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Radio Records: WA1ZMS and W4WWQ Go 114 KM on 241 GHZ
A pair of United states hams are now the likely distance holders for a contact on the 241 Gigahertz band.
At 01:24 U-T-C on January 31st, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS portable 4 operating from Grid Square FM07 made contact with Peter Lascell, W4WWQ, also operating portable 4 from Grid Square EM96. That’s a distance of 114.4km and beating out the old record of 79 km by 35.4 Km.
WA1ZMS says that the QSO was over 2 years in the making with several failed attempts at even shorter distances during that time period. He says that the key to success this time was the very driest of winter air that may only take place one day a year in his part of the country. The mode used for the contact was CW. (WA1ZMS) [AR NEWSLINE]
EME on 25 watts
A new UK record is claimed by Angus Young, M0IKB, after working a nAmerican by moonbounce on two metres. Angus achieved the 500,000 mile contact with KB8RQ using just 25 watts to an indoor, homebrew 7 element beam. 2m EME is a well established practice, but usually requires large aerial arrays and high power. Angus said, “I was really shocked when I picked up the signal, it was brilliant.” [GB2RS]
Antipodean Amateurs Achieve 2200 Miles on 2m
In two spectacular openings on the two metre band, a new Australia to
New Zealand record was set. On 29 December, VK4DMC worked ZL1CN at a
distance of 3549 kilometres. VK4DMC was running 200 watts into an 11
element Yagi just 8 meters above ground. Then on 9 January, there was an
opening to ZL from VK5 resulting in several contacts, the best being
between VK5BC and ZL1TWR over a distance of 3482km.
500 kHz Distance Record Set
On January 17, Neil Schwanitz, V73NS/WD8CRT, on Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands, received a signal from experimental station WD2XSH/20. This experimental station, operated by Rudy Severns N6LF, is located in Cottage Grove, Oregon -- 4737 miles away from the island in the Kwajalein atoll.
The 13 words-per-minute CW transmission was copyable by ear and also appeared in the Spectran capture; "SL" in the capture is from a non-directional beacon on 505 kHz located in Khomotovo, Russia.
Belgians get five watts at 500kHz
The Belgian national society UBA has received notice from their licensing authority BIPT that Belgian amateurs can use the segment 501-504kHz on a secondary basis. Only CW is permitted but this can be at any speed, so it includes QRSS. The power limit is 5 watts ERP. [RSGB]
Greenland gets 5MHz
The Greenlandic telecom administration has announced seven 5MHz frequencies for OX operators to use SSB, CW and digimodes. They now have 5260, 5280, 5290, 5368, 5373, 5400 and 5405kHz.
More time and power for 500kHz enthusiasts (in Great Britain)
There is good news this week for those experimenting on the MF band 501 to 504kHz.
Following representations made by the RSGB, OfCom have extended the validity of all Notices of Variation by one year to 28 February 2009.
At the same time the maximum permitted power has also been increased to 1W ERP from 100mW ERP.
The full statement from Ofcom, including details of how to apply for a Notice of Variation, can be found on the Ofcom web site. [GB2RS]
| March, 2008 | |
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