Historic trans-Atlantic contact made on 144 MHz

Historic trans-Atlantic contact made on 144 MHz

A historic contact was made on Sunday the 16th June 2019 when the Atlantic was spanned for the first time on 144 MHz.

D41CV on Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa managed to work FG8OJ in Guadeloupe on 144.174 MHz using the FT8 digital mode. The distance was an incredible 3,867 kms.

To put that into context, the distance from the west coast of Ireland to Newfoundland is 3,000 kms.

Tropo prediction maps show a path right across the Atlantic and suggest that even more incredble contacts may be possible.

More info here...
https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/06/historic-trans-atlantic-contact-made-on.html


http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/historic-trans-atlantic-contact-made-on-144-mhz.htm

 

Congrats to all.

As seen and heard on this web site, which had the video below, signal levels were such that QSO's via ear copied CW Morse code or probably even SSB phone would have been easily accomplished too.

 

About time this happened and congratulations to the participants. I hope to see many more new records and maybe even on 222 and higher.

Carl

 

Nice shot!
...
OT: I saw some comments about the Brendan Trophies. *Notes about Brendan Award: The Brendan Trophies will be awarded for the first traditional mode 2 way contact. Modes permitted are phone and cw capable of being read without machine assistance.

So a transatlantic 2 meters contact between Europe and America using FT8 would not be valid for Brendan Trophies since it needs to be decoded by a computer.

However, an FT8 contact between Europe and America would be valid for the Brendan Shields or Brendan Plates.
GL! de VE2PID

* Ref: https://www.irts.ie/cgi/st.cgi?brendan

 

Very well done for this milestone qso. I've often dreamt of running an across the atlantic link. I have a way of deploying a broad side antenna with a gain of 18db to link western europe (france) with the Americain East Coast. Ill have a go at it one day, but again well done.

 

Wow! Pretty amazing contact. I was pumped when I made a NY to TX 2 meter SSB QSO, just mind boggling what radio propagation can do.

 

This was some amazing work by the D4-team and all the stations on the other ends of some great QSOs! As a recipient of a Brendan Medal for TA efforts and study, they guys rock!

 

WOW ! We out here in California now & again get to work Hawaii but that was a real first ! see we do not need sun spots HI HI just a great bit of TROPO ! keep up the great contacts 73' Phil KI6PMD..

 

Really amazing work guys keep on trying and Congratulations George KF4ZKU!

 

I tried it for a few years about 20 years ago with about 20 dBd antenna gain and 1500W from a homebrew 3CX1000A7 amp and a hilltop that was downhill to the Atlantic in about a 90 degree azimuth arc. Not even a trace heard in EU from the several I contacted. Mode was CW and automatic automatic CQing on a one minute on and off schedule for several hours at a time of "possible" propagation..

I do hold one of the ARRL 70 cm tropo records from here with only 35W (a broken 100W amp) to similar antenna gain to the very tip of Florida during a 12/16/92 blizzard generated tropo. Distance was 2201 km. On 2M the signal reports with that 1500W amp were often that I was pinning their S meters down to Florida and over to Alabama. To the Northeast I worked to Newfoundland.

Carl

 

Mine was NH to Houston TX area a few times via E Skip on SSB which is a yearly occurrence in the more southern states and quite rare in NH. To put it in perspective I had to stand in line with my 1500W and big antennas while listening to 10-25W stations in NY/NJ working them in a big pileup. Obviously I was at the fringe of the E cloud which was pretty weak and shows that sometimes a lot of ERP helps! Not a peep heard on 222 which would be very rare up here and Ive only heard a trace over many decades.

Carl

 

They've now managed to work several stations in Puerto Rico, Martinique, St. Lucia, and even had a first AF/SA qso with 9Y4D in Trinidad and Tobago. They have been posting regular updates on their twitter page.

 

Big deal. . . wake me when its done on 2xSSB, otherwise zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

That sounds like a new, possibly regular, propagation path has been discovered that is begging to be exploited. Soon it will link to TE and then more Tropo down South America.

It reminds me of many decades ago when EU to South Africa was suddenly discovered as a regular occurrence on 2M.
I also remember the SPS-10 ~ 5 GHz surface search radar on the USN ship I was stationed on in the early 60' s painting the complete Med from one end to the other and stopping at mountain ranges in EU. We were off Sardinia or Corsica if I remember.
That event started a lifelong interest in microwaves which eventually became a career.

Carl

 

Hello Carl, im sure it's possible. I've seen massive high pressure zones that span right across the Atlantic with the northern edge of the zone elongated and in line with Brest France and the East Coast of America. A simple broad side array lowered over the vertical cliff face using a wire mesh reflector to give a broad beam array with good gain. Or a set of 4 16 element beams on vhf.. Just watch weather patterns and look for that magic cyclonic high pressure of 1045 or higher, spread across the pond.. Colin.