[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity night

[David Olean]

Hello Good Buddy Ron and fellow 222 fans,

I had a challenging night. I had not been on the band since late 
February, and over the ensuing weeks we have had some terrible wind 
storms and heavy rain. When I finally got to the shack on Tuesday 
morning, I nioted some damage among the antennas. The top six meter yagi 
is broken from heavy icing last Saturday evening. I found some ice 
chunks on the ground and saw that some of it was an inch in diameter. No 
wnder the yagi broke!! The 432 tower has a big piece of 1/2" Heliax 
flopping in the breeze. That needs an immediate repair. The 222 array 
looks a bit the worse for wear, but all appeared to be roughly in place. 
One yagi has a bit of droop. When I turned on the amp I was greeted by a 
very high VSWR.  I saw 500 watts forward and almost 200 watts 
reflected.  I tried running a bit of power into it, and saw the VSWR 
change. It must be water in the wrong place. I hope to get up on the 
tower today and check it out. I suspect the power divider.  What a 
PITA.  Temps warmed up today to 50 F. With all the snow, I had to trudge 
up the hill last night to get on for 222 night. The temp was right at 
33F. I walked up in daylight, but the walk back home was pitch black. I 
am hoping we get some melting as the last snow and ice storm was about 
3" of real now and then another few inches of sleet with freezing rain 
to finish things off. The sleet makes driving impossible.  So I am 
walking up this afternoon with my SWR meter and climbing harness.

I worked the same stations for the most part as GB Ron from up here in 
FN43mj.  I was using an array of eight five element fixed yagis aimed at 
225 degrees. I tried not to use the compromised four yagi array.  It was 
required for K1ZK and W1GHZ,  VE3KG could copy me FB on my fixed yagi 
aimed SW.   I missed N2SLO and K3SK. The list is from my failing memory 
and a pretty good turnout for a lousy night!

KC1V  CW and George forgot to turn on his amp. He was running QRP at 
about 1/2 watt.
AA2SD  Very loud on SSB.
WA3NUF  Gud copy on the LVA but not quite as good as normal with the 
bigger antler..
KA3FQS  Much louder than I normally copy him. New amp?
WA1NLG    FB with antenna SW
WA1MBA  Good signal off the side of my yagi
KC1V  SSB with his amplifier turned on. He was much louder.
K1TEO
K1PXE
WZ1V
W1AIM  Beam aimed SW.
K1ZK
K1FSY
VE3KG Pretty good copy at 579. I used the water soaked yagis for this 
contact.
WA1T   LPY on his new and very high tower!
N1LHP
WA3EOQ  A bit weaker than usual, but surprising to complete with a 
busted antenna.  Best DX at 800 km.
W1GHZ
WA2LTM
W9KXI
N1GLT

K9MRI Tried meteor scatter for ten minutes. I heard nil. Joe got one 
ping.  No contact, but it was fun trying.

Hopefully, I can get stuff fixed up in time for the Sprints etc. Ham 
radio sure is fun!

Dave K1WHS


On 3/26/2024 8:58 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Good 222 activity tonight, thanks to all for getting on. Logged:
> WA1NLG FN41, WA1MBA FN51, K1WHS FN43, KC1V FN31,
> WA3NUF FN20, K1TEO FN31, W9KXI FN12, AA2SD FM29,
> KA3FQS FN20, N2SLO FN30, K1FSY FN31, VE3KG FN24,
> WA1T FN43, K1PXE FN31, W1AIM FN34, K3SK FM07,
> N1LHP FN42, WA3EOQ FM09, WA2LTM FN20, W1GHZ FN34.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
>