[VHFcontesting] [222Activity] 222 MHz Aurora Report

[Paul N1BUG FN55mf]

Thanks Dave,

It is as I suspected. I opened my eyes (sort of!) at 0150Z and decided 
to just take a quick look to see if anything really interesting was 
happening. I discovered aurora on 6 meters and made my first QSO at 
0155Z. So I missed the 222 activity! This is not surprising since I have 
found over the years best aurora signals generally  happen in the late 
afternoon through early evening, say 4 to 7 PM. It then usually fades 
for a while and re-intensifies later, but by then a lot of people have 
shut down.

I have no solution for the problem of evening availability here, but I 
sure hate missing a good aurora! It has been many years since I worked 
aurora on 222 (or 432, where I have insufficient power these days).

73,
Paul N1BUG



On 3/25/23 12:12, David Olean wrote:
> Hi Mr BUG,
> 
> I noted that contacts were being made on 50 and then 144. I walked up to 
> the shack around 23:00 UT and fired up the 222 gear. Starting at about 
> 2345 UT,  I was answered by VA3ELE who was running just 25 watts on CW. 
> He had a good signal strength of 55A. A few minutes later, I worked his 
> neighbor VE3DS who runs more power and was very loud at 57A.   Another 
> station worked was WX3K in PA, who also had a good signal. That was the 
> first ever 222 aurora contact for WX3K! I hope there are many more.  I 
> worked WX3K between 00:00 and 01:00. Best DX heard was N4PZ in Chicago, 
> EN52 at 950 miles, but Steve could not hear me. He was a good 55A at 
> 00:44 UT and again later at about 00:57 UT.   The band dropped out 
> shortly after 0100UT. When things died down after 0115 UT I walked home 
> in the dark. I was sure that the aurora would come back around 11 PM, 
> but having a shack 1/2 mile away covered in snow prevented any more 
> monitoring.
> 
> I figured out a good plan for a pair of 16 el yagis. I am going to fix 
> them at 300 degrees as an AU detector.
> 
> Dave K1WHS