Friday, July 26, 2013

2-Meter Indian Ocean Path?



 Is there a 2-meter pathway between Australia and South Africa? One Australian ham radio group has set up a beacon to try to find out. The VK6RIO beacon, on 144.950 MHz, was set up in Perth, Western Australia, by the Northern Corridor Radio Group in hopes that it might be heard across the Indian Ocean in South Africa. Newsline reports that the beacon is running 100 watts into four 8-element Yagis and running digital Chirp modulation, which can be detected some 50 dB below the noise floor. For more details on the project, contact Keith Bainbridge, VK6RK, at <vk6rk@wia.org.au>.

(Flags courtesy CIA World Factbook)
In the U.S., there have been periodic attempts to prove the existence of a similar transatlantic path to Europe. There is a well-known duct that appears annually between the U.S. west coast and Hawaii.