222 Station Recommendations to Work KA6U

2X16 222 Antennas from Directive Systems on Tripod

The portable EME antenna tripod is shown above.  Two 222 antennas are mounted on the 10 foot fiberglass spreader.  G5500 EL rotator is mounted to top of Rohn extending TV mast which is rotated by the G5500 AZ rotator on the ground.  The tripod legs are inserted into PVC pipe attached to the side of boxes containing 40 lbs of cement.  Antennas stay up in 30+ MPH of wind.  Antennas can be rotated from HPOL to VPOL by standing on a step stool or from the ground when elevation > 20 degrees.  The antenna system sets up in 15 minutes after parking.  Photo on MS side of the MS/AL border.  For AL operation I dragged the antennas 30 feet into AL and reparked the truck.  The array also works well for MS out to 1000 miles

222 Station Recommendations

I have greatly enjoyed roving to support 222 activity.

During 2022 I plan to activate at least 40 US states on 222.  Last Summer I believe I activated about 15 to help a number of operators make progress toward 222 WAS.

For those interested in working me on 222 this Summer during the planned 40 state road trip starting in June, here is what I recommend for a stations:

• At least 2 yagis for EME.   Unlikely I can work you with one Yagi on EME

• At least 500 watts with good feedline to antenna.  Portable operations are sometimes noisy due to cell towers everywhere so unless I am in the wilderness we need some power

• Good preamp, preferably at the antennas or if in the shack short run with very high quality coax - Signals are normally weaker on 222 vs 144.  Also Faraday rotation and lockout seems more common making receive harder

• For working me your antennas can be HPOL or VPOL.  I can rotate my two antennas and often do.  It seems I am more successful when I use VPOL to communicate with home stations running HPOL.  Cross polarization seems common.  Sometimes I have to switch between TX and RX

• I am also available to work meteor scatter and my array seems to work well out to 1000 miles.  If the Moon is up and there are people who want to call on the Moon, I will prioritize EME because usually (sometimes) when there are multiple stations EME is more likely to deliver more QSOs and shorten wait times

• My station is two 16 element K1FO yagis from Directive Systems.  The are mounted horizontally on a fiberglass pole with AZ/EL control and hand polarization rotation (from a step stool).  .3db GaaS preamp.   800W output PA with 30 feet of LMR600 from the truck to the antenna array (see ka6u.blogspot.com) (The Harris amps are perfect)

• When conditions are at least OK I use JT65B because it is easier to manage multiple callers.  When conditions are marginal I may ask for Q65-60C

• A typical 222 operation for me lasts 3-4 hours and I work at most 7-8 stations.  When I run 2M I typically work 40+ stations in 4 hours.  This is because 222 is harder and often 222 stations are not as optimized as 2M stations (dual-polarization, coax-melting power, etc.).  I try very hard to complete with 222 callers and often devote an hour or more attempting to complete QSOs

• I use the HB9Q 222 page for chat Hope to see lots of activity on 222 this Summer.  I plan to be QRV in every state East of Utah this Summer.  Will probably start in the South in June, go up the Western US, be in Wisconsin at the end of July, September working down the East Coast from Maine to Florida.  ka6u.blogspot.com will have updated plans