In reply to GW7AAV:
It isn’t quite impossible, Steve, just very unlikely. That’s what GB3SSS is run for, to explore the possibility of transatlantic 2 metres. Just the right combination of Es and tropo or MS and having the right people in the right place at the right time…one can dream! But yes, 145.235 is internet linked repeaters.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
The record as I understand it is for a contact between Australia and New Zealand at 2,163 miles. The distance between Lands End in Cornwall and New York is 3,147 miles. Contacts of over 1,000 miles are very few and far between on 144MHz those that happen occur between high power stations with massive arrays of beams and usually on CW. They would certainly not be picked up by a portable/mobile set up on FM. As for GB3SSS it is in my opinion a waste of electricity. Even if it was received the other side on the Atlantic what would that prove? Most of us would say who ever claimed to have received the signal was either lying or faking it. I must say I am sceptical about the Australia/New Zealand contact too but that part of the world is somewhat more RF quiet than here, so if it was going to happen anywhere it would be there.
Steve
In reply to GW7AAV:
I would guess that the VK/ZL contact was a sea surface duct similar to the regular duct that opens between California and Hawaii or G and CT3. The transatlantic contact is the El Dorado of VHF, a lot of thought has gone into it, if I remember correctly there is a prize for the first contact. A couple of years ago a multi-hop Es event enabled listeners in the UK to hear FM broadcast stations in the USA and Canada at about 100 MHz so there is cause for very cautious optimism that one day it might be achieved.
I must say that your attitude towards GB3SSS and any possible future claims of reception is less than generous, I see it as a laudable experiment and a part of what ham radio is all about, trying to push boundaries and achieve results that the experts would dismiss as impossible.
73
Brian G8ADD
Steve,
Contacts of over 1,000 miles are very few and far between on 144MHz those
that happen occur between high power stations with massive arrays of beams > and usually on CW
Some of them certainly are, but not all, I have 100W Maximum and only single 9 Element @8m, but I have the following in my Log for contacts in excess of 1600Km (1000 miles)- all of them on SSB.
05/06/1988 13:38 ZB2IQ IM76HE (1765Km)- 25W Max (I only got 100W radio in 2006)
12/06/2006 16:58 9A2LX JN95LM (1693Km)
18/06/2006 09:41 TU7EW KN05HP (1796Km)
14/07/2007 17:30 T94WM JN93KR (1802Km)
14/07/2007 17:32 I8MPO JN70FP (1777Km)
03/07/2009 15:43 SV9CVY KM25KA (2845Km)
04/07/2009 18:36 CT1HZE IM57NH (1705Km)
04/07/2009 19:50 EA7TL IM66VO (1730Km)
06/07/2010 16:07 YU1EV KN04CN (1834Km)
There are many more just under 1600Km
In reply to GW7AAV:
Contacts of over 1,000 miles are very few
and far between on 144MHz those that happen occur between high power
stations with massive arrays of beams and usually on CW.
While the first clause is certainly true, the second is certainly not. I have had quite a few contacts over 1000 miles on 2m SSB with beams no larger than 5 elements and power no more than 80 Watts.
…and then there is this:
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G0LGS:
But what was the station doing the other end?
One of my contacts during the recent tropo lift on 2m was running two kilowatts
and eight times sixteen elements. Not that he needed to as I worked another station in the same square running 50w and 10 elements the same as I was. Once the meter shows full scale deflection it makes no difference.
In reply to G6WRW:
Haha, there had to be a catch there somewhere. Ah well, getting that lucky in the first few days of VHF would be too good to be true!
Will have to look into this echolink thing…
Ioan
In reply to GW7AAV:
Once the meter shows full scale deflection it makes no difference.
What a feeble statement. You’ll never make a real VHF and up contester! 
2kW is the kind of power a proper contest PA needs to drive it. Just like all proper PA’s have a 3 phase power supply.
If you can’t hear the sky groan when you are transmitting, then you don’t have a big enough PA.
Andy, MM0FMF
QRP on HF, QRO on VHF
In reply to MW3YTN:
Will have to look into this echolink thing…
For my part I prefer to stick to amateur radio!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to 2E0XTL:
Hello all
Rather than start a new thread, looking at Mr. Hepburn’s Tropo Maps it would appear that there has been a somewhat large amount of tropo over NW Europe.
Myself and Dave M0MYA, took part in the 432 MHz contest last night from just below the summit of G/WB-004! We had a great time as you can see here
(Sorry if ths seems as if we are being boastful, as no doubt other people have worked similar DX to this) I know Brian G8ADD and Steve G1INK have both intimated that they remember the good old days…
But has anyone else worked big DX on 2m/70cm or dare I say it 23cm in the last few days, obviously form a summit?
Matt G8XYJ
In reply to G8XYJ:
Some nice stuff Matt, especially the SK7. What was the power and antenna?
