| Author |
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FirebirdTN
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 8:44 am: | 
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Just curious,
Anyone know what power leve/antenna/height will cover 155 Miles reliably?
Silly question, I know, but in my circumstance, I would like to be able to reliably talk that distance. What kind of setup will do it? Or, is it even possible?
Got a really good friend of mine that got me interested in radios growing up, and now I am about 3 1/2 hours away. We are too far away for ground wave communication in our current setups, and too close for skip...
-Alan |
vernonott
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 9:52 am: |
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I have the same problem with states connected to mine.Cell phone or e mail will get through though. |
FirebirdTN
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 11:51 am: |
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Ha ha ha! Yeah, true! But then, IMing, email, and Netmeeting kind of takes the fun out of radio, wouldn't you say? |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 12:08 pm: |
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Hi, I live in Alaska and go up to my favorite spot (close to a 1000 feet on a hillside) and talk to 14,000 and 7,000 base camps on Mt. McKinley "Denali" in the summer. At that elevation I recieve them at 3 to 4 S-units from over 200 miles away. Their radios are stock and the antenna is a pogo stick. I've used quite a few small AM only radios in my mobile at that spot and presently use a mag mount K-40 and HR2510. At less then 100 feet above sea level I have talked to other stations also less then 100 feet above sea level on any conditions on sideband with a 4 element quad at one end and a 6 element quad at the other end from over 150 miles using about 100 watts. There were no mountains in the way. Other locations at same distance with mountains in the way would cause unintelligable garble. Hope this helps you plan your set-up. |
Tech181 (Tech181)
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 12:22 pm: |
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FirebirdTN,
Reliably? No way. Sure it will happen on occasion, and it's not entirely impossible, but it all depends on the conditions.
You can improve your chances with directional antennas each pointed at one another on SSB. Problem is finding a clear enough channel for an extended QSO.
Steve
Tech181
Tech181@copperelectronics.com |
707
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 3:31 pm: |
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FirebirdTN-
It can be accomplished, if you have the real estate to put up a Lazer Beam, stacked Quads or horizontal 3-5 element yagis at about 80-100 ft. on both ends. You might have to run around 250w on up depending on weather, atmospherics, and terrain. The key is to run horizontal to eliminate a lot of noise, and of course, the maximum height you can muster.
It is also possible, with the right antenna configuration and lots of power, to take advantage of high angle radiation to essentially bounce the signal up at about 60-80 degrees so that it comes back down "locally". The military folks do it all the time.
150 miles+ is no problem on the flatlands of Oklahoma. |
Copper_Fan
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 6:50 pm: |
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well you could always get a ranger 2990DX base or a 2970DX and drive it into a sweet 16 with a Maco Laser 500 18 element beam,,,, and guess what???/ that might not do it either it depends on the conditions but DAMN THAT WOULD LOOK GOOD ON A TOWER 200 foot in the air LOL |
FirebirdTN
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 11:37 pm: |
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Thanks for the feedback guys, I do appreciate it.
I only own two radios: HR-2510, and a Kenwood TS450S/AT. I don't currently use the kenwood, because I have no antenna...YET!
I work in commercial radio, and AM radio stations use Rohn 25G (often called Z-brace tower I believe to alot of folks), so getting tower is not a problem. And fortunate enough for me, I know EXACTLY where MACO is...they are just a hop skip and a jump from me (sorry copper...I can save some denaro on shipping!, but we can always do business on an AMP!)
Anyway, it may take some time, but I like hearing the ideas/stories...gives me something to shoot for! |
FirebirdTN
| | Posted on Monday, July 30, 2001 - 11:42 pm: |
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Crap...meant to add something in my last response...
I am pretty sharp with electronics and radios, but could you elaborate on "high angle radiation"...I assume you basically mean "tilt" an antenna to deliberately make the skywave "bouce" at the right angle to come back for short range skip? Kind of like a bank shot in billiards? Does this really work? |
707
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2001 - 11:45 pm: |
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its called NVIS, Near Vertical Incidence Skywave.
heres a link to get you started
http://www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/oes/races/hfradio.htm
for 27Mhz band, I would imagine that one could put a big beam up with an elevation rotor as well as the azimuth rotor, like a sat station antenna, and give it a shot.
I do know for a fact that high radiation angle will give you closer in contacts when the band is open. The reason we generally tend to only pick up those stations farther out is because most antennas are made with the major lobe out at a low angle, towards the horizon. If you direct the same amount of power into the layer directly above you, it should reflect back down..."backscatter". |
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