receive antennas only

I remember that contact Carl.
You worked Rene when he was in the Keys for that record right after we worked at 05:50z...
That same night I grabbed a 1296 record...What a night that was.
73, Chuck

 

Sounds more like sporadic-E.

Or was this a path totally over the Atlantic ocean? (I don't have a map handy)

 

Just want to give my .02 for a good thread .
In need of enough space to plant those antenna seeds .
Thanks John
73

 

Hi Mike,

Great thread BTW, Really dig the Bev site... Good job on getting it all in one place.
I think I have grown a few more gray hairs getting my Bevs to work over the years...Thank you.

I've been thinking a lot lately of building a two wire system, Now looks like the time.

That opening in 1992, If I remember correctly and looking back in the log.
Was strickly Tropo.
All stations worked ( about 50 ) were up and down the east coast.
It was open for a few days from 144 thru microwave.
Boy that was fun.

73, Chuck

 

Mike, that was sure an experience!

I was running them for hours from VA to FL and AL and up into VE1 on 2M with 1500W and stacked 4218XL's. Id worked Rene early on and he later aked if I had 432 as he was hearing some activity from the NE and I was like 40 over on 2 and building.

The 432 setup was a noisy Icom 451A to a broken TE brick and 35W out to a HB 33 el but Rene and I hooked up immediately and I then worked about 10 more from GA, FL and AL. Several stations in the area with better stations heard nothing, it was if the tropo duct hit my hilltop and stopped.
Emil, W3EP, called me a few days later and asked for details and then called again to say it was a new overland tropo record. That it has held for almost 20 years is more amazing. Maybe someday there will be Carribean activity.

The next morning 2M was still wide open but 432 was quiet and it was all over when I got home from work.

I have no idea of why Mike other than it was a full blown No'reaster tearing up the coast. Somebody would have to pull any available weather records from VE1 to FL to see what made it different. Perhaps there were 2 highs that met, one from Canada and the other coming up. Ive worked lots of tropo since but nothing that extreme.

Carl

 

When was that record set ?
I do not remember just when it was , but a couple 2 -3 yrs. ago on a repeater , local 2m net from MN , some stations checked in to our local net that were south & southeast about 150 - 400 miles , kinda became the main subject of the net & a couple after that .
As for the beverage antenna , I thought that a good application would be mounted on wooden fence in my back yard , a way to support the wires and keep anyone form tripping over it ?

 

I'll say! I've experienced many thrilling occasions on 144 MHz --tropo, aurora, MS, and e-skip-- but nothing like that.

 

Great idea. There's a .pdf on my Beverage antenna page by a guy who did just that. How long is the fence, what directions is it oriented in, and what band(s) did you have in mind using it on?

 

Thank you, Chuck. I was just thinking that it could be organized better than it is. Some subject headings need moving around. Some day.

Once you get them up, you'd better have an amplifier (or a better TX antenna than I do) if you want to work everyone you hear. I was listening on 40 before 2:30AM today and, as always, there were many stations that were perfectly readable on the Beverages that I could not have held a QSO with on my vertical. You have to make the guys at the other end --who aren't using Beverages-- hear you somehow.

 

Mike ,
Its about 6 ft. + fence going east / west maybe 150 ft. , now I'l have to get out the 100 ft. tape and double check .
I'm not too prejudiced against any band to speek of , at this time phone only no digital , CW soon , the only antenna up for HF is a Cushcraft R5 , mounted on top of a Rhoen mast , attached to chain link fence , on the other side of a urban yard , so the antenna is a 20 - 17 - 15 - 10 , but with my Palstar AT2K tuner , it tunes up 80m , and most of 6m .
Then QRP also , rig [ Yeasu FT-897D ] that is only putting out about 2 1/2 watts , but seems to work well , if it was putting out full power , I may spend more time at home playing radio ?