good conditions of just luck

[towerdog]

I talked 45 miles today on SSB with strong signals in both directions, and then 30 miles the other direction but could barely copy. That was running mobile with a 200 watts, and a 3' base loaded antenna. Atmospheric conditions were near dead, made contact with a station in Cali but he wasnt putting enough on my receive to make copy on him.

I talked for about 10 minutes driving down the road before I started to loose the other station, the 45 mile away station had to sign off.

I was expecting maybe 15 miles base to mobile, is this sort of range what to expect or just luck?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Sounds about right for having no DX to contend with. SSB range is MUCH better than straight AM. I would routinely work out to 30-40 miles with a 102 whip and barefoot.

 

[MudDuck442]

Sounds about right..there are way too many determining factors though to say it would be like this all the time and too many factors to say it wouldn't be. The other day from my mobile I heard a guy with an accent talking on 10M and was about an S7. Turned out he was in Argentina and we talked for a few mins and exchanged calls. You just never know.

 

[davegrantsr]

Haven't looked at the hepburn forecast, nor do i know where in nc towerdog is. BUT could have been a tropo variant....45 miles being a bit closer then the 'norm' however. But here on the edge of the atlantic ocean, strange things happen via ducts, fronts & other weather/atmospheric related incidents. Sometimes 75 miles away will get you an S9 signal....but a local a quarter mile away hears next to nothing. Some of these incidents can cover 100+ miles. Some last for hours, some only minutes. Not as strong or as often as the CA to HI vhf/uhf duct, but it happens.

 

[towerdog]

I doubt it was tropo scatter, he regularly talks to the other station with beams. 50 miles between 2 base stations with beams, even barefoot is no major feat.

 

[towerdog]

Sounds about right..there are way too many determining factors though to say it would be like this all the time and too many factors to say it wouldn't be. The other day from my mobile I heard a guy with an accent talking on 10M and was about an S7. Turned out he was in Argentina and we talked for a few mins and exchanged calls. You just never know.

Bouncing a signal off the F2 layer is cheating and dont count. I talked to Ireland, the UK and France barefoot from my base station. Sometimes conditions work out well enough I have talked to california on 4 watts.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Haven't looked at the hepburn forecast, nor do i know where in nc towerdog is. BUT could have been a tropo variant....45 miles being a bit closer then the 'norm' however. But here on the edge of the atlantic ocean, strange things happen via ducts, fronts & other weather/atmospheric related incidents. Sometimes 75 miles away will get you an S9 signal....but a local a quarter mile away hears next to nothing. Some of these incidents can cover 100+ miles. Some last for hours, some only minutes. Not as strong or as often as the CA to HI vhf/uhf duct, but it happens.

You don't get much ducting on 11m. The PineappleExpress duct fron Ca.to Hi. is very much a VHF/UHF only thing.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Here in the southeast I have a better chance if talking to the New England states and Chicago than out west much less Hawaii. My 1/4 whip w/tv antennas for a ground plane on my tower seems be be making DX contacts out west when conditions warrant. My fav mobile DX spot is a Taco Bell in Monroe below Charlotte. Keep on trying,someone will get back to you

 

[towerdog]

You ought to try talking at night, up here around high point there is often locals talking on 38 LSB. With my old (crap) setup I could hear stations up in virgina, morganton and as far south as albemarle. Now I got much better antenna, at a higher elevation off the ground with a better radio. The trip might be possible, if not I hope to have together a set of beams by end of summer.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

I'm working having a better base antenna. Thinking about making a home brew three element beam this week. Got to get the measurements. I presently have a 102" stainless steel whip on my tower using the tv antenna array as a ground plane. I heard Albemarle and Kings Mountain tonight. I can barely talk over thirty miles right now so a better antenna is a must as well as getting it up higher than thirty-seven feet. I have radios with good ears.

 

[davegrantsr]

not what i meant lil'yeshua

You don't get much ducting on 11m. The PineappleExpress duct fron Ca.to Hi. is very much a VHF/UHF only thing.

that's why i added 'fronts & other weather/atmospheric related incidents'. here literally on the edge of the atlantic ocean in fn30, we get occasional occurrences that do NOT coincide with the hepburn forecast-sometimes into PA or upstate NY, but sometimes into DE, MD, VA, eastern MA & even into the south & east coast of nova scotia has happened! these occurrences have happened when there is no e or f skip prevalent. they are not do to beams & high power. a gentleman from NJ, 979, used to drive to 'high points' all over the northeast, throw an a99 on his trailer hitch & see just how far he was capable of talking. some years ago it was noted that if somebody would just 'talk' for a continued period, a 'copy' could be made. such as repeating a unit over 7 over for a minute plus. somebody would relay to 979 or the other station that the caller had finished, & quite often there would be confirmation of a copy.
maybe no correlation to towerdog's question, but just a little food for thought

 

[gator-4200]

Yeah sometimes I just get barefoot and talk until someone answers me. When you talk to yourself with no radio using a radio to do it doesn't seem too weird.


Sent from my homebrew wooden jungle box using morse code.

 

[towerdog]

yea sometimes the only way to get someone to quit calling is to answer them