KC9BQA

  I talked with WB9LYH and he’s unavailable Wed. night so I will take the 144.240 net, starting at 0100Z or 7pm central time.   I start out looking NE, and go clockwise a full 360 from there.  
  We’ll also have KA0KYZ from EN33 on 144.230, starting at 0045Z.   Terry starts out looking east, for activity from MI, IN and OH, and then goes clockwise a full 360.  
   Plus we have K8TQK from EM89 on 144.250, starting at 0130Z.   Bob starts out looking north, and then goes clockwise a full 360 from there.  
    Feel free to try for any or all of the nets.   We stagger the start times and directions we point in so that you have multiple options.  
    We had our best net night ever last Wednesday, 71 total check-ins.   Scroll down this page for more detail.   
    The goal is to have widespread 2m activity across much of the eastern half of the USA and VE-3land.   Of course, we also encourage all 2m ops to go below 144.230 and call CQ on their own, to keep spreading the activity across the band.
    Finally, we will be in the on4kst.com real-time VHF chat room.   This is free, friendly, and becoming more popular.  You want the “IARU Region 2 Chat for 144/432 MHz”.   7 simple steps to get signed up are at:   http://kc9bqa.com/?p=3765

    Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.   I enjoyed the break from the emailing and website.   

    Unless you’re brand new to this website, you know about 222 Tuesday by now.   It’s a general activity night for this under-used VHF band.   Ops all across USA and VE are encouraged to get on and call CQ on/near 222.100 SSB/CW and 223.500 FM.   Swing the beams and see who all is out there.   No net control, no single area of focus, it’s as good as each 222 operator makes it.   Most guys have been getting on about 7-7:30pm your local time.  

    If you’d like more 222 Tuesday info, click on this link:  http://kc9bqa.com/?p=3753 
   That link also details 2m and 6m activity out of SW Lower MI  (EN72) every Tuesday.

    Back on Nov. 8th, I posted that N4QWZ had installed a beacon up high in N GA.   Well things changed and the beacon has been relocated to his home QTH for now.   So for now the beacon is on 144.281 from EM66ok running 5watts.   EM66ok is a bit north of Nashville, TN.

   Every Friday at 7pm central time, there’s the Chicago/Ohio net on 144.215.   I’m rarely around on Friday evenings, so I can’t vouch for it.   BUT… I did have a nice conversation on the air with KD8IME a few Wednesdays ago.   KD8IME is Bob in EN71, NW Ohio.   He now calls this net, and I know Bob has a very healthy signal.   Bob also went on to say that they enjoy new check-ins, so don’t worry too much about the “Chicago/Ohio” name.   If you can hear KD8IME on 144.215 any old Friday at 7pm central time, then say hello and tell him KC9BQA sent you.

   I know I’m unavailable this Thursday and next (Thanksgiving) so I’ll call the next FM simplex net on 146.430 on December 2nd.   In the meantime, if someone else wants to pick up the mic at 8pm and put out a few calls, go right ahead.   Anyone can create activity. 
    I just got email from WV9E and he will be ON with his 146.460 FM net tonight (Thursday), starting at the usual time of 8:30pm.   Look toward just north of La Crosse, EN43.

   SSB’ers, remember you also have N9JBW’s Q5 net on 144.220, starting at 7pm central every Thur. night.   N9JBW is John, in EN61, south side of Chicago.   They run a friendly, active net and enjoy new check-ins.   John starts out calling to his east and I believe he goes clockwise from there.

   I know that WB9LYH and myself are OFF next Wed. night, in advance of Thanksgiving.     KA0KYZ on 144.230 will also be OFF next Wed — 11/24. 

   K8TQK in EM89 will be ON 144.250 next Wed the 24th, usual time of 8:30pm eastern, starting out looking north and going clockwise, a full 360.    Everyone can focus solely on southern Ohio.     The activity has been amazing, so keep it up.

   EDIT:  6am Thursday morning.    K8TQK emailed with a list of 23 check-ins so now we know where we stand from last night.   I’ll get all the calls and grids typed in a bit later.   Last night was just remarkable.    
   Noon Thursday — here’s the full list of 71 check-ins.

   KA0KYZ in EN33 SE Minnesota is on 144.230, starting at 0045Z or 6:45pm central/7:45pm eastern.
   He worked:   N8FQ EN62;  N9LB EN52;  KC9BQA EN63;  W8BYA EN70;  WB0OFB EN36;  KG0SJ, WB0YNA and WB0YWW in EN22;  K9WKW EN43;  K0SIX EN35;  W9CDL EN44;  W0MTW EN24;  KC0TRX EN34;  KC0MIA EM28 and KB9WZJ EM69.   This was Terry’s best night by far.

