[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity Night Summary

[David Olean]

Hello VHFers

I tried to spend an enjoyable afternoon on Tuesday down at the local 
mall. I  checked out all the latest fads. It was exciting to watch 
people glued to their phones while walking around in a trance.  I must 
admit it got boring after awhile. I tried a few things to keep busy.  I 
tried people watching,  singing for loose change, and sniffing glue, but 
it was no use. I mean how much fun can it be at a mall anyway?   I was 
up at the shack at about 5:30PM so I could install my repaired VHF band 
decoder. I needed a lot of time as there were so many cables that needed 
to be dealt with. I got everything installed and lo and behold it 
actually worked again.  I had some time left over so tried some FT8 on 
10 M and worked a whole pile of JA stations while running just 50 watts. 
My ten meter setup is somewhat hosed as my three stack of five element 
yagis is broken and I could use only the top yagi.  I am waiting for 
warm wx so I can climb up there and figure out what went wrong.  The 
single yagi works pretty well even with the almost QRP level of 50 w.  I 
listened on the low end of ten for CW but fond none. I quit the ten 
meter stuff at 23:40 UT and started operating on 222 in the other 
building. I don't have the log in front of me, but am going from memory. 
N1JEZ was in there trying with WA1RKS and I made a few early contacts 
and figured that things were not too bad. N2JQR had a good signal. QSB 
was very evident however. Wide swings in signal strength was the norm.  
I tried with WA3SSG and it took awhile, but I caught a QSB peak and he 
came up enough to copy on SSB.  I wish those SSB ops would try CW even 
at 5 or 7 wpm. It isn't that hard to get familiar with your call and 
maybe a grid square and RRR to make a QSO. There is about a 10 dB 
advantage with CW over SSB with trained ears. Anyway, it was great to 
work WA3SSG.  Later on I managed a SSB QSO with AA2SD on SSB in FM29.   
WB2RVX and KA3FQS made it into my log.  WA3NUF had a good signal as 
usual. N2SLO had wide QSB swings from Long Island. Distance is maybe 
210miles and the QSB was huge. His signal on SSB went from loud to 
rather difficult to copy in the space of 30 seconds or so.  Good Buddy 
Ron, WZ1V was all over the place it seemed.

My attempt with WA3EOQ was early in the evening and I called Howard, and 
was rewarded with a Q4 answer on CW. I copied the entire sequence, maybe 
missed a few letters, but it was surprisingly steady. The next sequence 
was the same. I copied a bunch of RRs and 73s. I am always amazed at how 
well WA3EOQ comes through up here on CW. My beam heading is not the 
greatest as I am pointing at some high ground, but I think the horizon 
angle is not too bad, as I am scooting just north of some 1400 ft hills. 
My antenna is at 970 ft.   The amount of QSB seems related to path 
distance. There is only slight variation in the signal levels over a 500 
mile path.

I ended up with 25 stations worked and I was getting tired at 02:30 UT.  
Hey it was  a tough day down at the mall sniffing glue, so give me a 
break! I asked K9MRI if he wanted to try some meteors. We started and 
had a completed QSO within about 6 or 8 minutes. That surprised me as 
February is normally the pits for meteors. That made QSO #26. I am not 
sure if there is a prize. I doubt it, but it was fun seeing the level of 
activity.  Some folks were missing. N1SV had an excused absence. It was 
his wedding anniversary.  I seem to have missed K1TEO  but he was on and 
worked WZ1V.  I tried a MS attempt with AJ6T near Nashville, In ten 
minutes of trying, Walt heard nil, but he is farther away than K9MRI. 
The MS returns thin out with distance it seems.  VE3KG was on but no 
luck hearing VE3FN or the Toronto boys.  All in all it was a great night 
with no lousy weather. Even K1PXE was surprised as he had no rain or 
precip either!!   Thanks to all who get on from the more remote areas.  
N1GC, W5EME, AA9MY K8TQK KC4AAW, W4GA etc.

CU next time.

Dave K1WHS