VHF/UHF

The VHF/UHF part of the spectrum is where my interests lie.There is nothing to match the thrill of getting that "rare" one,or the pleasure of contacting old friends over the years.The skill needed to be in the right place at the right time is ,in my opinion more than is required on the Short wave bands (I can feel the brickbats flying past my ears!).The types of propagation from AU to Es make it a very exciting place to be at certain times of the year.My own favorite is Sporadic E mainly because its a great leveller.you have as much chance to work 2000kms+ with 2watts as you have with 400watts,it really is a case of being in the right place when it happens,and part of the fun is working out when thats going to be! Ive been at this qth now since August 2000,and there are many tales of "The one that got away",but Ive also been very lucky,and since starting again Im up to 341 squares worked.The best dx so far is RN3QR in LO00BK,this of course excludes EME where my best dx is ZL3TY.Its noticable the change in what you can hear from the Western part of the country.DL is 700kms away,so all those DLs who were loud from IO91 are a lot weaker down here.However the PI7CIS beacon in JO22 is well recieved on both 2+70,and the tropo path to EA8 is really amazing when it opens.From IO91 it was really rare to hear EA8.I have also had a few qso,s on EME,but must confess that the mode has never really interested me.The third picture on the left hand side shows the EME array at G4XBF.This was used quite often in the 90s by Mike and Kev,and I was an occasional visitor.It was certainly a triumph of engineering and they made lots of good EME contacts with it.I am qrv on WSJT which is a great mode,it makes me wonder how we had any MS qsos in the past with 600lpm periods reel to reel recorders and LA8AK upconverters,but we did!