On 5/2/24 11:22, Howard Reynolds wrote:
Ref: N1BUG's comments. Virtually all of my Tuesday evening contacts are
200 miles; some >300 miles. There's really only a few stations around
here on 222 (or even 2m weak signal); none locally. If K1WHS or WZ1V would
delete all stations within 200 miles on their weekly list, it would read
more like my 8 or so qsos.
That is close to my situation as well. I have very few stations inside
the 200 mile circle. The vast majority of my 222 QSOs are in the 200 to
400 mile range. I could get to 500 miles *if* there was a well equipped
station at that distance and we coordinated via ON4KST. That distance
sometimes requires a few minutes waiting for a propagation peak but is
generally very doable with patience.
I do hear very well with a preamp at the antenna and AMSL around 2750
feet. Running a KW is just not in the cards here. The preamp wouldn't
handle it and the other band's antennas, close spaced on the same mast
probably wouldn't like it, either.
My antennas aren't exactly close spaced, being approximately 5 feet
apart. I use preamps at the top of the tower for 222 and 432. Preamps
wouldn't help on the lower bands since I am already limited by man made
noise. I run 1500 watts on 6, 1300 on 2, 800 on 222. I have never had a
problem with a preamp but I run separate RX and TX lines up the tower on
the bands where I use preamps, with a single relay up top. The relays
default to the TX position (de-energized) when I am on any other band,
so the antenna is never connected to the preamp input when I am on
another band.
I just need more ops to look this way.
Agreed! I think another factor in declining number of QSOs here is that
as activity in this area and further north/east has declined, people
spend less time looking this way. I hear a lot of stations working K1WHS
and the other southern Maine stations that I never work. I know I could
work them but it seems like they point this way for the one or two
southern Maine stations they hear (initially off the back?) and then
they are gone the other way, never to be heard again. I can't blame
people for that. It is no fun looking into a mostly dark void, and in a
contest it hurts one's score.
I hope to make it for another Tuesday evening soon.
73,
Paul N1BUG
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|