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Re: [VHFcontesting] [222Activity] 222 Activity Night Summary

To: "'David Olean'" <k1whs@metrocast.net>, <222Activity@groups.io>, <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>, <NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] [222Activity] 222 Activity Night Summary
From: <k3sk@buckwalter.co>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2023 10:01:22 -0400
List-post: <mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Sent this once but to the wrong email address for the group ---  


It was a GREAT night here in south central Virginia (FM07) I worked 1-CW, 5 
SSB, 2 FT8, and 2 Q65 EME.    Finished with 10 contacts, 8 states and 9 Grids.  
As of tonight, K1WHS is no longer my only 222 EME contact.   Thanks W4ZST!   

Best of all, in the middle of trying to copy signals off the moon I played 
around with knobs and buttons finally have a lead on why I have had so much 
trouble decoding digital signals on 222.    Apparently, I have an audio issue 
between the rig and the computer.  It's either the Signallink, the cables or 
the rig itself.  But now I know where to look.

By the end of this week I should have all the piece parts for reconfiguring my 
antennas to hopefully improve things before the contest.   If I’m absent next 
Tuesday night, it didn’t go well.   

Dave Buckwalter
K3SK  FM07

de K3SK

-----Original Message-----
From: 222Activity@groups.io <222Activity@groups.io> On Behalf Of David Olean
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 9:17 AM
To: 222 >> 222Activity@groups.io <222Activity@groups.io>; 
vhfcontesting@contesting.com; NEWSVHF@mailman.qth.net
Subject: [222Activity] 222 Activity Night Summary

Hello 222 ops,

Well, the activity was very good, but no one managed to break any records as 
far as QSO numbers were concerned. I was hoping that Good Buddy Ron WZ1V or 
myself could break the 30 QSO barrier. When you think about it, 30 QSOs on a 
typical evening would be quite amazing and I was figuring that, with the June 
Contest approaching, we might have enough ops on the air to break that barrier. 
 unfortunately, the big numbers did not materialize. Not sure why.

I started off the evening a bit before 2300 UT.  I noted that there were many 
stations setting up skeds all across the Midwest and South. N1GC was very 
active along with K9MRI.  W5EME in Louisiana was on as well, but suffered a PA 
breakdown with a dead coax relay.  My first Q was the very energetic WZ1V, and 
he was S9 over a 165 mile path. WA1MBA was also very loud from rare FN51. 
Things seemed to be quite normal until I tried my weekly attempt with WA3EOQ at 
500 miles. I could not copy Howard at all in the first several sequences. I was 
having a problem with a weak birdie that made things difficult as I rocked the 
big knob. After about two minutes, he came up out of the noise and we 
completed, but the QSB on this very long path was greater than we normally 
experience.  W1XR at
406 miles was very good copy on SSB, but was not as loud as on many evenings.

I tried to make a contact with W5EME around 0000 UT using the EME route. 
That is when we discovered that his relay gave up the fight and quit. He was 
copying me OK, but I never heard him.  K3SK was listening as well. We both went 
back to horizon stations after about 30 minutes. I worked N1QG in Burlington VT 
and then had a 1st initial contact with K1ZK also in the Burlington area. He 
was all excited to be on 222 and experience the Tuesday night activity. He 
worked a fair number of stations including N1JEZ, W1AIM, and N1QG.  K1ZK also 
worked WZ1V for a great contact with his low power setup. ZK was using a 222 
yagi he got from N1QG. WA2LTM and WB2RVX showed up close to 9 PM EDST and both 
had
s7 or so signals over a 300 mile path. I tried a CW CQ on 222.110 and who 
should answer but WA3EOQ at just over 500 miles. That might be the first time 
we have worked that did not require a sked. His signal was Q5 at times and much 
better than our earlier attempt. Not bad for 100 watts!

