[VHFcontesting] 222 Activity night

[David Olean]

hello GB Ron

I made it back to Mumbo-Jumbo land at midnight on Tuesday evening, so 
missed the festivities on 222 Mhz.  I drove home from Fredericksburg, 
VA, so it was a long drive.  Thanks for the activity report. I am glad 
that the CT contingent of WZ1V, K1PXE, and K1TEO were on and centrally 
located to provide some great signals for everyone to tune in and make 
some contacts! I have not been up to the shack yet, but I hope things 
are still there and functioning. We had some high winds. I could tell as 
our rubber door mat at the back door was blown away and located about 50 
ft off in the yard!

The 222 MHz Advisory Committee has informed me that I was guilty of an 
unforced error last week in my report. The solid state amplifier that 
was readied for operation on 222 MHz for N1SV, was, in fact, worked on 
by WA1ZMS, but the original repairs were done by those two 222 MHz 
denizens, K1OR and N1DPM.  It seems that two mice, Sydney and his new 
bride Minnie, had moved in to their new home there on the 222 MHz 
pallet. They had plenty of room. The floor was solid as it was a sturdy 
heatsink, and the nursery for all 796 of their offspring was pretty flat 
with only four MRF-151G transistors and a few electrolytic caps to get 
in their way. Unfortunately, Sid and Minnie had little experience at 
house training their many litters and the kids had a Field Day peeing on 
all the neato parts. ("Hey sis' Watch this!!)"  From what Fred and John 
saw, it appeared that probably Sid and Minnie were also involved too, as 
there were conductive paths all the place and a severe cleaning and 
washing was the only way to tame down the boards. A few FETs were 
destroyed, but the good news is that the dynamic duo, (K1OR and N1DPM, 
not Sidney and Minnie!!) managed to get the 222 MHz Larcan pallet 
working again. They even updated the design with better bypassing in the 
gate bias network. Those updates are needed in all of the four FET 
Larcans for High Band TV. The 1500 watt designs are OK.

Anyway, to make a long story just a bit shorter,  Brian, ZMS, added some 
fans and a filter and so now N1SV will have a rather bodacious 222 MHz 
signal from his perch in FN42.  Fred, N1DPM, was in contact with so much 
mouse effluent, that he has since changed his call to K1FMS!  I met ZMS 
Brian along the road in Lynchburg, VA and he gave me the fully converted 
222 amplifier along with some good jokes. I drove thru FN42 at about 11 
PM so did not stop and call Les for a pickup.  From what I can gather, 
Sidney and his bride have moved on with life and are living in FN42 down 
close to the Rhode Island border to be close to their 22,531 grand 
children. They are enjoying their retirement but are still concocting 
babies with poor hygiene skills.

With April just around the corner, it is not too early to get ready for 
the 144, 222, and higher band sprints.  The 222 Sprint is on  April 16, 
2024.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 3/19/2024 9:03 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> 222 condx fairly poor tonight, lots of QSB. Tnx QSOs:
> WB2VVV FN41, W9KXI FN12, W1GHZ FN34, WA3NUF FN20,
> K1PXE FN31, K1FSY FN31, K3TUF FN10, WA1PBU FN42,
> WA1RKS FN32, AF1T FN43, N1LHP FN42, WB2RVX FM29,
> K1TEO FN31, K3SK FM07, WA2LTM FN20, WA3EOQ FM09.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
>