DX, it’s all relative!
One mans DX is another mans chip-shot. Your equipment, conditions, the frequency in use and any number of other factors all contribute to making certain contacts worthy of the term ‘DX’.
Case in point my attempt at a 2m SSB contact with Simon (2E0HTS) some 87 miles north of me. How hard could it be? After all, I’m a HF DX’er and I regularly work stations thousands of miles away. This should be easy, right? Wrong!
I embarked on this little exercise because I’m interested in working a bit of 2m SSB up into Burton-on-Trent where I’m getting to know a few of the locals through the Burton Amateur Radio Club. To that end Simon and I arranged a sked (a pre-arranged contact for all you non-hams out there) to see if we could establish a contact on 2m SSB.
We agreed that he would call me as he was likely to have the ‘bigger’ signal (50 watts into a homebrew IO loop beam he uses for working amateur satellites with great success). I waited and listened…and waited…and waited. At times I could tell he was there, down in the noise, but it just wasn’t readable at all. If I wasn’t hearing his 50 watts he was never going to hear my puny 8 watts into a simple 3 element beam!
We gave it our best shot but it wasn’t to be. We moved to 80m and had a quick chat (which was nice…thanks Simon!) and I’ll look forward to chatting with him again soon. For now though it seems that 87 miles on 2m, for us at least, was ‘DX too far’. I’m certainly gaining a new found respect for all the VHF/UHF (and beyond) DX’ers out there. I’ve also learned that DX need not be the other side of the world. Sometimes it isn’t even the other side of the country! It’s all relative.
Thanks for the QSO Dean, hope to do it again soon with better Conditions.
73 from Baildon in Yorkshire, IO93CU, SE13.
Simon
And thanks to you Simon. I’ll look forward to the next time.
Cheers, Dean
Hi Dean, it would of been interesting to have tried it from 6m through to 40m.
73 Paul, IO80FL TQ1 !
Good point Paul! Yes it would have been interesting. Certainly something to try another time maybe when I have a bit more time.
Thanks for the comment! I’ve added your blog to my links list. I see you have a TS-480 radio - very nice. If you’ve read some of my blog you may have noticed I had one a while back…I still miss it!
Cheers,
Dean
Reckon you guys need a chunk more antenna gain to make it on 2m. There are lots of easy to build gain designs out there so don’t give up on VHF work. Contacting CN or a UA on 2m is one hell of a buzz! 73 Steve
I have been toying more and more with idea of giving DX VHF a bash. I am currently HF only, but I will more likely get away with multi-element VHF antennas high up on the roof then anything else ….
Cheers4Now,
André
No worries re giving up on 2m Steve. I agree about the antenna gain but I really don’t have anywhere to put a 2m beam as I have no poles or towers.
Rather I see myself going 2m portable and using the SOTA beam and elevated operating positions to assist.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Andre,
I’m also HF only at the moment but intrigued by 2m SSB and hoping to get more into VHF over time.
Cheers,
Dean