Rory Norton ZS2BL received an e-mail from Orlando PY2ANE in Brazil, who is
looking for 2m contacts with South African hams via tropo propagation over
the sea.
According to Emil Pocock W3EP (QST), high pressure cells also occur over the
Atlantic Ocean such as the St Helena High and of course th Reunion High over
the Indian Ocean during summertime in the Southern hemisphere. This is a wonderful
opportunity for Cape Town Amateurs to once again do some pioneering work on
VHF over a distance of about 6000km. (It is a bit closer from Walvis Bay,
Namibia). It will require very efficient VHF equipment and high gain Yagi
arrays to establish this new world Tropo record. Those who live on the east
or south coast of the RSA are not left out in the cold, they can aim for Reunion
Island or the Grand Prize Australia!
Pieter Jacobs ZR1AEE of Cape Town has already shown interest in this Trans-Atlantic
project and has offered to apply for a licence to run a beacon ZS1VHF which
will feature a 12 element horizontally polarised Yagi.
There are currently two 144MHz beacons on the air in Brazil, both with vertical
omnidirectional antennas. They are:
Locator GG66CT - 144.051MHz, pure CW ID, 50W
Locator GG54IN - 144.080MHz, pure CW ID, 20W
Orlando says that it is obvious that the Brazilian beacons are not appropriate
to be used as "propagation indicators" since they operate with vertically
polarised antennas.Considering the above, his intentions are:
1. To direct his horizontally polarised beams to our beacons and start monitoring
them.
2. To put into operation ASAP a horizontally polarised beacon at his portable
QTH at GG65NS on the seashore. He will inform us when operation starts. (It
is near Sao Paulo)
3. To inform us immediately in case of any unusual reception or propagation
condition.
The email address of Orlando PY2ANE is [email protected]