Hello VHF ers,
It was a very poor night for tropo signals last night on 222 MHz as far
as I could tell. Very deep QSB fades were the norm. I could barely hear
WA3EOQ on our CW sked. Howard thought I sounded about normal, but my
listening periods were mostly noise with occasional signals rising up
enough to be audible. That was about as weak as it gets for that path. I
suspect I was in a deep fade the entire time! It is very far at about
500 miles, but we can work on CW most of the time.
Here is my log and note that the first four Qs are from the evening
before, but still 12/17/24 UT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE
PRO.REMARKS QRB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/17/2024 00:12 K3SK FMØ7TJ -21 -21 220 MHzQ65
EME 915
12/17/2024 00:52 KMØT EN13VC -12 -21 220 MHzQ65
EME 2037
12/17/2024 01:06 WQ5S EM13CI -21 -20 220 MHzQ65
EME single yagi 2576
12/17/2024 01:36 W5EME EM32AI fn43 em32 220 MHzQ65
EME 2350
12/17/2024 23:55 WA1RKS FN32IN 559 599 220 MHzCW
TR 211
12/18/2024 00:02 WB2VVV FN41CR 559 220 MHzCW
TR portable in FN43 197
12/18/2024 00:11 WW1Z FN42 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 97+-
12/18/2024 00:12 K1PXE FN31 59 59 220
MHzSSB TR 265+-
12/18/2024 00;15 WA3EOQ FM09 329 220 MHz CW
TR 805
12/18/2024 00:29 W1UJ FN42 59 220 MHzFSK
TR 97+-
12/18/2024 00:33 K3WHC FN1Ø -14 220 MHzFSK
TR 590+-
12/18/2024 00:36 WA3NUF FN20 +18 +26 220 MHzFSK
TR 550
12/18/2024 00:43 K1ZK FN34JJ -14 220
MHzSSB TR 212
12/18/2024 00:43 W1GHZ FN34 -14 220 MHzSSB
TR 203+-
12/18/2024 00:44 VE3KG FN24AV -14 220 MHzSSB
TR 432
12/18/2024 01:32 K3SK FMØ7TJ -23 -20 220 MHzQ65
EME 915
12/18/2024 01:59 W5EME EM32AI -24 -21 220 MHzFSK EME
single yagi 2350
12/18/2024 02:06 WQ5S EM13CI -21 -23 220 MHzQ65 EME
single yagi 2576
12/18/2024 02:23 KMØT EN13VC -15 -21 220 MHzQ65
EME 2037
12/18/2024 02:36 NØAKC EN44 -18 -21 220 MHzQ65
EME 1601+-
12/18/2024 04:14 VE6TA DO33GS -15 -19 220 MHzQ65
EME 3273
12/18/2024 04:36 KMØT EN13VC -15 -18 220 MHzQ65
EME 2037
Stations heard but not worked: K9MRI, AI5I, W7TZ, W6TCP all on EME
Stations that heard me on EME but not worked WA3EOQ (90 watts)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of QSO listed: 22
I was surprised at how many stations I did *_not _*work via EME. I heard
K9MRI for well over 45 minutes and Joe, K9MRI, heard zip/nada from me.
This was on his Moon rise in Indiana. At the same time, WA3EOQ in
Western Maryland was copying me just great and said I was actually
audible at times in his headphones. I did not copy WA3EOQ with his very
low power this time. Later on, I heard AI5I very well at his Moon rise
in New Mexico. Same deal though, he could not hear me. We tried over
about 30 minutes or more but things never changed. Then I tried with
W7TZ in Oregon and W6TCP in California. They both had reasonable signals
here, but they never heard me. It was a rather frustrating night as a
result. My echo here was audible all evening. All this points up the
problem with using fixed polarization. If the polarization is not lined
up, you cannot make a QSO. If you have a very good setup, it does not
matter as there will always be a 30 dB null when you are cross
polarized. When I once had a huge antenna for 144 MHz I noted hat those
times were greatly reduced but they were still in evidence.
My 222 MHz antenna in use since 2007 has been a quad yagi array of HB
K1FO 22 element beams. The boom length is just under 30 ft and
advertised gain is around 16+ dBd per antenna. (I did not use the
handbook dimensions.) I use 22 ft lengths of 1/2" LDF for phasing lines
and a 4 way divider. There is a short jumper from the divider to the
cavity preamp box located on the main mast at the 106 ft level. In
2021, I modified the array with elevation and the tower mounted preamp
was added after noting that my hearing on EME was not good. I only had
about 0.4 dB of feeder loss but that attenuation was a killer with such
low noise levels as seen on 222 MHz. By using a preamp near the antenna,
I started hearing very well on EME and even saw improvements on more
noisy terrestrial paths. So why am I saying all of this? It is a bench
mark of what a typical system can do. Four big yagis is rather large
these days, but before digital modes, a four yagi array was SMALL! Many
people have said that a two yagi array is a great antenna for digital
modes. I would agree with that, and add that polarization switching
should be employed with such a small array.
It seems that I can work a single yagi station on the horizon if you are
running about 150-200 watts. I would love to try with anyone so
equipped. Tonight would be a good night for me. Let me know if you are
at all interested.
73
Dave K1WHS
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