2 May 2014

More 2m beacons

This morning (around 1100z) I positively identified - full calls and QTH locators by ear - GB3ANG (Angus,Scotland) and ON0VHF (144.418MHz, 350km - Belgium).  As yet, I'm not sure if I can copy these in totally flat conditions, or not, but certainly ON0VHF is a very solid signal and is still there now hours later.  It is weaker than the Kent VHF beacon, but not too much. This should be a very useful marginal signal.

Tuning through the beacons there are a lot of very weak carriers that are not beacons, so it is important to listen for callsigns and QTH locators to be sure of the beacon ID.  I am still exploring beacons and beam headings, so it will be some time before I know what can be copied at any time on 2m.  On 70cms I have hardly started looking.

UPDATE 1900z: ON0VHF is still audible, so I think this beacon will be a very good propagation indicator in that direction. Likewise PI7CIS (2m).

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