[VHFcontesting] Time to check out your VHF gear!

[k3sk at buckwalter.co]

Dave,

I've been perfecting the VHF/UHF stuff since the September contest and am almost ready for the January event.     Last week I added new W6QPL PG-103 preamps on the tower for each of the 4 bands (2m, 1.25m, 70cm, 23cm) and fixed an intermittent SWR issue I had on 2m.   All that’s left to do is update some software and add an additional display so I can be simultaneously baffled and amazed by all the technological data displayed before me.    

Then I can hope and pray for propagation.  

de K3SK

-----Original Message-----
From: David Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2023 4:10 PM
To: NEWSVHF at mailman.qth.net; vhfcontesting at contesting.com; 222 >> 222Activity at groups.io <222Activity at groups.io>
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Time to check out your VHF gear!

Hello VHF ops.

It is only 11 days until the January VHF Contest. This is the contest that separates the men from the boys.  The January Contest is noted for some of the coldest and most wintery operating experiences.   Band conditions are typically awful and ice and snow can cause all sorts of problems. Today is also Tuesday, so it is a perfect time to check out your 222 MHz VHF gear prior to the contest.  I find the greatest utility of having a specific night for a VHF band is that it concentrates activity and allows you to develop a "feel" for how well your setup is working. I used the 222 Nights this past Summer to monitor changes that I made to the overall system as I was trying to fix some overload problems that were hard to trace.  Having many signals available in many directions allowed me to zero in on what was wrong and then I could monitor things as I fixed them.  Test sets and noise figure meters are great, but get you only so far. Listening to real signals and having a spectrum analyzer to check out of band signals is a huge advantage.

Normally, I would be QRT for 222 night in mid January, but our last big storm was a rain event and our last snow event was about 4" on the ground. I can get up to the shack pretty well right now. and the temps are reasonable. It is 27 degrees right now. That is relatively balmy for Maine in January. My plan is to head up at 6:30 PM local time and fire up the generator. I took my solar battery system apart and hauled the lithium battery down to the house to keep it warm. That means I need the big diesel running to even monitor the bands. Not sure about snow in the future. If it holds off I can run 6 thru 432 in the January Contest. 
That is a rarity!

If you have not tried a 222 night yet, the activity gets going around
222.100 + or - starting about 00:00 UT and goes for at least two hours or so. There is considerable activity in the NE, but other areas also have activity. Activity in the midwest can go on well past 0200UT.  It is a good idea to monitor ON4KST 144/432 Region 2 Chat page. A lot of
222 ops check in and you can set up a sked with a distant station. You never know what might happen. You might make an unbelievable contact over some incredible distance! Meteors are possible.  JT65 for tropo scatter is viable as well. I have yet to try that.   I just looked at the Moon position, and it is rising here just after 0100 UT. Maybe I can try a sked with K3SK using the rising moon. He starts seeing the Moon at
01:45 UT.  That would be interesting. He has four big Yagis and QRO. 
That might be exciting!!

73


Dave K1WHS