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi Andy
Thanks for your kind words
10 watts from a Yaesu 857 into a 13 ele Quagi.
The problem is the Quagi is quite broadband, I dont know how significant it would have been to have an antenna that is more centred around 432.200?
But still such a buzz when you work UHF DX!
I run PSK 31 on HF and am happy to contact Europe, so to do it on SSB on UHF is truly ace!
Both Dave M0MYA and I can safely say that is the most fun we have had on V/UHF in our Amateur Radio lifetime! The pint and planet sized scotch egg in the Golden Cross, Clee Hill afterwards topped the night off perfectly!
Matt G8XYJ
In reply to G8XYJ:
Hi Matt.I am most impressed.The best I have done in the last few days was to work GM0HTT Orkney from home on 144 ssb using 50 watts from an 8 ele yagi.73 Geoff G6MZX
In reply to G8XYJ:
Hi Matt,
This morning Mike 2E0YYY/P has been working France from G/SP-004 on 2m FM.
73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to G8XYJ:
Sounds like you had a terrific time, I just love a good opening! The best I ever did on 2 metres was IO92 to KN22, several years ago, but in the “good olde days” there would be so much DX on V/UHF in an opening that you just couldn’t find space to call CQ and had to hunt and pounce!
I haven’t been in that pub for years, I’m glad its still going strong, too many have closed.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G0VOF:
has been working France
Imagine what he could do with an antenna connected
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to G8ADD:
“I haven’t been in that pub for years, I’m glad its still going strong, too many have closed.”
The Golden Cross is truly fantastic Pub Brian, It is very traditional, cask ales across the bar, 3 pool tables, 1 bar billiards table, 5 dart boards!!
The landlord is a collector of pub games and is sensible with the pricing! He says “why charge 50p on the pool table, make it 20p and get the punters playing pool and subsequently as its cheaper they spend more time in the pub spending money on beer” He truly has hs priorities sorted!!
Further more Dave will back this up, the Scotch Eggs are the same size as Pluto!!
Many thanks for your kind words Gentlemen, we did work Tom M1EYP from SP-015 but I dont know how he got on?
2m FM into France - On the way down the hill I was listening on 145.250 MHz FM to hear two French blokes having a good rag chew!! A very surreal experience!!
If Mike reads this - Well done on the DX!! Mike you will have to head up there at night with a horizontal dipole and have a play on SSB!
Who needs HF when you have the Troposphere!! having said that from the prediction maps, it is all going to disappear by Friday!
In reply to G8XYJ:
Who needs HF when you have the Troposphere!! having said that from the
prediction maps, it is all going to disappear by Friday!
Never mind, the Es season will start soon, and if you are alert for it there is always the chance of Ar! However, the good news is that my nose for weather is twitching and I think there is a good chance for the high pressure to re-establish next week (cross fingers!)
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8XYJ:
the same size as Pluto!!
The cartoon dog or the planetary body? 
Still sounds like they’re worth punt.
V/UHF DX is huge fun. Some of the best fun was working a 2m contest station in a huge tropo opening. With some big antennas and a few hundred watts you can command your frequency against interlopers and people who don’t ask if the frequency is in use. It’s most amusing to be able to keep a nice exclusion zone around your frequency on 2m when you’re 1000km away from the guy who started calling 2kHz up. He had to QSY due to the size of the pileup I had
As Brian said the bands would be choked. 20 years ago, most activity was still within +/- 50kHz of 144.300 with the odd net on .375 etc. This day, there were so many stations on, we had to work on 144.435 and the band was full of SSB stations from about .175 to .450 (old bandplan). Amazing to hear. Not the odd signal but it sounded just like 40m with wall to wall S9+ monkey chatter. I can remember asking a gaggle of SP stations to QRX so we could work a GM off the back of the beam! Such memories.
I note we haven’t had a UHF fun day yet this year or announced one. Last year it was end of March but probably we should have one in April to give people a chance to prepare. Shall I put you down for a WB activation?
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
“The cartoon dog or the planetary body? Still sounds like they’re worth punt.”
The Planet!! Honestly they are fantastic, made by a local butcher in Ludlow!
I was once sceptical of contesting, but am now a changed man!! Honestly despite the fact that all you do is exchange numbers it is still good fun.
Of course working DX is the best part of it all, however as previously stated it is annoying that people with good home set ups dont call CQ now and again when a contest is not on. It would be nice to hear some activity on the bands, but I suppose the lack of new V/UHF multimode radios is to blame for this.
Back to the radio - UHF fun day and a WB would be the order of the day, having said that I would probably be tempted with an 8 pointer in S-Wales! I was annoyed that I didn’t get around to doing them in the Winter Bonus time!
A UHF fun day would be a good oppurtunity to test the newly made www.nuxcom.de (4ele on 2m, 5 ele on 70cm) yagi. April is good as my 817 is off to Castle Electronics, it really is not well at the moment!
So when in April?
73 all
Matt G8XYJ