I will be on just a pair of VHF bands this time. I'll be hitting 222 and
432 hard and noted that the Moon rises at my place at about 02:30 UT
Saturday night. That is 10:30 PM on the East Coast. SO when all the
local activity starts to dry up, why not try to listen for EME signals.
You never know what might happen. You might even hear or detect
something. This past Tuesday during Activity Night, I had contacts with
W5EME, W5AFY, and K9MRI who all were using single yagis on their
horizon. K9MRI had 400 watts in the shack. I am not sure how much "goo"
made it to his 5 wl antenna, but I actually could hear his tones at
times. Lets just say that his signal was plenty loud enough to make the
contact.
I plan to be active for the duration of the contest and will be
concentrating on 222 and 432. When the Moon rises here, I will get on
222.085 and use Q65 Mode B with 60 second sequences. My tone frequency
will be at 1500 Hz. I am no expert on Q65B, but pay attention to your
bandwidth settings. If you narrow them up, you might miss things if your
dial accuracy is off by a few hundred Hz. SO, if you are unsure of your
accuracy, please adjust the setting in the F TOL box to something wide
like 500 or 1000 Hz. If you do detect a received xmission, you can zero
in on its' frequency and then narrow up the F tol to get better results.
Moon data appears on the WSJTx program if you select Astronomical Data.
Select VIEW drop down menu and then click on ASTRONOMICAL DATA. A new
box with tracking info will appear.
My 432 antenna works on EME, but not as well as 222, so I will
concentrate on 222 at my (and your) Moonrise. The 222 & Up contest is
pretty laid back, so you can afford to delve into semi non productive
rabbit holes in hopes of a possible contact. I am looking forward to
the weekend, and am gassing up the generator today. I might even tidy up
the place.
If you live down South in Georgia, the Moon comes up at 03:30 at about
85 degrees. Guys near Chicago have the Moon at 03;40 or so and also at
about 85 degrees. Western Iowa has Moonrise at about 04:15 UT. I plan
to be hitting the EME buttons up to about 0500 UT. I would be open for
skeds after that from the West Coast. If you let me know that you will
be there, I will make a point to stay up for you. Just give me a heads
up, and I will be there.
73
Dave K1WHS
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