[VHFcontesting] Toosday on tooTwentyToo

[David Olean]

Ok kids, don't forget that it is Tuesday and time for another fabulous 
evening of fun and frivolity with your favorite band and I don't mean 
Milli Vanilli.  It is time for another round on 222 MHz Activity Night. 
The wx has warmed up here in the environs of the Great White North.  
Temps are warming up today and rain is predicted here after midnight, so 
I suspect some rain in the mid atlantic and Connecticut area just to 
keep K1PXE happy.  If you believe the Hepburn map, there could be some 
minor enhancement along the immediate coastline early in the evening. 
Then again, I suspect there will be massive QSB for thr est of us. heh 
heh.   I will be QRV starting a bit before 00:00 UT on 222.100 looking 
for contacts. Lately the contact totals have been in the mid 20's. I am 
hoping that the totals start climbing as warm weather appears.   I will 
have a bit of birthday cake to enjoy. The Missus had a party planned for 
Sunday, but a few family members were sick (at least that was what they 
said!) so I have some left over cake to enjoy.

I missed Jeff K1TEO last week. He peaks at 59+20 when we are aimed at 
each other but it is amazing what you can miss when sharp beams are 
employed and you get busy looking for DX!!!  W5LUA was on from Dallas 
and made some great contacts from there. He did not work many, but all 
were good DX.  Having stations all getting in the groove of checking out 
the bands is much better than relying on Hepburn maps or "Red Blobs", as 
a good setup with some power and a yagi above the trees, can show 
conditions that the other methods do not.

The Moon rises for me at 01:50 UT at about 101 degrees. Conditions are 
not the greatest, but if anyone wants to try listening on their rising 
Moon, let me know. I can stick around up to about 03:30 UT or so. After  
that I turn into a pumpkin.

The loggers are busy ripping up my woods. All my 160 meter beverage 
cables on the ground have been destroyed. The skidders really are making 
a mess. The ground is not frozen so they make huge ruts and snap the 
cables. Some of the ruts look over 2 ft deep.El Nino has been pumping 
warm air into the mid West and Northeast The frost only goes down a few 
inches into the ground. Usually it is down a few feet. The good news is 
that we are getting more Sun now that the trees have been thinned out! 
They have also promised to remove a few trees from near my towers on the 
hill.

So the plan for Tuesday night is to fire up the 222 MHz gear on or about 
222.100 plus or minus QRM and look for stations. If you use the ON4KST 
Chat page (144/432 Region 2) you can let people know you are there and 
they can look for you. Activity starts around 00:00 UT and can continue 
past 02:00 or later as you go westward in the USA. It is great for 
setting up long tropo skeds or even meteor scatter. The meteors are 
slowly getting better. Paths 0f 750 -850 miles are easily doable. The 
longer paths might take longer to complete, but you never know until you 
try.  Please get on for at least a little time, if you are busy with 
other things. Activity generates excitement!

CU there

Dave K1WHS