Sunday 10th October 2010 saw an excellent spell of tropospheric DX on 2m. This was actually in the middle of a sustained period of exceptional tropospheric propagation which had affected most of Western Europe. Many long-standing European DXers considered this to be one of the best tropospheric events ever!
Many radio enthusiasts were blown away by the intensity of the signals and the distances worked during this period.
This spell of propagation had been with us for a few days but the evening of 10-10-10 saw the peak for my location in the Midlands. The signals were so strong that I had to venture to the dizzy heights of the Axe Edge in Derbyshire to see how the conditions were over there.
Arriving at the Axe Edge shortly after 18:00 I erected my 2m HB9CV on a small mast at the side of the car, making it approximately 3-4m above the ground. Before firing up the IC7000 I had a tune across the FM broadcast band. I was stunned. Using only the small vertical telescopic whip on my car I discovered that the whole FM band was awash with German signals. This is surprising by itself since German FM broadcast stations transmit in horizontal polarisation. All signals were in fully quieting stereo! No English stations were audible because they had been wiped out by the strong German signals! I was almost convinced I was living in Germany!
Quickly to 2m SSB where it was difficult to find an empty channel on which to call as the whole of Europe seemed to be exchanging signal reports, so I found a 'relatively' clear frequency and gave my first CQ. Instead of having to wait endlessly for a response, as can sometimes happen, I was bombarded with a pile-up of European stations responding to my call. It was difficult to pick out an individual callsign.
First I exchanged a report with Martin, PE1BIW, however it was the second QSO which amazed me: LY2WR, a club radio station in Vilnius, Lithuania. The distance involved between their location and the Axe Edge was a staggering 1775km (1100 miles) and the signal reports were S7-9 making it an easy copy both ways. This is my personal record for tropospheric DX.
After reading the accounts of other hams a few days later, I discovered that my signal had been heard at 5/9 by a DX listener in Latvia!
I went on to work other stations in germany, Sweden and Poland. Admittedly I had a great advantage being so high in the Peak District and with an excellent take-off in the direction of mainland Europe, but it was not long before curiosity got the better of me again and I wondered if I would be able to achieve the same distances from home, so I quickly wound the aerial and headed back, where I continued to work stations in several European countries.
Here is the log for the evening of the 10th October 2010 on the Axe Edge:
Many radio enthusiasts were blown away by the intensity of the signals and the distances worked during this period.
This spell of propagation had been with us for a few days but the evening of 10-10-10 saw the peak for my location in the Midlands. The signals were so strong that I had to venture to the dizzy heights of the Axe Edge in Derbyshire to see how the conditions were over there.
Arriving at the Axe Edge shortly after 18:00 I erected my 2m HB9CV on a small mast at the side of the car, making it approximately 3-4m above the ground. Before firing up the IC7000 I had a tune across the FM broadcast band. I was stunned. Using only the small vertical telescopic whip on my car I discovered that the whole FM band was awash with German signals. This is surprising by itself since German FM broadcast stations transmit in horizontal polarisation. All signals were in fully quieting stereo! No English stations were audible because they had been wiped out by the strong German signals! I was almost convinced I was living in Germany!
Quickly to 2m SSB where it was difficult to find an empty channel on which to call as the whole of Europe seemed to be exchanging signal reports, so I found a 'relatively' clear frequency and gave my first CQ. Instead of having to wait endlessly for a response, as can sometimes happen, I was bombarded with a pile-up of European stations responding to my call. It was difficult to pick out an individual callsign.
First I exchanged a report with Martin, PE1BIW, however it was the second QSO which amazed me: LY2WR, a club radio station in Vilnius, Lithuania. The distance involved between their location and the Axe Edge was a staggering 1775km (1100 miles) and the signal reports were S7-9 making it an easy copy both ways. This is my personal record for tropospheric DX.
After reading the accounts of other hams a few days later, I discovered that my signal had been heard at 5/9 by a DX listener in Latvia!
I went on to work other stations in germany, Sweden and Poland. Admittedly I had a great advantage being so high in the Peak District and with an excellent take-off in the direction of mainland Europe, but it was not long before curiosity got the better of me again and I wondered if I would be able to achieve the same distances from home, so I quickly wound the aerial and headed back, where I continued to work stations in several European countries.
Here is the log for the evening of the 10th October 2010 on the Axe Edge:
Call Grid Snt Rcd
PE1BIW JO32bt 5/7 5/8
LY2WR KO24fo 5/6 5/7
SP1O JO73gk 5/6 5/8
PA3HEB JO22rm 5/7 5/7
PA1MV JO21ex 5/7 5/9
DC2JWR JO31mf 5/7 5/9
PE1LJS JO22oi 5/7 5/9
DO9PL JO31lg 5/7 5/7
DL8YAU JO41hs 5/8 5/9
DL1DBR JO41bn 5/9 5/9
DK3WG JO72gi 5/3 5/3>
ON7CX JO10nt 5/4 5/9+30!!
DL9OLI JO51lx 5/1 5/5
DL1OLI JO41bp 5/3 5/7
DF5NK JN59op 5/5 5/3
SM7NR JO76rc 5/5 5/7
Once I returned home I worked the following stations, all using a Cushcraft four element rooftop beam - exluding ON4HP which who was worked on the FM section of 2m using a roof-mounted Cushcraft VRX2 2x5/8 wave colinear. Further FM QSOs were made on the 11th into Germany. I hope it is not too long before such an intense tropospheric lift is experienced.
Call Grid Snt Rcd
DL9YBZ JO31KU 3/1 5/1
DF1AN JO63SX 5/1 5/4
DK5JM JO43QS 3/1 5/5
ON6SX JO20HV 5/2 5/5
PA3CUK JO22FB 5/5 5/9
SP1FJZ JO84EE 5/1 5/5
OZ1HXM JO45LT 5/3 5/3
ON4HP JO20QV 5/1 2/3
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