[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity night

[David Olean]

Hello Ron and 222 fanatics,

I had a good evening on 222 MHz last night. The weather was not so hot 
with drizzle, rain and even some more of the dreaded rain static. The 
air was very humid.  I got on at about 22:45 UT and my first QSO was 
N1BUG. I had temporarily installed the last of the 222 MHz 1500 watt 
Larcan amps to get a feel for how it will work in the real world. All of 
my tests etc have been into dummy loads up to now. I was curious to see 
how the signal quality was after having dropped the FET bias to 300 ma 
per side of each of the six FETs.. So I turned the yagi towards Paul, 
N1BUG, and had a semi rag chew so that he could get a good listen to the 
amp and check the passband around each side of my signal. Levels ere 
59+20 so we had very loud signals to work with. Paul seemed to think 
that the amp sounded great. That was good.  I have a Q5 / DEMI 
transverter that is set for about 20 watts output so I could not drive 
the solid state amp to full power, but I was at the 1000 watt level and 
close enough.

Other stations worked included WZ1V FN31, WA1NLG FN41, WA1MBA FN51, 
K1PXE (The voice of Milford) FN31, WA3NUF FN20,  KC1V FN31, N1SV FN42, 
WB2VVV FN41, K1FSY FN31, WW1Z FN42,  WA3EOQ FM09, N1JEZ FN44  (with rain 
static), WA1T FN43 (using an HF dipole) N2JQR FN13, W1AIM FN34, W2BYP 
FN13,  N2JQR again on FT8, VE3KG FN24, VE3DS FN03, WA1PBU FN42, N1GLT 
FN42, and WB2ONA in FN20.

I tried a sked with K3SK and N1GC down the coast, but had no success on 
either attempt. I should add that N1GC is 750 miles and I did hear him 
on meteors, so I knew exactly where he was and, at times, I heard a 
wispy weak note buried way down in the noise. There was no way we could 
make a contact. I could not even identify him, but I could tell that 
something was there.

When things quieted down, I called many CQs on FT8 just to see how the 
amplifier behaved with the 100% duty cycle of the digi modes. The new 
Larcan amp behaved extremely well. As the heatsink warms up the fans 
only come on when I am transmitting, but when the temps hit about 98 
degrees F, they stay on all the time and cool down that massive heatsink 
in rapid fashion.  It takes awhile for the heat to migrate around in the 
heatsink. Sometimes I see the fans stop when I go to receive, only to 
see them start up again after about 20 or 30 seconds as the heat makes 
its way to the sensing thermistor. Very cool to watch.  The fans turn 
off when the heatsink temp drops to 95 degrees.

I had very poor signals out to the west. VE3DS was not hearing me call 
him, but eventually did copy me on FT8. He was at -06 dB during our QSO. 
I saw him later on go up to +04 or so. N2JQR in FN13 was pretty loud. He 
called while I had my beam looking SW. (He is at 270 degrees)  We worked 
on SSB. W2BYP was also in there with an average signal for John. I think 
he was 569 or so on CW. To the SW, I thought signals were better. There 
was QSB, but the Rat beacon on 222.060 was looking strong on my 
panadaptor at 30 dB out of the noise.  I tried my weekly attempt woth 
WA3EOQ in FM09jo at just over 500 miles and heard Howard calling 
immediately and I could actually hear him just fine sending calls and 
his grid. I responded and we had a quick and zippy CW contact. He was Q4 
to Q5 the entire time, which is a rarity.  It is easy to lose 100 watts 
on a 500 mile path. Good Buddy Ron called Howard right after me, and 
Howard peaked up even louder at a good 539 for Ron's QSO. Later on 
WA3EOQ tried with KC1V. I could hear WA3EOQ calling but he was much 
weaker then. I think he was using a different beam heading in attempting 
to contact KC1V. I think signals were peaking up 5 dB or more over this 
path. My last QSO was with Warren WB2ONA in central New Jersey, and 
Warren's 80 watts from the old K2GE rover-mobile was rather loud up here 
in Maine. He was 58 to 59 on peaks and 57 at a minimum. That is pretty 
loud for that power level!

So I have to bring the 1500 watt amplifier back to the house and get a 
crate made for shipping it to Wyoming and W0VB. I need to make a lumber 
yard run for some more wood.  All in all it was a pretty good evenng.   
Don't forget 18 September is the 144 Sprint and 26 September is the 222 
MHz Fall Sprint date. Mark your calendars.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 9/12/2023 9:09 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> 222 activity night still going strong even after the contest:
> K1WHS FN43, WB2VVV FN41, N1BUG FN55, N1SV FN42,
> WA1MBA FN51, K1PXE FN31, WA3NUF FN20, WA1NLG FN41,
> K1FSY FN31, N2SLO FN30, KC3BVL FM29, W9KXI FN12,
> N1JEZ FN44, K1MAP FN32, WA3EOQ FM09, W1AIM FN34,
> KC1V FN31, VE3KG FN24, VE3DS FN03, WB2ONA FN20,
> WA1PBU FN42, and WA1T FN43. TNX QSO's.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
>