[VHFcontesting] The 222uesday Wrap up

[David Olean]

Fall is tropo time in New England. This year we are finally getting 
some, and I am grateful.  Some parts of the country have been blessed 
with an insane amount of DX. I have read comments such as " I added 39 
grids and ten states to my DX list last night"  Well it has not been 
that good up here in Moose country, but I am very thankful that we got 
anything. Results compared to the previous few years are way up.

Last night was a good example. I got a late start and at 22:45 UT the 
222 calling frequency was busy. There were stations coming out of the 
woodwork and everyone seemed to be having fun. N1JEZ and N1BUG were 
remarking that signals seemed up and the QSB was low. I never checked 
the beacons here, as I was busy trying to see what stations were already 
making noise on 222!   N1BUG said his shack was way too warm and was not 
sure how long he would last, so I turned my beam NE and had a great QSO 
with Paul. He was 59+40 with a monster of a signal.

I then saw that WA3EOQ was trying a sked with K1ZK in northern VT,near 
Burlington. Zach is about 450 miles away from FM09 and his heading is 
about 17 degrees different from my heading to western Maryland. Normally 
WA3EOQ is barely copyable here, but last evening, I heard him Q5 calling 
K1ZK. Both stations were calling each other. Woah! This is different. I 
listened for awhile, then couldn't resist and called WA3EOQ. He came 
right back and turned his beam on me and signals shot up to 559. That 
was the loudest that I ever have heard Howard in several years of 
actively trying to work each other.

I listened again when WA3EOQ and N1BUG were attempting their sked. At 
one point Howard's signals crept up to 569 or maybe even 579 and that is 
when Paul, N1BUG heard him well enough to complete the contact. I was 
really surprised and amazed that Paul made the contact over a 650 mile 
path, The azimuth track takes the signals right over the White  
Mountains of NH., and is quite a bit farther North than the path to my 
house.  The path goes right over Mt Osceola and is just about 5 miles 
south of the summit of Mt Washington at 6288 ft.  A look at the Hepburn 
map tells the story. As you go farther north, conditions looked better 
for a NE SW path. For the first time in ages it looked like northern New 
England had slightly elevated condx while the Connecticut shoreline 
seemed just normal.  Having N1BUG, N1JEZ and W1AIM etc all active 
allowed us to see this in action.  I remarked that N1BUG definitely won 
the Bass Boat and trailer for the week. That is the longest QSO that I 
am aware of.

I also listened to the sked between KO4YC and N1BUG.  I thought Paul 
would make that one too, but no joy this time. Cornell had a great 
signal here, but I am much closer to him then N1BUG. A look at the 
Hepburn map shows the enhancement.   Before it goes away look at 0300 UT 
on Sept 6 for eastern North America. I enclosed a screen shot, but 
usually it gets stripped off when sent. You can see a filament of 
enhancement that extends from the St Lawrence river outlet down across 
northern New England , central New York, and then couples into an 
adjoining min or ridge through western PA, WV and into Kentucky. You can 
also see a slight enhancement down the coast, but it is slight. Now you 
have to take these maps with a grain of salt. In my experience, I would 
say that you will always do better than what the map tells you will 
happen. If you see green to light green, that is good for at least 10 dB 
or so and should be checked out.  You want to look for long filaments of 
color and realize that either side of the axis might also be 
productive.  Note the hurricane remnant off Nova Scotia. They have a 
habit of pulling in warm moisture from down south and running it up over 
dry and colder Canadian air this time of year.

slideshow

Last week, I had worked W8PAT a few times on the big Sept 2 event when 
things were really great, and figured that a sked with him might be 
interesting. A look at the map shows mostly blue and purple along a 
projected path, but we tried and John was hearing me just fine. I had to 
wait for a QSB peak but then I could copy him as well. We used FT8 and 
his best level was -17 and he was audible in my phones. We could have 
worked on CW.  I checked afterward and found that he was running a CC 
boomer and about 50 watts at the antenna.  You have to use your 
imagination when looking at the path on the Hepburn map. There is a 
little green near my QTH down to Connecticut, but not so much in a line 
out to the Cleveland area. There was a small hot spot in central New 
York.  I wonder what allowed this contact? Distance is 596 miles.

I tried with K9MRI and AJ6T, but there was no propagation other than 
meteors. So my best DX for the evening was WA3EOQ, KO4YC, and W8PAT. All 
were between 500-600 miles. Definitely a good night, but not enough to 
win the bass boat and trailer. I had 25 QSOs and missed a few more that 
I heard but never got a chance to work. (WW1Z and N2JMH)  All in all, 
222 was way too much fun. You do not know what you are missing if you 
have not tried it. 222 MHz "rocks".

73

Dave K1WHS