Washington
W7ID Idaho
AB4AB Florida
KC7OOY CM82 in Oregon
VE7PS in BC (This is Peter ex VE3EMS)
NX9O GA
VE6TA wants to retire his old 4CX250 pp amp.
VE7HR
Trent Fleming (no call given) in TN 1500 or 500 is OK
WZ1V wants to retire his AM-6155 too. wants a 500 watt unit if possible.
W1GHZ if any are left
N1AV took 2 of the amplifiers and is converting them for suitable hams
in Arizona and NM area. I have not heard if he has finished them or not.
There might be a few more that I missed.
So here is the deal..... You pay $700 and get one of the converted 1500
watt amplifiers, I might have two 500 watt amps available as well.
($500) My plan is to deliver them to the Central States VHF Conference
in Arkansas. Most of the movers and shakers from around the country make
it there. That can save on shipping. Now $700 is less than 50 cents a
watt. The cost will cover my material costs and a small portion of my
labor.
I have sent emails to all who inquired in the past. There are 11 people
on the list but two want 500 watt units. that leaves two more 1500 watt
amps still available. We really should be beating the bushes for
suitable hams to take advantage of this. My hope is that it becomes a
big activity builder. Remember the band is only as good as the people
who get on and exercise it! We need activity in places like Oklahoma,
Montana, Nevada, Mississippi Kentucky, etc. Please scour your
immediate neighborhood for suitable candidates. Let them know and lets
try to find some suitable homes around these 50 states!
So, if you are still interested, please let me know. If you want to be
added to the list and you are contemplating EME, let me know too. I am
pretty sure the amps will go fast. I better get off my tookus and start
on the filters etc.!!
*Also N1AV..... How is your amp project coming along? Let us know.*
73 Dave K1WHS
aka "Honest Dave"
On 4/6/2023 4:34 PM, Peter Motyl wrote:
> Dave,
>
> In all of the many 222 Tuesdays we have had in the past few years,
> this week we had some of the best band conditions in all that time.
> In all this time, I think I only missed one week. I don’t think this
> week was the best week for activity. Particularly in my neck of the
> woods there were missing stations. Nevertheless, my 17 is my best
> total yet.
>
> Here they are:
>
> WZ1V, N2SLO, KA3FQS, K1WHS,
>
> K1MAP, K1FSY, AF1T, N1SFE,
>
> K1TR, WA3DRC, WA3NUF, KO4YC,
>
> W1AIM, K1OR, WA2LTM, WB2RVX,
>
> And K1ZE.
>
> I haven’t been posting my results lately, there is a bit of a
> logistics issue and my qsos list is mostly the same each week around
> ten qsos.
>
> All you said about getting on is good. I would add, Think of all the
> time, effort and money you put into your 222 station. It is a darn
> shame just to use all that just for a hand full of contests and
> sprints each year. It occurs to me that those of us who post our
> contacts give a good source of who and where active stations are and
> you can plan accordingly. I’m sure many of us are not in locations
> where there is lots of activity or the home qth might not be a good
> vhf location. If all you have is a rover station, you can be like
> N1SFE and take your rover for a spin as often as possible. Tuesday’s
> 222 actavity is definitely helping my qsos per dollar ratio a lot.
>
> 73, Pete K1PXE fn31ke85mx.
>
> *From: *David Olean <mailto:k1whs at metrocast.net>
> *Sent: *Wednesday, April 5, 2023 12:01 AM
> *To: *wz1v at sbcglobal.net; newsvhf at mailman.qth.net
> *Cc: *vhfcontesting at contesting.com
> *Subject: *Re: [NEWSVHF] [VHFcontesting] 222 Activity night
>
> Hello Ron,
>
> That is quite a list of stations. I found the same results up here in
>
> the Pot capitol of Maine. If you drive into town from NH on Route 202,
>
> you will see more pot stores than anything else. I think there are four
>
> in the first 500-600 ft when you cross the border. But I digress......
