It sure was great to sit and watch the skeds being attempted on the
ON4KST Chat page last night. It looks like activity was quite high in
many areas of the country. WA3EOQ was working some folks in the midwest.
The band was very busy last night! I noted an increase in activity here
in northern New England too, and ended up with thirty contacts, of which
all but three were made on CW or SSB. I do not have the log in front of
me so have to go on my memory, but stations worked include N1JEZ FN44,
K1MAP FN32, KA3FQS FN20, WA1PBU FN42, WW1Z FN42, WA3EOQ FM09, WB2VVV
FN41, WZ1V FN31, K1PXE FN31, W1AIM FN34, W1GHZ FN34, VE2XX FN25, WA2LTM
FN20, WA3NUF FN20, WA3DRC FM28, AA2SD FM29, WA1RKS FN32, WB2SIH FN31,
VE3KG FN24, KA3FQS FN20, WA4YA FN42, K9MRI EN70, K1ZK FN34, K1FSY FN31,
N1ROZ FN32, KC1V FN31, N3RG FM29, WB2RVX FM29, K2AEP FN32, and KA1OJ in
FN32. WA4YA and WA3DRC were on FT8. AJ6T and K9MRI were on MSK144. I
also heard WA4YA and K1ZK trying on Q65B. Not sure if they made it, but
WA4YA was hearing K1ZK when I stopped listening.
I had a semi difficult time with Howard WA3EOQ at 502 miles. His signal
was weaker than I have heard during the winter. One or two listening
periods were devoid of any signal. His CW hovered at just barely
copyable at best. Still, I am always amazed that a 100 watt signal can
make the 502 mile path at all on 222 MHz. I know that Howard can tun
his beam and easily work the likes of AA9MY and K9MRI as well. He sure
has his station percolating well. It makes me think that I need to
repair a few more bent elements on this end!!
I tried running an MSK144 sked with AJ6T near Nashville, TN, and heard
one ping from Walt that had so much doppler that it would not decode. He
was concerned about his frequency accuracy but then he got a good burst
from me and determined that he was spot on. We were within 50 Hz or so.
I could not get another RRR decode in the few minutes that we tried, but
I am encouraged that we can make a contact. Distance is 991 miles. I
then tried with K9MRI, who is closer at about 750 miles and we completed
in a few minutes for my QSO #30 for the night. It is not every day that
you can work thirty people on 222 MHz, so the activity level was way up
for sure last night. Some stations within normal range were missing for
the night. Guys like K1TEO, W9KXI, WA1T, N1GLT, W2BPY, N2JMH, VE3DS,
VE3FN, WA1MBA, N1SV and WA1NLG were all absent. I am sure they had good
reasons and a note from their Moms. Will we start seeing nights when
contact totals approach forty? I sure hope so. So keep talking up
Tuesday nights in your area. Good activity can spread and all it takes
is a little missionary work by all of us to make it happen.
My efforts to find a suitable recipient for a self contained 500 watt
222 MHz station in New Brunswick, PEI, or Nova Scotia have met with
failure so far. I am imploring VE1 ops to scour the hills and find a
suitable ham who will pick up the gauntlet and install the gear for some
Tuesday night activity. What you get is a complete transverter and 500
watt solid state amplifier similar to what WZ1V, VE3KG, and W3CMP have.
I know GB Ron has his running and it works pretty well. I am building
up the GPS synthesized LO and transverter and W9KXI has offered to
supply an antenna. The 500 watt amp is a modified Larcan driver with two
MRF151G FETs and it is fitted out with LP filters and protection
circuits. I found a decent 50 volt power supply that will provide 25
amps so the whole station only needs a feedline and a 28 MHz exciter
that can provide 1 milliwatt of drive. I will even drive to the
Canadian border to deliver it. We really need more stations Northeast
of my location. I was the only Maine station on last night. I never even
turned my antenna Eastwards! Only KV1J, N1BUG and K1DY are QRV from
Maine now on 222 and there is no VE1 activity at all! It did not used to
be like that. There was fair 144 thru 432 activity in the past. I could
easily work stations out in FN95 and in PEI when I turned my beam. Now
all the gears on that half of my rotator are clean and have no wear at
all!! There is no one there!! Pretty sad, so we need to do something
about it. A big Thanks you to W9KXI and all who are helping to increase
activity by supplying extra hardware where needed.
73
Dave K1WHS
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|