[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity Night FN43 K1WHS Report

David Olean k1whs at metrocast.net
Wed Apr 24 12:04:31 EDT 2024


Hello VHFers,

It was interesting to see the comments by N1BUG and GBR WZ1V. Both noted 
that signals on Tuesday night were better than normal winter 
conditions.  That was different than what I saw from my perch here in 
Mumbo Jumbo land, FN43mj.  I figured condx were a bit down, but, as we 
all know, things can happen to give you an opposite impression of what 
is true. My only real benchmark that I trust is  my attempt with Howard, 
WA3EOQ.  FM09 is a long way from FN43 and the long path tends to 
minimize QSB to some extent. However, the signals last night were quite 
weak and nebulous. I think I made three calls before I even detected 
Howard's signal! This is rather unusual but it does happen on occasion. 
I figured that the tropo scatter was a bit poor when we tried so that 
colored my observations on the evening.  Positive notes were KC2SGV in 
FM29 who was weak but pretty good mostly on SSB. I also was surprised to 
work Zach K1ZK in Burlington, VT when my sharp yagi was aimed Southwest. 
K1ZK was off the side of the array! When I turned the yagis toward sunny 
downtown Burlington, he got very loud and we switched to SSB!  A QSO 
with W9KXI had me worried as Al was very weak until he  noticed that he 
was aimed at W1GHZ in northern VT  rather than at me in Southern Maine. 
He was off by 20-25 degrees or so. When he peaked things up he came up 
to normal S5 to S7 strength.  I was also very pleased to see that Paul, 
N1BUG was on and I wasted no time turning the beam towards Milo, ME for 
a SSB contact.  Mr. BUG has a great signal on 222 MHz.

I was just thrilled to be in the shack and not need any electric heat 
running, or hear blasts of wind roaring thru all the guy wires and tower 
sections. It was actually pleasant with mild temps and the wind had died 
down for the evening. I was very mindful of the band decoder problem and 
all the troubles I had last week. (That was the failure that attracted 
the attention of the 222 MHz Activity Committee.) I have been running 
the 222 gear for several days on solar power just to see if the dreaded 
intermittent keying would re appear, but all was well. I am cautiously 
optimistic that the high resistance leakage within a DB15 connector was 
the actual cause of the keying problem. The night was free of glitches 
or problems.

I ended up with 22 separate stations worked, which is one down from Good 
Buddy Ron, WZ1V.  I am not sure how he does it, but he is able to vacuum 
up every signal audible on the band with ease. I missed working Phil, 
K3TUF, the voice of Ephrata, PA.  I think Phil quit early, and we never 
connected. I also missed K3SK in FM07, but we are just too far apart to 
make a go of it under typical condx. I did listen on FT8 for K3SK and 
heard a real "whizzer" of a meteor burst on FT8. There was tremendous 
doppler on the burn as the signal swished right through my passband so 
fast that it was hard to hear any tones. It sounded like a big "swish". 
I am sure it was Dave in FM07 as he was likely the only one on from that 
area at the time. I suspect the meteor was coming in parallel to the 
path azimuth of 225 degrees.  I worked all my contacts on CW or SSB. I 
made no FT8 contacts last night. I did listen a bit on FT8, but nothing 
new was heard via digi mode. Signals copied there were WZ1V, WA3NUF, 
K1ZK, and KV1J.  Here is a list from the log book;   QRB is in kilometers.

