[VHFcontesting] 222 MHz Activity Night Summary K1WHS

[David Olean]

Hello 222 MHz jockeys,

here is a summary of activity from Northern New England. Conditions were 
interesting in that everyone had stuff to deal with due to weather. I 
saw tornado comments in the mid atlantic. I had a big rain static 
session here in Mumbo Jumbo Land. I cringed as the last time that 
happened it took out my tower mounted preamp. The guys in the midwest 
were complaining about rain. W5AFY in Texas was also complaining about 
the 15 inches of liquid sunshine that fell on him recently.  He was 
driven off this evening by lightning.  With all that going on its a 
wonder anything happened.  I was active up to about 01:30 UT and worked 
some decent DX considering how poor the condx were.  WB2ONA and WA3NUF 
were quite loud here.  WB2VVV had quite a hollow sound on him, probably 
from big rain cells or who knows.  VE2XX almost sounded like a bit of AU 
buzz. I could not use my regular antenna with Stu, as it was hosed up 
with rain static, so I used a small 2 X 8 el  antenna that was more 
quiet.  I worked W9KXI  at 500 km with a fixed SW yagi that was quiet. 
W9KXI is almost due West, so that was weak but OK on SSB.  I tried the 
rotatable array but could not hear him through the rain static!   Here 
is a list of stations worked. Distances are in km.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    DATE     TIME CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX       RX       MODE 
PRO.REMARKS                                         QRB
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05/06/2025 22:58 WB2ONA          FN2ØTK  59       59       SSB 
TR                                                  434
05/06/2025 23:02 WW1Z            FN42ET  59       59       SSB 
TR                                                   84
05/06/2025 23:04 WB2VVV          FN41    59       59       SSB 
TR                                                  208+-
05/06/2025 23:05 WZ1V            FN31RH  59       59       SSB 
TR                                                  266
05/06/2025 23:08 WA3NUF          FN2ØKE  56       56       SSB 
TR                                                  496
05/06/2025 23:12 N1JEZ           FN44AR  56                SSB 
TR                                                  168
05/06/2025 23:13 K1PXE           FN31    57       57       SSB 
TR                                                  265+-
05/06/2025 23:17 W1AIM           FN34    57       55       SSB 
TR                                                  203+-
05/06/2025 23:20 KI2L            FN32    57                SSB 
TR                                                  190+-
05/06/2025 23:22 W1AUV           FN32II  559      559      CW 
TR                                                  223
05/06/2025 23:33 N1AV            DM43FF  -15      -14      Q65 
EME                                                3675
05/06/2025 23:33 K1BX            FN43EB  59       59       SSB 
TR                                                   65
05/06/2025 23:42 W9KXI           FN12NE  52                SSB TR  rain 
static                                     501
05/06/2025 23:49 VE2XX           FN25WK  559      559      CW 
TR                                                  339
05/07/2025 00:05 N1AV            DM43FF  -13      -23      Q65 
EME                                                3675
05/07/2025 00:20 K3SK            FMØ7TJ  -18      -24      Q65 
EME                                                 915
05/07/2025 00:37 N1SV            FN42EP  +7       -01      FT8 
TR                                                   99
05/07/2025 00:39 WA4YA           FN42KJ  -10      -12      FT8 
TR                                                  112
05/07/2025 00:50 NØAKC           EN44    -15      -27      Q65 
EME                                                1601+-
05/07/2025 01:26 PJ4MM           FK52VE  -17      -14      Q65 
EME                                                3479
05/07/2025 01:30 WA3EOQ          FMØ9JO  329               CW TR  very 
weak heavy rain on both ends of the path.  805
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 20

The EME action netted four stations. I worked N1AV twice. There were 20 
initial contacts worked.  The EME signals were all pretty good with 
received signals in the -negative teens.  It is not every day when you 
can work Bonaire on 222 Activity night, but Martin showed up with his 
new antenna array. It is two long yagis horizontally polarized. He is 
already talking about cross polarization mods. He is quite loud now on 
222.  I wish I could say the same for WA3EOQ. We barely worked on an 800 
km tropo path. He had heavy rain at his end. I had moderate rain and a 
hint of rain static on my end.  Conditions were BAD!  Really, I picked 
up the rhythm of his 73 on CW before I could copy it. Howard said I was 
fading totally into the noise at times with 12 dB more power on this 
end. I barely heard him this evening. It was a difficult contact.

I was glad that the rain static subsided after 30 to 45minutes. The 
preamp survived as I switched it out of the line to protect the input 
gate. I never got a chance to try some meteor scatter. It has been 
awhile since I have been successful there, but things are getting better 
as we move into the warmer months. That's all for now. Thanks to all who 
got on and slogged it out.  I hope to see many at the upcoming VHF 
Conference in CT.

73

Dave K1WHS