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Summer 2003 Issue |
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Meteoric Transatlantic
Attempt |
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The North American crew sets up (the first time) to try a 2-meter transatlantic meteor-scatter QSO from Admiralty House, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Left to right: Alasdair, VO1LIN; Wayne, VO1TA; Harry, DL2DAO; Graham, VO1DZA; and Rick, VO1ZX. (Photos courtesy the author) |
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They’ve become the brass rings of VHF communications—the glass goblets known as the Brendan Trophies of the Irish Radio Transmitting Society. The trophies are to be awarded to each of the operators of the two amateur radio stations that first establish (unaided terrestrial) two-way communication between the continents of Europe and America (North or South) on 2 meters. Several attempts have been made, but to date none have succeeded in making the contact. Paul Piercey, VO1HE, has been on the North American side on more than one occasion. His first attempt was in July 1999, and his most recent was November 2002 during the much-publicized Leonids meteor shower. What follows, courtesy of VO1HE, is documentation of this latest attempt at being awarded the glass goblets. The account originally appeared in the “SONRA Newsletter” and was reprinted in part in the June 24, 2003 ARRL Letter. —N6CL It began with a simple question and turned into quite an adventure. On August 22, 2002 I received an e-mail from Nico Exner, DK5DQ, of the VHF-DX-Gruppe, wondering if there was any chance we would be interested in trying an experiment. The idea was to set up a station on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Newfoundland, being ideal due to its proximity to Ireland, was the choice for the QTH to be used to attempt to make contact with a station to be set up on the western coast of Ireland by Nico and his group using the FSK441 digital mode. This attempt was to coincide with the November 19, 2002 Leonids meteor shower, because it was predicted that this shower was to offer the most meteors per hour for the next 97 years. After a quick round-table discussion at the Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateur’s (SONRA) executive level, we decided to make the leap. I relayed this message to Nico and within days received a phone call to discuss the arrangements. I explained that we didn’t have much in the way of high-powered VHF equipment. We had an estimated output power of 160 watts at hand, and we would have to acquire the antennas, as the one we had used during our previous attempt in 2000 had been destroyed. We had a Yaesu FT-736R VHF/UHF rig to drive the amplifier, so our station could be assembled with a little effort. Nico took this information back to his group for discussion while I awaited further news. News wasn’t long in coming. The next day I received a phone call from Nico explaining that the plans had changed. They were concerned that we didn’t have sufficient output power and antenna gain to complement their planned station in Ireland. That went without saying, but we were ready to do what we could. Nonetheless, the plan became an offer for one of their group to travel to St. John’s, Newfoundland and bring a high-power amplifier, transverter, and some antennas to augment a Kenwood TS-850 station available in Canada. Another executive discussion ensued, and this new plan was given the green light. With that decision made, both sides went forward with their respective preparations with this new scheme in mind. We were asked to provide a 12-volt power supply, and we had plenty of those. Furthermore, the antennas weren’t readily available in Germany, so they were purchased in the U.S. and shipped to me, along with some high-power, low-loss cable.
Harry Schleichert, DL2DAO, would travel to St.
John’s. Paul Webster, VO1HC, offered to billet him for his stay. Nico and
Volker Muchlhaus, DL5DAW, were set to travel to Ireland to meet up with
Tony Baldwin, EI8JK, and Tony Moore, EI7BMB. |
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