Memorable Radio Contacts

[frgtwn]

As the EP community grows, many of us are experiencing HAM and other radio contacts that are remarkable. I thought it may be fun to have a place to tell the stories.

Here's my latest:

I was once again invited to ride along on the Dusy-Ershim Trail east of Fresno, CA. On our last night out, two of our group chose to head for home, while the other two trucks and occupents wanted to stretch out our time and spend the last evening and night near the North trailhead, about a mile from Kaiser Pass Rd. The two outbound trucks were to report back to the group on two meters, just to see how far we could stay in touch. And for us to follow their progress.

We walked away from the truck to scout out the immediate area, and I carried my Yaesu VX-6r, in case a call came in. We spoke a few times as they descended; the rest of us were close to 9,000 ft.

A call came in to me from another ham. The call was as clear as my buddies', and I assumed that the caller was somewhere in The Valley. This was my first experience with traffic, as I had to ask the caller to standby until the comm with the guys was finished. This done, we spent some time getting acquainted.

The caller was waiting in his pick-up truck for his son and grandkids on an ATV on a ridge West of Lake Berryassa. That meant little to me until after questioning revealed that he was North of the Bay of San Francisco, near the Napa county line. I was impressed, and thankful for his effort at reaching me.

He had a 5/8 wave whip on his truck, and I was running 5 watts into my tri-band aftermarket antenna. And, of course, I was at 9,000 ft to his 2,000 ft. He remarked that the ridge he was on was a good place for radio contacts, and that he was building a retirement cabin there.

Our mutual guess of the distance between us turned out to be close, as a Google Earth search showed a 200 mile distance. I cannot be sure at this time of his exact location, but I just found a place on the West ridgeline that was 2,000 ft.

The downhill crew contacted us from Madera, and the mobiles on the trucks were the only ones to be able to remain in touch. They could hear a little of my transmissions; I could hear all of theirs.

So, even an HT can get lucky.

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Post up your stories. Memorable is just my chosen word, tell us your own story.

Dale
KI6IRF

 

[Pskhaat]

I was in Cisco, UT and had a VFO on 52.525FM. Heard a call for CQ. Peer station was the AZ Science Center. Had a good talk with some children sitting around their ham shack.

Of course the concept of talking a mere 410 direct miles away over numerous moutain ranges @50W was no shocker to a mobile phone generation, but the station operator and I were quite happy

 

[obscurotron]

Late night, about 8 years ago, in Tracy, CA. I was using my Yaesu FT-50R to work an Oscar (I forget which one offhand) with a homebuilt 5 element yagi on 1/2W. Most distant contact was a surfer in Baja for that pass.

 

[Ursidae69]

I had a QSO across a section of the Sea of Cortez on simplex. I was south of Puertecitos and spoke with Al, Jack, and Mike who were in El Gulfo. That was about 90 miles I think.

 

[crawler#976]

I've tried to do some DX'ing on 2M simplex 146.52. So far my success has been limited to a call from the south flank of Mt. Union, AZ. (south of Prescott, AZ) at 7600' elevation to a mobile unit on I-8 near Casa Grande, AZ. That's only 110 miles or so.

I also contacted the AZ Science Center (W7ASC) on the same call.

 

[BiG BoB]

We were out in our boat on Lake Bonney, just off the Murray River in South Australia. By law boats that go more than a few mile offshore are required to have a "Marine Radio" which in our area is 27mhz.

We heard a guy ask for a radio check, and replied, asking how far he was from the lake for a distance check, he wasn't familiar with the lake - which made sense when we learned he was on the NSW coast, some 1100km away.

This was with a $100 cheap and nasty 5W radio/antenna combo

When I was a little kid, I can remember chatting to a bloke in the US with my dad when we were camping out in the Mallee in victoria, that was with quite a nice 27mhz CB - I guess we were getting a few skips!