So far, my record is 3019 miles on AO51. I caught KL4E, Craig, up in Alaska. My furthest contact south is 2484 miles to YV5DSL, Jose, in Caracas, Venezuela. I work days so I can't usually get on in the mornings during the week but later in the evenings around 10pm-1am CST, I usually have SO50 all to myself or maybe one other station- which is absolutely no good at all, but I always try to CQ South America in hopes of going further south.
This morning, I had a scheduled contact with NH7WN, Robert, in Honolulu- which would have been a 3753.190 mile contact. He was on an HT and an Arrow standing in 40 mph winds and rain at 4:40am his time!! Sawson, KG6NUB, set everything up and did a great job of coordinating the attempted QSO. Thanks Sawson! Apparently we just missed the QSO. Robert heard me but I did not hear him. I believe I waited just a moment too long to transmit and lost the window. Seconds counted there! I also appreciate the courtesy of VE6AB, Jerry, and K6CDW, David, for clearing during the attempt. All in all, it was a great attempt and we plan on trying again as soon as possible.
Kevin N9EME
-----Original Message----- From: Daniel Nick Kucij [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 9:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Satellite QSO distance records
Hi Kevin,
I was surprised your post did not attract more discussion than it did, as it seems we all love the DX. I've also searched online before and could not find anything except for the AO-7 references. I've never found the actual footprint dimensions for AO-51/AO-27 either. This summer while on the coast of Maine, I tried some trans-atlantic DX on AO-51 and AO-27 for the first time. I was using a handheld and homebrew yagi (2up, 5down) pictured on my QRZ page. To my amazement, I worked the Canary Is. and Spain on my first try from the top of Cadillac Mt. in Acadia National Park..
Since returning home to Vermont, I've kept at it, sometimes using a small amp and/or preamp. I've been quite successful with confirmed contacts from the Azores, Canary Is, Spain, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Iceland. All of these have been on LEO FM birds ay DX in the +/- 3000 mile range. Some of them were made completely barefoot on the HTs, some were two way HT with no amp either side! I've heard Wales, but he didn't hear me.
My best DX QSO on AO-27 is England at 3203 Miles (5155 Km). My best DX contact on AO-51 is the Canary Is at 3339 miles (5374 km) It's always a thrill to do it even when I work the same station over again.
My best North American continental DX is Inuvik, NWT at 2674 miles on AO-51.
I see you have a great antenna set-up. How far south have you been able to work with it?
73 Nick KB1RVT