[VHFcontesting] Hey! It's Tuesday!

[David Olean]

Please don't forget that every Tuesday night, (which happens every week 
by the way) is 222 Night.  I am not sure how I will survive the evening 
knowing that WA3EOQ will not be there. A contact with Howard is what I 
call EXCITEMENT.  The distance is an insane 500+ miles and Howard is 
running just 100 watts. A contact with WA3EOQ is confirmation that my 
receiver is working at about the best that it can be.  While it is true, 
that some days are better than others, the typical situation is that the 
signal is buried in the noise. I narrow up the panadaptor as far as it 
will go and then I look for any line on the waterfall. I may or may not 
find it, but it helps me to locate Howard's signal in the passband. Then 
it is a matter of pulling his cw out. I am constantly rocking the dial 
slightly to verify that the signal is real and not just my imagination. 
Throw in a little QSB and things can get quite strained.  We seem to be 
able to squeak out a contact every Tuesday. Then there are the other 
days like two weeks ago when I tuned up to the sked frequency and heard 
an S8 or S9 signal sending WA3EOQ a few times. I wondered who was 
calling him until he signed and it turned out to be Howard tuning up!! 
That is the only time I have ever heard him that loud. Usually a great 
report is 529!  At S9 I figured it couldn't possibly be him!

I guess my point is that I get such a thrill out of working stations far 
away or under difficult conditions. I look forward to Tuesday nights as 
a means to try to work an impossible path. You might just find that it 
is not impossible if you try.  It also livens up the activity on the 
other end where lots of contacts might be impossible.  I want to try 
some meteors this evening, as we are getting close to June and those 
pesky grains of dust and sand tend to become more prevalent.  MSK144 or 
FSK441 works well on 222.   There is much to learn about Q65 as well. 
Some nifty Q65 QSOs were recorded last week over impossible distances 
and low power. So seek out a sked partner and see what happens.

The fun starts around 2300 UT on the East Coast and a bit later in the 
midwest. By the time you finish dinner and clean up the plates and put 
away any leftovers, that is the cue to head for the shack and get 
strapped in for some unbelievable excitement. I will be on 222,100 a bit 
before 2300 UT and then move up in frequency as the activity shows up.  
So apply those electrons to your 222 gear and make some noise tonight. 
The ON4KST Chat page can be a big help in setting up any skeds. 
http://www.on4kst.info/chat/index.php      (Pick 144/432 Region 2 Chat)


Dave K1WHS