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FIRST EVER 2M TERRESTRIAL QSO
BETWEEN ZS AND FR
14/08/2008
- Openning of 14 August 2008 : From ZS2GK,
Glenn in KF47kt :
On Wednesday evening (13/08/2008) I went to bed at about 08:30 UTC leaving the rig on and Antennas pointing towards Reunion. I woke up at 00:15 UTC and heard the beacon from my shack. Went over and saw that signals were low even with the Masthead pre-amp on. I was running CWGET to confirm hard copy of the signal but it was not decoding. Switched off the pre-amp and returned to bed.
About an hour later I heard the beacon again but much stronger, went to the shack and saw the signal at almost 1 on the S-meter. Perfect hard copy from CWGet. Contacted Phil on his cellphone, switched the Linear and pre-amp on and we logged a SSB QSO and FM QSO on 144, 200 and 144,400 at 01:39 UTC (14/08/2008) with Signal reports of 5/6 both ways.
The general situation :
1-The Hepburn predictions look fine
First forecast for
18z
Second forecast for 18z
2-The radiosounding data from PE at 23z on 13/08 and 10z on 14/08.
68842 FAPE Port Elizabeth Observations at 00Z 14 Aug 2008
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PRES HGHT TEMP DWPT RELH MIXR DRCT SKNT THTA THTE THTV
hPa m C C % g/kg deg knot K K K
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1009.0 63 10.8 9.3 90 7.33 295 4 283.2 303.6 284.5
1003.0 113 14.0 8.0 67 6.75 268 5 286.9 306.1 288.1
1000.0 139 14.8 7.8 63 6.68 255 6 287.9 307.0 289.1
996.0 173 15.8 7.8 59 6.71 251 6 289.3 308.5 290.4
960.0 484 14.6 6.6 59 6.40 216 4 291.1 309.7 292.2
925.0 796 12.0 2.0 50 4.80 180 3 291.6 305.7 292.4
915.0 887 11.4 1.4 50 4.64 190 3 291.9 305.6 292.7
896.0 1061 10.2 0.2 50 4.35 221 7 292.4 305.3 293.1
882.0 1192 9.4 -3.6 40 3.34 245 10 292.9 302.9 293.5
867.0 1334 9.2 -5.8 34 2.87 270 14 294.1 302.9 294.6
860.0 1401 11.8 -4.2 32 3.27 283 16 297.5 307.6 298.1
850.0 1499 12.2 -3.8 33 3.41 300 18 298.9 309.5 299.5
846.0 1538 12.4 -4.6 30 3.23 305 19 299.5 309.6 300.1
834.0 1657 11.7 -5.0 31 3.19 290 23 300.1 310.0 300.6
789.0 2118 9.2 -6.3 33 3.04 280 38 302.1 311.6 302.6
773.0 2289 8.2 -6.8 34 2.98 282 40 302.8 312.3 303.4
700.0 3096 0.8 -12.2 37 2.15 290 48 303.3 310.3 303.7
For info the Durban data :
68588 FADN Durban Intnl. Airport Observations at 00Z 14 Aug 2008
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PRES HGHT TEMP DWPT RELH MIXR DRCT SKNT THTA THTE THTV
hPa m C C % g/kg deg knot K K K
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1013.0 14 14.8 5.8 55 5.74 10 3 286.9 303.3 287.9
1012.0 23 14.8 5.8 55 5.74 10 3 287.0 303.4 288.0
1001.0 127 20.8 16.0 74 11.55 278 8 293.9 327.1 295.9
1000.0 137 21.6 15.6 69 11.26 270 8 294.8 327.3 296.8
994.0 190 26.0 13.0 45 9.55 280 8 299.7 328.0 301.4
986.0 261 26.8 -0.2 17 3.84 294 8 301.2 313.1 301.9
950.0 587 24.2 -0.8 19 3.81 356 7 301.7 313.6 302.4
925.0 819 23.2 -1.8 19 3.64 40 6 303.0 314.4 303.7
905.0 1009 22.4 -5.6 15 2.79 27 5 304.1 313.0 304.6
860.0 1448 18.8 -3.2 22 3.53 357 4 304.8 316.0 305.5
850.0 1548 18.0 -3.0 24 3.62 350 4 305.0 316.4 305.7
833.0 1720 16.8 -5.2 22 3.13 338 4 305.5 315.5 306.1
797.0 2093 13.6 -6.4 24 2.99 310 5 306.0 315.5 306.5
747.0 2634 9.6 -9.4 25 2.52 270 6 307.3 315.5 307.8
310 51 305.6 316.4 306.3
3-The predicted data from NOAA Air Resources Laboratory - GDAS1 Profile
South 5R8 21z on 13/08
|
South 5R8 00z
|
South 5R8 03z
|
South 5R8 06z
|
FR5 13/08 21z
|
FR5 00z
|
FR5 03z
|
FR5 06z
|
4-The surface pressure chart
5-The visible map
6-At 0135z on 14/08/2008 Glenn is
calling me on my cellphone. That means the beacon is heard strong enough to allow a qso.
It's 0535 local time here ; i speak low and run into the shack, switch
off the beacon and call on 144.200, to see Glenn signal at 55/56 with
the preamp (i agree, it is necessary).
We decide to try FM, and i have clear copy on him. Time goes fast, i
have to get ready for qrl and we stop the qso some 20/30 minutes later,
but the band was still nicely opened!
Signal was cristal clear, almost no qsb, if any on my side.
Whooaaaa!!!
The first bridge is now there between ZS and FR!
I opened a FM vhf/uhf transponder repeater 145.200/431.050, situated at
about 1200m altitude i guess, with vertical antenna, and Glenn did not
copy any sigs. But he was horizontal at that time...
7-Local observation :
On the 11, evening T° was quite cold here, as it was on the 13 in the evening.
On the 12 morning and 14 morning a friend of mine living at around
1600m of altitude, found the T° to be higher than "normal", some 8
to 10°c higher.
Since 11-12/08 the pressure was rising.
This morning 14/08, after Glenn's qso, i saw very very little inversion
layer above the horizon, it seemed stronger when i drove some more
south for qrl.
---------------------------
On ZS2GK side :
..I am in fact 365Km North
East of Port Elizabeth on a reading of 58 degrees East from Port
Elizabeth. Grid Locator is KF47kt. The QTH is about 200M above sea
level and is 5Km inland. The track to Reunion still about 80Km over
land with a small annoying hill in between. (Affects about 3 degrees of
Horizon)
Glenn was using his 4x2M9SSB array, horizontal polarisation, with mast-mounted preamp .
On FR5DN/B side :
The setup here was/is :
TX : Kenwood TR-9000, PA at 120w out into 17el yagi at 6m above ground. ERP = 1800w.
Some pictures on the experimental beacon test , i need to get things clean! :
 |
 |
8x21 432Mhz Beaming to ZS
|
The 2m beacon and qso antenna |
During qso : TS-790, 160w out at max, and same 17el yagi with mast mounted preamp.
--------------------------
14/08/2008
And finally the sound file of the FIRST QSO is HERE and HERE
FM recording is HERE
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