Hey Paul & Everyone !
Paul, Sorry to hear about Dave, W5UN. I had no idea he had passed. He
was one of the 3 or 4 we worked on 2m EME from Sable in 1996 (CY0AA).
and I worked him once/twice from my home as well. (CW of course--no
digi!)_
Your experience mirrors my own, more or less. I think you have way more
gusto building antennas, amps and all that sort of thing, that's for
dang certain. I remember drooling over pix of your quad arrays back in
the day and did eventually manage some 2 and even 4 bay 2m arrays
partially homebrew....but those quads. MAN!
I recall much excitement working you from our FN77 Miscou Island trip on
AU back what seems like 100 years ago (probably more like 40 or 45 yrs
ago). To us up there in a mosquito infested tent, back then...that was
pure joy!
Anyways, I won't wax too sentimental except to say it was a great ride
and I am always looking for ways, such as yourself to put excitement
back into my VHFing, which has pretty much gone dormant the past 5-10
yrs. I don't (won't is a better word) do FT8, but might do 222
providing I could find some gear. Maybe you can shoot me a private
email and tell me about the MM xvtr.
Cheers everyone!
Hi Mike and all,
</pre>I have never seen 222 gear for sale at swap meets or the like here
either unless you count the very beat up, broken CushCraft yagi (11
elements?) I found at Hosstraders/Deerfield back in the late 1990s. I
rescued that poor thing from ending up at the scrap yard for $10 which
was probably more than I should have paid but after replacing several
elements that were snapped in half I had a lot of QSOs with it.
Admittedly I haven't been to any in a few years but used to go to most
of them. I did find a Microwave Modules transverter on Craigslist New
Hampshire in 2016 or 2017 and managed to find a way to obtain it with
lots of help from the VHF community. It is now for sale, but I suspect
shipping to Canada would cost enough to make it pretty uninteresting.
</pre>Activity here in Maine is down for the same reasons. Some have
gone silent key, some have given up as QSOs have become harder and
fewer. I'm trying to avoid joining either group for a while longer!
</pre>Sadly I am getting more and more discouraged with VHF. I want to
love it like I used to but the relationship has faded.
</pre>I am still struggling with chronic fatigue (more like chronic
exhaustion) and have not managed to be on for a single 222 Activity
Night in many months. I tried extra hard for the 222 Sprint but it was a
no go.
</pre>VHF contests are a real slog here now. If I run for 24 hours the 2
meter QSO rate runs around one per hour. I imagine that's probably more
than the VE1/VE9 guys got back in the VHF heyday. If so I don't know
what kept you guys interested! I have a much more capable station now
than I did back when 70 to 100 QSOs was the norm. Obviously 222 and 432
QSOs are fewer in number.
</pre>Bill seems to do well from FN54 but I think superior QTH plays a
big role in that. Being 50 miles closer to most of the stations probably
doesn't hurt either.
</pre>I don't want to give up, but I don't know how to put the fun back
in it. Back in the day there was EME to take up the slack and keep the
spiders blown out of the HV (literally! Yikes!) but now there's not that
and stuff just gathers dust. The bald eagles enjoy sitting on the 2m
antenna as it is the highest lookout spot around by some 30 feet and
they have a nest nearby.
</pre>I am reminded of something Dave, W5UN (SK) told me when I tried
returning to 2 meter EME in the early 2000s. He said the bloom came off
the rose some years before that in terms of activity. I would say the
same of VHF terrestrial activity now, at least in terms of what can be
worked from here.
Sorry about the long winded commentary.
73,
Paul N1BUG
</pre>
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