Tropo?

[NQ6U]

I'm picking up a 70cm repeater from the San Fernando Valley on the same frequency as my club repeater. Strong, too; wish I had a 2m beam, conditions may be ripe for working Hawaii. That usually happens here at least a few times every summer.

[kb2vxa]

Tropo is a strange animal, often it's frequency selective, maybe VHF, maybe UHF, maybe microwave, who knows? You reminded me of our legendary tropo up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Once upon a time we lit up 2M repeaters from Canada to Cuba and once we figured out how they were running had some great long haul QSOs. I find armchair copy interesting when I have it in an armchair with an HT in my hand. I sure wish I had antennas to take advantage of tropo here for the last couple of months, the carrier squelch programmed channels on my scanner have been hopping, sometimes all day when early morning is most common. I can imagine what a horizontal Long Boomer would do on SSB. <pant> <drool> <pant>

[WØTKX]

In CO, tropo means Kansas and Nebraska.

[wa6mhz]

The path to Hawaii is a DUCT, so it is a little different than a Tropo. Tropo will be much shorter range, usually up the coast. I really haven't experienced much tropo here in SoCal, but it sure was fun back in Chicago, where I worked something like 8 states from there back on 2M AM. I am sure on 2M SSB and CW it would be even more. Seems to have something to do with Weather systems. In a CA Tropo, I would expect to work up to San Francisco from San Diego. Still waiting. Have the BEAM and radio for it. I do have a card from Hawaii on 2M for a contact with the late KH6HME. THere is still a beacon on 144.277. When it came in several years ago, it was S9++, and would have been HANDY TALKIE coverage to Hawaii from here. Paul was louder than any LOCAL I have heard on 2M SSB! Almost made a 432 contact but the beam hit a J-pole and stopped rotating (unknown to me at the time!) Need to do some antenna work.

[NQ6U]

dupe

[NQ6U]

The path to Hawaii is a DUCT, so it is a little different than a Tropo.

It's the same thing.

Tropo + duct = Tropospheric Ducting, Pat. I'm kind of surprised you didn't realize that.

[WØTKX]

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2694/4382183127_7d67e6c84f_o.jpg

[WX7P]

Used to hear ducting from HI on some of the Bay Area repeaters in the 80's.

Cool.

[KG4NEL]

There's a Wallops Island radar that we tend to hear every summer on 70cm - having a machine at 1000' is great, except it puts the antenna right in the middle of a duct :(

[kb2vxa]

Military radar, primary user of 70cM, all bow before USAF RADIO GOD or you will be DESTROOOOooooyed. Yeah, remember PAVE/PAWS destroyed repeaters on Cape Cod and around Beale AFB, California? Behave yourself Mystical Drummer or you'll be Wallopsed from Virginia, with a wave the FCC can make 70cM hams disappear. MUAHAHAHAAAaaa.

That reminds me of hearing radar on my scanner when I monitored at Newark Airport while working the parking lot toll lanes. Lot 4 all the way in back is a stoned throw from the radar and every time the reflector rotated in my direction I heard a zzzzZZZZzzzz as the beam swept by. If the pulses are strong enough and that low to the ground to overload the front end of a VHF/UHF receiver I'm surprised I didn't light up like the beacon on hangar 14. Why not on the tower I don't know, that's where they usually are.

That also reminds me of the high altitude weather rockets fired from Wallops Island in the late 60s to early 70s. They left trails in the stratosphere in the evening when it was dark on the ground but a few miles up the sun was still shining. The effect was like a bright, multicolored aurora, much brighter than the natural ones.