Digi-smacking

OK APRSers - let's see what we can do with our trackers! Coming back from the family reunion at Lake Okiboji tonight, Ryan and I smacked a digipeater in Emporia, KS, a mere 524 miles away! Let's see what the rest of you got!

BTW.......I fully expect this self-declared record to last for all of 2 hours before being toppled.......

Also - There is no truth to the rumor I am running a 250W, liquid-nitrogen cooled, highly experimental tracker unit from Allen.....as far as you know........

Pete, that was a good smack!

On a related note, this morning I was monitoring APRS traffic headed to OSH and fired up the iGate for the benefit of a couple of local RV trackers that were headed north.

As I watched the station log in UI-View, a single beacon was received by my iGate that caused a double take. It was John Nystrom in his RV-7A, N7VD, and the beacon I received was while he was in western Kansas on his flight from Albuquerque to OSH. I didn't record the log so can't retrieve the exact distance but I remember it was in the high 800-mile range from my antenna. He was flying at 11,500' at the time. I had no idea a beacon would be received at that distance. I don't think the beacon I received made it to the network through my system but it was the farthest packet I recall seeing.

Every plane I saw headed onto OSH had a great APRS track. The system works!

Ducting

You guys might be observing ducting. It usually occurs when an inversion layer is present. Basically, line of sight type communication is extended when the signal passes between two different air masses, and the signal bends back towards earth. Sometimes large distances can be covered as ducts form between layers and act as a waveguide.



There are other propagation modes that also can be used at VHF such as Tropo Scatter, and Sproadic-E, but my guess would be ducting. I've seen the Minot-Bismarck, and Omaha-Des Moines paths open up regularly (and we didn't have any antennas at 13,000')

Paige

Inversion Layer

There certainly was one tonight. Pretty cool on the ground (75ish) Hot at 3500 (90ish) and clear and cool up at 7500.

Ryan even mentioned how warm it got as we climbed thru the layer.