Is there a 2-meter pathway between Australia and South
Africa? One Australian ham radio group has set up a beacon to try to find out.
The VK6RIO beacon, on 144.950 MHz, was set up in Perth, Western Australia, by the
Northern Corridor Radio Group in hopes that it might be heard across the Indian
Ocean in South Africa. Newsline reports that the beacon is running 100
watts into four 8-element Yagis and running digital Chirp modulation, which can
be detected some 50 dB below the noise floor. For more details on the project,
contact Keith Bainbridge, VK6RK, at <vk6rk@wia.org.au>.
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| (Flags courtesy CIA World Factbook) |
In the U.S., there have been periodic attempts to prove the
existence of a similar transatlantic path to Europe. There is a well-known duct
that appears annually between the U.S. west coast and Hawaii.
