How far have you thrown your 4 watts?

[kc4jgc]

One night WAAAYYYYY back in the day (1974 I think), my father was monitoring ch 9 on his shift for emergencies, (he was a member of ALERT of Virginia Beach), he responded to a call for help. The caller said an accident had occurred. As the caller was giving his location, Dad did not recognize anything the caller was saying. after a minute of two he asked what city he was located. Turned out he was in Indiana. Dad called Virginia State Police who in turn called Indiana State Police. Help arrived 10 minutes later.

Yes, that was using only 4 watts.
By rule, the 150 mile limit can be exceeded if assisting a station in distress.

 

[SCPD]

One night WAAAYYYYY back in the day (1974 I think), my father was monitoring ch 9 on his shift for emergencies, (he was a member of ALERT of Virginia Beach), he responded to a call for help. The caller said an accident had occurred. As the caller was giving his location, Dad did not recognize anything the caller was saying. after a minute of two he asked what city he was located. Turned out he was in Indiana. Dad called Virginia State Police who in turn called Indiana State Police. Help arrived 10 minutes later.

Yes, that was using only 4 watts.
By rule, the 150 mile limit can be exceeded if assisting a station in distress.

I did the same thing once but if I remember correctly the station was in OK. But as a far ground wave is concerned, I used to go up to Mt. Mitchell and I would work stations 75 miles away or so, I think I worked one in Kentucky one time from Mt. Mitchell.

 

[AC9BX]

In the 1980s I could regularly communicate out to 50 miles. Not everyone could make the return trip. 40 was more typical.

 

[Thayne]

Not much to report on throwing 4 watts very far, but last Saturday night I threw a pretty big ham hock from my deck clear over my house and it landed on my neighbor's flat garage roof.

No problem until a bunch of crows found it on Sunday morning---

 

[grogan]

I talked sideband from New Jersey to Trinidad stock uniden Washington 10 watts with a PDL-2 Horiz. pos. also Germany.Fla,Calif, herd Austraila but too many amps were turned on and my little radio and I gave up and he was gone.got Hawaii that same day.

 

[KC0QNB]

This is my entry. In 1991, in the process of moving here from another part of the state, I was cruising down Hwy 14 here in Nebraska, I was driving southbound in my 1977 Ramcharger (now dead an buried).
Well I can't really say throwing just 4 watts, but more like 15 out of my Tram XL5, 23 channel AM/SSB. (still have this unit) Feeding a 102 off the rear fender.
For about an hour I talked to a guy in Belize (Central America)
It was a perfect QSO no other traffic on channel 16 LSB.
Now some 20 years later, I haven't even talked on 10 across the county, with a 100watt HF rig, on a homebrew trap dipole.

 

[KR4BD]

Now some 20 years later, I haven't even talked on 10 across the county, with a 100watt HF rig, on a homebrew trap dipole.

Aw come on.... You're not trying! 100 watts on 10 meters should be easy! I've worked all 50 states and over 200 countries on 10 meters with 100 watts or less, mainly with a small beam or 10 meter dipole.

 

[ND88]

My best is 21 miles from my driveway with a wilson 1000 and a stock galaxy 959.

 

[Orbieswar]

4 watts AM

How about a Pearce-Simpson Bobcat 23D Probably less than 4 watts out using a 5 foot 6 helical whip off the end of my bed talking to USA ..
From East coast Australia...
Late 70`s when skip was easier than turning on the radio !
And yes I even got a QSL card !! remember them ?

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (BREW; Opera Mini/6.0.3/27.2354; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 320X240 LG VN530)

Now some 20 years later, I haven't even talked on 10 across the county, with a 100watt HF rig, on a homebrew trap dipole.

Aw come on.... You're not trying! 100 watts on 10 meters should be easy! I've worked all 50 states and over 200 countries on 10 meters with 100 watts or less, mainly with a small beam or 10 meter dipole.

I regularly hear an Upstate NY repeater on 29.620 FM on my GRE PSR-500 with the stock rubber duckie. If it had SSB capability, I'm sure I'd be hearing a lot more activity, as SSB signals break the squelch as it is. (I wish there was AM activity on 10m, the '500 can demodulate that mode as well on 10m.)
On 11m, I've actually got ch 6 locked out due to the chaos there. But I've never sat and listened to a channel to determine where any of the operators were.
As far as operating, I haven't used my Radio Shack HT and mag-mount since my roadtrips to Montana and back in 2002 and 2004. So I don't have any skip stories to tell.

 

[kb2hpw]

FWIW - CH38 LSB and above have been alive for several days so far. From my QTH in Upstate NY I've heard stations in CA, WI, FL, LA and all over the place. Prob not 4w but good listening anyway. Solar activity? Haven't kept up on band conditions situation lately.

 

[wtp]

a long time ago

in a land far,far, away, lets call it new jersey.
i used to hang out on lower 37, a good class of people there
about 8am on a sunday morning while parked at my gas station in fort lee.
some guy kept calling cq dx milan italy
it was very annoying so i decided to try and shut him up and answered "new jersey"
he got out the phrase "i hear you new jersey" and then all hell broke loose
the noise floor went to 5 on the meter as i heard what sounded like the rest of the world
we could not communicate after that
station wagon as a ground and 108" whip, non-modified radio shack ssb radio.
i also worked in suffern new york for a while and could hear "bridge reports" from the george washington bridge 20+ miles and not on the top of a hill.

 

[yaesumofo]

A couple years ago I spoke to a guy in Hawaii on a 2 meter SSb radio operating on batteries at about 5 watt .
WE were able to talk for about 30 minutes with me standing on a bluff in Playa del rey California holding an antenna in my hand. I got tried and signed off.
Amazing.
Yea I know its NOt CB but is is radio and its cool.
Hey all of you!!
Go get a Ham ticket. Its fun!!
Yaesumofo

 

[n9emz]

Last Saturday night after 11pm, mobile to base around 70 miles; mobile to mobile in the neighborhood of 35 miles. That was using a vintage tube base rig into a Wilson 1000 on my truck in the driveway. Have previously done longer distances base to base via long ground wave, but none of the mentioned distances are under normal conditions.

Last Saturday was an anomaly. The Band was wide open until 11pm when 27.385 faded and then long ground wave was awesome.

 

[bonginator]

This week using a stock COBRA 148GTL and Wilson 5000 mag mount on my truck from Colorado:

- New Jersey
- Vermont
- South Carolina
- Seattle

It is strange though that I don't pick up many local conversations. Only those that are remote. Anyone care to explain why that is?

 

[robertmac]

No one local. Or drowned out by skip. That is what happens on the crappy band when illegal amps are used.

 

[bonginator]

No one local. Or drowned out by skip. That is what happens on the crappy band when illegal amps are used.

So,you are saying that I get no local folks since the people on the east coast are running illegal amps and drowning out my local legal signals?

 

[scannermanner1]

100 miles or more using VHF 5 watt HT

 

[mrweather]

So,you are saying that I get no local folks since the people on the east coast are running illegal amps and drowning out my local legal signals?

Pretty much.

Lately the "usuals" on channel 6 are pegging my meter at 20-40 over S9. There's no way I'd be able to hear a local unless they were sitting in front of my house.

 

[bearcatrp]

No one local. Or drowned out by skip. That is what happens on the crappy band when illegal amps are used.

Awe, come on. Liniers were a blast to use. We used to go to a burger king or mcdonalds with a 100 watt linier in the vehicle and park by the drive through. Crank up the linier, watch the person order, then key up to drown out the person taking the order (come over the speaker) with some jiberish and watch the guy drive away mad without ordering. Was funny back then. Wouldn't like it now though.