[VHFcontesting] 222 activity nights

[David Olean]

Hi Chris,

I can sympathize with your situation. I lived in an apartment in Dover 
NH almost downtown (Near  lower square) and tried to make contacts on 
144 MHz. I had a 15 element HyGain yagi up 30 ft on a guyed mast along 
with a pair of 4CX250B tetrodes in PP.  I couldn't get out of New 
Hampshire with that QTH. (That antenna was a dog too)  I was behind a 
hill. One night the band opened up and I remember W1JSM working out into 
Michigan and Illinois. I managed to make it all the way to Long Island 
NY! It is frustrating. It was also not good when someone chopped down 
the mast late at night.  I spent the rest of my time there building FET 
receive converters for 50 through 432 MHz.  Still, I could work the 
locals and had a lot of fun doing that.  On 222 night, I typically can 
work a fellow in the Boston area with his ten watts and a quarter wave 
vertical. There is plenty of action near Boston and in southern NH, so 
you would definitely make easily 5-8 contacts on Tuesday. Maybe you 
should just run your rover setup in the driveway. The idea is to get on 
and make noise. More activity equals more fun.  I am positive that I can 
work you if you have a piece of salted spaghetti in your output center 
pin. If I can work you, that means Good Buddy Ron will be chomping at 
the bit to work you as well.  WZ1V seems to work everybody.

I guess you don't want to knock yourself out putting in a bunch of 
effort for little reward, but most folks who are on 222 MHz on Tuesdays 
have determined that it is a whole lot of fun and much better than 
watching videos or staring at your smart phone.  You could do much worse 
on a Tuesday nite.  I have  some sections of KTV tower that you can have 
for free. I think it is 70 or 80 ft. worth.  I looked on the "Hey Whats 
That" site and you are definitely blocked to the South. The good news is 
that the obstructions are not really bad. Beyond the blockage the land 
is not all that high.  The other good news is that you are good toward 
Europe!

Dave K1WHS

On 4/21/2023 2:01 PM, Chris Lumens wrote:
> I can no longer sit idly by and read about people making contacts on 222
> activity nights.  I've got a transverter, I've got an amp, I've got an
> antenna.  I use all this stuff when I go roving.  The reason I haven't
> gotten on is the same reason I rove - my house is not very good for VHF.
>
> I own one fairly wet acre with a lot of tall trees around the edges and
> a bunch of crappy smaller trees that are all in the process of falling
> down.  There's not much in the way of flat open ground.  The majority of
> that is in the front yard, on the north side of the house, where I'm
> obviously not going to put up an antenna.  Even worse, I am kind of down
> in a low spot, especially to the south.  Living in southern NH, that
> means most of the people are to my south as well.
>
> Aside from putting up a tower, what can I do?  Couple sections of
> surplus aluminum mast in the trees and hope for the best?  I would be
> happy to post pictures, or grab a cooler of beer if someone wants to
> walk around outside and brainstorm with me, if it would help figure out
> what I could do.
>
> Unrelated... I've got the standard M2 LEO-Pack, az-el rotator, and
> IC-9700 here.  I've been having fun making satellite contacts.  Is that
> sufficient gear to do some other 2m/70cm activity?
>
> Thanks!
>