[VHFcontesting] 432 Sprint Summary K1WHS

[David Olean]

Hi Bill,

Being in the blob free zone is a common occurrence up here in northern 
New England as you know. This morning, I was finally in the blob 
although the map said otherwise. I heard very little on 222 and 432 
though.  I worked stations that I had worked last night, including AA4ZZ 
and K4LY.  Everybody else was on 144 where the pickings were easy. AA4ZZ 
peaked at 59+20 or so on SSB, and I saw a +40 from him on FT8. I did not 
know FT8 would go that high. Last night he was very weak on CW (529 ) 
and the best I heard him on FT8 late at night was around -5 to 0.  This 
morning at about 1300 UT the signals were going down fast. At one point, 
AA4ZZ actually faded into the noise, so I quit about 13:30.

As for the sprint, It is rather frustrating to hear people 150 or 200 
miles farther South working them one right after another, while I hear 
nothing. Last night was a bit different in that a few signals dd finally 
make the grade, but it was like pulling teeth. The DX was slow to appear 
here in FN43 Mumbo Jumbo.

23:00 UT Start of 432 Sprint. All sorts of activity down in southern NE 
and mid Atlantic states.  I called K1TEO right away at 23:00, but had to 
stand in line as everybody in the NYC area was doing the same thing.  I 
worked 15 stations in 12 minutes, then it petered out a bit.

23:26 I worked WA1T/r while he was driving home from a job in NY. He was 
in Connecticut on RT84 FN31. I ended up with three Qs from WA1T/r in 
FN31, 42, & 43!

23:30  I struggled to pull out a SSB contact with K2CKA in FM06 in NC. 
This was the first DX heard here. I almost fell over when he sent FM06.

00:02  KT1R in FM09 on CW. I had terrible cell site switching transients 
that made copy almost impossible.

00:20    K3SK in FM07 on FT8.  Dave is about 575 miles away. Signals 
were pretty good. I started to get optimistic. Things were improving.

00:40  VE3ZV barely copyable on 432 CW.  Apparently no enhancement 
westward at all.

01:03  AA4ZZ calls on CW. He is very weak but a steady signal. Paul is 
in EM96.

01:34  K4LY worked on FT8 in EM85  S. Carolina It took awhile for Doug 
to peak up so I could her him. Another squeaker!

01:46 KO4YC is quite loud FM17

01:56   N4LAZ in EM95

02:07  KO4LZ  FM05

02:15  K4RCA in FM06

02:39 KG4HOT  FM07

02:43  K4LY calls again on SSB this time.

02:53  W4DEX  in EM95.

So you can see how the night started out with nothing, but signals 
really started to appear after 01:30 and things got good at about 02:00 
UT. It seems that the band was wide open in Connecticut right before the 
Sprint began. That was not the case up here. I had been at the shack in 
the afternoon and monitored beacons on 222. W3CCX got louder as the Sun 
set, but that was about it. No DX beacons audible on 222 or 432 at the 
start.

Right around when the DX started to appear, WA1T/r walked up the hill 
and brought some nice IPAs and we celebrated a nice night on 432 
working  a little DX while enjoying the brews.

It would be interesting to compare notes around northern New England and 
see what was actually worked. On Wednesday night, I was out of the red 
blob. On Thursday morning I was out as well, but the distance to the red 
blob was a bit closer.  AF1T was in the DX in the morning, but caught 
very little on Wednesday evening. Dale is South and west of me and at 
1260 ft. My antennas are at about 980 ft here.

I am just thrilled that we have any DX as the last few years have been a 
real drought up here on VHF.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 10/5/2023 11:16 AM, Bill Olson wrote:
> As usual I'm sort of in the "blob free zone". BUT, if someone wants to try on 222, I'm game.
>
> bill, K1DY FN54JQ Maine
> ________________________________
> From: packrats-bounces at mailman.qth.net <packrats-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of PHIL MIGUELEZ via Packrats <packrats at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Thursday, October 5, 2023 3:08 PM
> To: Packrats Reflector <packrats at mailman.qth.net>; VHFContesting <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
> Subject: [Packrats] The Red Blob is back
>
>
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