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Tropo of 28-10-2011 to almost 01-11-2011




 The general situation :

1-AIS RX  
FR-ais-coverage-27oct2011 FR-ais-coverage-28oct2011evening FR-ais-coverage-29oct2011evening

FR-ais-coverage-30oct2011-18z FR-ais-coverage-31oct2011-03z


FR-ais-graphstation-starting-26oct2011-14z FR-ais-graphstation-starting-28oct2011-15z

Max AIS distance was some 2200 kms.
I had these conditions until 31 october , and then ais distances started to go down.
On 1st of November 0400z, i still had good cdx towards 5R8  (with clear and good copy of 103 Mhz FM radio)



2-The Hepburn predictions  





3-The radiosounding data (from the University of Wyoming)
67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 00Z 28 Oct 2011.jpg 67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 12Z 28 Oct 2011.jpg 61980 FMEE Saint-Denis Observations at 12Z 28 Oct 2011.jpg
67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 00Z 29 Oct 2011.jpg 67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 12Z 29 Oct 2011.jpg 61980 FMEE Saint-Denis Observations at 12Z 29 Oct 2011.jpg
67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 00Z 30 Oct 2011.jpg 67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 12Z 30 Oct 2011.jpg 61980 FMEE Saint-Denis Observations at 12Z 30 Oct 2011.jpg
67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 00Z 31 Oct 2011.jpg 67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 12Z 31 Oct 2011.jpg 61980 FMEE Saint-Denis Observations at 12Z 31 Oct 2011.jpg
67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 00Z 01 Nov 2011.jpg 67197 FMSD Fort-Dauphin Observations at 12Z 01 Nov 2011.jpg 61980 FMEE Saint-Denis Observations at 12Z 01 Nov 2011.jpg





4-The surface pressure chart




 



5-The visible maps







6-The airmass pictures "copyright (2011) EUMETSAT"

For analysis of airmass maps see : http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IPPS/html/bin/guides/msg_rgb_airmass.ppt
airmass-28 oct 2011-13z.jpg airmass-28 oct 2011-17z.jpg
airmass-29 oct 2011-04z.jpg airmass-29 oct 2011-14z.jpg
airmass-29 oct 2011-17z.jpg airmass-30 oct 2011-04z.jpg
airmass-30 oct 2011-14z.jpg airmass-31 oct 2011-04z.jpg
airmass-01 nov 2011-04z.jpg


7-The reports

 
Only Derek, ZS5Y, got the beacon signal on the 28/11/2011

First decode

163800  1  -26 -0.4  221  3 *      CQ FR5DN LG78

Bit weaker now
164200  0  -29 -0.4  223 29 *      CQ FR5DN LG78


8-Some comments


The persistant low pressure cell on the east coast of ZS did not let any chance to really have qsos.
So bad, as my ais RX was over 1800 kms for days and days....
As noted with ZS2GK, the tropo cdx are getting better as grey line and night are coming through.

Equipment at FR5DN :

On 2m:
In "beacon mode", 70-80w out into 17el F9FT-13dbd yagi at 6.5m above ground.
Old PC dedicated to the 2m station for digital modes and AIS receiver (modified FT-2500M).
For qso, i can use up to 120w out max in shack
Mast mounted LNA with BF981 feed through coax, no measurement on NF.
Coax is a  low loss rigid coax  LCF12-50, with some ecoflex 10.
I use separate TX and RX lines, which make things much more flexible, RX line is standard RG-213.
RX is Kenwood R-5000.
TRX for beacon and qso is dedicated Kenwood TR-9000.

Again, these qso are in reach of medium to small stations for sure!

On 70cms:

I run a single 21 el yagi at 9.5m above ground.
Low loss coax, mixed length of hardline 7/8 and some length of lcf12-50 and LCF14-50.
Power was 40w in-shack.
Mast mounted LNA 33db gain, 0.3db NF. Loss before LNA is around 0.9db!
RX is separated rx : LT70s converter with FT-990, 28Mhz IF.


The antennas used for the qsos:





Tks to All, and see you next opening !

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