[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night K1WHS

[David Olean]

Summary for 222 Night in Mumbo Jumbo Land....

When I went up the hill for 222 Activity Night, I was greeted by about 
as bad a level of radio conditions as you could possibly encounter. That 
did not stop me though.  As I drove up the hill I crossed over the new 
culvert that my neighbor and I concocted. It is a marvel of engineering 
excellence. Actually, I am fibbing again. It was a prime example of 
shade tree engineering. We made due with what we had available. Anyway 
there was water flowing through the culvert and all that water was not 
washing away the road anymore.   My neighbor lives on a one acre lot 
across the street from me, but he bought a medium sized back hoe just so 
he could learn how to use it. It is his toy.  He practiced a bit by 
digging the culvert trench.  The water seems to like it and is flowing 
thru the pipes just fine. Another low dollar project!!

When I turned on the radio, I knew it would be tough. Signals from 
everyone were weak and watery.  It was a good test of tropo scatter 
theory.  I noted that the Philadelphia stations were about 15 dB weaker 
than on a decent night. Phil WA3NUF was about S4 and normally he hits S6 
or 7.  Same with W9KXI and many others.  On the 500 mile paths, the 
signals were much steadier and while weak, were not that different from 
a good night. Maybe just 2 or 3 dB for the most part. All very interesting.

I missed a few stations worked by Good Buddy Ron. N2SLO, W2TMA, K1FSY 
and N1ROZ were absent from my log, but I added in N1LHP and WA1T. Then I 
went and checked out the EME scene after about 01:45 UT.  Things were 
hopping and it was great to see all the activity via the Moon route. I 
worked N1AV in AZ and then W6TCP in CA right off.  Then I tried with 
Grant VE6TA. The Moon was in the trees on his end, but it did not 
matter. He had a big signal here too.   I tried working K3SK in FM07 and 
we worked rather fast as well via the Moon.  It is interesting that the 
path loss via the Moon is less than over the direct path to K3SK at 575 
miles!  There was even more activity.  "Bippy", W2BYP, has his dish 
running but is having hydraulic cylinder issues and is afraid to bring 
the dish down to low elevations. He kept it above 60 degrees. I did not 
try with John, but that would be another easy contact. KM0T was also on 
with a big signal. Mike was busy running with new stations too. It was 
very busy.  KC7OOY was also getting on right around when I pulled the 
plug. N0AKC was there in spirit as his readouts malfunctioned and he 
could not aim his array in the dark. Those four stations are all readily 
workable, so there were at least eight stations all on 222 EME on a 
Tuesday night right after the EME contest weekend.  I would rate that as 
pretty darn impressive. A single long yagi with a good preamp will put 
you on EME on 222 for an effective simple setup. (hint hint)  I quit 
about 03:00 UT.  I removed my 432 PA and have it at the shop to 
investigate a minor problem. It is a good time to clean out the airways 
too. They can get blocked with debris over time.  I will set it up on 
the workbench and give it a good check out. Some HV sensing resistors 
seem to have changed value.  A quick check shows that 3000 VDC only 
produces about 560 millivolts into the protection circuit. I think that 
is too low.   Ham radio sure is fun!

I ended up with 24 stations worked. ON tropo, the 500 mile contacts 
include KO4YC, W8ZN, and WA3EOQ.  The 300+ mile stations are KA3FQS, 
WA3NUF, and W9KXI.  W1XR and the Toronto boys are in the 400+ mile 
range, but none were QRV on Tuesday.  I missed VE3KG in FN24 too. He has 
a new 500 watt FET amplifier and I am dying to hear how it sounds when 
it gets hooked up!!     W3CMP is working on a 222 system in FN10 as 
well. I just sent him a 500 watt amp. He should be on in a short time I 
hope.

In summary, it was a great night with all sorts of activity including 
stations way beyond my range in the midwest, central US, and the SE.  
K9MRI, AJ6T, AA9MY N1GC, and a raft of others are all in there on 
Tuesdays.  Conditions stunk, but it is good practice for perfecting ways 
to work those stations in the January Contest.  Timed transmissions work 
great on CW.  The timing helps on those digi contacts as we all know. 
Interestingly, I never heard an FT8 signal last night. I know a few 
contacts were made, but I must have missed any activity on the FT8 
watering hole on 222.174.   The EME mode was Q65B-60.  My tropo contacts 
were all CW or SSB.  Thanks to all who got on.

73

Dave K1WHS   FN43MJ



On 11/28/2023 8:58 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> 222 conditions not so good, but there was great activity tonight:
> K1WHS FN43, WB2VVV FN41, W2TMA FN30, KV1J FN42,
> WA1PBU FN42, W9KXI FN12, N2SLO FN30, K1PXE FN31,
> KO4YC FM17, WA3NUF FN20, KA3FQS FN20, WA1MBA FN51,
> WA3EOQ FM09, WA1NLG FN41, W1GHZ FN34, K1FMS FN32,
> N1ROZ FN32, W8ZN FM09, K3SK FM07, K1FSY FN31,
> W1AIM FN34, AF1T FN43, and AA2SD FM29. TNX QSOs.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31rh
>
>