[VHFcontesting] Why are no VE1s on 222?

[k3sk at buckwalter.co]

Paul,

I agree with your sentiments.  I had a long spell of no VHF/UHF when I moved from Ohi0 in 1994.   Some of you worked me often under my old call, KC3CL.   Getting back in I was surprised and disappointed in the lack of activity.   I had not ever done any digital and was informed that was where most of the activity had moved.  So, I grudgingly added the digital capability. It's brought some enthusiasm back for me.     And in response to your comment concerning EME,  there's lots of it.   I just started dabbling in EME this past December and have worked contacts on 2m, 222 & 432.  None are CW or SSB.  All are one of the WSJT-X digital modes.   With the exception of 222 MHz I cam almost always find and work someone off the moon when its visible at my QTH.  

Like someone else implied, put down the rotary phone and try some of the digital modes.
 
de K3SK

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul N1BUG FN55mf <paul at n1bug.com> 
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2023 6:44 AM
To: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Why are no VE1s on 222?

Hi Mike and all,

I have never seen 222 gear for sale at swap meets or the like here either unless you count the very beat up, broken CushCraft yagi (11
elements?) I found at Hosstraders/Deerfield back in the late 1990s. I rescued that poor thing from ending up at the scrap yard for $10 which was probably more than I should have paid but after replacing several elements that were snapped in half I had a lot of QSOs with it. 
Admittedly I haven't been to any in a few years but used to go to most of them. I did find a Microwave Modules transverter on Craigslist New Hampshire in 2016 or 2017 and managed to find a way to obtain it with lots of help from the VHF community. It is now for sale, but I suspect shipping to Canada would cost enough to make it pretty uninteresting.

Activity here in Maine is down for the same reasons. Some have gone silent key, some have given up as QSOs have become harder and fewer. I'm trying to avoid joining either group for a while longer!

Sadly I am getting more and more discouraged with VHF. I want to love it like I used to but the relationship has faded.

I am still struggling with chronic fatigue (more like chronic
exhaustion) and have not managed to be on for a single 222 Activity Night in many months. I tried extra hard for the 222 Sprint but it was a no go.

VHF contests are a real slog here now. If I run for 24 hours the 2 meter QSO rate runs around one per hour. I imagine that's probably more than the VE1/VE9 guys got back in the VHF heyday. If so I don't know what kept you guys interested! I have a much more capable station now than I did back when 70 to 100 QSOs was the norm. Obviously 222 and 432 QSOs are fewer in number.

Bill seems to do well from FN54 but I think superior QTH plays a big role in that. Being 50 miles closer to most of the stations probably doesn't hurt either.

I don't want to give up, but I don't know how to put the fun back in it. 
Back in the day there was EME to take up the slack and keep the spiders blown out of the HV (literally! Yikes!) but now there's not that and stuff just gathers dust. The bald eagles enjoy sitting on the 2m antenna as it is the highest lookout spot around by some 30 feet and they have a nest nearby.

I am reminded of something Dave, W5UN (SK) told me when I tried returning to 2 meter EME in the early 2000s. He said the bloom came off the rose some years before that in terms of activity. I would say the same of VHF terrestrial activity now, at least in terms of what can be worked from here.

Sorry about the long winded commentary.

73,
Paul N1BUG




On 4/20/23 19:57, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:
> Dave asked, so here's one possible explanation.
> 
>   
> 
> Probably at one time there were 1 or 2 VE1's(Ve9's as well) on 222 but 
> the reasons are likely many why there is little to none now.
> 
>   
> 
> Equipment is more expensive in Canada as a rule and not as plentiful 
> on the used market, especially out East where
> 
> there are way less of us guys (especially now).  For example, I have 
> never, in the last 45yrs, ever seen a used 222MHz rig or transverter 
> at a swap shop or on our local Internet (or Telnet/Packet back in the day), swapshops.
> Never, as in not even once!
> 
> (If I had, I would've bought one by now.even if only to give Dave, 
> Bill/DY and Paul/BUG a Tuesday night Q, hi hi)
> 
>   
> 
> There used to be a healthy (for our area) amount of guys on 144MHz CW 
> and SSB and a few also on 6m and 70cm, but the truth of the matter is 
> most of them are now SK.  When I came on the VHF CW/SSB scene around 
> 1988 I was one of the youngest VHF allmode guys around(I had already 
> been on HF CW for 10yrs prior to that-since 14yrs old).  Fast forward 
> 35yrs, and I am now 59 and all those guys who were active or mentors 
> are long since SK. Back in the late 80's/early 90's I could count on 
> around 12-13VE QSO's on 2m in a VHF contest and I could always get 
> WA1T and sometimes K1WHS to hear us "off the back" so now, for me to 
> be QRV in a VHF contest on legacy modes means working several Maine 
> and NH stations for an entire weekends worth of work..and virtually 
> nobody in VE1/VE9/VY2...so I simply don't bother most of the time.
> 
>   
> 
> Even the VHF repeaters, their sysops and packet networks have mostly 
> all gone silent so many don't even have FM equipment (or antennas), 
> let alone all-mode gear.
> 
>   
> 
> So it's a bit of a convoluted answer but a lot of it is the fact there 
> just weren't/aren't a lot of hams here to begin with and what there 
> were are largely no more, sadly. (or if they are still alive, have 
> moved QTH..for example, VE9CB once very active on HF and VHF is now 
> VE3KG, who I think is QRV on 222MHz from his place in Eastern 
> Ontario.)
> 
>   
> 
> Sorry for the long winded reply Dave !
> 
> -Mike