[TransAtlantic] de CT1HZE

[J. Kraft]

Hi all,

first of all I am very happy to see that there is a lot of brainstorming
in NA
now about the final challenge on VHF, a 2m TA QSO.

Here in Europe we had this discussion for ages and it is still alive.

Several serious attempts for Tropo / Meteor QSOs between VO1 and EI
have been made in the past, and always a team from EU had to go to NA
as there was virtually no interest from the NA side at all.
For us Europeans this has been always the biggest problem:
The lack of active interested dedicated stations in favourable locations
on the NA side.
In Europe there are QRO EME level stations in fantastic location
available
for tests any time from the western countries like EI, G, GW, GM, F, EA1
and CT.
I personally have not found a single partner for 2m TA tests in the last
10
years untill K4MHZ N7BHC and WA1ZMS became interested just a few years
ago
and installed beacons. However, I am not too optimistic as all of them 
would need hours to get on the air if their beacons will be heard.
I don`t expect that a 2m TA opening will last longer than a few minutes.
I have made two 2m  Es QSOs over 4000km, one to 4X and one to UA,
both were 1 minute events.
VO1 is "ust" 3700km from me, but there is none and the beacon that has
been there
is off for many years now. Even worse it has been off for several years
and all EU thought
it was still on, but the keepers did not announce it.
My QTH in CT is 90m a.s.l., that is roughly 300 feet. and I can run 100
KW
ERP on 2m and I have a perfect take off all over the Atlantic Ocean.
I am hearing the 2m beacon from CU8 (Flores) on many days in the
summer via Es and Tropo, that is 2000km, so more than 50% of the path
already and almost in line to VO1. But again nobody in VO1
or even VE1 who I could test with. I know there is a VE1 now who is
on 2m EME but he showed no serious interest when I emailed him.
I have made many tests on 2m in the last years with KP4EIT and FM5CS 
when condx looked promising but no success yet.
>From all my 2m and 6m Es experience I would expect that the FM03, 04, 14
and 25 area 
should be a perfect area for Es propagation to Europe.

There are several quite well equipped stations qrv from CU for years
now:
CU7BC, CU8AO, CU3EQ, CU2JX and others.
CU3EQ is very interested in 2m DX and TA experiments.
CU8AO made experiments this August with VO1/DM8MM and heard
good bursts from him. CU8AO had no TX at that time and it would have
been
a first terrestrial 2m QSO between VE and CU only, as this path does not
qualify for the Brendan Trophy, of course......

The good news for NA is that a 2m beacon will be on air from CU7 (grid
HM58)
very soon with a yagi beaming to VE/VO1/W1
That is easy single hop Es distance to VO1.
The question is, who will listen from the NA side, especially from VO1?

After waiting 5 years for the licence another beacon will go on air
these days from EA8 with an omnidirectional antenna. 

I have studied Hepburn maps for hundreds of hours the last years.
I don`t see a very big chance for Tropo between VO1 and Europe
may be once in 20 years or so.
The most promising path I see is from CT/EA to the Caribbean, especially
the area of
FM, FG etc. But FM5CS is QRT and there was no one in the last years to
test with.

There have been confirmed Aurora-E receptions from GM to VO1 on 100 MHz
after strong 2m Aurora events in Europe. So this is a most likely chance
also
for 2m. There are dozens of stations qrv on 2m from GM, GI, EI and even
more from LA and SM
but again not a single from VO1.

BTW no EU FM BC stations are active below 88 MHz from western EU
countries,
there are a few left on 70 MHz from UA, LZ and YO but that is at least
one extra 2000km hop.

So, I am sorry for this not really structured list of my thoughts and
bits of information,
but I wanted to share this with you as I see that you need some input
from the EU side
There has been published a lot about this stuff as seen and experienced
from the European
side over the last years in DUBUS magazine.

73 and GL
Joe, DL8HCZ/CT1HZE