[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night

[David Olean]

This e mail is a bit early to remind folks about 222 Night, as I am 
secluded in a camp in the Ossipee Mountains and there is very limited 
internet service (only thru a cell phone hotspot which should really be 
called an *almost cold spot* as coverage is rather "iffy".) I am stuck 
here until Tuesday, so I'll be traveling on Tuesday morning and I do 
want to alert everyone that the next 222 Night will be a good one with 
lots of activity. The Moon will be up on Tuesday evening, so maybe we 
can make a few EME contacts as well as some more of the more common 
terrestrial QSOs. KL6M had his 222 MHz feed in his 30 ft dish, so maybe 
he might be available much later in the evening. The Moon rises in 
Anchorage at about 0130 UT or 9:30 PM EDST. It might take more time for 
the Moon to clear the trees and hills as Mike's eastern horizon is 
somewhat blocked by a rather large chain of big hills. Most of the USA 
should have a visible Moon on Tuesday. I sure would like to practice 
with Q65 as I was having trouble decoding K3SK last week. He was 
decoding me, but I was getting zilch on the terrestrial path. Last I 
checked, Faraday Rotation does not bother tropo signals. So, if you have 
EME capability, why not show up Tuesday night and look for a QSO or 
two.  If we get a few folks on the Moon, it will make for a very 
interesting and thrill packed evening!!   I will be on starting before 
2300UT and will monitor the HB9Q chat page as well as ON4KST, looking 
for tropo and EME skeds. My Moonset is at about 0700 UT so there is 
plenty of time to try EME as we go later on Tuesday night.

I am chomping at the bit to get back to my hamster projects. I managed 
to get a rock drill and drilled the footings for my new ground mounted 
solar panel  frame. I have the pipes, new battery, cables and the charge 
controller all ready to be installed. When finished, I will have 1.5 KW 
worth of panels for faster charging, along with a 600 Amp Hour battery 
capacity.  I even made progress on removing the old collapsed 144 MHz 
tower. It has finally been removed from the trees and cut up and ready 
for the dump. The rock drill will be used for some new guy point 
hardware for the new 144 MHz tower. The new antenna there will be much 
smaller, but it will be a step or two up from phased Ringo-Rangers. Once 
the new holes are drilled, the new tower will start to grow.

My 903 MHz system is in the middle of being repaired. I will be doing 
much tower work during the week and hope to get 903, 1296 and 2304 
running again.  So all these projects are lined up, and I am away from 
the shack and forced to be fly fishing for trout. I guess someone has to 
do it. My luck there has been great these last few days as I landed 
three nice hefty 14" Brookies along with about an equal number of 13" 
specimens. These are all around the one pound class and are a hoot to 
catch.  I lost count on the smaller guys.

  So please try to get on 222 MHz for Tuesday evening.  Good Buddy Ron, 
WZ1V and I made well over 20+ contacts and we are shooting for thirty 
QSOs for the first time.  What better way to test out ur 222 setup for 
the upcoming June Contest than to get on  for Tuesday night! It will 
also be a good time for me to get re trained on Q65.   CU Tuesday night!

73

Dave K1WHS