DUCT 20th & 21st of July 2005
Home at 5pm to find Adelaide beacon at 5/4 signal @ 762 km
Shepparton repeater up as is Yarrawonga.
5.40pm - Quick check of Mildura beacon 144.436 shows 5/9 signal @ 479 Km.
ALso Broken Hill beacon is 5/7 on 144.526 @ 638 Km.
5.55 pm - Shout out west on 144.100 netted John VK5PO at Eden Valley, solid
5/7 signal @ 731 Km
5.58 pm - Checking for Adelaide beacon 432.448.1 cw on Spectran reveals its
presence on screen but not audible.
6.00 pm - Wishing the vertical 146 MHz yagis were operational as there is
little activity on SSB.
6.35 pm - Just heard something that brings back memories of those summer
duct mornings, Bordertown link repeater in VK5 is currently interfering with
the Yarrawonga repeater 147.200.
7.06 pm - Beacons - Geelong 2m - 5/9+10; 70cm - 5/7. Mt Gambier - 2m - 5/5;
70cm - 5/3. Adelaide 2m - 5/4; 70cm on Spectran. Mildura - 2m 5/4. Broken
Hill 2m 5/0.
7.15 pm - Worked John VK5NJ from Mt Gambier via Mt Macedon repeater 147.250,
followed by Steve VK3JSR mobile and then Ian VK3BFR near Geelong.
7.43 pm - :O) Pretty happy to call CQ and have Peter VK5ZLX come back on
144.100. Peter coming with a strong 5/9+10dB signal. Peter is going to try
set up a 70cm rig. Peter at 735 Km.
7.45 pm - Heard VK5KCX Barry, but only just on 144.100 not enough signal.
7.50 pm - Tried with VK5ZLX on 70cm 432.100, Peter could hear me to 5/1 on a
simple set up with no pre-amp. I could not hear Peters 10 watts.
8.00 pm - Was able to work Barry VK5KCX on 144.100 from Gawler @ 764 Km up
to 5/3.
8.10 pm - VK5ZLX kindly runs up a tone on 432.120 from his 10 W rig which I
could copy 5/1 and monitor on Spectran
8.15 pm - Great to hear Les VK5JL at Grange (Adelaide beach area) on 144.100
up to 5/1 from the west side of the hills @ 782 Km
8.28 pm - Again, great to hear Phill VK5AKK, located just south of the
Crafers repeater site in the Adelaide area. Phil was 5/9+10 on 144.100 and
5/8 on 432.100 @ 763 Km. Unfortunately Phil did not have 1296 running.
8.35 pm - VK5AKK advised current Adelaide 23cm beacon freq. I tuned this in
and found I was able to copy the beacon 1296.437.4 cw on Spectran with QSB.
8.45 pm - Adelaide 432.448.1 cw beacon is audible and up to 5/2. 144.450 is
5/6 at this stage.
9.00 pm - Worked Les VK3TEX from Kyabram on 146.500 up to 5/3 on my Diamond
vertical on the roof. Les also reports that he heard Shane VK5NRV and Barry
VK5KCX call into the Shepparton repeater earlier on in the evening.
AFter 10 pm till 11.30pm - Worked Ian VK3IDL on 144.100 from Ballarat 5/5.
Ed VK3BG 5/9+30, also worked VK3BG on 1296.100 with bad QSB up to 5/0 this
way, Ed is at Koonoomoo. Big signal from Colin VK5DK at Mt Gambier on
144.100, Colin up to 5/9 on 2m and 5/7 on 432.100. Colin could hear me
weakly on 1296.100 but was not set up to TX back.
11.46 pm - Mt Gambier 1296.550 beacon is audible peaking around 15 dB out of
noise level on Spectran. 144.550 is 5/7 & 432.550 is 5/5.
Thursday Morning 21.07.05 -
Roger VK5NY in the Adelaide Hills at McLaren Flat on 144.100 was 5/9+10, on
432.100 was 5/6, and had audible tone on 1296.100 but not enough for a QSO
there. Roger is 770 Km.
Garry VK5ZK at Goolwa was 5/9 on 144.100. Garry is 754 Km. Very good signal.
Mt Gambier beacons were very good - 144.550 - 5/7; 432.550 - 5/9+20;
1296.550 - 5/0. Unfortunately my 1296 MHz set up is not the best at giving
signal reports. Looking at Spectran the signal from Mt Gambier 1296 beacon
was over 40dB above the noise level. This would probably equate to a signal
of 5/9 if this was generated on 144 MHz. Distance to the beacon is 644 Km.
I tried with Colin VK5DK from Mt Gambier, he was only 5/9 or less on 144.100
and was 5/9+20 on 432.550, which was interesting. I fired 120W on 1296 to
Colin but he could only just hear it and was not able to transmit back.
Seems a little strange seen as though the beacon was so good, but when I
next checked the beacon it was back to about 10dB above the noise. Colin is
633 Km.
I think John VK5PO was in amongst this lot also and was 5/9 from memory. 631
Km.
Sorry about the lack of FM reports, my vertical yagis still off air. I
certainly wish they were up over these few days, could have gotten to Broken
Hill easy, not to mention other hard to get places.
Its certainly not much fun with only the Diamond vertical omni on the roof,
getting no where fast. Anyone out there with only a vertical omni antenna,
do yourself a favour and get a yagi up there on 2 & 70 FM.
I'll always remember those first few magic duct openings I experienced from
here with the Diamond vertical omni antenna back on the 10th of November
2002. I easily worked John VK5AEP at Port Lincoln SA @ 1023 Km and Jim
VK5AJW at Cowell SA @ 947 Km on FM 146.500. These remain my furthest FM
simplex contacts. Man on man, would be interesting to go back to that day
and see what 4 yagis would produce.
Leigh VK2KRR