[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night

[David Olean]

Hello Good Buddy Ron,

That is a nice report. FB on working K3SK again on FT8.  That is a good 
haul!  I am still hoping for a contact with Dave K3SK, but it sure did 
not happen last night for me.  I strapped on my snow shoes, got the ski 
poles, and trudged up the hill at 23:00UT.  I started the generator but 
was surprised that it quit after about 1 minute of operation. That was a 
bad sign. I waited a minute or two and then tried again. After 30 
seconds, the engine starter engaged and it started up a second time. 
This time it stayed on. I Suspect some sort of over speed event. After 
about 15 minutes of steady operation, I figured I was OK, so I started 
up the KW amp. The AC power was good for the rest if the night, but I 
have another project now, checking the engine during daylight for any 
inconsistencies.

The evening started off normally with no precipitation, and conditions 
seemed OK.  Howard, WA3EOQ at 500+ miles was better copy this week than 
last. We finished our contact rather quickly. I heard him on the first 
transmission, but it took me most of his calling period to get him 
centered in my narrow passband. He was actually Q5 when he was sending 
73s.   But then Mother Nature intervened. After about an hour, I noted 
the static noise started around 0100 and background noise rose about 2 S 
units. I went outside, but did not even detect any precipitation. After 
about 10 minutes, the noise abated and I could work some more stations. 
It was not too much later when I saw snow start to fall. Sure enough, 
the noise started up again. I switched to the lower LVA yagis and the 
noise was better on that antenna. At the same time, I was trying to use 
my 4 yagis for EME. I could not hear any echoes. Nor could I hear K3SK 
who was transmitting on 222.075 using Q65B. K3SK was hearing his own 
signal and could see a big yellow Moon on his horizon. I had thick 
clouds, snow, sleet and freezing rain!  The snow static was quite 
frustrating. I was hoping that the noise might abate. I kept going out 
the door of the shack to check on what was happening. As it got closer 
to 0200 UT the snow had turned to sleet and then rain with rather large 
droplets. With a temperature of 24F, the rain was freezing on contact. 
My ski poles soon were encased in ice, and I made the decision to 
abandon ship and head home before it got worse. By this time the noise 
was constant and about 2 to 3 S units.  I made a comment on the HB9Q 
Chat page I had to leave and then started packing up and disconnecting 
the laptop etc.  It was  a very frustrating evening.

That last bout of snow and rain static started up right about when I was 
trying to work KO4YC.  Cornell is about 520 miles away and it is a 
stretch to work him. I think I did hear him, but there were others in 
there calling him at that time. VE3DS, K1PXE, N3RG and others were all 
in there, and then the static started up and wiped out all of those weak 
signals.  Around that time, I was also looking for K3SK on FT8 but with 
no success.  When I checked outside and saw the freezing rain, I knew it 
was time to leave as the ground was covered in about 1/4" of sleet, 
frozen rain droplets, and now freezing rain was falling and would freeze 
on contact to make an awful surface to try to travel across. I spent 
quite a bit of time trying to hear EME signals, so was surprised at the 
number of terrestrial stations that I was able to work in the short time 
available. Here is a list of stations worked from Mumbo Jumbo land on 
Tuesday night.

WW1Z    FN42
K1FSY    FN31
WA1NLG    FN41
WZ1V    FN31
WA1MBA    FN51
WA3NUF    FN20
N1YCQ    FN41
KE1LI    FN41
WA3EOQ    FM07
N1FZH  FN32
K2AEP    FN32
WA1RKS     FN32
KV1J    FN42
W1JR    FN42
WA1PBU    FN42
K1PXE    FN31
N1DPM    FN32
VE3DS    FN03
W1FKF    FN43
N3RG    FM28
N1GLT    FN42
W1AIM    FN34

That is a total of  22 stations, and not bad for a terrible night in mid 
winter.  I need to check my Moon aiming calibration. With all of those 
storms we have had in late December and early January, I was worrying 
that my antenna may have slipped on the mast by a small amount. When I 
tried last night, the echo program did not detect anything, and I could 
not hear anyone. That is very very unusual. I know that the antenna is 
working just fine, and azimuth calibration is not off by much if it has 
been at all. Still, it was un-nerving to not detect anything via the EME 
route at any time.  Peter, KA6U, had not showed yet when I had to leave, 
so I have no news at what transpired after 0200 UT. At 03:30UT, the 
precip had stopped and the Moon was visible. All that bad wx came thru 
at the exact worst time!!

A big thanks to all who were on last night and making noise. There was 
plenty of activity outside of the NE.  I was very happy to see it. AJ6T, 
N1GC, W9BNN, K8TQK, W4ZST, K9MRI and many others were all on creating 
activity. I know that I missed many.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/7/2023 9:26 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Nice showing on 222 tonight. TNX QSOs:
> K1FSY FN31, K1WHS FN43, WA3NUF FN20, WA1MBA FN51,
> KV1J FN42, K2AEP FN32, WA3EOQ FM09, N1DPM FN32,
> WA1NLG FN41, W1JR FN42, K1PXE FN31, N3RG FM29,
> W1AIM FN34, VE3DS FN03, N1YCQ FN41, WA1PBU FN42,
> KO4YC FM17, and K3SK FM07 on FT8. All others CW / SSB.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31RH
>
>