>
> I worked N1SFE for my first contact just before 2300 UT. Paul had a good
>
> S6 orS7 signal once I peaked him up. Pretty soon WA3EOQ sent a message
>
> that he was looking my way on 222.105, but I asked him to move up as
>
> 222.100 +/- was getting very busy. I mentioned 222.130 and I finished a
>
> contact with WW1Z and tuned up to 222.130 only to hear a loud station
>
> that was calling WA3EOQ. (?) Who could that be? Then I realized that it
>
> was in fact WA3EOQ signing his call. He was 57, so I called him on SSB
>
> but he did not respond so I went to CW and called him and then heard
>
> Howard come back with a very good 559 signal on CW. It had dropped a bit
>
> from when I first heard him. When we finished with 73s etc he was weak
>
> but still Q5. All in all that was a huge tropo peak and is the loudest
>
> that I ever heard WA3EOQ on 222 MHz at any time I think. I also got to
>
> thinking that this 502 mile path has been successful every Tuesday
>
> during the fall and winter months. The only time a contact was not made
>
> was when one of us was not on that evening. We have not missed this
>
> entire winter! I was hoping to try a sked with K3SK and to look for a
>
> tropo enhancement, but that never happened. I listened a bit but heard
>
> nothing, but I was not really sure he was even transmitting at the time.
>
> I did try an impossible shot with K8TQK at about 700 miles. We each
>
> heard nothing. My other long haul QSO was with KO4YC who is just North
>
> of Richmond, VA. We worked easily on SSB. SIgnals were S2 to S4 over a
>
> 520 mile path. Others worked included WZ1V FN31, WA3NUF FN20 SSB, KA3FQS
>
> FN20 SSB, WA3DRC FM28 SSB, W9KXI FN12 SSB, WA1MBA FN51 SSB, WB2VVV FN41
>
> SSB, K1TR FN42 SSB, KV1J FN42 SSB, KC0IYT FN42 SSB, K1FSY FN31 SSB,
>
> K1OR FN42 SSB, WW1Z FN42 SSB, WW1M FN43 SSB, W1AUV FN32 CW, K2AEP FN32
>
> SSB, K1MAP FN32 SSB, W1AIM FN34 SSB, AF1T FN43 SSB, K1PXE FN31 SSB,
>
> W1FKF FN43 FT8, and VE3DS FN03 on CW. The VE3DS contact was a bit
>
> unusual as I did not hear Dana at first and found out that his keyer had
>
> a broken wire and was stuck. He got it fixed and we worked with pretty
>
> good signals. Then he tried working Good Buddy Ron, WZ1V and that
>
> requires a change in beam headings for VE3DS. So I was hearing VE3DS
>
> even louder when he had his beam directed toward Ron in Connecticut.
>
> This must have been another tropo peak. I called VE3DS after he finished
>
> with Ron. He was 57 or better and he gave out a 57 to 59 report as
>
> signals were drifting up and down. Not a bad report for a 435 mile path.
>
> I have a feeling that some really good contacts were made around the
>
> eastern USA. I know K9MRI made some and AJ6T was successful too. I know
>
> thatWA3EOQ made lots of skeds and completed some good contacts. N1GC was
>
> quite active along with K3SK.
>
> Temperatures are moderating. The shack was at 47 when I arrived at about
>
> 22:30, so it was quite comfortable from the start. The electric heat
>
> warmed it up nicely. It is probably warm enough now to bring up the
>
> permanent desktop computer so I don't have to drag one up with me every
>
> time.
>
> Thanks to all who got on 222 and made noise.
>
> 73
>
> Dave K1WHS
>
> On 4/4/2023 9:12 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
>
> > Activity and band conditions were both up tonight on 222:
>
> > K1WHS FN43, N1SFE FN31, WA3NUF FN20, W9KXI FN12,
>
> > WA3EOQ FM09, WA1MBA FN51, N2SLO FN30, K1PXE FN31,
>
> > KA3FQS FN20, WA3DRC FM28, KV1J FN42, WB2VVV FN41,
>
> > K1TR FN42, AF1T FN43, K1MAP FN32, K1FSY FN31,
>
> > KO4YC FM17, W1AIM FN34, K1OR FN42, KC0IYT FN42,
>
> > VE3DS FN03, and WA2LTM FN20. TNX for the QSO's !
>
> >
>
> > 73 Ron WZ1V
>
> >
>
> >
>
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