[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] ARRL 222 MHz and Up K1WHS

Mon Aug 5 15:07:02 EDT 2024

Thanks Ron,

I will try N3JFP. A while ago I registered and paid up with N3JFP, so I 
have access to that program. I need to check it out.

The contact I had with VA3IKE (964 km) from Maine, bolsters my 
contention that there is a mechanism going on where the Great Lakes can 
provide a means of extending your range.  The location of Lake Ontario 
and Erie can provide a boost of maybe 10 dB for a station well situated 
to take advantage of it.  It does not happen routinely, but I am 
convinced that it is there more than we realize. It looks to me that 
someone in the Montreal area can take maximum advantage of this 
situation. N1JEZ and others in Northern VT and NH have a great seat as 
well.  At my location, a bit more to the South, I think the path to 
Toronto takes advantage of Lake Ontario, while stations in Detroit and 
down to northern Indiana can be worked on occasion as a result of Lake 
Erie effects. All it takes is a semi duct forming on the lake to reduce 
the normal tropo scatter losses due to our curved Earth.  All this 
convinces me to at least try a short sked with midwestern stations each 
Tuesday evening to test out the paths.   When I worked VA3IKE, the 
atmosphere near me was boiling with thunderstorms. The weather was fine 
out around the lakes.  All very interesting!

One word of caution. You will not see this unless your station is 
capable of overcoming path losses of a bit over 200 dB.  After all, your 
signal has to be able to get to the great Lakes in the first place!  I 
looked at southern New England and there is little effect from the Great 
Lakes to anywhere.  The good news is that tropo systems seem to favor 
southern New England about 100% of the time, so don't be too upset that 
you miss out on teeney weeney enhancements over the two Great Lakes.

Now to get my 902, 3400, 5760 and 24 GHz stuff working again.

GB Dave K1WHS

On 8/5/2024 11:00 AM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Hey Good Buddy Dave - You done great.
> I use N3FJP VHF Contest Log for distance contests now,
> does the Kilometer-multiplier calculations on-the-fly.
> Speaking of multipliers, 24 GHz x20 - and a few good
> rain scatter contacts could "win" the contest with 1 band.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net>
> To: wz1v at sbcglobal.net, newsvhf at mailman.qth.net, vhfcontesting at contesting.com
> Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2024 22:40:28 -0400
> Subject: Re: [NEWSVHF] ARRL 222 MHz and Up K1WHS
>
>> Hello Good Buddy Ron,
> I entered my score on 3830 but the numbers did not look right, so  I
> added up all the distances on both of my bands and applied the 1X mult
> to 432 and 2X to 222 MHz.  The number that I came up with was way
> different from what N1MM said, but that log was all messed up as I made
> about half of my contacts without N1MM.  Still it was good to look at
> the distances and see how each of the bands played.
>
> On 222 MHz my best distance was to VE3ZV in EN92 at 752 km. WA3DRC  at
> 663 km was another one.  K1RZ at 691 km rounded out the longest contacts
>
> I had eight stations worked on 222 MHz that were in the 500-600 km bracket.
>
> On 432 I had better luck as my best distance was VA3IKE in EN82 at 964
> km. VE3ZV at 752 km (On SSB no less!!) , K1RZ at 691 km andWA3DRC at 663
> km also on SSB.
>
> There were six more stations worked at the 500-600 km bracket on 432.
> Both bands seem to be well matched.
>
> I worked a few more stations on 432, than on 222, but the totals were
> pretty close. My 222 MHz only score was  31844, while the 432 score came
> in at 16961. If you take out the 2X multiplier for 222 MHz, the 432
> score was actually better by about 1000 points. The VA3IKE QSO on 432
> counted for 964 points, so that was the difference .  VA3IKE and I tried
> on Q65B-30 and I was quite surprised to actually hear his audio tones in
> my headphones. I could have worked him on CW. After working Ike, I tried
> some tropo with W7JW but we heard nothing. W7JW is a bit farther than
> VA3IKE.  My calculation for the distance scoring came up with 48,805 for
> 104 contacts on the two bands 222 & 432.
>
> I thought activity was quite poor compared to last year, and the condx
> were nowhere near as good. I tried a few MS tries with K9MRI and W7JW.
> We were continually frustrated with "one way" meteors. One station heard
> lots. The other...nothing. Still, it was fun trying.   I quit early on
> Saturday evening at about 8 PM and got a late start on Sunday just
> before 9 AM local time. My heart was not in it. The chainsaw accident
> did not help things either.  I am basically a one armed operator until
> it heals up.
>
> Your Lithuanian Good Buddy Al, WA1T came over last night to the shack
> and brought some dinner from his XYL. She is a saint and he also had a
> few nice IPAs so Al and I worked on the computer issues and had dinner
> and drank the beer.  I have a  microwave oven in the shack so we could
> heat up the food just great. We thought about doing a multi op for the
> evening, but the shack here is now set up for single op only, so Al had
> to watch. We got in a lot of talking and laughing though.  Despite the
> awful wx and rather poor conndx, I still had a ball.
>
> Dave K1WHS
>
>
> On 8/4/2024 5:55 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
>> ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest - 2024
>>
>> Call: WZ1V
>> Operator(s): WZ1V
>> Station: WZ1V
>> Class: Single Op HP
>> QTH: FN31rh
>> Operating Time (hrs): 10
>>
>> Summary:
>> Band QSOs
>> ------------
>> 222: 52
>> 432: 56
>> 902:
>> 1.2: 22
>> 2.3:
>> 3.4:
>> 5.7:
>> 10G:
>> 24G:
>> ------------
>> Total: 130 Total Score = 44,537
>>
>> Club: North East Weak Signal Group
>>
>> Team: Really Weak Signal Group
>>
>> Comments:
>> Had to QRT most of Saturday night due to thunderstorms.
>> Sunday had calmer WX but activity tanked after 11 AM.
>> There was a small rally toward the end of the contest.
>> Poor to flat conditions, best DX was on 222 to EN92,
>> on 1296 made it out to FN12, FN24, and FN44.
>> Breakdowns 52/19 on 222, 56/19 on 432, 22/11 on 1296.
>> Thanks for the QSOs.
>>
>> 73 Ron WZ1V
>>
>> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
>>
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