Weak Signal Operation

Introduction

Communicating over great distances via VHF continues to fascinate many amateurs. EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) communication, also known as “moonbounce”, meteor scatter, and VHF cw DX are some of the techniques used. In the case of EME and meteor scatter, the concept is simple: use the moon or the ionized trail of a meteor as a passive reflector for VHF and UHF signals. A simple but effective station is within the reach of most amateur experimenters. With the advent of very sensitive receiving preamplifiers and commercially available high-gain Yagi antennas, many VHF operators are enjoying successful weak signal contacts. With a total path length of about 500,000 miles, EME is the ultimate DX — for the time being! Weak signal VHF work is discussed in a operational way at the Weak Signal Operating page.

With a modest station and 100w and yagi antenna you can expect contacts on 2m out to about 200 to 400mi. When there is propagation enhancement out to 1000 mi is possible. I have a couple of pages, under “Amateur Radio” called Hamfest Helper that lists all the mobile and base V/UHF radio that the big 3 have manufactured (Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu). I will also be adding pages for manufacturers who make RF Amplifiers for these band as well as pages for suitable antennas.