[HCARC] Fwd: [Rmg] Transatlantic Contact Completed on 2 Meters!

[W4wj at aol.com]

An interesting FYI...
 
73
Don
W4WJ
 
  
____________________________________
 From: n5ba at comcast.net
To: rmg at k5rmg.com
Sent: 10/6/2016 1:16:31 P.M.  Central Daylight Time
Subj: [Rmg] Transatlantic Contact Completed on 2  Meters!


>From ARRL Web page

Transatlantic Contact Completed on 2 Meters!
10/05/2016  
Amateurs in South America and Africa successfully completed a transatlantic 
 contact on 2 meters on October 4 and 5. Setting the new record were Marcos 
da  Silva, PY1MHZ, in Rio de Janeiro (GG87jc), who copied the 2 meter QRA64 
 signal of Pieter Jacobs, V51PJ, in Rosh Pinah, Namibia (JG82IE) via  
tropospheric ducting. The distance between the two stations is 5987 kilometers  
(approximately 3712 miles). Developed by Nico Palermo, IV3NWV, QRA64  has 
been incorporated into the WSJT digital suite of Joe Taylor,  K1JT. 
The contact will not qualify for one of the Irish Radio Transmitters  
Society (_IRTS_ (http://www.irts.ie/) ) _Brendan  Awards_ 
(http://www.irts.ie/cgi/st.cgi?brendan) , which require that one of the transatlantic endpoints be  
in Europe. 
The contact took place on 144.250MHz, with PY1MHZ heard at a  
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of –36 dB, and V51PJ copied at an SNR of –37 dB.  The 
contact took place from 2038 UTC on October 4 until 0028 on October 5. 
PY1MHZ was running 400 W into a 2 × 12 element horizontal array, using a 16 
 dB preamp on receive. V51PJ was running 1 kW into a 2 × 13 element array. 
“Look at those SNRs of –37 and –36 dB!” enthused Ward Silver, N0AX. “That’
s  a signal 4000 times weaker than the noise, and it did not take massive 
dishes  or arrays.” He said the continued progress of digital-mode 
development  demonstrated by the WSJT suite of protocols “represents true innovation  
by amateurs.” 
Silver noted that the Brazil-to-Namibia path is 50 percent longer than the  
Southern California-to-Hawaii path. He speculates that even longer  
transpacific paths may exist, for which no amateur stations are currently  
available. 
Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, commented, “Only thanks to the persistence  
and determination of these OMs was this historic achievement possible.” He  
expressed appreciation to WSJT developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, for  continuing 
to provide state-of-the-art Amateur Radio digital  software.