[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 activity night

[David Olean]

That is quite a list Ron.  I took some time and paid attention to the 
ON4KST chat page. There was lots of activity beyond the northeast and 
mid Atlantic states, Here are some calls who were in there making 
contacts.  NX9O, KB9IFH, AA9MY, AJ6T, W5EME, K9KLD, KY4G, N1GC, K9MRI, 
N0AE, and K2DRH. From my spot in Maine I had 24 QSOs including  K1TR 
FN42, KO4YC  FM17 on SSB, WB2SIH FN31, WA2LTM FN20, VE3KG FN24, K1ZK 
FN34, W1AIM FN34, WB2RVX FM29, WA3EOQ FM09, WA2VNV FN30, WZ1V FN31, 
N2JMH FN12, W9KXI FN12, VE2XX FN25, VE2GDR FN25, N2SLO FN30, K1PXE FN31, 
W1XR FM19, KA3FQS FN20, WB2VVV FN41, N1SV FN42, KV1J FN42, WA1NLG FN41, 
and KA1SUN in FN32.

I spent plenty of time trying with K3SK with no completed contact on Q65 
or MSK144. That distance is a tough nut to crack. I suspect that it was 
a bad night. All the folks in northern New England were complaining 
about poor signals and terrible multi path. I had trouble aiming the 
antenna. I swear that signals were wandering with their beam headings. 
N2JMH peaked 12 degrees off his true heading for a short time, then went 
back to normal.

My weekly try with WA3EOQ was a struggle. I heard him very little and 
had to repeat things a few times. He said I was fading into the noise 
also, which is a little unusual. Howard was definitely weaker here and 
the QSO was a squeaker.  Then awhile later I called CQ and KO4YC called 
in on SSB and was Q5, Go figure! Both stations are over 500 miles.

I spent the day working on my solar gear and routed the panel wires into 
the building and located the new controller on the wall, I moved the 
inverter so it was very close to the batteries. I even fired up the 50 
MHz gear on solar power and ran 500 watts output. When 222 night rolled 
around, I discovered that I did not have AC power and traced the problem 
to the inverter DC bypass circuit. I had to run the gear on battery 
power and power the inverter to get power into the 222 gear.  It ran 
fine on batteries. Only the 8877 and the HV supply ran off the 
generator. About 9:30, I took some time and traced where I was losing my 
AC power. I found it quickly. I never connected the ground and one side 
of the AC line to the inverter, so it was getting no AC at all. I 
connected it all up and flipped the breaker on and saw a big flash and 
the breaker tripped.  SHeesh! I don't need this. I double checked 
everything but found nothing wrong. A second try was successful.  I 
waited around until 0200 UT for K1DY but no luck and I headed back home. 
I used about 20% of the battery.  The Teletek driver amp runs about 100 
watts output. I had two computers running,  desktop and a lap top.  An 
RS35 power supply ran the Teletek, The transverter and k3 and rotator 
also ran off the battery. The inverter was showing over 300 watts when I 
was transmitting. Battery current was up around 75amps or more. Battery 
voltage was 13.28 when I quit.   It seems to be working OK.

CU in the June Contest.

Dave K1WHS


On 6/6/2023 8:45 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> This 222 thing is getting addictive, in a good way. TNX QSOs:
> WA2VNV FN30, KV1J FN42, WB2VVV FN41, N2SLO FN30,
> W1XR FM19, VE2XX FN25, W1AUV FN32, K1PXE FN31,
> N1QG FN34, WA3EOQ FM09, WA1NLG FN41, W9KXI FN12,
> N2JMH FN12, KA3FQS FN20, KO4YC FM17, K3SK FM07,
> W1AIM FN34, N1GLT FN42, WW1Z FN42, WB2RVX FM29,
> K1ZK FN34, and W2TMA FN30. See you this weekend.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31rh
>
>