16th October 2005, 02:55 pm
Kev, VK4KKD, emailed to the effect that there were quite a number of VK4’s coming up on the early morning AE (Aircraft Enhanced) propagation net, so I listened on 144.200 Mhz SSB a few mornings this week. I was rewarded with 3 QSOs into the Brisbane area on Friday morning. I worked VK4KKD, VK4AFL and VK3AON. Nothing especially outstanding distance-wise - all in the order of 350 km (220 miles) - but what is of note is that I worked them with 50 watts into a 13-ele beam lashed to the side of the pergola at 5m agl. Once I get a few larger beams on the tower at 25m agl then such QSOs should become commonplace.
… and then it’ll be interesting to see how far into southern VK2, and into VK3 I can get under “normal” conditions.
9th October 2005, 06:03 pm
There’s a bunch of early morning 2m SSB enthusiasts on the eastern Australian seaboard who make long distance contacts on a daily basis by reflecting their signals off aircraft. Regular contact is made between Brisbane and Sydney (and points in between) a distance in the order of 600 km.
At the midway point of the morning session, those in Sydney (plus/minus a few 100 km) turn their beams to the south-west and do the same in the direction of Melbourne. I don’t know how successful that component of the process is; Melbourne is 1000 km from me as the crow flies.
I used to participate a few years ago, but don’t have time these days.
They can be found on 144.200 Mhz between 7 and 9 am (give or take). At other times of the day, the 2m SSB calling channel is 144.100 Mhz.