QSO worked by K1WHS (FN43MJ) on all bands
Type of propagation: All                Mode: All mode
 From 04/23/2024 to 04/24/2024           Distance over: 0 Km.            
Page: 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    DATE     TIME CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX       RX       BAND MODE 
PRO.REMARKS      QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
04/23/2024 22:52 K1ZK            FN34JJ  59                    220 
MHzSSB  TR                           212
04/23/2024 22:54 KV1J            FN44    59 220 MHzSSB  TR               
             125+-
04/23/2024 22:55 WA1NLG    F N41XS  59       59       220 MHzSSB 
TR                           196
04/23/2024 22:57 WB2VVV    FN41CR  59                  220 MHzSSB 
TR                           197
04/23/2024 22:58 N1JEZ          FN44AR  59                 220 MHzSSB  
TR                           168
04/23/2024 23:01 N1BUG        FN55MF  59       59    220 MHzSSB 
TR                           259
04/23/2024 23:18 K1KG           FN42ID  59       59       220 MHzCW   
TR                          142
04/23/2024 23:18 WA3EOQ    FM09JO  59                 220 MHzCW 
TR                           805
04/23/2024 23:21 W1AUV       FN32II  559      559     220 MHzCW 
TR                           223
04/23/2024 23:34 W9KXI         FN12NE  559               220 MHzSSB  
TR                           501
04/23/2024 23:34 WA1PBU     FN42EK  559               220 MHzCW 
TR                           120
04/23/2024 23:38 WZ1V          FN31RH  559               220 MHzCW   
TR                           266
04/23/2024 23:41 WA1PBU     FN42EK  559               220 MHzSSB 
TR                           120
04/23/2024 23:47 KC1V            FN31SX  559               220 MHzCW   
TR                           200
04/23/2024 23:56 WW1Z         FN42ET  559               220 MHzSSB  
TR                            84
04/23/2024 23:59 WA3NUF     FN20KE  559               220 MHzSSB 
TR                           496
04/24/2024 00:00 N1ROZ         FN32TF  559               220 MHzSSB  
TR                           174
04/24/2024 00:02 W1AIM        FN34UJ  559               220 MHzSSB  
TR                           154
04/24/2024 00:02 W1GHZ        FN34UJ  559               220 MHzSSB  
TR                           154
04/24/2024 00:04 VE3KG          FN24    559                 220 MHzCW   
TR                           344+-
04/24/2024 00:12 WB2RVX      FM29MT  559            220 MHzSSB 
TR                           519
04/24/2024 00:42 KC2SGV        FM29PN  559            220 MHzSSB 
TR                           528
04/24/2024 00:44 WA2LTM      FN20RH  559             220 MHzSSB 
TR                           453
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 23 (WA1PBU was worked sorta twice. The first time 
was a "Hi Kim" in a pileup. The 2nd was an insurance QSO.  I missed 
trying with GBR and his 100 mw handheld.

So it was a fun night . By 01:45 UT I was falling asleep. OGS was 
kicking in. OGS is the abbreviation for Old Geezer Syndrome. And please 
do not forget the 432 Sprint tonight. I am hoping to be on if the gear 
is still working. It has been awhile since I was on 432. My RX is 
working but have not tempted fate by turning on the TX driver and 
amplifier!!  In other Mumbo Jumbo news, the 144 MHz tower is finally 
starting to take shape after a two year hiatus. The tower came down in a 
microburst, due to a falling tree across the guy anchor that snapped a 
welded  guy fitting.  We have about 30 ft installed but I took a look at 
some of the sections and decided that they should not be re used, so I 
have ordered a load of new Rohn 45 sections to give me peace of mind and 
reduce the amount of swearing as the tower crew tries to mate the 
sections up in the air. I am able to work on the tower quite easily now, 
as I scored a very nice 115 vac winch that will lift the sections with 
ease. I priced winches and saw that you can get Harbor Freight style 
winches made in China for low dollars, but they have very limited 
amounts of drum area for decent cables.  The larger types used for tower 
work start at $1500 and go up from there.  I wanted a winch that could 
hold more cable and finally found one while perusing Facebook 
Marketplace in Sanford, ME.  It was used in large gymnasiums for raising 
and lowering basketball backstops. The used price was $100.  I have it 
now fitted with 380 ft of 3/16" stainless steel 7x19 cable. It is slow, 
but very rugged and so I can work on raising sections with a minimal 
crew now. As soon as the Rohn sections show up, I can finish the 144 MHz 
tower task!  I'll have two yagis up on top at 135 ft.  WooHoo!

73

Dave K1WHS


On 4/23/2024 8:19 PM, Paul N1BUG FN55mf wrote:

> Wow!!! Guess who made it for 222 Activity Night!? Oh boy, it was good to
> be on 222 again, if only for an hour or so!! I continue to sleep poorly
> and must get up at 3 AM, which makes evenings rough. I am absolutely
> dead by 7 PM, usually already asleep. Anyway, I was only on for an hour
> and didn't work any DX but did manage 10 QSOs:
>
> K1KG   FN34   CW
> N1JEZ   FN44   SSB
> K1WHS   FN43   SSB
> KV1J   SSB   SSB
> WZ1V   CW   FN31
> KC1V   CW   FN31
> K1KG   CW   FN42
> WB2VVV   CW   FN41
> WA1MBA   FT8   FN51
> WA1NLG   FT8   FN41
>
> Everyone had good signals. I would say most were stronger than usual.
>
> I do see a pattern with my appearances. The last time I managed to be
> functional enough on a Tuesday evening to get on was last fall when I
> was actively working on the 10 GHz beacon project. I hadn't worked on
> that until about a week ago, and here I am making an appearance. This is
> no surprise to me. A good challenging and interesting project helps in
> so many ways, which is one reason I seek them out.
>
> I was asked about the 432 Sprint tomorrow night. I will TRY to be on,
> but no promises. I still only have 25 watts on 432. I do have a big
> honking amplifier sitting here, but it is not on the air yet. When it
> does go online it will be limited to 300 watts or so until I find or
> more likely build a driver amplifier, then 1200 to 1500 watts after that.
>
> 73,
> Paul N1BUG FN55mf
>
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