… what about Fellbounce? A non-WOTA Lake District contact this time. I had parked the car at Beck Wythop near the A66 on the west side of Bassenthwaite Lake today /P hoping to catch an Activator on Skiddaw. No luck there, but I had a 2m FM contact with Lee M0LLC in Broughton Moor on my 5 watt handheld with short whip antenna. So what? Well there was over 200m of solid Lake District fell rising behind me, completely blocking anything resembling line of sight between us. Here’s the terrain analysis:
These VHF signals work in mysterious ways! I suspect that in this case our signals were bouncing off Skiddaw (which rises to about 900m directly across Bassenthwaite Lake), essentially passing over the top of me. I think reflection must explain a lot of WOTA contacts from theoretically impossible locations. 73, Phil
Phil
I had a similar experience last year while fishing from the East bank of Loweswater next to the road, which is in among the trees at the foot of Darling fell . I had the 5W hand held and whip antenna just in case there were any activations on the fells. I put a call out on 2m at some point , and 2E0LDF replied loud and clear . I assumed he was up a fell somewhere and we were both surprised when I learned he was at home in Cockermouth and he found out I was at lake level with the full height of Low Fell , Fellbarrow and the rest between us . We could only assume the signal was bouncing off the lake and Carling Knott or Burnbank on the other side of the lake probably assisted by a bit of ducting ?
A similar thing happened on Bassenthwaite Lake when I worked a SOTA station on Blencathra with Ullock Pike and Skiddaw completely blocking the path.
Richard.
Richard
Similar terrain layouts then. My Bass and your Loweswater 2 metres / P examples had decent-sized fells opposite as well as lakes between the /P location and those (?reflector?) fells too.
I’ve only come across pretty certain 2m ducting while on a Lakes fells trip on one occasion. Some stations in S England popped up, then popped down again! Unable to make a two-way contact. 73, Phil.
It all adds to the interest and the mystery Phil .
73
Richard .
I find in mountainous places like the Lakes that QSOs via reflections are even more pronounced on 70cm.
Another cause of seemingly impossible contacts is via the sea. Since I swapped my Diamond X50 collinear at home for a V2000 [slightly increased gain on 2m] I can now have 2m QSOs with Derek 2E0MIX in or near Whitehaven. In a straight line there’s too much LD rock between us and I reckon the signals are, for part of the way, creeping round the coastline.
73 Andy