[VHFcontesting] [222Activity] 222 MHz Activity night

[Dave Olean]

Hello Russ

  Ice storms are the worst. Any of the VHF yagis that we commonly use 
that have braces are generally destroyed in big ice storms. Here in 
Maine, I generally see about four or five icing events each winter. Most 
involve  ice thicknesses of 1/8 to 1/4 inch and do not do much damage. 
It looks like you had a doozy! I hope all the VHFers in the south fared 
as well as you did, but one inch of ice is not good. Falling limbs and 
such can do all sorts of damage.  My worst storm was in 1998 with 
another in 2002 or so. Both were catastrophes. I measured 4 1/4"  of ice 
in 1998. I lost most of my antennas.  The storm in 2002 took out the 
multi-multi HF contest station of KC1XX.

I hope W5EME and W5ZN and all the other guys survived without too much 
damage.  I cringed when I saw the news about the storm.  We got  a foot 
and a half of fluffy snow. Good luck with the recovery.

73

  Dave K1WHS



On 1/28/2026 8:03 PM, Russell Kendrick via groups.io wrote:
> This is what my back yard looked like Sunday afternoon 24hours after 
> the first trees started to fall.
> You hear a lot about MS and TN in the news but we
> got our share right along with them. We got a little over an inch. I 
> don't think we could have handled anymore.
> My antennas survived and look normal now that the ice melted. We never 
> lost power but thousands of people
> around us and especially to our west still don't have it as of Wednesday.
>
> I was able to attend a press conference yesterday that the Gov. of LA 
> has holding at our EOC.
> He had been surveying the damage from the air in a national guard 
> Blackhawk. He talked about the miles of trucks
> stalled on I20 and all the other stuff. What I found interesting is 
> that he described a clear line or band of ice
> that started around Jonesboro, LA and slowly arced NE. He described it 
> as a very clear line. I guess everything below
> the line was rain and everything above was sleet. We just happened to 
> be right in the middle.
>
> 73'
> K5RUS
> EM32vm
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* 222Activity at groups.io <222Activity at groups.io> on behalf of 
> David Olean via groups.io <k1whs=metrocast.net at groups.io>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 27, 2026 1:27 PM
> *To:* 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:* [222Activity] 222 MHz Activity night
> The storm of the century turned out to be just another snow storm for us
> in Northern New England. I measured about16.5 to 16.75 inches of snow
> here. That is enough to seal off access to the VHF ham shack here, so I
> am only able to operate by snow shoeing up the hill.  With such deep
> snow I doubt that I can make the trek up there.   I saw that heavy icing
> was all over the south including Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and
> other states. I hope many of our 222 friends in those areas made out OK.
> I get scared everytime I hear that icing is possible. Things start
> breaking when the coating goes up past 3/4". Our worst event here was in
> 1998, when we had 4 1/4' of ice. Almost nothing survived. Many towers
> collapsed under the weight.
>
> Don't forget to check in to the 222 band this evening and make some
> noise around the 222.100 calling frequency.  See who you can work!  Use
> the ON4KST chat page and let people know that you are active.
>
> I have been reading up on auroras and the mechanics of making contacts.
> The more I read, the more I am getting confused.  I think that I need to
> discuss things with someone who is well versed in auroras.  If anyone
> has any contacts, please let me know. In the meantime, I am looking
> through various scientific papers. I am planning a trip to the local
> university in hopes of finding papers that I can read without shelling
> out $40.00 a pop via the internet!
>
> 73
>
> Dave K1WHS
>
>
>
>
>
>
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