Hello Good Buddy Ron,
That is a nice report. FB on working K3SK again on FT8. That is a good
haul! I am still hoping for a contact with Dave K3SK, but it sure did
not happen last night for me. I strapped on my snow shoes, got the ski
poles, and trudged up the hill at 23:00UT. I started the generator but
was surprised that it quit after about 1 minute of operation. That was a
bad sign. I waited a minute or two and then tried again. After 30
seconds, the engine starter engaged and it started up a second time.
This time it stayed on. I Suspect some sort of over speed event. After
about 15 minutes of steady operation, I figured I was OK, so I started
up the KW amp. The AC power was good for the rest if the night, but I
have another project now, checking the engine during daylight for any
inconsistencies.
The evening started off normally with no precipitation, and conditions
seemed OK. Howard, WA3EOQ at 500+ miles was better copy this week than
last. We finished our contact rather quickly. I heard him on the first
transmission, but it took me most of his calling period to get him
centered in my narrow passband. He was actually Q5 when he was sending
73s. But then Mother Nature intervened. After about an hour, I noted
the static noise started around 0100 and background noise rose about 2 S
units. I went outside, but did not even detect any precipitation. After
about 10 minutes, the noise abated and I could work some more stations.
It was not too much later when I saw snow start to fall. Sure enough,
the noise started up again. I switched to the lower LVA yagis and the
noise was better on that antenna. At the same time, I was trying to use
my 4 yagis for EME. I could not hear any echoes. Nor could I hear K3SK
who was transmitting on 222.075 using Q65B. K3SK was hearing his own
signal and could see a big yellow Moon on his horizon. I had thick
clouds, snow, sleet and freezing rain! The snow static was quite
frustrating. I was hoping that the noise might abate. I kept going out
the door of the shack to check on what was happening. As it got closer
to 0200 UT the snow had turned to sleet and then rain with rather large
droplets. With a temperature of 24F, the rain was freezing on contact.
My ski poles soon were encased in ice, and I made the decision to
abandon ship and head home before it got worse. By this time the noise
was constant and about 2 to 3 S units. I made a comment on the HB9Q
Chat page I had to leave and then started packing up and disconnecting
the laptop etc. It was a very frustrating evening.
That last bout of snow and rain static started up right about when I was
trying to work KO4YC. Cornell is about 520 miles away and it is a
stretch to work him. I think I did hear him, but there were others in
there calling him at that time. VE3DS, K1PXE, N3RG and others were all
in there, and then the static started up and wiped out all of those weak
signals. Around that time, I was also looking for K3SK on FT8 but with
no success. When I checked outside and saw the freezing rain, I knew it
was time to leave as the ground was covered in about 1/4" of sleet,
frozen rain droplets, and now freezing rain was falling and would freeze
on contact to make an awful surface to try to travel across. I spent
quite a bit of time trying to hear EME signals, so was surprised at the
number of terrestrial stations that I was able to work in the short time
available. Here is a list of stations worked from Mumbo Jumbo land on
Tuesday night.
WW1Z FN42
K1FSY FN31
WA1NLG FN41
WZ1V FN31
WA1MBA FN51
WA3NUF FN20
N1YCQ FN41
KE1LI FN41
WA3EOQ FM07
N1FZH FN32
K2AEP FN32
WA1RKS FN32
KV1J FN42
W1JR FN42
WA1PBU FN42
K1PXE FN31
N1DPM FN32
VE3DS FN03
W1FKF FN43
N3RG FM28
N1GLT FN42
W1AIM FN34
That is a total of 22 stations, and not bad for a terrible night in mid
winter. I need to check my Moon aiming calibration. With all of those
storms we have had in late December and early January, I was worrying
that my antenna may have slipped on the mast by a small amount. When I
tried last night, the echo program did not detect anything, and I could
not hear anyone. That is very very unusual. I know that the antenna is
working just fine, and azimuth calibration is not off by much if it has
been at all. Still, it was un-nerving to not detect anything via the EME
route at any time. Peter, KA6U, had not showed yet when I had to leave,
so I have no news at what transpired after 0200 UT. At 03:30UT, the
precip had stopped and the Moon was visible. All that bad wx came thru
at the exact worst time!!
A big thanks to all who were on last night and making noise. There was
plenty of activity outside of the NE. I was very happy to see it. AJ6T,
N1GC, W9BNN, K8TQK, W4ZST, K9MRI and many others were all on creating
activity. I know that I missed many.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 2/7/2023 9:26 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
Nice showing on 222 tonight. TNX QSOs:
K1FSY FN31, K1WHS FN43, WA3NUF FN20, WA1MBA FN51,
KV1J FN42, K2AEP FN32, WA3EOQ FM09, N1DPM FN32,
WA1NLG FN41, W1JR FN42, K1PXE FN31, N3RG FM29,
W1AIM FN34, VE3DS FN03, N1YCQ FN41, WA1PBU FN42,
KO4YC FM17, and K3SK FM07 on FT8. All others CW / SSB.
73 Ron WZ1V FN31RH
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