I elevated the antenna after 0100 UT and immediately hooked up with W6TCP who 
is only 2600 miles away.  Ian was very loud at -17 and perfectly audible in my 
headphones. Other stations worked were K3SK who peaked at -18. W4ZST was very 
loud too. On one sequence the S/N ratio showed -13. On EME a signal that loud 
will roll your socks up and down. My contact with K3SK was #3 via EME.   W4ZST 
and K3SK a;so worked with good signals, and Dave K3SK was happy with the 
success for the evening. While all this was happening KO4YC was looking for me 
terrestrially. I answered him on the chat page about ten minutes later, but I 
guess Cornell had gone QRT.  I also looked for K1DY as 0200 UT approached, but 
he did not make an appearance and my evening ended at about 02:30.  Here is my 
log printed out below.  I ended up with 25 QSOs. It could have been at 30 
easily. Some missing stations were N2JMH, W9KXI, VE3KG, VE3DS, VE3FN, W2BYP, 
K2AEP, W1GHZ,  KC2KAE VE2XX.......the list goes on.

    DATE     TIME CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX       RX       BAND MODE 
PRO.REMARKS      QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05/30/2023 22:59 WZ1V                FN31RH  59       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                  165
05/30/2023 23:02 WA1MBA          FN51AS  59       59       220 MHzSSB TR        
               123
05/30/2023 23:03 K1FSY               FN31LN  57       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        165
05/30/2023 23:04 WB2VVV          FN41CR  57                220 MHzSSB TR        
                   123
05/30/2023 23:05 WA3NUF          FN20KE  57       57       220 MHzSSB TR        
                   308
05/30/2023 23:07 W1XR                FM19HX  57                220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        406
05/30/2023 23:11 N1JEZ               FN44AR  57       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        105
05/30/2023 23:16 WA1RKS          FN32IN  559      589      220 MHzCW TR         
                  131
05/30/2023 23:25 WA3EOQ          FM09JO  419               220 MHzCW TR         
                  500
05/30/2023 23:30 N2SLO               FN30MM  55       58-59    220 MHzSSB  TR  
100 watts    224
05/30/2023 23:31 K1TEO               FN20JQ  59       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        287
05/30/2023 23:36 N1GLT               FN42IW  59       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                         36
05/30/2023 23:38 N3RG                FM29KI  55       58       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        353
05/30/2023 23:47 K1PXE               FN31KE  58       58       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        188
05/30/2023 23:49 W2KMA           FN30    58                220 MHzSSB TR        
                       224+-
05/31/2023 00:17 N1QG                FN34JJ  58       59       220 MHzSSB  TR   
                        132
05/31/2023 00:20 W1AIM             FN34UJ  58       59       220 MHzSSB TR      
                      96
05/31/2023 00:24 K1ZK                  FN34JJ  57       55 220 MHzSSB TR  25w   
               132
05/31/2023 00:47 WB2RVX          FM29MT  57                220 MHzSSB TR        
                   322
05/31/2023 00:51 WA2LTM          FN20MM  57                220 MHzSSB TR        
                   286
05/31/2023 01:00 WA3EOQ          FM09JO  529      529      220 MHzCW TR  random 
      500
05/31/2023 01:11 K1MAP             FN32SB  55                220 MHzSSB TR      
                         119
05/31/2023 01:12 W6TCP             CM97    fn43     -22      220 MHzQ65 TR      
                2619+-
05/31/2023 01:32 K3SK                 FM07TH  -19      -21 220 MHzQ65 TR        
               573
05/31/2023 01:38 W4ZST             EM84AO  -17      -16      220 MHzQ65 TR      
                 923
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 25


Thanks to all of the stations who are on all over the eastern portion of the 
USA and making noise on Tuesdays. It is very gratifying to see skeds and 
contacts made as postings on the ON4KST Chat page scroll by.  The
222 band has really come back to life. Don't forget the June contest, and try 
to listen above 54 MHz too.

73

Dave K1WHS



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