I am sitting in a real fog bank, with visibility around 250 ft. It is
overcast and wet. So it must be time for the fabulous 222 Activity
Night this evening. I trust other parts of the country are having
better weather. So take your cue and march into the ham shack after
dinner and fire up the 222 gear and try to work someone on the band.
Here in the Northeast and Golden Corridor, there is a goodly amount of
activity. A slow night would be 10 QSOs for the big guys, while a good
night is closer to 20 QSOs. Good Buddy Ron, WZ1V posts his tallies each
week and it is a good resource for gauging activity levels. In other
parts of the country things might be a bit less active, but I have seen
some big numbers from K9MRI in Indiana. AA9MY, AJ6T, N1GC, W5EME, and
many others are usually in there making noise. This is a great
situation, and it might be a good exercise for those in the more
populous areas to try a sked or two with these folks who are beyond
their normal operating area. The ON4KST Chat Page is a great resource
for setting up such skeds. (144/432 Region 2 Chat)
Last week, I had a radio club presentation on Tuesday evening and had to
QRT around 23:30 UT. I worked a number of 222 MHz stations early on
including WA3EOQ for my 500 mile QSO of the day. The generator was
acting up with constant speed oscillation. The room lights were
pulsating to the funky 1 Hz beat. I am not sure how all the 222 gear
likes that ugly voltage swing, but thank God for three terminal
regulators!! The next two days I spent working over the generator. I
turned it on Wednesday and it was working fine, but later on, another
try was met with the oscillation again, and I swapped out the entire
encapsulated speed regulator with a new one. The oscillations were
immediately gone, and I tested the setup many times with a start up and
shut down. Each attempt was met with stable performance. On Monday
morning, I ran it for several hours and powered up my 28 MHz linear amp
along with electric baseboard heating and all worked just fine for the
entire time. Ten meters was hopping! So I am all fired up to try it
tonight on 222 Night. I am hoping that the AC power is stable and
conditions on the band are not too bad!!
But, than, there is never a bad night on 222 Tuesdays as it is so much
fun to tune around and look for signals, meet old friends, and try
something new to test out your gear. I like to say hi to old friends
and also to look for transient propagation conditions. We did not get
much tropo this fall, but I am still optimistic. We might even get an
aurora. I can't wait for that too! So dust off your microphone, and
polish up those code key contacts. 222Activity Night is calling you! Be
there or be square.
73
Dave K1WHS
ps. A number of people have told me that I am always in a fog bank.
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