Hello VHFers,
Things were a bit different in the northeast last night. Everybody was
all tired out from all the tropo activity the past few days. That is a
good thing as we have not been blessed with many days of good tropo.
The 144 band was very active Monday night with the Fall Sprint coupled
with good conditions. Reports I heard indicated that the best paths were
to the NE into the Maritime Canadian provinces, but I know that the good
conditions extended down at least into Virginia. Tuesday morning was
very good as well, and the 144 band was hopping then as well. I was
making noise on 222 and 432 but activity was sparse. The bit of local
lift allowed me to hear K3CX/b again from Philadelphia. It was about S4
here in Maine. I did not work anything out of the ordinary, but it was
great to work a few stations on 432 and get to test out my cavity filter
mod. The new filter on 432 has tamed the receiver and I can now hear
weak signals again.
Here is my list of 222 MHz stations worked during Activity Night.
Fourteen different stations is a pretty good number for the north woods.
WZ1V FN31
K2AEP FN33
W9KXI FN12
KA2LIM FN12
W2BVH FN20
W1AIM FN34
N1SV FN42
N2SLO FN30
W1XR FM19
W1JR FN42
K1PXE FN31
N1YCQ FN41
KO4YC FM17
W5AFY EM04
KO4YC had a great signal on SSB, peaking at a good 5X5 from FM17gv. He
claims that his good results to the northeast are due to the fact that
he has few trees in that direction. My advice to all is to cut down
every tree on your property so you can do as well as Cornell! He does
have the secret recipe! I did not encounter much FT8 activity last
night. I know N1SV was on FT8 and I went and listened for a bit, but had
to QRT for a sked at 01:25 UT with W5AFY in EM04. The evening started
out with beautiful weather, so I went outside to look at the moon low in
the East to verify my headings. When I opened the shack door, water was
dripping off all of the coax cables and I was in a heavy fog bank!
Visibility was about 100 ft. I had trouble even seeing the 222 antenna!
So I turned the antenna to where I thought the Moon should be and
crossed my fingers. The moon rose in Texas at 01:25 UT. I called from
01:25 to 01:26 and stood by. In a few seconds I started to hear tones in
my headphones. It was W5AFY blasting in right at his Moon rise!I copied
every sequence, but he was not detecting me. After about 15 minutes, he
copied me and we completed! That makes a new mode for me on activity
night. Contacts have now been made on CW, SSB, MSK144, FSK441, FT8 and
now JT65 off the Moon. W5AFY is running a single 7wl long yagi as a
tropo antenna, but it works very well for EME too! Really, his single
yagi signal was audible in my headphones.
Next Tuesday is the Fall 222 Sprint. It will run from 2300 UT until
0300UT. Circle your calendar for Tuesday so you do not forget.
73
Dave K1WHS
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|