[VHFcontesting] 222 Nite Summary K1WHS

[David Olean]

Hello 222 MHz fanatics,

Well the bad weather seems to have curtailed the 222 MHz activity a bit. 
I ended up with a quite low total of eighteen QSOs on 222 this evening. 
Signals were pretty good, but I never got a chance to try anything out 
to the West. The line of storms was quite energetic and pushed a bunch 
of ops off the air. By 0100 UT the front had moved East enough to kill 
any long haul possibilities. Before that, the threat of lightning was 
playing havoc with stations on the Western end. I think the front came 
thru at a bad time.  I worked no one West of New England to the West. 
That is very unusual.  Down the coast from here in Northern New England, 
some signals seemed quite good. KA3FQS was very loud. At around the same 
time, WA3NUF was his typical 56 to 56 strength. So the QSB peaks were a 
bit selective.  My first QSO was almost 500 miles to W8ZN in FM09TE.  
Signals were solid at 549 to 559.  WA3EOQ at 802 km was easy this 
evening. I called Howard for ten seconds, and he came right back with 
calls and his grid for a solid QSO with no repeats.  I could only work 
K3SK via the lunar route. I tried listening for him on FT8 with zero 
luck. On the 500,000 mile EME route, his signal was -20 on Q65 and very 
solid copy.

Many people were missing this evening. Between the weather and TV 
programs, some of the dedicated 222 stations were no shows. I was just 
happy to sit in a shack with no heat needed. It was very comfortable 
with temps in the 70's inside the shack. Just back on Sunday afternoon, 
I was getting sleet falling here with temps in the low 40's.   Here is 
my log:


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    DATE     TIME CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX       RX       BAND MODE 
PRO.REMARKS      QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
04/29/2025 23:12 W8ZN            FMØ9TE  549      559      220 MHzSSB  
TR               776
04/29/2025 23:15 WA3NUF          FN2ØKE  55       55       220 MHzSSB  
TR               496
04/29/2025 23:19 WZ1V            FN31RH  59                220 MHzSSB  
TR               266
04/29/2025 23:21 N1JEZ           FN44AR  59                220 MHzSSB  
TR               168
04/29/2025 23:21 K1PXE           FN31    59                220 MHzSSB  
TR               265+-
04/29/2025 23:29 WW1Z            FN42ET  59                220 MHzSSB  
TR                84
04/29/2025 23:32 KA1OJ           FN42EH  55       55       220 MHzSSB  
TR               132
04/29/2025 23:34 W1AIM           FN34    55       55       220 MHzSSB  
TR               203+-
04/29/2025 23:40 W1XR            FM19HX  55                220 MHzSSB  
TR               654
04/29/2025 23:48 W1AUV           FN32II  55       599      220 MHzCW   
TR               223
04/29/2025 23:59 WA3EOQ          FMØ9JO  429      429      220 MHzCW   
TR               805
04/30/2025 00:02 WA2LTM          FN2ØRH  55       57       220 MHzSSB  
TR               453
04/30/2025 00:03 KA3FQS          FN2ØJF  55       55       220 MHzSSB  
TR               498
04/30/2025 00:05 K1BX               FN43       55 220 MHzSSB  
TR               100
04/30/2025 00:10 N1ROZ           FN32TF  55       55       220 MHzSSB  
TR               174
04/30/2025 00:29 K3SK            FMØ7TJ  -20      -21      220 MHzFSK  
TR               915
04/30/2025 00:51 WA1T            FN43LK  59       59       220 MHzSSB  
TR                 8
04/30/2025 01:01 W1XIV                   58       59       220 MHzSSB  
TR               203+-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 18

The last 1500 watt amplifier has made it out to Wichita, KS and KF0M. He 
has it fitted into his rack and just about ready to fire it up.  There 
was some shipping damage due to excessive vibration, a few screws came 
loose holding the fans. It took a bit to fix the damage, but all is 
well. I have been experimenting with a QRP Labs GPS clock kit.  wanted 
an accurate clock that was capable of stand alone operation without 
using a laptop. It is working great and can also be used to phase lock a 
10 MHz source oscillator, giving me some options in freq stability for a 
few higher bands.

73

Dave K1WHS