Hello Ron,
I was all excited to hear your signal on the 200 mw HT up here. It was
just above the noise on sideband. So for miles per watt that works out
to a 900 mile path if you ran 1 watt. Heh heh. Still, 180 miles with 200
mw is quite an accomplishment. I did some more checking of the array
last night, and the VSWR is stable. The week before, I saw the VSWR
rising and lowering. At times, it was really bad and I did not even want
to attempt to transmit into the antenna at any power level. It was three
days after the ice storm, but it looks like there must have been a bunch
of ice still on the array. From the ground, I could not tell. There sure
was a bunch of ice on the ground at that point! So last night, the VSWR
was constant and about twice the reflected power that I normally see,
but not so bad. I could run the amp and antenna without worrying about
flashovers or who knows what. I could tell that performance is down
slightly. I am guessing 1-2 dB from all the bent elements.
I made 22 QSOs on 222 and was trying with K9MRI at 01:45 to 02:00 UT on
meter scatter. I was sending the entire time, but never heard a peep
from Joe. I was hoping that we could complete a contact as I had heard
several pretty good ms bursts from K3SK on both FT8 and Q65 earlier. So
after I stopped at 02:00 UT K9MRI informed me that he had nine bursts
from me. It sure is funny how that happens. I can recall an event from
many years ago on 144 MHz when I used to run a weekend MS sked with
K0MQS, Dick Hart, in Iowa. It was the week before the Perseids and there
were a bazillion meteors around. In our 30 minute SSB sked, I heard him
on every sequence and often very loud with rather long bursts being
common. I copied so many calls that i quit writing them down. I never
heard a signal report. After the sked, K0MQS told me that he never heard
a set of calls in the entire time. Sometimes, it just happens!
There were wild fluctuations in signal strength on just about everyone
last night. The best I saw was W1AUV, who called me when I was
transmitting CQ West at about 260 degrees. Tommy was 579. I sent a
report and he came back at an almost inaudible level. I swung the beam
to 245 degrees or so which is his true heading and finished the contact,
but he was only 519 at that point. My yagi pattern is about 12 degrees
wide at the 3 dB point. I figure the QSB was more than 25 dB. Wow!
I had a hard time trying to work WA3EOQ in FM09. It took several calls
before Walt peaked up enough to copy. I think I am seeing the slight
degradation from the ice storm. 1 or 2 dB hurts when signals are in the
noise level.
Thanks to all who got on and made some QSOs. It was fun to hear K3TUF
again, and AA2SD had a nice signal as well. I am hoping that W2KV
appears too.
73
Dave K1WHS
On 4/2/2024 9:39 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
A wet night on 222, but pretty good activity. Logged:
K1WHS FN43, WB2VVV FN41, K3TUF FN10, WA3EOQ FM09,
WA1PBU FN42, K1PXE FN31, W9KXI FN12, N2JMH FN12,
AA2SD FM29, W1GHZ FN34, W1AIM FN34, WA1RKS FN32,
WA1MBA FN51, WA1NLG FN41, K3SK FM07, AF1T FN43,
VE3KG FN24, WA1T FN43, and WB2RVX FM29.
For fun I connected an IJV firmware modded UV-K6 to the 222 yagi
and got both K1WHS and K1PXE on SSB/DSB with 200 milliwatts.
Its only designed to TX 2M and 70cm, so not much power anywhere else.
But as a multi-mode shirt-pocket test receiver it's a handy tool for $30.
73 Ron WZ1V
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