G4DHF 144MHz

This opening was all the more remarkable because the lift conditions extended well into the landmass of mainland Europe. GM stations running modest equipment were able to work well into the former Russian States with distances of over 2500Km. A list of my QSO's, sorted by distances in excess of 1000Km, is included here.

In recent years stations located on the South Coast and EI have enjoyed seasonal openings to EA8, proving just how often this sea path is open. Up until the late '90's, however, these openings were relatively rare. Usually these openings fade rapidly the more inland the station is located. I was therefore very fortunate in being able to work EA8BTV across the landmass of the UK. Earlier in the evening of 8th July 1998 I noted that he was being worked by a very few stations on the South coast. I listened on his frequency for over two hours and was eventually able to identify his call. I was using x8 modified 9ele tonna antennas and feel sure that without such a large array I would not have been able to make contact. Our first QSO was at 22.26 when we exchanged 52 (rx) and 51 (tx) reports. I listened for over an hour as EA8BTV called CQ, but with few takers. I called him again at 23.32 and we exchanged 53/53 reports. I mentioned how rare these super tropo are and remember reading earlier reports of QSO's from EA8 with stations as far North as GM, both on 2M and 70cm, which are quite remarkable.

This event was all the more memorable because of the quantity and duration of the meteors, which can best be described as a storm. Almost all contacts were made via SSB using one minute receive and one minute transmit periods, breaking transmission every 15 seconds to listen for bursts. All operation was random, operating on or around 144.200MHz. At the peak it was almost like a Sporadic "E" event, with bursts in excess of 10-25 seconds being common. I remember keeping the antennas pointed NE for most of the time and was amazed by the number of stations worked who were to the South. Almost all of the QSO's were "single burst" contacts and because the duration was so long it was possible to make several consecutive QSO's. Stations worked over 2000Km included LZ3UF (KN12, 2084Km), OH8UV (KP34), OH8HDL (KP34), RU1AA (KP40) and RU1AW (KP50). Contacts were also completed with stations that would have normally been too close for meteor scatter, including DL5DAC (JO31, 548Km) and F6KHM (IN78, 579Km), which suggests that they too were beaming towards the NE and were worked via Back Scatter. A full list of stations worked can be found here. These events are very exciting and provide a great adrenalin rush, as you need to copy callsigns, send a report and confirm that both stations have correctly received all information within seconds. So too is managing the large numbers of stations calling as the levels of QRM are often high in such dynamic and constantly changing environments