[VHFcontesting] Another Tuesday. Get Ready to rumble!

[David Olean]

I looked over the websites devoted to propagation, whether terrestrial 
tropo, meteors, ionospheric, even ESP. Nothing seems to be going on.  
All the more reason for the 222 MHz Activity Committee to offer a prize 
for the most unusual contact made this Tuesday evening. I have it on 
good authority that the prize will be exemplary and well worth your 
effort to chase.  Last week was a bit slow here in the NE, but that was 
chalked up to extreme exhaustion on the part of the participants, what 
with the 10 GHz weekend just concluding and hangovers from the Sept 
Contest and 222 Sprint.  I hope this Tuesday is better s Good Buddy Ron 
WZ1V can clear 30 QSOs again. He claims to have a ten ft long yagi, but 
I suspect that he has a big flamethrower remotely located high in the 
Berkshires. He really does well from his coastal site in Clinton, CT.

If you have not participated before in a 222 night, all you need to do 
is get on and call CQ around 222.100 starting after dinner. SSB, CW, FT8 
or any digital mode is fine. Most folks gravitate to SSB for much of the 
activity and maybe make a few FT8 contacts with outlying grids. Quick 
exchanges carry equal weight with rag chewing. The intent is to get 
activity on the band. I Most folks utilize ON4KST  144/432 Region 2 Chat 
for any liaison. It helps in letting people know you are there and 
looking for contacts.  have been remiss in not getting my Quansheng 
radio hooked up for some 100 mw DX.  I need to work on that. A Quansheng 
QSO could be the ticket to win the Grand Prize. Who knows?  I recall 
that AF1T once had a 432 antenna made out of a vinegar soaked pickle. He 
managed a 65 mile contact with pickles used at both ends of the circuit. 
I think he got the idea from Gordon West, who used to fry pickles with 
RF.  Dale turned that idea into a "practical" application.

SO please try to get on this evening and make 222 MHz great again. I 
will be wearing my hat.

Dave K1WHS