Hello VHFers
I tried to spend an enjoyable afternoon on Tuesday down at the local
mall. I checked out all the latest fads. It was exciting to watch
people glued to their phones while walking around in a trance. I must
admit it got boring after awhile. I tried a few things to keep busy. I
tried people watching, singing for loose change, and sniffing glue, but
it was no use. I mean how much fun can it be at a mall anyway? I was
up at the shack at about 5:30PM so I could install my repaired VHF band
decoder. I needed a lot of time as there were so many cables that needed
to be dealt with. I got everything installed and lo and behold it
actually worked again. I had some time left over so tried some FT8 on
10 M and worked a whole pile of JA stations while running just 50 watts.
My ten meter setup is somewhat hosed as my three stack of five element
yagis is broken and I could use only the top yagi. I am waiting for
warm wx so I can climb up there and figure out what went wrong. The
single yagi works pretty well even with the almost QRP level of 50 w. I
listened on the low end of ten for CW but fond none. I quit the ten
meter stuff at 23:40 UT and started operating on 222 in the other
building. I don't have the log in front of me, but am going from memory.
N1JEZ was in there trying with WA1RKS and I made a few early contacts
and figured that things were not too bad. N2JQR had a good signal. QSB
was very evident however. Wide swings in signal strength was the norm.
I tried with WA3SSG and it took awhile, but I caught a QSB peak and he
came up enough to copy on SSB. I wish those SSB ops would try CW even
at 5 or 7 wpm. It isn't that hard to get familiar with your call and
maybe a grid square and RRR to make a QSO. There is about a 10 dB
advantage with CW over SSB with trained ears. Anyway, it was great to
work WA3SSG. Later on I managed a SSB QSO with AA2SD on SSB in FM29.
WB2RVX and KA3FQS made it into my log. WA3NUF had a good signal as
usual. N2SLO had wide QSB swings from Long Island. Distance is maybe
210miles and the QSB was huge. His signal on SSB went from loud to
rather difficult to copy in the space of 30 seconds or so. Good Buddy
Ron, WZ1V was all over the place it seemed.
My attempt with WA3EOQ was early in the evening and I called Howard, and
was rewarded with a Q4 answer on CW. I copied the entire sequence, maybe
missed a few letters, but it was surprisingly steady. The next sequence
was the same. I copied a bunch of RRs and 73s. I am always amazed at how
well WA3EOQ comes through up here on CW. My beam heading is not the
greatest as I am pointing at some high ground, but I think the horizon
angle is not too bad, as I am scooting just north of some 1400 ft hills.
My antenna is at 970 ft. The amount of QSB seems related to path
distance. There is only slight variation in the signal levels over a 500
mile path.
I ended up with 25 stations worked and I was getting tired at 02:30 UT.
Hey it was a tough day down at the mall sniffing glue, so give me a
break! I asked K9MRI if he wanted to try some meteors. We started and
had a completed QSO within about 6 or 8 minutes. That surprised me as
February is normally the pits for meteors. That made QSO #26. I am not
sure if there is a prize. I doubt it, but it was fun seeing the level of
activity. Some folks were missing. N1SV had an excused absence. It was
his wedding anniversary. I seem to have missed K1TEO but he was on and
worked WZ1V. I tried a MS attempt with AJ6T near Nashville, In ten
minutes of trying, Walt heard nil, but he is farther away than K9MRI.
The MS returns thin out with distance it seems. VE3KG was on but no
luck hearing VE3FN or the Toronto boys. All in all it was a great night
with no lousy weather. Even K1PXE was surprised as he had no rain or
precip either!! Thanks to all who get on from the more remote areas.
N1GC, W5EME, AA9MY K8TQK KC4AAW, W4GA etc.
CU next time.
Dave K1WHS
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