This month, a potpourri of musings on matters (hopefully) of interest to VHF plus operators, or those who wish to be. Sporadic E season is in full swing in May, and increasing sunspots are providing additional opportunities on 6 meters. Looking toward the summer VHF contests, many folks are adding bands, updating antennas, or otherwise working to improve their station in preparation for a full season of VHF plus activity.
Software Defined Radios and Transverters
Recently, a brand new Icom radio was announced, designed for the VHF plus market, the IC-905. We have talked about this a couple of times, including last month, but my point is that we saw lots of comments from US amateurs about the lack of 222 MHz and 902 MHz bands. This is really no surprise, however, because these bands are largely limited to North America, with certain exceptions, like portions of the Caribbean and South America for 222 MHz. We are, however. seeing growing interest in these bands, especially 222 MHz. This begs the question, what are amateurs doing to be active on weak signal work for these bands? While there are a couple of older rigs
