[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello VHFers

What an interesting evening on 222.  There was a pile of snow on the 
ground and it is too deep for the truck to navigate, so my plans changed 
to using snow shoes and walking up to the shack. It started snowing 
around 23:00 UT and it was fun walking up through the woods with light 
snow falling. My little head lamp would illuminate just a small area and 
the effect was sure different! When I got to the hilltop I noted that 
the wind was really picking up. I opened up the 222 shack and it was 25 
degrees in there, Brrrrrr!!  I started the diesel genset and then 
started up the gear and the electric heat.  The room warms up fast.  I 
was on the air at 23:45 and made the following contacts:

WW1Z
K1ZK
K1PXE
WA1RKS
K1FSY
WA1NLG
N1GLT
WA3EOQ
WA3NUF
K2RMX
WA1MBA
WZ1V
N1DPM
K1FMS
W1AIM
VE3FN
WA2LTM

I an effort to make as many contacts as possible, I managed to work both 
N1DPM and then K1FMS immediately afterward. They both had similar signal 
strengths and even their voices were strangely similar.   I noted very 
severe QSB on many signals.  K1PXE went from 59 down to the noise level. 
I noted the same with K1ZK near Burlington, VT.  Signals were typically 
weaker than normal as a rule.  WA3EOQ at 502 miles was rather steady and 
normal.  Isn't that interesting?  I did work K2RMX and heard him in QSO 
with others several times.  His beam is off in another direction and 
stuck. I tried with K3SK in FM07 with no luck on Q65.  Many of the 
midwest stations were having bad winds and that hurt activity. I kept 
checking the weather by opening the door and checking out the scene. The 
snow was coming down very hard and I saw 3" of new snow. There was some 
intermittent snow static, but as I saw the snow piling up, I figured I 
should leave for home early and I was out the door at about 01:45. There 
was now 4" of snow and my snow shoe trail was completely covered over, 
so I had to break trail in both directions. The trip down the hill was 
difficult with the heavy snowfall. It was hard t see where I was going.

The bad winds are expected between 1 and 4 AM and gusts were predicted 
at about 55 mph according to the NWS. I am sure I will lose power during 
the night. Hey, it is wintertime!

73

Dave K1WHS



On 1/9/2024 8:41 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Had to cut it short due to stormy WX but logged these 222 ops:
> K1FSY FN31, K1ZK FN34, WA1MBA FN51, WA1NLG FN41,
> K1PXE FN31, WA3EOQ FM09, WA1RKS FN32, K1WHS FN43,
> K3SK FM07, W1AIM FN34, WA3NUF FN20, W2TMA FN30,
> VE3FN FN25, WA2LTM FN20, and K2RMX FN20. TNX QSOs.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31RH
>
>