[Hallicrafters] VHF DX

[Donald Sanders]

Back in th late 70's we had several openings on 2 meters. I was tuning the
vhf channels for an opening and Channel 4  Puerto Rico came in to
Melbourne,FL.
I listened to 6 and it was quiet. Listened on 2 meters and heard signals all
up and down the East coast. I worked several stations on AM with my Gonset
Communicator 2 and then worked a station in Ontario, CA. All with qrp and a
home brew 8 element horizontal beam at 40 feet.
In early 80's I was tuning around with my new IC 2AT and heard a 5 station
in Texas. I worked him and then worked a 7 in Arizona. I used the IC2AT and
a home brew J-pole with a 5/8 extention on top. In DEarly 90'as I worked
Mexico across the Gulf.

Healthfully yours,
                          DON
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Oliver" <Rich.Oliver at lowell.edu>
To: <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <Rich.Oliver at lowell.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] VHF DX


> The most impressive VHF ducting event I ever witnessed was in the early
> 70's when I was living in rural Indiana.  One Sunday morning I noticed
> that I was getting interference on channel 18, the local UHF TV station,
> so I started tuning around and rotating my antenna to see what was out
> there.  There were two or three stations at different bearings on every
> UHF channel.
>
> I worked my way up the dial thinking it would stop at any moment, but it
> just kept going.  I finally hit channel 42 (642 MHz) with the antenna
> pointing NE.  I gave up at that point and watched Le Monde Merveilleux
> de Disney from Montreal until I had to leave for work.
>
> I had worked as a transmitter engineer at Channel 18 a few years earlier
> when I was a Purdue student and often pulled the Saturday night signoff/
> Sunday morning signon shift.  I took a pillow, blanket, and alarm clock
> and spent the night at the transmitter site.  After signoff you could
> patch the main antenna, a 40 foot pylon at 650 feet, into the air
> monitor.  It was fun to watch the other channel 18 stations sign off and
> more distant ones pop up in their place until you got to the all-nighter
> in St. Louis.  No ducting required with that antenna!
>
> Thanks for the detour down memory lane.
>
> 73, Rich
>
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