[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity Night Summary
David Olean
k1whs at metrocast.net
Wed May 31 09:16:36 EDT 2023
Hello 222 ops,
Well, the activity was very good, but no one managed to break any
records as far as QSO numbers were concerned. I was hoping that Good
Buddy Ron WZ1V or myself could break the 30 QSO barrier. When you think
about it, 30 QSOs on a typical evening would be quite amazing and I was
figuring that, with the June Contest approaching, we might have enough
ops on the air to break that barrier. unfortunately, the big numbers
did not materialize. Not sure why.
I started off the evening a bit before 2300 UT. I noted that there were
many stations setting up skeds all across the Midwest and South. N1GC
was very active along with K9MRI. W5EME in Louisiana was on as well,
but suffered a PA breakdown with a dead coax relay. My first Q was the
very energetic WZ1V, and he was S9 over a 165 mile path. WA1MBA was also
very loud from rare FN51. Things seemed to be quite normal until I tried
my weekly attempt with WA3EOQ at 500 miles. I could not copy Howard at
all in the first several sequences. I was having a problem with a weak
birdie that made things difficult as I rocked the big knob. After about
two minutes, he came up out of the noise and we completed, but the QSB
on this very long path was greater than we normally experience. W1XR at
406 miles was very good copy on SSB, but was not as loud as on many
evenings.
I tried to make a contact with W5EME around 0000 UT using the EME route.
That is when we discovered that his relay gave up the fight and quit.
He was copying me OK, but I never heard him. K3SK was listening as
well. We both went back to horizon stations after about 30 minutes. I
worked N1QG in Burlington VT and then had a 1st initial contact with
K1ZK also in the Burlington area. He was all excited to be on 222 and
experience the Tuesday night activity. He worked a fair number of
stations including N1JEZ, W1AIM, and N1QG. K1ZK also worked WZ1V for a
great contact with his low power setup. ZK was using a 222 yagi he got
from N1QG. WA2LTM and WB2RVX showed up close to 9 PM EDST and both had
s7 or so signals over a 300 mile path. I tried a CW CQ on 222.110 and
who should answer but WA3EOQ at just over 500 miles. That might be the
first time we have worked that did not require a sked. His signal was Q5
at times and much better than our earlier attempt. Not bad for 100 watts!
I elevated the antenna after 0100 UT and immediately hooked up with
W6TCP who is only 2600 miles away. Ian was very loud at -17 and
perfectly audible in my headphones. Other stations worked were K3SK who
peaked at -18. W4ZST was very loud too. On one sequence the S/N ratio
showed -13. On EME a signal that loud will roll your socks up and down.
My contact with K3SK was #3 via EME. W4ZST and K3SK a;so worked with
good signals, and Dave K3SK was happy with the success for the evening.
While all this was happening KO4YC was looking for me terrestrially. I
answered him on the chat page about ten minutes later, but I guess
Cornell had gone QRT. I also looked for K1DY as 0200 UT approached, but
he did not make an appearance and my evening ended at about 02:30. Here
is my log printed out below. I ended up with 25 QSOs. It could have
been at 30 easily. Some missing stations were N2JMH, W9KXI, VE3KG,
VE3DS, VE3FN, W2BYP, K2AEP, W1GHZ, KC2KAE VE2XX.......the list goes on.
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05/30/2023 22:59 WZ1V FN31RH 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 165
05/30/2023 23:02 WA1MBA FN51AS 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 123
05/30/2023 23:03 K1FSY FN31LN 57 59 220
MHzSSB TR 165
05/30/2023 23:04 WB2VVV FN41CR 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 123
05/30/2023 23:05 WA3NUF FN20KE 57 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 308
05/30/2023 23:07 W1XR FM19HX 57 220
MHzSSB TR 406
05/30/2023 23:11 N1JEZ FN44AR 57 59 220
MHzSSB TR 105
05/30/2023 23:16 WA1RKS FN32IN 559 589 220 MHzCW
TR 131
05/30/2023 23:25 WA3EOQ FM09JO 419 220 MHzCW
TR 500
05/30/2023 23:30 N2SLO FN30MM 55 58-59 220
MHzSSB TR 100 watts 224
05/30/2023 23:31 K1TEO FN20JQ 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 287
05/30/2023 23:36 N1GLT FN42IW 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 36
05/30/2023 23:38 N3RG FM29KI 55 58 220
MHzSSB TR 353
05/30/2023 23:47 K1PXE FN31KE 58 58 220
MHzSSB TR 188
05/30/2023 23:49 W2KMA FN30 58 220 MHzSSB
TR 224+-
05/31/2023 00:17 N1QG FN34JJ 58 59 220
MHzSSB TR 132
05/31/2023 00:20 W1AIM FN34UJ 58 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 96
05/31/2023 00:24 K1ZK FN34JJ 57 55 220 MHzSSB
TR 25w 132
05/31/2023 00:47 WB2RVX FM29MT 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 322
05/31/2023 00:51 WA2LTM FN20MM 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 286
05/31/2023 01:00 WA3EOQ FM09JO 529 529 220 MHzCW
TR random 500
05/31/2023 01:11 K1MAP FN32SB 55 220 MHzSSB
TR 119
05/31/2023 01:12 W6TCP CM97 fn43 -22 220 MHzQ65
TR 2619+-
05/31/2023 01:32 K3SK FM07TH -19 -21 220 MHzQ65
TR 573
05/31/2023 01:38 W4ZST EM84AO -17 -16 220 MHzQ65
TR 923
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 25
Thanks to all of the stations who are on all over the eastern portion of
the USA and making noise on Tuesdays. It is very gratifying to see skeds
and contacts made as postings on the ON4KST Chat page scroll by. The
222 band has really come back to life. Don't forget the June contest,
and try to listen above 54 MHz too.
73
Dave K1WHS
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