Hi VHF folks who have 222 gear,
Yes it is Tuesday and that means unbridled excitement this evening on
your favorite VHF band. I looked at the weather and the entire country
is basking in good weather except for our good friends around Chicago
and Indiana. There is a strong line of storms there that look quite
menacing. The rest of the country is quiet. This past few days have
been wild in New England with T storms and Northern New England even had
tornado watches posted as the cold front moved through on Sunday. A few
funnel clouds were seen in New Hampshire along with golf ball sized
hail. I missed the bad stuff, but I had to make a detour from my camp
(where I was floating in water most of the day to keep cool.) When I
heard about some high wind warnings, I remembered that my partially
completed tower had about50 ft of unsupported tower poking skyward, so I
headed home and struggled to hook up some guy wires in case we had high
winds. I got the guy wires attached and we missed the storms, so all
was OK.
So for Tuesday night the plan is to get on 222.100 and then move off the
calling frequency as people start showing up. I will be QRV just before
23:00 UT looking for 222 contacts. EME action is not in the cards as
the Moon appears after about 0400 UT. EME conditions will be quite good
with little degradation though. My system is not firing on all cylinders
as my FB cavity preamp is still off line. It succumbed to rain static
and lightning a few Tuesdays back. The system now is getting hammered by
a local TV station so some beam headings are very noisy.
We all try to use ON4KST (144/432 Region 2) Chat page to set up distant
skeds. Meteors should be great now in June, so don't be shy in trying
new things. The more power available, the better the results, but even
100 watts will work on paths under 1000 miles. Many times things might
not fall into place, but you may also be blessed by a fantastic combo of
meteors and have a memorable contact! You only need to try!! Last week
KI was heard on tropo (CW) by K9FW in EN71 and a few weeks before, N1JEZ
ad a great CW QSO with K9FW.
Lets all make a concerted effort to get on this evening if even for a
short time. Remember to aim your antenna towards Good Buddy Ron WZ1V so
he gets lots of action.Maybe he will melt his PA again?
I am not sure, but K2LNS will be out testing his 2304 rig this evening
in FN11XD. I am hoping that he has the 222 gear as well, but we should
all look for Herb this evening and make his trip worthwhile! I am still
looking for W2KV on 222. I am also patiently waiting for Chris W3CMP in
FN10. He is setting up his 222 station as well.
Thanks to all who make an appearance on Tuesday nights. It does make for
a fun evening and we get to check out the conditions at the same time.
One of these nights we should get an aurora!
73
Dave K1WHS
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