[VHFcontesting] VHFcontesting Digest, Vol 265, Issue 26

Wed Jan 29 12:34:01 EST 2025

Thanks for all the great reports on 222, Dave, Terry.  I have tried from 
EM55bd but I might as well be in Africa.  I do have a high antenna, 
K1FO, 17' boom, SSB preamp at the top of the tower, hardline, 130 watts 
but there ain't anyone on around here.  BTW, my Icom 375 has developed 
an encoder problem.  I'm thinking a transverter would be less expensive 
than sending it to the guy in Washington state who can fix it.  FE and 
UPS rates are totally out of control.

Steve, N4JQQ

On 1/29/2025 11:00 AM, vhfcontesting-request at contesting.com wrote:
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>     1. Re: [222Activity] 222 activity (David Olean)
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2025 11:38:28 -0500
> From: David Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net>
> To: Terry Price - W8ZN <terry at directivesystems.com>,	"222 >>
> 	222Activity at groups.io" <222Activity at groups.io>,
> 	"vhfcontesting at contesting.com" <VHFcontesting at contesting.com>,
> 	"NEWSVHF at mailman.qth.net" <NEWSVHF at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] [222Activity] 222 activity
> Message-ID: <83836cd2-8331-4cbc-ab59-e9e32b147237 at metrocast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Hello Terry and 222 ops,
>
> Twenty QSOs is a fantastic number. It also brings home the point that I
> am so far away from the VHF activity due to my location in the extreme
> Northeast with no VHF activity to my East.? Imagine the luxury of
> turning your beam! I stay between 190 and 265 degrees for the most
> part.? I figure that my reliable range is about 500 miles to a well
> equipped station.? The population centers within that range includes?
> Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Wash DC, and? Rochester NY/Toronto. Terry,
> W8ZN is so far West and South of me that his 500 mile range includes the
> same areas that I can see plus Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago suburbs,
> Cincinnati, Charlotte, Richmond, Savannah, Charleston. Indianapolis,
> Louisville KY, and Detroit!
>
> Having a great 222 MHz station so centrally located can be a shot in the
> arm for increasing activity on the band.? A few days ago I responded to
> an email from KK4MA in South Carolina. He informed me that he had just
> got a new 222 station going and was looking for any local nets in his
> area to check out the new setup.? I told him about the Tuesday night
> activities, the chat page, and mentioned some of the stations active
> that he could look for. I did not mention W8ZN as Terry has not been
> active lately, but KK4MA showed up and worked several stations including
> K3SK and W8ZN. and WA4GGC.? So now we have another decent station in S
> Carolina for 222 MHz. He has 200 watts and a good beam, so his presence
> will bolster activity in the SE. This is all good. Aim your antennas
> towards SC on Tuesdays!
>
> I worked 20 stations last night and came close to working K3SK who is a
> bit out of my range at 575 miles. I had terrible powerline noise on his
> heading. I suspect that noise masked his signals via the digi modes.
> K3SK heard me quite well, but I never decoded anything here. I know my
> RX is good, so my only excuse is the powerline noise. heh heh.? I think
> W8ZN was my longest QSO at just under 500 miles. WA3EOQ was not QRV so I
> did not get a shot at a 500 mile path there. Before the evening started,
> I was heating up the shack and monitoring the W3CCX beacon. It was quite
> steady for several minutes but at least 10 dB below normal moderate
> temperatiure conditions. It peaked at 20 dB above the noise on my
> panadaptor.? Then it would take a long fade over a minute or so and drop
> down to the noise level. It was still there, but was not copyable in the
> noise.? I watched it for a long time and it came back to the 20 dB
> level. I tried comparing signals with my fixed LVA (18 dBd) and it was
> noticeably weaker, but I did see cases where the LVA achieved parity at
> times as ground reflections favored the height of the LVA. The center of
> that array is at about 80 ft. The four long yagis are at 106 ft.
>
> Another interesting situation developed while working N2JMH. Normally he
> is quite good copy here, but I must have caught him in a fade as he was
> weak on CW. I signed with him and then K1BX in NH called him and they
> worked on SSB. I was listening and could tell that N2JMH was there on
> SSB, but I could not really copy what he was sending.? It seems that Art
> had a much better path than I did.? So I guess the bottom line is that
> you should always try with contacts that are beyond your normal range
> and maybe the prop princess will grant you a wish.
>
> Enough for now.
>
> 73
>
> Dave K1WHS
>
>
> On 1/28/2025 10:29 PM, Terry Price - W8ZN wrote:
>> Worked 20 folks tonight which for conditions was pretty?good. K1WHS
>> was weaker than normal and caught him on FT8. Worked a newbie, KK4MA
>> in EM93 at over 400 miles and he was?+5 at times and easily could have
>> worked him on SSB. Welcome to 222 Mike !!!
>>
>> Got two decodes from N1SV but he saw nothing from me which is puzzling
>> to me since I was running 1.2kw on FT and he was running half that.
>>
>> Everyone needs to point towards EM99 to work K8RYU, we worked on SSB
>> and he was very loud.
>>
>> 73, will be in Orlando next week for Hamcation, might try to take
>> something to get on from Florida !!
>>
>> Terry Price - W8ZN
>> Directive Systems and Engineering
>> 703-754-3876
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> End of VHFcontesting Digest, Vol 265, Issue 26
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