Long-distance contacts on HF, even with QRP and portable QRP, have long become routine.
Yes, 30 years ago, after my first CW contact with Japan on 30 metres with 15 watts, I was hopping around my shack like a happy rabbit. Today, with modern equipment and technology, a contact over 17,000 km at relatively low power no longer brings the same excitement. For more than two years now I have been a very, very rare visitor to HF. I have moved entirely to the higher bands…
At one time I wrote on this forum about propagation and the possibilities for making QSOs on bands such as 144 MHz and 432 MHz. With tropospheric propagation, my distance record with a 5-element antenna and QRP power (50 W on 144 MHz) was 1450 km. During sporadic E, the distance grew to 2000 km and a little beyond. On 432 MHz my longest tropo contact was 1270 km. Meteor scatter and the Moon, with a different antenna and 500 W, mean different distances and a different experience. But this story is not about that.
In 2018, having antennas and a transceiver for 144/432/1296 MHz, I decided to try working satellites. Naturally, these were the typical FM low-orbit birds such as SO-50, AO-91 and so on. With a maximum of 5 watts I discovered essentially nothing new, apart from a dislike for these satellites. Passing over the former USSR, these birds turned into a repeater for deaf operators who shout but hear nothing. Everyone shouts at once, as if on command. After making two or three contacts through this noise with stations I can easily work on 144 MHz via meteor scatter or even tropo, I gave up. But at the end of last year I decided to look at satellites again, this time not FM but linear ones, and discovered a completely different world. Satellites such as FO-29, AO-7, RS-44 and others, working SSB/CW from higher orbits, open the door to real DXing.
My first CW contact over 6000 km was with NA1ME in Maine, USA. That got me hooked. Then came contacts with India, the United Arab Emirates and Europe, grid squares began to add up, and today I have worked 164 grids via satellite. My first real DX, and my first distance record, was a 7790 km CW contact with E21EJC in Thailand on 15 March. Maximum power during that QSO was 25 watts. Antennas: 7 elements on 144 MHz and 14 elements on 432 MHz.
This QSO attracted some interest in the satellite community, and sked requests started arriving by email. Then things took off: new states, Japan, Africa (the Canary Islands), Canada and more. In May I received a sked request from Casey, KI7UNJ, in Oregon. The distance was no joke, 8116 km, and the best satellite pass fell on 27 August. The pass conditions were unique. We had just over a minute and a half for the contact, and the elevation of RS-44 was negative, −0.3 degrees. Effectively below the horizon. But it was the best this space bird had to offer, and we decided to take the gamble.
At the agreed time Casey climbed a mountain about 1 km high, while I… I was, as usual, in my low spot, with the antenna about 30 metres above sea level. My only saving grace is an open view of the sea towards N–NW. The antenna was pointed at 335 degrees, waiting for the satellite to appear. Casey sent photos of his location, a passing biplane and so on. In terms of equipment we were almost on equal terms: both with an Icom IC-9700, the only difference being the antennas. He had an Arrow II, I had a PA144-432-21-3B. As agreed, we ran 100 watts to be on the safe side.
The moment of truth arrived. At 20:55 UTC I started calling Casey and… heard him almost immediately. We quickly exchanged reports on SSB and managed to confirm receipt. I felt the same as 30 years earlier. It was incredible: negative satellite elevation, a distance of just over 8000 km, and we made a solid contact. Several stations in the USA were following this QSO, and messages started pouring in right away. For me it was a new record; for Casey, one more unusual contact. His record on this satellite was 8400 km with the satellite ace F4DXV last October.
At the moment I have 32 skeds in my calendar until the New Year, mostly with the USA, Canada and Japan. In just over a year on linear satellites I have made 345 contacts, with 47 countries and 164 grid squares. Compared with HF the numbers may not seem large, but the conditions here are different.
What do you need to work linear satellites? First of all, a full-duplex 144/432 MHz transceiver, or two transceivers. Many portable satellite operators use a pair of FT-817 (818) radios. And, of course, an antenna. Before the sked with Casey, I made 4 QSOs with Tyler, WL7T, in Alaska, a well-known activator of rare satellite grids. In one week he activated more than 10 previously unavailable grids using an Arrow II antenna and two Icom IC-705 radios (10 W).
So 8000 km on 144 MHz is easy.