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 Previous: The Amateur Amateur: Unpreparedness |  Next: Supply and Demand: VU4AN Andamans Operations Create a Clamor |
NEWINGTON, CT, April 26, 2006 -- Earlier this month, Scott Tilley, VE7TIL, and I led a team of Canadian hams in trying to make the first two-way contact between North America and New Zealand on 2200 meters. Using the call VA7LF (in honor of our mission using low frequency), we attempted the contact from South Pender Island, British Columbia, Canada between April 3 and 5.
Assisting in this project were Martin MacGregor, VE7MM, and John Gibbs, VE7BDQ.
Using an aluminum tower 40 feet high, we added two 20-foot aluminum sections to the top of the tower, as well as a large 150-foot two wire top hat spaced 10 feet across. Another 25 feet of wire was extended from the base of the antenna over the cliffside, ending just above the beach, where it was matched and fed with 50 ohm coax, for a total of 105 feet. The entire antenna system was brought into resonance on 137 kHz; the big vertical required 1.9 mH of inductance to bring it down to 2200 meters.
Murphy's Law of propagation was evident all three nights
of the test, as the A and K indices were highly elevated. In addition, there
were strong geomagnetic storms and aurora displays so intense they could be
seen in the central USA.
Even with the poor propagation, VA7LF and ZM2E (Quartz Hill, New Zealand) managed to exchange signals on 2200 meters. Using slow speed DFCW90 and DFCW60 (this is frequency shift keyed Morse: a "dot" is sent by having the transmitter send on frequency_1 and a dash by having the transmitter send on frequency_2; the difference between frequency_1 and frequency_2 is typically 0.1 Hz to 0.5 Hz), signals from both ends were copied on all three nights.
The third morning had the best results: ZM2E's signal suddenly elevated 25 dB over the noise and acknowledged our call as a perfect copy of the beacon signal. This was an invitation to begin a formal contact sequence, but as the sun was starting to rise on South Pender Island, the darkness disappeared before full calls could be exchanged.
On the third night just prior to sunset, VA7LF took advantage of the strong groundwave signal and made a number of crossband contacts, using 160-2200 meters, to Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
VA7LF has attempted to make this contact since 2004. Although
not reaching the goal of a valid contact, we will try again. -- Steve
McDonald, VE7SL
| Previous: The Amateur Amateur: Unpreparedness | Next: Supply and Demand: VU4AN Andamans Operations Create a Clamor |
