Hello 222 ops.
Tuesday night is coming up fast and that means it is time to get on222
MHz and experience real contacts with real people. Just imagine
turning on the power switch of your VHF UHF station and hearing other
stations calling CQ and actually trying to make contacts! Yes I know, it
is a novel approach, but in the "olden days" people used to get on the
VHF and UHF bands and do just that! That was before 24 hour television
news, 23 bazillion TV channels, Smartphones, streaming videos, pub
crawling,and the Dodgers being in Los Angeles!
Activity on 222 is a tad sparse in a few areas of the country, but the
solution for those areas is to get on and make noise even if you have to
call up your buddy in the next grid to get on to make a contact. Actual
time is after dinner. Here on the East Coast it all is usually swinging
after about 2300 UT. There is considerable activity building in the mid
west and they tend to appear a bit later and stay on well after the East
Coasters have all called it a night after about 01:30 UT. It all depends
on conditions and activity of course. N0URW worked a pile of station
last week from Iowa, and K9MRI was cleaning up as well. Many other
stations were in there as well. N6ZE is lamenting a lack of activity
around California. He gets on anyway and makes noise and works a few
stations, but it must be a labor of love for the results he gets. I
hope things turn around there. The Pacific NW has some fair activity as
does the SE part of the US, but activity could be better in every corner
of the USA. For my part, I get on starting at a bit B4 23:00 UT and
start CQing on 222.100. I monitor the ON4KST Chat page and am always
looking for skeds over paths beyond what I can normally work.
Last week was the 222 MHz Sprint and I had a blast here in the first few
minutes after 23:00 UT. The Moon was just setting and I nabbed a few EME
contacts to pick up two grids not normally worked from Maine, EM84, and
BL10. NH6Y is in BL10 and he entered the Sprint with two contacts from
Maui. Now there is a 222 Sprint first!! Activity was pretty good here,
but was better five to seven years ago, so we need more activity to take
up the slack!
My generator was limping along pretty well in the Sprint . It suffered
from intermittent speed variations that happened at a 1 Hz rate. The
speed control would hunt for a proper speed and. after awhile, would
settle down. (or not!) I had fixed the problem that kept it shutting
down, but was struggling with the speed problem. At first, I figured it
was a speed controller problem. Then it was possibly a fuel problem. I
had a diesel guy neighbor come look at it and his opinion was that my
fuel system was working just fine and that it must be a governor setup
problem. I removed everything and set it up again with the actuator
resting position at fuel stop. I also rigged up a nifty test box with
test probe receptacles so I can easily plug in a VOM to monitor all
important governor voltages. I found that my actuator current was way
too high. The manual calls for 1 amp at no load, and I was seeing 5 or 6
amps. So I re rigged the linkages to have the actuator work on a
different part of its curve. The voltage dropped to just under 2 volts
with no load after considerable tweaking. 2 volts is an optimum point
at zero load. That represents about 1 amp current draw in the actuator.
As soon as I reduced the actuator current, things got much better. The
instability is gone and the engine purrs along nicely. I had cranked
down the RPMs while testing, so my last effort was to set the speed back
up for 60 Hz. A trimpot on the controller will set the speed. It is now
at 60.2 Hz. I was very excited and celebrated by listening on ten
meters only to find high VSWR and poor pattern on the yagis. WHAT? It
never ends at Dave's station. I will be back with my handy dandy
antenna tester and climb the ten meter tower to see what is wrong up
there. BUT tomorrow night is reserved for 222 Night. I can't wait to
see how the speed regulation is. Circle the date! Tuesday night 23:00
UT, 222.100 MHz. Spread out if things get busy!! CU there. Maybe
we'll have an aurora?
Dave K1WHS
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