   KC9BQA in EN63 SE Wisconsin (usually WB9LYH in EN54) is on 144.240, starting at 0100Z or 7pm central/8pm eastern. 
   I worked:  KA8FFM EN56;  N9OLT EN64;  WA9ISG EN55;  N8PVT EN64;  WD8AUL EN73;  K8TQK EM89;  N8FQ EN62;  N8WNA and VE3LPY EN82;  W8BYA EN70;  W9YZU, N9CUE and KB9WZJ EM69;  W9RAS EN71;  K9KHW EN63;  N9NFB, WD9ITJ and W9QF EN53;  K9LQZ EM68;  WB9WOZ EN61;  WB9LYH EN54;  KA9DVX EN51;  N9LB and WB9HLM EN52;  N0IRS EM29;  WB0YWW and KG0SJ EN22;  W9RPM EN43;  N9KOR and W9CDL EN44;  K0SIX EN35;  VE3KRP EN58 and W0ANH EN47.  

    K8TQK in EM89 Southern Ohio is on 144.250, starting at 0130Z or 8:30pm eastern.  
    He worked:  WA8YTE and WD8PER EN71;  VE3LPY, N8WNA and K8JA EN82;  K8POS EN83; W8UMH and N8YOH/M EN80;  KB8TDA EN70;  K4QH EM66;  W2UAD FN13;  K8GDT EN91;  N8KNA EM99;  W2KV FN20;  W8ULC EM79;  KD8KZG, W8WG, and KD8DJE EM89;  KU4R EM86;  KI4PQE EM63;  W9YZU EM69, WB9LYH EN54 and N9LB EN52.  
    I’m just taking a second to process the huge territory Bob worked.   Get this — he worked as far north as Rochester, NY; as far east as Trenton, NJ;  as far south as Central Alabama, and as far northwest as Central Wisconsin.   And this was on a mid-November night with slightly above average band conditions. 

    I couldn’t keep up with on4kst.com chat tonight, but there were a ton of guys making contacts with each other — off the net frequencies.    At least half those contacts happened because guys were able to communicate via the chat.   Guys that don’t enjoy nets, you are more than welcome to hop on board and enjoy the widespread activity on Wed. nights.   Our main goal is to make 2m alive, at least once per week.  
     
   Thanks EVERYONE for the activity tonight.   🙂    A lot of you must be spreading the word about how much fun we’re having.   Big pat on the back to everyone who is helping.

   9pm Monday —
   We had some nice activity for a Monday night, at least 10-15 guys scattered across WI, IA, MO, IN, IL and MI.   

    I talked with WB9LYH and he’s unavailable Wed. night so I will take the 144.240 net, starting at 0100Z or 7pm central time.   I start out looking NE, and go clockwise a full 360 from there.  
  We’ll also have KA0KYZ from EN33 on 144.230, starting at 0045Z.   Terry starts out looking east, for activity from MI, IN and OH, and then goes clockwise a full 360.  
   Plus we have K8TQK from EM89 on 144.250, starting at 0130Z.   Bob starts out looking north, and then goes clockwise a full 360 from there.  
    Feel free to try for any or all of the nets.   We stagger the start times and directions we point in so that you have multiple options.  
    We had our best net night ever last Wednesday, 59 total check-ins.   Scroll down this page for more detail.   
    The goal is to have widespread 2m activity across much of the eastern half of the USA and VE-3land.   Of course, we also encourage all 2m ops to go below 144.230 and call CQ on their own, to keep spreading the activity across the band.

   If you need more info about 222 Tuesday, here’s the link:   http://kc9bqa.com/?p=3753  
   K8TQK said they had very good activity on 222.100 last week in the OH/IN/MI/KY/TN area.   This is the 2nd week in a row I’ve had encouraging news about 222 Tuesday from K8TQK.

    I’ve heard back from W8BYA and WB9LYH.   Both indicated they would make some calls on 144.250 tonight, to pick up the slack tonight with N0PB in EM39 being off the air tonight.   This is not to replace or take over Phil’s net.   Instead it’s to help promote more activity and give some of N0PB’s check-ins a potential DX target.  

    W8BYA is in EN70, east-central IN.   He gets out a long ways and will be calling at 7pm central/0100Z on 144.250, to see who’s around.  
    WB9LYH is in EN54, central WI.   Also gets out a long ways and he will be calling at 7:45pm central/0145Z on 144.250.  

     The hope is that some new contacts will be put in VHF’ers logs tonight.   It’d be nice to hear more activity out of MO, IA, S ILL and KS.   

     We also realize there’s potential for QRM on 144.250, so we’ll tread lightly, especially after the normal start time of 7:45pm.   We’ll use the on4kst.com real-time VHF chat room for better coordination — hope to see many of you there.   It’s so easy to make skeds with that chat.  We’ll also encourage sliding down to 144.240 or lower, to help spread the activity.