[VHFcontesting] Toosday TooTwentyToo Night

[David Olean]

Helloo Too Twenty tooers,

By gosh it is Tuesday again and time to plan out your evening. Be sure 
to include getting on 222 MHz this evening.  It is always more fun with 
more stations on generating activity.  Being winter, the tendency is for 
no activity as good conditions are not in the cards and people tend to 
hunker down inside and enjoy fun little winter pursuits like growing 
mildew in their cellar or watching old re runs of Laverne and Shirley.  
In my opinion, Laverne and Shirley was a great show only because of 
Lenny and Squiggy.  I was a big fan of the "Squigtones".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLTx5ZwJiS0

Wintertime is a good time to evaluate your VHF setup. There will be 
scant chance of any enhancement, so a nice 300+ mile contact means that 
your stuff is working. The only way to make 300 mile contacts is for 
stations to be QRV at that range. This is why activity is important!! 
The January contest is about a month away. Test your stuff.

222 action starts after dinner about 00:00 UT or 7PM on the East Coast.  
I will hopefully be on 222.100 a bit before 00:00 UT looking for 
contacts. We all tend to check in on the ON4KST Chat page (144/432 MHz 
Region 2)  The Moon is not in a good position, being close to the Sun.  
Tuesday night activity periods can e a good time to play with moonrise 
or Moonset opportunities.  Things don't line up for the next few weeks, 
but if you want to try a rising or setting Moon sked, I am willing and 
able to make an attempt.  Good Moonrise dates and times for the East 
Coast are:

December 16 16:00 UT

December 17     16:30_UT_

December 18   16:45 UT

December 19    17:15 UT

December 20    17:30 UT

Weather cooperating, I would be willing to put on a signal on those 
dates as a way to determine if your receiver is working well. If you are 
in the midwest, your Moonrise will be a bit later. Figure 15 degrees per 
hour as you go west. I am at 71 degrees longitude. If you are at 86 
degrees longitude, the Moon is up about an hour later. This is a rough 
guide. You really need a good tracking program to determine the exact 
time for your location.


So turn on your rig and sweep off the cobwebs. If you are in a sort of 
rare grid, you could be an exciting catch for others so don't be 
bashful. Make some noise and let people know ur plans on the ON4KST chat 
page. The weather is rather benign for the next few days, so take 
advantage of it. There was some awful wx in spots as a storm moved 
eastward these last few days. Tennessee was hard hit by tornadoes. We 
got gobs of rain. I hope AJ6T made out OK near Nashville.There were bad 
storms in his area.  CU tonite on 222.

Dave K1WHS

The new culvert worked well. Lots of water made for a good test.