[VHFcontesting] Heads up! Tuesday is upon us.

[David Olean]

And Tuesday means 222 MHz Activity Night.  You have been warned. This 
Tuesday promises to be quite exciting as  it marks the appearance of 
W7JW located in EN82 near Detroit. I checked the map and he is about 649 
miles from me. That is a very long way, but we are talking about 222 MHz 
so anything is possible!! I checked the approximate distances to other 
East Coast stations and the path to EN82 looks even better. Philadelphia 
is 450 miles. GB Ron WZ1V is a mere 570 miles.  I looked at the path to 
K3SK and it is about 475 miles.  I am not sure, but K3SK might still be 
revamping his antenna system tonight, but his path to EN82 looks 
possible as well with just a little help from the prop princess.

The Moon will be setting in the West this evening at the end of the 
normal 222 night activity, so maybe a good chance to listen for those 
weak and wispy EME signals while using your tropo antenna. It sets at 
0245 UT for me here in Mumbo Jumbo land.  I am hoping to try with W7JW 
via EME later in the evening via EME if there is no gigantic tropo 
opening first!  EME skeds on 222 are coordinated on the HB9Q Chat page. 
Click on the 222 MHz button and get in on the action.

The winner of the semi all expenses paid Fourth of July vacation to the 
Sunoco refinery in New Jersey was announced by the 222 Activity 
Committee. The recipient of the phone call that next morning was so 
excited and happy that it appears that our lucky winner suffered a 
massive heart attack and succumbed while his XYL was answering the phone 
and relaying the information to our lucky winner.  She seemed a bit 
upset and relayed that he just collapsed and could not come to the phone 
and that he also hit his head while falling and then a beer truck 
crashed through the living room wall and ran him over while he fell 
after getting up from his Barco-Lounger.  She reiterated that there was 
no way he could accept the vacation package as he had died three 
different ways just as she answered the phone.  A tough break for sure. 
His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

I am all exited for tonight, but not that excited that I could be hit by 
a beer truck. I got my AGO cavity preamp back and will try to install it 
up at 100 ft today on my 222 preamp box. That will remove the 5 dB of 
noise the bothers me when aimed at New York City and most of the VHF 
action!  A look at the preamp pass band and the low frequency side of 
the gain hump shows 20 dB of attenuation at 204 MHz! I am getting killed 
by a CH 11 TV station. the 20 dB of loss removes any RFI so I will 
hopefully be back in business at 100% again. I also had WD5AGO send me a 
432 cavity unit in hopes that I could improve my 432 setup. It is 
getting hammered by a UHF TV station. I am not sure the cavity will be 
as effective on the high side but it is worth a try! The FETS are high 
dynamic range so no harm in trying.

I'll be on 222.100 starting at about 22:45 UT looking for contacts. I'll 
monitor ON4KST and HB9Q Chat pages. Lets see if we can get GB Ron WZ1V 
to hit 40 contacts tonight!!

73

Dave K1WHS