[VHFcontesting] 222 EME Activity contest

[David Olean]

Hello Roger and the 222 group

I tried to answer your e mail about having 222 EME activity periods 
spread over a few weekends, but clicked on something I should not have 
clicked, and Bill Gates promptly sent your email into Limbo. I am 
thinking that Memorial Day is not the time for a 222 activity period, so 
I dropped back to April. April 5 and 6 are not as good as the May dates, 
but it is not a national holiday. Here is a snap shot of the April weekend:

April 5 2025        00:00 UT (Friday evening) The Moon is well up in the 
sky and Guys like KL6M have 36 degrees of elevation.

                                 06:45 UT Moonset in Maine.

                                 19:00 UT Moonrise in Alaska

April 6, 2025        16:00 UT  Moonrise in Maine

                                 07:30 UT   Moonset in Maine

                                 17:00 UT  Moonrise (Sunday) in Maine.

                                 21:00 UT    Moonrise in Alaska

                                 24:00 UT    Moon is not quite due South 
of me.

April 7, 2025

                                 08:00 UT Moonset in Maine   Moon is 
well up in Alaska

The weekend looks OK but the extra dB of degradation tends to hurt.

I am thinking that we should extend the activity period into late Sunday 
evening/Monday early AM. This gives moonrise only stations more of a 
chance to work stations in HI, AK etc.  If we stop at 24:00 UT on Sunday 
the guys in AK and HI have no chance to work any moon rise stations in 
the USA on Sunday.  We could have the period end in the Sunday evening 
on the West Coast.

April is not as good as May, and the degradation is about 1 dB worse for 
the weekend.   What does everyone think?  Lets try to get a plan done in 
concrete as soon as we can.  Would two weekends make sense?  Is early 
April too close to winter or some?  I am leaning towards  just one 
weekend to keep things simple. My XYL will kill me if I am on the radio 
on Memorial Day weekend. She has all the  grandkids up to the camp then. 
If I miss it, I am a ded duck.

Comments?


April 5  Start 00:00 UT until April 7 at 08:00 UT (This is late Sunday 
evening.)

Band: 222 MHz only

Categories:  CW  Digital or combination of CW & Digi

Exchange: Grid Square

100 points per QSO  Grid squares count as multipliers Just like the EME 
Contest.  For example, I work five stations in four separate grids. My 
score is 5 X 100 points X 4 grids for a total of 2000 points.

It does not matter if you are in two different spots, except that you 
can work the same stations from each spot and grids will count as new 
grids.  Some people may want to be portable for part of the time.

Did I miss anything?


Dave K1WHS



On 11/24/2024 2:34 PM, Roger - W7TZ wrote:
> Also Memorial Day weekend. No complaint from me, but I'm old and don't 
> go nowhere anyway.
>
> I'll still be happy to help with certificates when you get to that point.
>
>
> 73, Roger
> W7TZ
> CN83ia