Archive for August, 2017

Q5 Net in Chicago is on 144.220 Thur. at 6:30/7pm Central

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

11:30am Thur.
Since it is Thursday, want to give a plug for a good net that’s on tonight and every Thursday — weather permitting.
For many years now, N9JBW in EN61, south side of Chicago has been calling a friendly net on Thursdays on 144.220MHz.  It’s called the Q5 net and they get out a long ways.  Under flat conditions, they can get check-ins from IL, IA, (eastern) MN, WI, MI, IN, OH, VE-3, MO and at least far eastern KS.  Probably KY and TN, too, if anyone down there looks north.
Many of the Q5 net regulars also check-in to our 144.240 Wed. net.  We appreciate this and wish their net well.
The Q5 net on 144.220 has earlybird check-ins at 6:30pm every Thursday and the regular net starts at 7pm.   As net control N9JBW John likes to say, “Check it out!”

144.240 Net Reports From Aug. 2nd and Aug. 9th

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

11am Thur.

The 144.240 Wed. night net from WI has had good turnouts recently.  Plus we continue to hear new check-ins, which is great for 2 meter SSB.
WB9LYH expects to be on next Wed., Aug 16th, at the usual time of 9pm eastern/8pm central.  Full details about the 144.240 net are at the bottom of this post.

Let’s get to the net reports.
Back on Aug. 2nd, net control WB9LYH in EN54 said in his emailed net report to me, “The antenna system works again.  Noise was low, the weather good and good signals.”
There were 19 check-ins on Aug. 2nd:  KC9RAP EN63;  N8XEW EN71;  WA9JML and N9NAQ EN51;  KC9PQT EN70;  WB8LNG EM79;  N9KKF, N9JBW and KC9RIO EN61;  N9RXM, AC0RA and KD0WTE EN41;  WA9BNZ and WB0SWQ EN40;  N0JA EM49;  KB9MIV EM59;  WB9TFH EN53;  W9UIJ EN52 and K0DAS EN42.  What a great turnout — thanks everyone for checking in.
Want to welcome 2 new check-ins to the 144.240 net —  KC9PQT and K0DAS.  Thanks for stopping by and glad you’re on 2 meter SSB.

Last night, net control WB9LYH reported “No storm tonite, low noise and decent propagation.”  Check-ins were:  KB9IME EN54;  WA9JML EN51;  K9CCL, KC9RIO and N9JBW EN61;  N8XEW EN71;  WA9BNZ and W9BBP EN40;  N9RXM EN41;  WB8LNG EM79;  N9NDP EN62;  KB9MIV EM59;  KG0SJ EN21;  WV9E EN43 and WO0Z EN34.
I see several calls in that list that are old friends of the net, going back to 2008-2010, when we were getting started and I was still the primary net control.   Special hello to Harvey, Richard and Dave from KC9BQA — and hi Gil, from Aug. 2nd.
If you want to know about our net history, our story is at this link:  http://kc9bqa.com/?p=5363
That does it for the 144.240 Wed. net reports.

In case you’re new to kc9bqa.com and you don’t know about the 144.240 Wed. net, here’s more detail:  THE 144.240 WEDNESDAY NET is typically called by WB9LYH Mark in EN54cl.  This is central WI, near WI Rapids.  Start time is 9pm eastern/8pm central, year-round.
This net is informal.  All licensed amateurs are welcome and we appreciate you helping to spread the word.  The goal of the net is simple — to increase activity on 2 meter SSB.
From his central WI QTH, Mark starts out the net looking into the eastern time zone.  Within 5-15 minutes, he is edging SE, then S, SW, W, NW and N to finish the net.  A net can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes, depending on activity levels.
WB9LYH has stacked long yagis from a ridgetop QTH.  You do not need this kind of setup to enjoy 2 meter SSB, but it sure helps!  Mark can regularly work 300-400+ miles to well-equipped stations pointed his way, under flat band conditions.
WB9LYH loves to push the propagation limits, so please help us spread the word that he’s out there on 144.240 on Wed. nights, looking to find DX.   Of course, we appreciate all check-ins, and we really have some loyal ones going back many years.  But sometimes you get that rare night where someone checks in from 500, 600+ miles away and that’s exciting.

This is the best time of year for enhanced conditions on VHF/UHF, especially in the evenings, overnights and mornings.   Make sure to get on and call some of your own CQ’s, at any old time.  Don’t fall into the rut of just getting on for a half hour once a week.   The best recipe for a healthy VHF/UHF band is multiple stations in a wide area calling CQ, turning the yagis, looking for contacts.

WB9LYH Will Call 144.240 Net on Aug. 2nd

Tuesday, August 1st, 2017

7:45am Tues.

Received good news from WB9LYH yesterday:

“Todd,
Damage to the half wave transformer between the feedline and antennas repaired.  I expect to be on Wednesday nite.
Mark”

Todd (me — KC9BQA) continues…
If you want more info about the 144.240 Wed. night net from Wisconsin, go to the bottom 2 paragraphs of the post directly below this one — dated July 28th — here at kc9bqa.com.