[TransAtlantic] de CT1HZE

Sat Nov 28 10:16:07 EST 2009

Joe+
Headed to K4MHZ/b in 1 week to check antennas, power out and frequency. Winds blew at 120 km/hr +  in early November for  2 days...
Hatteras Island has almost daily 30-60 km/hr in the winter. 

73
Mark
K4MHZ

-----Original Message-----
From: J. Kraft <funk-telegramm at t-online.de>
To: transatlantic at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sat, Nov 28, 2009 5:03 am
Subject: Re: [TransAtlantic] de CT1HZE

Hi all,
first of all I am very happy to see that there is a lot of brainstorming
n NA
ow 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
ave been made in the past, and always a team from EU had to go to NA
s there was virtually no interest from the NA side at all.
or us Europeans this has been always the biggest problem:
he lack of active interested dedicated stations in favourable locations
n the NA side.
n Europe there are QRO EME level stations in fantastic location
vailable
or tests any time from the western countries like EI, G, GW, GM, F, EA1
nd CT.
 personally have not found a single partner for 2m TA tests in the last
0
ears untill K4MHZ N7BHC and WA1ZMS became interested just a few years
go
nd installed beacons. However, I am not too optimistic as all of them 
ould need hours to get on the air if their beacons will be heard.
 don`t expect that a 2m TA opening will last longer than a few minutes.
 have made two 2m  Es QSOs over 4000km, one to 4X and one to UA,
oth were 1 minute events.
O1 is "ust" 3700km from me, but there is none and the beacon that has
een there
s off for many years now. Even worse it has been off for several years
nd all EU thought
t was still on, but the keepers did not announce it.
y QTH in CT is 90m a.s.l., that is roughly 300 feet. and I can run 100
W
RP on 2m and I have a perfect take off all over the Atlantic Ocean.
 am hearing the 2m beacon from CU8 (Flores) on many days in the
ummer via Es and Tropo, that is 2000km, so more than 50% of the path
lready and almost in line to VO1. But again nobody in VO1
r even VE1 who I could test with. I know there is a VE1 now who is
n 2m EME but he showed no serious interest when I emailed him.
 have made many tests on 2m in the last years with KP4EIT and FM5CS 
hen condx looked promising but no success yet.
>From all my 2m and 6m Es experience I would expect that the FM03, 04, 14
nd 25 area 
hould be a perfect area for Es propagation to Europe.
There are several quite well equipped stations qrv from CU for years
ow:
U7BC, CU8AO, CU3EQ, CU2JX and others.
U3EQ is very interested in 2m DX and TA experiments.
U8AO made experiments this August with VO1/DM8MM and heard
ood bursts from him. CU8AO had no TX at that time and it would have
een
 first terrestrial 2m QSO between VE and CU only, as this path does not
ualify for the Brendan Trophy, of course......
The good news for NA is that a 2m beacon will be on air from CU7 (grid
M58)
ery soon with a yagi beaming to VE/VO1/W1
hat is easy single hop Es distance to VO1.
he 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
hese days from EA8 with an omnidirectional antenna. 
I have studied Hepburn maps for hundreds of hours the last years.
 don`t see a very big chance for Tropo between VO1 and Europe
ay be once in 20 years or so.
he most promising path I see is from CT/EA to the Caribbean, especially
he area of
M, FG etc. But FM5CS is QRT and there was no one in the last years to
est with.
There have been confirmed Aurora-E receptions from GM to VO1 on 100 MHz
fter strong 2m Aurora events in Europe. So this is a most likely chance
lso
or 2m. There are dozens of stations qrv on 2m from GM, GI, EI and even
ore from LA and SM
ut again not a single from VO1.
BTW no EU FM BC stations are active below 88 MHz from western EU
ountries,
here are a few left on 70 MHz from UA, LZ and YO but that is at least
ne extra 2000km hop.
So, I am sorry for this not really structured list of my thoughts and
its of information,
ut I wanted to share this with you as I see that you need some input
rom the EU side
here has been published a lot about this stuff as seen and experienced
rom the European
ide over the last years in DUBUS magazine.
73 and GL
oe, DL8HCZ/CT1HZE

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