[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night

[Allen Oldfield]

Reasonably good night here in the "Black Hole" of propagation:

W1GHZ		CW	2304	275.7 mi (443.7 km)
WA3EOQ	CW	2327	216.2 mi (348.0 km)
W1XR		CW	2330	216.3 mi
WZ1V		USB	2332	231.6 mi (372.8 km)
WA3NUF	USB	2341	164.3 mi (264.4 km)
K1TEO		USB	0012	197.2 mi (317.3 km)
K1WHS		USB	0014	310.5 mi (499.7 km)
VE3DS		USB	0031	171.2 mi (275.5 km)

In the last two weeks, I've made two equipment changes here: 
	#1 I was using an FTDX10 as the IF radio on this band and replaced it with my spare FT847. The display on the FTDX10 was not "buying" me anything (as far as showing band activity) and more complicated connections were necessary, with a sequencer, when trying to run digital modes.  Suffice it to say that I reverted back to the "KISS" setup.

	#2 I reconnected my 222 LNA this week.  It isn't needed all of the time but it's nice to have when you do need it.


I tried to work W1GHZ on USB but (obviously) that didn't work.  In spite of the QSB, he had a very good CW signal here.

Both WA3EOQ and W1XR were also weak here, making CW mandatory.  I have worked both of them on SSB in the past.

I plan to be on 1296 for the Sprint this weekend.  

73,
Al - W9KXI

-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting [mailto:vhfcontesting-bounces+aoldfiel=stny.rr.com at contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Olean
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:00 PM
To: wz1v at sbcglobal.net; newsvhf at mailman.qth.net
Cc: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night

Hi Ron and 222 ops,

Good Buddy Al came over for 222 night. Wemanaged to drive up as the 
heavy rains had not washed out the road. I dodged a bullet. I mentioned 
that he was a Good Buddy because he brought a few cans of nice IPA beers 
and we had a great time chatting and working a few stations on222. We 
started out on EME and tried to work Dave K3SK off the moon. He heard 
nil and I heard nil, but my echoes were very loud. We quit around 2300 
UT� and between Al and I we worked most of the stations Good Buddy Ron 
worked with his new fantastic amplifier. Stations not worked included� 
K2AEP and N2SLO plus KO4YC.� I did work WW1Z and WW1M who did not appear 
in WZ1V's log. We quit sort of early about 00:15 UT,and went back to EME 
because Al was interested to see how it all worked. I heard W6TCP in CA, 
KM0T in Iowa , (very loud) along with K3SK in VA.� Right in the middle 
of a W6TCP QSO, his amp misbehaved and quit, so no QSO there, but I did 
manage to work K3SK via the moon route for QSO #2 with him. I have still 
not been able to contact K3SK over the land path of 565 miles. We tried 
FT8 this evening to no avail.� I am now pretty convinced that my Good 
Buddy Ron, WZ1V has a Voodoo Doll with pins in it representing a 
terrestrial contact between K3SK and K1WHS. We can come up with no other 
plausible explanation as to why the contact is not possible.

It was sure a lot of fun this evening although it was raining and there 
was lots of precip static on the big tropo antenna. Fortunately it did 
not last too long. I managed to work VE3DS with great steady signals on 
CW. He was a good S5 or S6. Many other signals were much weaker than 
normal. WA3EOQ said I was about the weakest he has ever heard. I thought 
he was about normal at just in the noise and barely copyable. It is a 
rare night when Howard is Q5. I am glad we worked with all the bad 
weather between us. Al and I quit at about 0145 UT.� It was a very rough 
night on 222 EME. Almost everything was "one way" only. The Faraday 
never lined up to allow many contacts.

With all our gossipping going on,� I was not paying attention to what 
contacts were made in other areas, but it seems that condx were better 
as you got far away from the storminess in New England. I saw a few nice 
long haul QSOs.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 5/2/2023 9:17 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Great activity on 222 tonight, TNX QSOs:
> W1XR FM19, WB2VVV FN41, WA1MBA FN51, VE2XX FN25,
> K1PXE FN31, WA1PBU FN42, W1GHZ FN34, WA3EOQ FM09,
> W9KXI FN12, KA3FQS FN20, K1WHS FN43, VE3DS FN03,
> K2RMX FN20, K1TEO FN31, N1GLT FN42, N1SV FN42,
> VE3FN FN25, K3SK FM07, KO4YC FM17, WA3NUF FN20,
> N2SLO FN30, K2AEP FN32, and W1AIM FN34.
> I'll be on 1296 awhile Saturday morning for the uW Sprint.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31RH
>
>
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