World\'s First 23-Centimetre Auroral Contact

What looks likely to be confirmed as the world's first auroral contact in the 23cm band took place on the 11th of April. Carl Mohlin [pron: "Mo-LEEN"], SM3AKW, had the contact with SM5QA at 1650UTC and exchanged '33A' reports.


Carl comments that the signal sounded like auroral signals on the lower bands. Both stations transmitted on 1296.200MHz, but a plus-5kHz Doppler shift each way meant signals were received on 1296.205MHz. Both stations were running 500 watts to high-gain antennas.