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栽怩弌傍利 卦指云慕朕村 紗秘慕禰 厘議慕尺 厘議慕禰 TXT畠云和墮 〆辺茄欺厘議箝誓匂〇

the dawn of amateur radio in the u[1].k.(辺咄字鴨侘議貴伏)-及9何蛍

酔楯荷恬: 梓囚徒貧圭�鮗� ○ 賜 ★ 辛酔堀貧和鍬匈 梓囚徒貧議 Enter 囚辛指欺云慕朕村匈 梓囚徒貧圭�鮗� ● 辛指欺云匈競何! 泌惚云慕短嗤堋響頼���誅卒亮茂�俊彭堋響��辛聞喘貧圭 "辺茄欺厘議箝誓匂" 孔嬬 才 "紗秘慕禰" 孔嬬��



there is considerable amateur radio activity�察�like Zimbabwe and the Union 

of South Africa。 So towards the end of 1977 SV1AB and SV1DH began 

looking      for   colleagues      in  suitable    geographic       locations    with    the 

appropriate   equipment   and   the   time   and   inclination   to   engage   in   tests 

which could go on for months and months on end。 Very soon the following 

stations   agreed   to   participate   in   the   tests。   The   northern   group   included 

SV1AB�察       �SV1DH�察     �5B4WR       and   5B4AZ。      In   the  southern     hemisphere 

participants   were   ZE2JV   ��now   G2AHU���察  �ZS6PW�察  �ZS6DN�察  �ZS6LN   and 

ZS3B。 

       After   4   months   of   daily   test   schedules�察  �early   in   1978�察  �successful 

contacts     took   place   on   144    MHz�察    �some    of  which     constituted    world 

distance records for that time�察�as can be seen in the accompanying table。 

Amateurs in Malta�察�Italy�察�France and Spain soon began to participate in the 

tests�察�as well as amateurs in other areas of South Africa。 

       It can be seen from the world map that the magnetic dip ��shown as a 

heavy     line��  is  very   different   to  the  geographic      equator。   The   QTH     of 

SV1AB        is  in  a  suburb   10   kilometres    north    of  SV1DH's      so  George's 

contacts with the stations in Africa always had that edge on them。 

       In South Africa Dave Larson ZS6DN had set up a beacon which was 

first   heard   in   Athens   by   SV1AB   in   February   1979。   Within   a   few   days 

ZS6DN   had   QSOs   with   SV1DH   and   SV1AB。   The   latter   contact   was   a 

world distance record via the F´regions of the ionosphere because of the 

extra distance involved owing to the locations of the two Greek stations�察�

as mentioned in the previous paragraph。 

       For anyone who may be interested very comprehensive reports of the 



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work     done   in  transequatorial    propagation    during   cycle   21   and  earlier 

appeared in articles written by Ray Cracknell ZE2JV/G2AHU and Roland 

Whiting   5B4WR/G3UYO   in   the   June/July/August   1980   issues   of   Radio 

Communuication�察          �the    journal     of    the    R。S。G。B。      and    in    the 

November/December 1980 issues of QST。 

       RECORD        TRANSEQUATORIAL               PROPAGATION            CONTACTS 

DURING SUNSPOT CYLE 21 

       Stations MHz Date GMT Km 

     YV5ZZ/6       ´  LU1DAU      145。9    29/10/77    02。00   5��000~    World   record 

distance on 144 MHz。 First Western hemisphere contact。 

     JH6TEW   ´   VK8WJ   144。1   10/02/78   11。50   5��060~   First   Pacific   area 

contact。 

     KP4EOR ´ LU5DJZ 145。1 12/02/78 00。12 6��340 New world distance 

record on 144 MHz。 

     YV5ZZ ´ LU3AAT 432。1 13/02/78 01。10 5��100 First reception of 432 

MHz signals in Western hemisphere。 

     5B4WR       ´  ZE2JV   144。1    10/04/78    17。40   5��800   First  T。E。P。  contact 

between Europe and Africa。 

     SV1AB   ´   ZE2JV   144。1   12/04/78   18。00   6��260   First   Greek   distance 

record on 144 MHz。 

     SV1DH   ´   ZS6DN   144。1   13/02/79   18。15   7��120   New   world   distance 

record on 144 MHz。 

     SV1DH   ´   ZE2JV  432。3   20/03/79   18。20   6��250   First   reception   of   432 

MHz signals between Europe and Africa。 

     I4EAT   ´   ZS3B     144。1   31/03/79   18。50    7��890   World   distance   record 

��reception�� on 144 MHz。 

       3。 George Vernardakis SV1AB。 ��V。H。F。�� 

       In March 1988 I visited George Vernardakis SV1AB ��formerly F9QN 

of   Marseilles�察  �France��   who   spoke   to   me   about   his   contribution   to   the 

transequatorial      tests  and   his   other   experiments     in   connection     with 

