[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello VHFers

The seasons are moving along and the possibility of tropo openings up in 
the North has dropped drastically.  I remember when we were all involved 
in multi op contesting here, the mantra was to pray for crappy 
conditions.   Such conditions tend to favor stations with high power and 
big antennas. That is really true when the big station is not located in 
a tropo friendly location. So now, with the arrival of semi wintertime 
conditions,  the small stations have to deal with the effects of tropo 
scatter and the very high path losses that are involved over long 
distances.  You will get no help from Mother Nature! A 500 mile path on 
222 MHz

I was having fun over the weekend playing EME and worked a few stations 
on EME including WQ5S in Texas who has  no EME system, but has a KW and 
a single long yagi.  Brad was actually pretty loud here when I heard 
him.  He had a rising moon and aimed his antenna towards the Moon on the 
horizon. The contact would have worked even with a 6 dB drop in power. 
That translates to 250 watts at the antenna at brad's end!  So I was all 
excited about the neat contact, but then the rig burped and I lost the 
HV supply. It was cycling on and off and raising havoc. It turns out 
that the PS is just fine. I am using a plate transformer from a T-368 
military transmitter. It barely gets warm, but I was transmitting pretty 
steadily for three hours. The amp does not care, but, apparently the 
circuit breaker gave up the ghost and died. I checked it this afternoon 
and it was almost impossible to get a good connection no matter how many 
times I cycled the switch.  So I have a new circuit breaker on order and 
hope to be back on 222 very soon.  I'll rig up something as a temporary 
measure as Tuesday is almost upon us and Tuesday is the chance to make a 
few 222 contacts on a great band.

Along those lines, I have been putting out feelers in hopes of finding a 
home for the 500 watt transverter I am working on.  (The last amp) A 500 
watt power level will accomplish a lot. That is 7 dB above a 100 watt 
station, and 7 dB buys you a lot on tropo scatter. I was all set to 
start on making the transverter portion, but seem to have lost the 
circuit boards. I put them in a safe place somewhere in my shop. The 
shop is a total mess so it is no wonder that I lost it. I am hoping I 
trip over it soon. I am looking in to placing the 500 watt rig up in VE1 
land. That would be a good haul for possible contacts between Nova 
Scotia and southern New England. The distance to K1PXE is about 450 to 
500 miles and would be difficult. A 500 mile path on 222 MHz is about 
245 dB worth of loss, which is the same as an EME path!! The Boston area 
is only 340 miles so contacts with 100 watt stations and a good yagi are 
possible between Bean town and NB or NS.  New Brunswick is only 270 
miles from me in Mumbo Jumbo Land so it would be a "chip shot".   I am 
hoping that a good owner shows up and claims the transverter. After all, 
it will be GPS stabilized and produce 500 watts of RF.  Not a shabby rig 
at all.  There are plenty of other spots where the 500 watt transverter 
would make sense too.

So I hope to be QRV on 222.100 at 23:00 UT on Tuesday night. The diesel 
is all gassed up and rarin' to go.  The Hepburn Map is bleak for just 
about everyone, so how well you do will depend on how much 22 hardware 
you can muster.   A few of the 222 Amplifier Project amplifiers are 
starting to show up on the air.  KM0T had his on a few days ago and was 
so darn loud on the EME route it was almost scary. He is working on 
eliminating TV station overload. That is a very common problem around 
the country. Overload shows up as a slightly higher noise floor so you 
might not notice it at first. The weak DX signals will notice the noise 
right away. IT is a killer.  Most folks use ON4KST Chat page (144/432 
MHz Region 2) to set up skeds or let people know they are active.

CU on Tuesday and be prepared for a wholesale pile-o fun.

Dave K1WHS