Here is my summary of the 222 MHz Activity Night festivities. When I got
to the shack, I noted the inside temperature at about 26degrees F. When
the temps drop in winter, I cringe thinking that all the cooling air for
the amplifier is drawn in from outside the shack. It really cools off
the amps, but also tends to cool off the entire room! The conditions
were typical winter time condx, with weak signals and some very long and
slow QSB. All that bein said, I noted some of the strongest signals ever
from WA3EOQ at over 800 km distant. We started the attempt, and I could
not detect anything. or two sequences, there was nothing audible. I was
sending calls. Whewn I let up on CW, I could distinctly hear (or
"sense") the rhythm of a short string of RRR and then I started picking
out his call and then the grid. It was very weak. In the next sequence
I could detect him and then pick out FM09 and a few more RRs but the
signal was buried in the noise. I probably was copying about 25 % of
the time. When I signed off, I heard Good Buddy Ron, WZ1V start up
immediately calling Howard, WA3EOQ. Ron was good copy at about S2, and
when he stopped I was greeted by big signals from Howard that came up
out of the noise by about two S units. I looked at the panadaptor and
saw the blip about 10 dB above the noise. I would say that it was maybe
the 2nd or 3rd best coopy I ever had on the 800 km path between FN43 and
FM09! Howard was loud for two sequences, and then started fading down to
PW status. I thought that was pretty exciting when you consider how
poor the signals seemed to be in general.
I tried with K3SK who is well beyond typical tropo range. We heard
nothing on Q65B and then tried Meteor scatter. I decoded Dave nicely at
first, but then got nothing except some very short pings that could not
decode. It was fun trying, but we quit after about 20 minutes. He was
hearing me fine. I tweaked the array up about 4-5 degrees. I think my
sharp pattern is not good for meteors. I also have trouble with my 222
MHz LVA as it is very low angle with a very sharp vertical lobe. ( 8 X 5
el stacked vertically.) It is not effective on short distances. K3SK is
about 890 km . That is rather short for meteors.
Here is the log:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/03/2024 23:53 KC1V FN31SX 579 599 220 MHzSSB
TR 200
12/03/2024 23:56 W1AIM FN34 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 203+-
12/04/2024 00:00 WW1Z FN42 579 220 MHzSSB
TR 97+-
12/04/2024 00:01 K1FSY FN31MR 579 220 MHzSSB
TR 247
12/04/2024 00:02 WZ1V FN31 579 220 MHzCW
TR 265+-
12/04/2024 00:07 K1TEO FN31JH 579 220 MHzCW
TR 296
12/04/2024 00:08 WA3NUF FN2 KE 56 220 MHzSSB
TR 496
12/04/2024 00:16 WA3DRC FM28AS 56 220 MHzCW
TR 663
12/04/2024 00:16 WA3EOQ FM 9JO 429 220 MHzCW
TR 805
12/04/2024 00:21 WA1RKS FN32IN 579 599 220 MHzCW
TR 211
12/04/2024 00:25 WX3K FN20HW 579 599 220 MHzCW
TR 455
12/04/2024 00:33 K1PXE FN31 579 220
MHzSSB TR 265+-
12/04/2024 00:34 WA1PBU FN42EK 579 220 MHzCW
TR 120
12/04/2024 00:38 W1GHZ FN34 579 220 MHzSSB
TR 203+-
12/04/2024 00:41 WA1MBA FN51 59 220 MHzCW
TR 265+-
12/04/2024 00:43 WA3SSG FN2 HD 579 220 MHzSSB
TR 514
12/04/2024 00:44 K2RMX FN2 XT 55 57 220 MHzSSB
TR 384
12/04/2024 00:46 KA3FQS FN2 JF 55 220 MHzSSB
TR 498
12/04/2024 00:52 K2AEP FN32OW 55 220 MHzSSB
TR 157
12/04/2024 01:01 N1MIW FN41 -09 +06 220 MHzFT8
TR 208+-
12/04/2024 01:00 WA1T FN43LK 59 220
MHzSSB TR 8
12/04/2024 01:54 K3SK FM07 +02 NIL 220 MHz
MSK144 890 NOT COMPLETED
12/04/2024 01:55 WB2RVX FM29MT 56 220 MHzSSB
TR 519
12/04/2024 01:58 N1DPM FN32QB 59 59 220 MHzSSB
TR 201
12/04/2024 01:59 W2BYP FN13IB 579 220 MHzCW
TR 514
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 24
I quit at about 02:15 UT and shut things down. Thanks to all who got on
and made the night a good one. WX3K was all over the place with a great
signal. The midwest guys were all in there making noise too. N1GC is
about 750 miles away, so I never hear him, but he was making contacts
and stirring the pot as well. The sky was completely overcast then when
I shut down. No stars were visible and it was so dark, it was hard to
see where I left the truck! Thank God I found it. heh heh.
73 Dave K1WHS
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