[VHFcontesting] OH MY GOSH! It is 222 Night again!

[David Olean]

So I started driving to Little Rock late at night after the last Tuesday 
evening exercise. I am barely back and it is 222 Night again. Please 
don't forget to make an appearance tonight, if you possibly can.  I will 
definitely be there starting a bit before 2300 UT.  I will run off 
batteries for awhile.

There is a bit of an unusual situation this evening. EME conditions are 
very good (potentially) and the Moon rises in the East at about 0100 
UT.  The sky temps are low and if you have a clear horizon to the 
southeast, you might want to try to listen (or have your computer 
listen) for any returns from the Moon. If anyone is interested, I will 
call CQ on Q65-B 60 in hopes that someone might decode something. I will 
fire up the big amp for that.  The normal hot time for East Coast 
terrestrial QSOs  is between 7 and 9 PM local time. So it is quite 
convenient that right after that, the Moon will come up on the East 
Coast and will be big in the sky as it is close to a full Moon.

I will be on 222.085 2nd calling sequence on Q65B60 after about 0100 UT. 
I will be monitoring ON4KST as well as the HB9Q Chat page. If you cannot 
monitor there, I will try to stick with 222.085 starting at 0100 UT.   I 
see the Moon rises in Indiana at about 0140 UT.  Maybe there will be 
other EMEers who appear as the night wears on. It helps to have a few 
big signals on the air in case Faraday rotation is non cooperative. Who 
knows? You might detect something.

I distributed five 1500 watt Larcan amplifiers at Little Rock. I am 
enthused by that. N7GP has one. So does NX9O and WG8S. KM0T in Iowa 
picked up one and we dropped one off in Nashville on our way with AJ6T. 
Everybody knows Walt AJ6T who is very active on Tuesdays from near 
Nashville with all of 25 watts. His signal is about to get stronger!!! I 
am looking forward to a QSO on meteors. W8ZN figures he can work Walt 
from Terry's new QTH in FM09.

Speaking of FM09, I stopped at Terry's place and was amazed at the 
location. I am not kidding, he is on the top of a ridge at about 2280 ft 
with a huge drop off on either side. Honestly, when we drove out and 
started downhill, I got the sensation that I was in an airplane.  Hoo 
Boy! when he gets all set up that will be a tremendous positive force on 
VHF.  I tried to look at it on Hey What's That, but that website seems 
to be inoperative. I hope it is not defunct. That was a great place to 
compare VHF ham sites.

So quit watching You tube videos or checking the soil moisture in your 
back yard on your Smart phone and get on 222.100 starting after dinner 
for a night of real excitement!

73

Dave K1WHS

ps. More info to follow on more 1500 watt amplifiers ASAP.