Well the 432 rotor story does have to do with Wednesday night activity
on 432.....About 8PM local the guys gather on 432.100 and then at *:30
the fun starts at 432.150 with K1PXE and the guys. Hope to hear a bid
signal from Maine and wherever anyone else is from on Wednesday.
73
Fred
N1DPM
On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 10:44 AM David Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net> wrote:
>
> For an old geezer, I am pretty proud of myself. I actually swapped out a
> HAM-M rotator and cabling on the 432 tower all by myself and now have a
> shiny new Prosistel rotator up there to turn my never used array of 4 X
> 15 element 432 yagis. I lugged the rotor up on my climbing belt along
> with a cordless drill to fashion a few new mounting holes up there.
> These antennas were supposed to be the solution to the narrow beamwidth
> main contest antenna, but it was never hooked up to be fully
> operational. I think it went up in 2015, and around that time, our small
> contest group disbanded and then I got sick shortly afterwards.
>
> The idea was to have a 432 yagi that was high gain (so people could hear
> me) but have a wider beamwidth than the 11 degrees available on the 4 X
> 25 el H frame array. The smaller yagis are stacked vertically and four
> high and provide a 30 degree beamwidth, so it is much easier to aim and
> will still provide some decent gain. It is all working now and my next
> trick is to get my band switching system finished so I can run multiple
> bands from one radio. That project is almost done.
>
> What has this to do with 222 Night?..... Absolutely nothing! It does
> indicate that I am fired up about getting the VHF bands running again.
> I have the 222 MHz system running about as well as possible. I did
> manage to repair my motor driven coax switch and it is happily clunking
> away when it selects any of three (soon to be four) 222 antenna systems.
> I have 2 X 16 element yagis that I am hoping to put up on a side mount.
> All this for the biggest orphan band in the ham radio spectrum. No off
> shore manufacturers make any 222 gear, so, unless you have an FT736 with
> a 220 module, or an ICOM IC-375, you must roll your own, or buy a
> transverter from an American manufacturer. I note that Elecraft does
> not make any transverters anymore and from the sound of things, are not
> planning anything in the future. Q5 Signal makes a nifty unit. I just
> got one and it works like a dream with my K3 exciter.
>
> So why should you get on 222 MHz? That is a good question. The coverage
> is about the same as 144 MHz and the antennas are smaller. If you put
> up a really good antenna, don't be surprised to work stuff that you
> can't work on 144 under marginal conditions. Being a higher frequency,
> the sky noise is noticeably down and all the switching power supplies
> and cruddy routers don't put out as much garbage on 222 as they do on
> 144, so it is a double-whammy in your favor! 222 is very quiet by
> comparison!
>
> I ran into K1DS at the New England Hamfest this past Saturday and we had
> a great visit and he recounted his 222 antenna situation to me. This
> year he is spending the warm months near Philly and has a 1st floor
> condo with a tiny balcony. He puts his wooden boom WA5VJB coat hanger
> wire yagi on the balcony and aims it NE and talks to all the gang on
> Tuesday nights. This past Tuesday, I called CQ and who calls back on
> SSB, but K1DS from his ground floor condo on SSB with 25 watts. Blue
> Bell, PA, where K1DS is staying is about 500 km or 316 miles from me, so
> think about that....a 3 element wood boom yagi about ten ft off the
> ground and 25 watts for a 300 mile plus QSO on VHF! I know a guy,
> locally who can't get into the next town on 2M packet radio!! I should
> tell him to use a wood boom yagi sticking out his ground floor
> window!!! I also saw N1GJ at the hamfest. He gets on for the Tuesday
> nights from FN41 on Cape Cod. George just had his 89th birthday and
> still does a little climbing! Way to go George!
>
> So activity starts up after supper, about 2300 UT or 7PM local time and
> there are many people who are looking for contacts all over the eastern
> USA and even points west. Last week I worked W4ZST in Georgia using
> meteor scatter during the Tuesday night activity period. We set things
> up using the ON4KST (144/432 Region 2) Chat page. It took about 18
> minutes to complete. Meteors also work on 222 as does aurora, when ever
> the Sun decides to produce one.
>
> So , to get in on the fun, I would recommend scouring the flea markets,
> E Bay, and used gear sites and score a 222 rig of some kind. You can
> buy or build your own transverter too. Put up a small beam and get in
> on the fun. On Tuesday nights, it sounds like ham radio in the good old
> days on 222.100 here in the northeast. There is building activity in
> Ohio, to Illinois, and some more activity down IN Tennessee, NC, GA, and
> Florida too.
>
> C U on 222.100 on Tuesday.
>
> Dave K1WHS
>
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