[VHFcontesting] Carribean Tropo

[David Olean]

I remember that opening, and was that the one that happened during a VHF 
conference?  I sort of recall some big tropo event when most of the 
VHFers in New England were away from their shacks.  I missed it so have 
no Carib contacts via tropo. That is pretty sad.  I am sure it does open 
on occasion.  I did work Bermuda on tropo and it also was an elevated 
duct up here. The guy I worked was W1NU and he had a 25 watt satellite 
station for 144 with a 7 element yagi. I would think a real station 
there would be working W2s all the time.

Dave K1WHS

On 4/1/2026 1:20 PM, Buddy Morgan via VHFcontesting wrote:
>   We occasionally have stations, from the Caribbean get on for "WSJT in the South East", on Monday nights. Raydel, CO2ESP is the most active. There are, I think, two other Cubans that get on, from time to time. Also, Eden, ZF1EJ has made appearances. The other Islands, are not heard from, that often. If Cuba ever gets electricity, again, Raydel will probably be on. Anyway, check out WSJT Night in the South East. We get on, starting around 7 pm Eastern time, Mondays., 144.174 FT8.  Activity goes on as late as 10 pm. There is activity as high as 5760.
> Buddy WB4OMG EL 98
>      On Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 10:13:52 AM EDT, Ron Klimas WZ1V <wz1v at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>   If April showers bring May flowers,
> does April Fools bring May Tropo ?
> No joke, it did just that 38 years ago.
> But never again since as far as we know.
> On May 10 1988, call areas W1 and W2 enjoyed
> a rare 2M and up 1300+ Mile Tropo opening to
> the Turks and Caicos islands. VP5D in FL41
> was 59 on SSB for several hours that night.
> You'll hear several familiar callsigns working him.
> Joe Reisert W1JR wrote it up in his column in
> the September 1988 issue of Ham Radio magazine:
> https://ia800806.us.archive.org/24/items/hamradiomag/ham_radio_magazine/Ham%20Radio%20Magazine%201988/09%20September%201988.pdf
>
> There were some discrepancies in the reporting,
> but the actual date was May 10, and the
> grid square Bob gave that night was FL41.
> It was only later discovered that he was in FL31.
> His signal at my QTH was between S9 and +20,
> just amazing for a 1365 mile path.
> What's also remarkable was the duct was narrow enough
> to exclude Florida. VP5D was in all by himself.
>
> Audio originally recorded on cassette tape
> from my then Bristol CT hilltop QTH in 1988:
>
> https://www.newsvhf.com/audio/vp5d-wz1v.mp3
>
> Besides Ham Radio, Bob Cooper was well-known
> for his pioneering work in developing affordable
> TVRO home satellite TV systems, featured in
> a series of articles in Ham Radio magazine.
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V
>
>
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