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
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