First 144 MHz QSOs

Tonight I spent two hours on 144 MHz and participated in UK VHF Activity Contest (every first Tuesday of a month). My 4-element yagi was placed next to the balcony windows, inside the appartment, resting on two wooden chairs. Yes, a very professional setup. I regret not having taken a picture :-)

The yagi was beaming 270 degrees, which I thought should cover the bearings range to England given the antenna beamwidth of about 60 degrees.

I heard some stations on 144 MHz eventually, and that was already fun. But to my amazement, I also managed to log three QSOs:

G4DEZ JO03AE SSB (310 km)
G7RAU IO90IR CW (416 km)
M0BRA IO91PK SSB (351 km)



I also heard a few stations from the Netherlands (PD2KMD, PA0ADG, PA4PS), one from France (JO10GK - maybe F2YT?) and several other stations from England - G0VJG/p, G3SDC/A, G3CWI/p. Propagation conditions were interesting, with QSB and sometimes a very fast fading. Signals were usually at or below sensitivity threshold and I could really make good use of the DSP receiver features. The QSO with G7RAU was very enjoyable and I felt as if I was just having a contact with my first DX like 15 years ago.

I realize I could probably work more stations from the roof of my building with just a dipole, but having 3 QSOs from an indoor antenna on the first floor was a thrill!