Back in the 80’s I received\u00a0my first amateur radio license, a ‘B’ license as it was back then entitling me to use, if I recall correctly, bands above 30 MHz only. \u00a0We didn’t have 6m and 4m band allocations then so it meant 2m and 70cms were the bands of choice for me and the majority of other ‘B’ license holders.<\/p>\n
So I started with 2m and 70cms SSB and my interest was soon peeked by\u00a0space communications with Oscar 10 etc. \u00a0Those early Oscar’s were excellent as, if I recall correctly, they where in elliptical orbits which meant that they appeared to hang in the sky for some time, not shooting overhead as do\u00a0satellites in lower more circular orbits. \u00a0Their transponders were just like big SSB repeaters in the sky and I worked all over Europe. \u00a0Happy days. \u00a0But working those Oscars was not that easy especially at Acquisition of Satellite (AOS) as they were pretty far from the Earth so a good station was needed. \u00a0My station grew to a 2m, 9 element crossed Yagi; a 70cms, 19 element crossed Yagi, both circularly polarised; azimuth plus elevation rotators and mast head preamplifiers. \u00a0The radio was a Yaesu FT-736 which I only sold last year…It was a wonderful radio.<\/p>\n
Of course with those antenna’s it was perfectly possible to work terrestrial communications too. \u00a0I made contacts across the UK and Europe\u00a0using\u00a0sporadic E and Tropospheric propagation. \u00a0Those were exciting times indeed as not only was amateur radio new, to me, but it was such fun learning about different types of propagation, satellite communications and having great fun talking to people.<\/p>\n
Ok, so by now some of you will be asking – what is the point of this article? \u00a0Well, bear with me… \u00a0I learnt Morse code and in the early 90’s received my ‘A’ license. \u00a0Soon afterwards the world changed as\u00a0I started doing radio professionally for a few years. \u00a0This removed all interest to do amateur radio stuff when I got home from work. \u00a0Anyhow, time passed and I started to operate on HF talking to people all over the world – it was fascinating – I learn’t lots more.<\/p>\n
With solar cycle 24 rapidly fading and with the real possibility that cycle 25 may be no better, probably\u00a0worse, I’ve been looking back and found myself comparing my V\/UHF experiences with those of HF.<\/p>\n
My conclusion is that HF is\u00a0fun, its pretty easy to work stations across the UK, Europe and further afield depending on your station. \u00a0Take a minute and think about that, especially the ‘depending on your station’ bit. \u00a0Do you have the space to erect, for example, a 9 element Yagi for the 20m band? \u00a0I’m seriously impressed if you do \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0I bet most of us are using simple HF antenna’s and we are constrained by space, interference and the cost of erecting a high-performance HF station. \u00a0But move on up to VHF and things get so much easier. \u00a0I bet many\u00a0of us could erect a 9 element Yagi for the 2m band and mount it\u00a0several wavelengths above ground too…. \u00a0Such an antenna will cost a tiny fraction of its HF equivalent; its small, light and easily rotated too. \u00a0Interference does certainly exist above HF but its nowhere near as bad. \u00a0But, FM repeaters and modes such as D-Star aside, VHF is dead these days I hear you say? \u00a0I cannot deny that it is much quieter than in the 80’s and 90’s but its still a happening place… \u00a0Its perfectly possible to work stations using phone and data modes across the UK and into Europe when propagation is flat<\/em>. \u00a0All those exotic data modes are present and in active use too, people are exploiting Tropospheric propagation, meteor scatter, satellite communications, auroral propagation to name a few.<\/p>\n So its back to the future for me, the HF antenna is now down and until I receive my new VHF\u00a0antenna\u00a0I’ve elevated\u00a0one of my original 9 element Yagi’s. \u00a0Already I’m hearing beacons GB3ANG in Scotland, GB3VHF in Kent and GB3SSS in Cornwall. \u00a0I even worked an old friend towards London using CW (RST:559) and Olivia with 20 watts. \u00a0Who says VHF is line-of-sight. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n I guess you realise the message by now…. V\/UHF is lots of fun, you can work DX, high-performance stations are much more achievable than on HF and you learn lots. \u00a0Amateur radio is so much more than HF, FM, repeaters, D-Star etc. \u00a0So, why not explore our higher bands?<\/p>\n Andrew<\/em> Back in the 80’s I received\u00a0my first amateur radio license, a ‘B’ license as it was back then entitling me to use, if I recall correctly, bands above 30 MHz only. \u00a0We didn’t have 6m and 4m band allocations then … Continue reading
\nG0RVM<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"