[VHFcontesting] 222 Tuesday Night Summary K1WHS

[David Olean]

222 MHZ! What a band!

I am amazed at the capabilities of the 222 MHz band.  I was sitting in 
my rather chilly shack last night at 23:30 UT. The humidity levels have 
been very low for weeks and the power lines were singing. My shack is 
several miles from these powerlines, but on Tuesday night they were 
raising the noise floor by several S units.  I always tune in the W3CCX 
beacon on 222.060 and was disappointed to see signal levels that were at 
least 10 dB down from typical levels. I figured a tough slog ahead.

As stations started to appear, it was obvious that severe QSB was the 
norm.  Signals were weak. For the first time in a long time, I somehow 
missed working K1PXE in FN31. I heard him several times while flitting 
around the band. We never connected, or if we did, my muddled brain 
neglected to log a contact.  Signals were quite weak all around. 
Occasionally someone would peak up. K1FSY was very loud here but I am 
sure that a few minutes after our QSO, we would have struggled to hear 
on SSB. It was that kind of night. My weekly sked with WA3EOQ at 805 km 
in FM09 was about as tenuous as it could get. He was weaker than last 
week and we barely made it. He would come up out of the noise for maybe 
5 to 10 seconds. Out of the noise is not quite correct. He was always 
buried in noise! Thank goodness that his beam heading is not filled with 
power line buzz. That stuff is impossible to work through. I am always 
amazed that I can even hear his 95 watts up here in Mumbo Jumbo land.

So at about 01:40 or so I started looking at what was going on with the 
EME contingent. The Moon was rising over the western part of the USA. It 
was Moonrise in Texas and WQ5S was calling CQ. (I saw all of this on the 
HB9Q 222 MHz Chat page)  I started elevating the antenna and watched the 
noise floor just drop out. The S meter went from S3 to S0. I aimed at 
the Moon and worked him quickly. There were many others on, so I spent 
some time looking for more contacts. I am sure I missed a few guys on 
terrestrial paths by spending time elevated during prime activity time. 
I saw that GB Ron WZ1V worked WA2LTM and several others that I never 
heard.  Still, the pickins were great via the EME route as I also 
worked  W7JW, K3SK, N1AV and VE6TA. I also heard AI5I with great signals 
from New Mexico. His single yagi on the horizon was getting clobbered by 
RFI from someone nearby in Santa Fe and he could not hear anything 
through the crud. I was copying him every sequence with quite loud 
signals.  (-20 db which is just audible in headphones.)   Note*** Single 
yagis work well on 222 MHz EME.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    DATE     TIME CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX       RX       BAND MODE 
PRO.REMARKS      QRB (km)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01/14/2025 23:50 N1SV            FN42BL  57       57       220 MHzSSB  
EME                  126
01/14/2025 23:57 WZ1V            FN31RH  57       57       220 MHzSSB  
EME                266
01/15/2025 00:02 W2TMA           FN3ØHV  57                220 MHzSSB  
EME               342
01/15/2025 00:05 WA3NUF          FN2ØKE  55       57       220 MHzSSB  
EME              496
01/15/2025 00:08 K1FSY           FN31MR  57       57       220 MHzSSB  
EME                 247
01/15/2025 00:13 WA1RKS          FN32IN  549      599      220 MHzCW   
EME              211
01/15/2025 00:17 W1FKF           FN43GC  549               220 MHzCW   
EME                  52
01/15/2025 00:20 N1JEZ           FN44AR  559               220 MHzSSB  
EME                     168
01/15/2025 00:34 W9KXI           FN12NE  549      549      220 MHzCW   
EME              501
01/15/2025 00:38 WA1T            FN43LK  59       59       220 MHzSSB  
EME                   8
01/15/2025 00:48 WA3EOQ          FMØ9JO  419      419      220 MHzCW   
EME         805
01/15/2025 00:58 WA1PBU          FN42EK  59       59       220 MHzSSB  
EME              120
01/15/2025 01:06 WQ5S            EM13CI  23       24       220 MHzQ65  
EME                 2576
01/15/2025 01:19 W5EME           EM32AI  -22      EM32     220 MHzQ65  
EME             2350
01/15/2025 01:23 W7JW            EN82FJ  -20      -16      220 MHzQ65  
EME                 1030
01/15/2025 01:28 N1LHP           FN42KM  59       59       220 MHzSSB  
EME                  98
01/15/2025 01:29 W1AIM           FN34    55      55          220 MHzSSB  
EME                  203+-
01/15/2025 01:37 K3SK            FMØ7TJ  -20      -20      220 MHzQ65  
EME                  915
01/15/2025 01:45 KD2LGX          FN13IG  --10     fn13     220 MHzFSK  
EME                512
01/15/2025 02:14 N1YCQ           FN41LP  59       59       220 MHzSSB  
TR                     195
01/15/2025 02:35 VE6TA           DO33GS  -15      -19      220 MHzQ65  
EME             3273
01/15/2025 02:52 N1AV            DM43FF  -22      -29      220 MHzQ65  
EME             3675
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I ended up with 23 1/2 contacts.  if I include hearing AI5I as 1/2 of 
a contact.  I always revel in the thought that the weather starts 
warming up statistically by January 26th in Northern New England.  That 
means in another week or so, things will start to improve. (heh heh).

Gotta run and throw some wood in the stove!

73

Dave K1WHS