Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

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G4uvz
Posts: 219
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:30 am

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by G4uvz » Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:07 pm

I will be available through the day .listening Zello SHF Channel 144.750 and 07778 523 832
QRV with DATV on 146.5 1249 AND 10GHz
Adrian G4UVZ

G4uvz
Posts: 219
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:30 am

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by G4uvz » Wed Oct 24, 2018 7:47 am

CCX in Taunton this AM up 10-13dB on Normal

gi7ugv
Posts: 50
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:47 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by gi7ugv » Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:34 pm

Sorry the attempts to here didn't work out, wasn't even a hint of a signal.

Did work GI4DOH at maybe 1km away -20 degrees down hill!

If I could go back, I would take the 2m DATV kit out instead. After started to pack the 6cm kit away I tried 2m SSB and quickly worked F & EA for a first to there easily. Hearing a beacon in IN88 from my hole in the ground QTH with a 4 element antenna below roof height just now. Gah.

M0DTS
Posts: 652
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:03 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by M0DTS » Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:48 am

Well then...

The morning started with me checking the radios at home and not much was happening at ~8am.
By 11am G8VPG/P was upto S7 on .750, rather surprising!
By 12:30 the Cornwall beacons on 2m/23cm were S9 and very stable, i decided to go out portable to IO94MJ a bit earlier than planned!

I was on site and setup by 2:15, liaised with Shaun on .750 with full scale signals, that sounds promising for 370km...
Sean put his 6cm Tx on and a little tweak of the dish brought in a P2 signal, amazing how easy it was to find, qsb varied from nothing to P5, we exchanged signals for about 30 mins both ways.

After that i tried with Malcolm G0UHY on 146.5, he's about as far dx to the south west as possible... i managed to receive his signal no problem but unfortunately we could not make it a 2-way contact, that's 477km!

Following that Adrian G4UVZ appeared, we exchanged 146.5 signals both ways very easily at 407km. We then tried 3cm ssb to see what the conditions were like on there, 59 was reported so we tried 3cm DATV using 146.5 into the 10GHz transverter. DATV signals were exchanged both ways at 125Ks, we could have managed on 333Ks but the qsb was too fast for it to lock for any period of time.

I then worked Tony G4CBW in IO83 on 146.5 DATV, good signals but not as easy as the path to IO80/81 so the tropo was quite selective. We did try 10GHz but that was very poor signals.

I tried 146.5 with John G4BAO but unfortunately the tropo to the south east was non existing.

Apologies for the poor 6cm screenshots, my analogue monitor still needs replacing.

I packed up at ~7pm after looking on other bands but the tropo had dropped off a little by then, when i got home the Cornwall beacons were still in but much weaker.

It's a shame we don't get days like this often, i was lucky being on my days off work to be able to participate, thanks to all who were on, it was a great day, really enjoyed it.

Rob
M0DTS
Attachments
tropo map F5LEN_241018.PNG
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Mosaic 241018 Tropo.jpg
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g8vpg
Posts: 381
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:35 am

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by g8vpg » Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:04 am

Well, what a day! G6AUR & myself were at Penn Hill, on the Mendips in Somerset, right next to the regional TV mast, IO81QF46RR, 299m asl. After my first call on .750, Rob came back and was a good strength, which was encouraging. However, the rest of the morning was a series of disappointments. I couldn't work Noel near Cheltenham on 5.6GHz. I then tried with GI7UGV & GI4DOH, but that was perhaps too much to expect at 424km. G4EWJ then set up at Winter Hill and that was no go, despite Noel exchanging good reports with him from Cleeve Hill. I was beginning to think the forecast was wrong and I was not going to work anything. However, I had agreed to wait for Rob M0DTS to arrive his portable location. On 2m talkback, we were both end stop signals with each other and I was beginning to wish I had brought 2m DATV instead of 5.6GHz. I lined up the dish carefully and noticed a dark band of cloud on the horizon in his direction. I put my TX on, just 1W, and he saw me straight away. After a bit of aligning, I was peaking P5! We quickly sent pictures the other way to make it a two way contact and Rob was peaking P5 with me also. We exchanged pictures both ways for 40 minutes with long periods of steady P5, but also periods of QSB that took it down to the noise level. 370km, my best TV DX on any band! Rob went on to work even better DX on 2m & 10GHz, so it was a truly memorable day. Thank you to all the stations that went out portable at short notice, some travelling considerable distances.
73 Shaun.
Image
Image
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I think this last photograph would have been a good candidate for the old CQ-TV "guess a caption" competition!
Image

Tony G4CBW
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:16 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by Tony G4CBW » Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:30 pm

G0UHY.jpg
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Great to have decent band conditions, for a change. Operating from home it was nice to finally work Rob M0DTS/P on 146.5 MHz with good signals either way, even so the path was very changeable with QSB. Our last test earlier this year did not go. Also managed to copy Malcolm G0UHY transmission to Rob on 146.5 MHz at a solid P5. Picture attached. After this it was up to 3cm for test with Adrian G4UVZ from IO80KX which was successful, distance around 240km. Although initially signals were not so strong until we switched to narrow band to align our dishes more accurately, after which I was receiving Adrian's DATV signal at P5 using Sr2000. Have attached a number pictures, the one showing Adrian's Sr2000 pic was a frame grab from the recorded Transport Stream.

73 Tony G4CBW

Tony G4CBW
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:16 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by Tony G4CBW » Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:35 pm

Not sure the other pics didn't go, will try again
G4UVZ 3cm DATV 20th OCT 18 edit.png
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Tony G4CBW
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:16 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by Tony G4CBW » Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:38 pm

And again
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Tony G4CBW
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:16 pm

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by Tony G4CBW » Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:39 pm

again
g4uvz 3cm.png
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G4EWJ
Posts: 1340
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: Very strong tropo this week - anyone takers?

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:03 pm

G3NWR (G4EWJ, M0LCR, 2E0DHQ) went to Winter Hill near Bolton in Lancashire, where it was cold, windy and overcast. It seems like the best weather and conditions were elsewhere.

Our only contact was a meagre 190km on 5.6GHz with G8GTZ/P on Cleeve Common near Cheltenham. As Noel said, you never know when a Sainbury's till receipt will come in handy.
.
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Last edited by G4EWJ on Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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