Moonbounce�察�Meteor Scatter and Sporadic E propagation。 

       ;In 1965; George told me�察 �I was the only SV station equipped for 

contacts   via   meteor   scatter so it   was   easy  for   me   to   make   contacts   with 

many     European     stations。   The   longest    distance   I  achieved    was    with 



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UA1DZ a Physics Professor at the University of Leningrad in the Soviet 

Union。; 

       Norman�此   �Forgive       me   for   interrupting   you�察   �but  please    explain   in 

simple terms what you mean by meteor scatter。; 

       George�此 �Meteor scatter is a way of making contacts on 2 metres by 

reflection from meteorites ´ `shooting stars' as they are called colloquially 

´ which we see on clear nights during the summer。 Of course they are not 

falling stars at all ´ they are meteorites which burn up when they hit the 

earth's atmosphere�察�leaving the trail that we see。 We take advantage of this 

phenomenon for bouncing our signals off the trail but unfortunately it is a 

very   short´lived   event。   Once   when   there   were   a   lot   of   meteorites   I   was 

able   to   maintain   contact   with   LX1SI   of   Luxembourg   for   a   whole   three 

minutes on   SSB。  It   was   during   the period   of the  Persides   which usually 

occur   for   a   week   in August   when   the   earth's   orbit   takes   it   through   this 

cloud of space debris。 Millions of meteorites can be as small as a grain of 

sand   and   of   course   leave   no   visible   trail   when   they   strike   the   earth's 

atmosphere。 The   earth goes   through   other major   clusters   in April   and in 

December。 The phenomenon can also affect signals on lower frequencies。 

One can be in QSO on 20 metres via ground wave with a station a couple 

of hundred miles away with signals around s2 to s3。 Suddenly one or two 

words     are   heard   at  s9   which    indicates    a  momentary       reflection   off  a 

meteorite trail。; 

       George also explained that in order to defeat the brevity of the time 

when communication was possible it was customary to record a message 

on a tape recorder and transmit it at high speed。 The other station would 

also record at high speed and then play back at normal speed to hear the 

message normally。 

       I asked SV1AB to tell me about Sporadic E propagation。 

       ;In this form of contact the signals are reflected from an ionised area 

90 to 120 kilometres above   the surface   of the   earth。 I have been having 

contacts by this method for about 18 years now even before the advent of 

SSB on two metres。 I have had contacts with England and with Moscow to 

the north´east of Athens。 The phenomenon occurs for three or four months 

during   the   summer�察  �and   never   during   the   winter。   The   ionisation   moves 



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very rapidly sometimes ´ you may be talking to a station in Malta and he 

suddenly   disappears   and   a   station   in   Yugoslavia   comes   up   on   the   same 

frequency。; 

       ;Every     summer;      George     continued�察     �we    get   Troposcatter     which 

allows communication on all frequencies from VHF to 10 GHz even。 This 

type     of   propagation       occurs     during     certain    special    meteorological 

conditions�察�like high barometric pressure and extreme heat。 We sometimes 

hear stations in Malta and Sicily with very loud signals。; 

       ;In 1966 I built an aerial array consisting of 8 nine´element Yagis for 

2 metres with the axis of rotation pointing to the North Star enabling me to 

track the  Moon automatically。  I  was hoping to make   some   Moonbounce 

contacts�察  �but    at   that  time   it  was   very   difficult   to  construct   low   noise 

preamplifiers。 After   many   days   and   hours   of   trying   I   managed   a   single 

brief   contact   with   F8DO   in   France。   Some   time   later   I   heard   that   Mike 

Staal K6MYC had heard me in California。 

       ;The   funny   thing   about   this   aerial   array   was   that   it   enabled   me   to 

receive   television   signals   from   Nigeria   on   Channel   3   but   only   when   I 

raised it up to an elevation of nearly 90 degrees。; 

       Norman�此      �I  understand     that   Costas    Georgiou     SV1OE      is  the  only 

Greek amateur who has had successful QSOs via Moonbounce。; 

       George�此 �Yes indeed。 But it was many years later�察�using a low noise 

GASFET preamplifier。 K1WHS in the U。S。A。 has an array consisting of 

48    Yagis    which     enable    him    to   contact    stations    with   more     modest 

installations。 

       ;In   1970    a  technician     from   Stanford     University     came    to  Athens 

because the tracking station they had set up on Mount Pendeli could not 

pick   the   University's   satellite�察  �whereas   they   were   getting   good   signals 

from it in Spain。 One of the assistants at the station told the American that 

he knew   an amateur   who   could pick up signals from  satellites�察  �meaning 

me。 The American�察�who happened to be an amateur himself�察�immediately 

asked to see me。 When he saw my 8 antenna array he suggested we should 

use it to try and pick up the University satellite。 I pointed out to him that 

my array was for 144 MHz whereas the satellite beacon was transmitting 

on 136 MHz。 He gave me the coordinates for the next pass and I rotated 



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               The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece �此�a personal view 



and   raised    my   array   in   anticipation。   When   the   exact   time   arrived   my 

modest      receiver    picked    up   the   satellite  beacon     loud   and    clear。  The 

American got so
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