Hello VHFers,
It was a very interesting night on 222 MHz. The conditions did not seem
very good. A weather front was passing through New England and some rain
was falling in the Western and Central parts, while the rain held off
until just before midnight here in Mumbo Jumbo Land. Even with the poor
weather situation, some neat contacts were made. Activity has dropped
off these last few weeks, but there was no loss of enthusiasm. Before
the action started, I was monitoring the W3CCX beacon and saw some
rather large QSB swings. The good news was that the peaks were a bit
above normal .
I worked the same stations that Good Buddy Ron WZ1V worked with the
exception of WA3DRC at over 400 miles. Somehow I missed him way down
there in Maryland and FM28. I did also work WW1Z in FN42 along with
K2AEP in FN32 for a total of 22 stations on 222. (That is a lot of
twos!) WC2K was very loud up here at 59. I did make some noise in the
direction on KC2KAE in hopes that he might hear me on his Quansheng HT.
At 229 miles, I figured it would be hopeless for me to hear him. I did
not ever hear him call me, but he did say that he heard me on his HT
several times. I am amazed at technology today. How can a dual band HT
that costs under $30 have fantastic frequency accuracy and sensitivity
that can produce such results? WZ1V came close to making a contact with him
My contact with WA3EOQ at just over 500 miles was a squeaker. WZ1V
worked Howard, and I tried to tail end the contact. Howard was so weak
that I could not tell that he was even there during the first sequence.
I located him on my second rx period and we eventually exchanged grids.
At only one time could I see a good blip on the K3 panadaptor. He was
right down in the noise. Still, with 90 watts or so to make the 502 mile
path is incredible. W1XR is over 400 miles and he was not as strong as
on many other evenings. I believe that conditions were generally
accepted at being rather poor. The computer in the shack updated
itself to WIN 11 (against my wishes) but how do you say NO to Bill
Gates? The update caused my COM ports to get all messed up and I could
not run WSJT along with my logging program. So late in the evening, I
turned off the logging program and ran WSJTX and looked for N8LRG in
EN80. I started a CQ on FT8 and he was able to decode me in Ohio. I did
not decode him, but I did see some suspicious looking markings on the
waterfall. We went to Q65B-30 and he decoded ma a few times there also,
but I could not decode him. At times I would see sparkles for a small
portion of the 30 second period. Not enough time to decode those rapid
QSB peaks. It was frustrating, but I just could not hear N8LRG. He was
running 125 watts, so that was my problem. As Jay Liebmann, K5JL used
to say "Not enough goo!" N8LRG is planning on more power sooner rather
than later. When we quit it was well after 9 PM here, so I headed home
to get my much needed beauty rest.The path to N8LRG is fairly complex,
running over Mt Greylock and the Berkshires then over the highest part
of the Catskills and along the Northern end of the Appalachains. The
path length is 615 miles. It is nowhere near Lake Ontario or Erie.
Speaking of Lake Erie and Ontario, I was surprised that there was no
activity from our VE friends around Toronto and Montreal .Western NY was
missing as well. W2BYP was the only station on. I guess W9KXI can count
for "sorta" Westen New York. Al W9KXI is always there on Tuesdays.
K1PXE noted and privately commented on the progress with turning Mt.
Moosilaukee into a tourist site with a sculptured visage of K1PXE. He
has provided a new photo of himself that was not taken at the Summer
company outing. It shows Peter Motyl standing next to his manager and
receiving a certificate of appreciation for all of his exemplary work.
As you may recall, I have already fashioned Pete's nose and nostrils
down near the base of the mountain that is a result of the first picture
of K1PXE doubled over a hand rail on the stairway at Seaside Park in
Sunny downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut. Now his nose has to be up at
about the 4100 ft level on the mountain. I am really not sure how to
solve this mess. Possibly I can turn his nose (at 1625 ft) into some
sort of a household pet for Pete. The only problem is that what I have
sculpted so far looks more like a rabid wolverine. Not to worry! I'll
figure it out. Maybe I can have K1PXE standing there with his pet
Wombat. They look a little like a wolverine if they keep their mouth shut.
Thanks to all who got on and made another great night on 222 MHz.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 10/29/2024 10:39 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
Had a good trial run on 222 after repairing my Larcan SSPA:
K1WHS FN43, W1GHZ FN34, KA1OJ FN42, WB2VVV FN41,
N1SV FN42, W9KXI FN12, K1PXE FN31, WA2LTM FN20,
WA3NUF FN20, W1XR FM19, WA1PBU FN42, K2RMX FN20,
WC2K FM29, WA1MBA FN51, WA3EOQ FM09, K1FSY FN31,
AA2SD FM29, WA1RKS FN32, KC2SGV FM29, W1AIM FN34,
W1AIM FN34, WA3DRC FM28, and an almost Quansheng contact
with KC2KAE/QRP FN20. Frank was in the noise but it was close.
What I learned from all this is that these protection circuits work
great for load faults, but do nothing for internal circuit failures
like a chip cap going up in smoke in the Drain RF circuit.
Also one of the FETs proved to be a much faster acting
fuse than those glass fuses Larcan uses to protect them.
But not fast enough to stop the board from getting charred.
Now I know why there's so many failed MOSFET and LDMOS
amps being sent back for repairs. Why not spend a bit more
on lower ESR caps, because that would hurt their repair business.
73 and TNX Ron WZ1V
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