Last Tuesday I tripped over a group (mostly in the western suburbs of Melbourne) on 144.310 SSB. They all operate with vertical antennas so anyone with an all mode rig can have a go with SSB and make some contacts. The net apparently starts around 7.30 pm on Tuesday. There is also a 70cm version on Monday evenings 432.310 at 7.30pm.
The discussion is very casual and I found it quite enjoyable. If you have a 2m or 70cm allmode box and a vertical antenna and live in Melbourne or the surrounds, I am sure you will be made welcome.
Mike
Couldn't hear them in Geelong last night.
I could hear 2 stations but havea problem with the 70cm vertical, the radio showed high VSWR, so I didnt join in. Will probably be there tonight on 2m.
Thanks for the heads-up Mike. Quite a few good signals at my QTH QF21PS about 65 Klms South East of Melbourne and a few that were too weal to copy. As my rotator for 2 Metre is out of action, it was good to get on 2 Metre SSB again. SWR on duoband vertical was not too bad at all. Must check out 70cm on Monday night.
73 de Mike
I could have a listen for people at times also with my vertical array.
Also if anyone is interested, I am running 2m WSPR from my vertical 2m array beaming into Melbourne currently. (I dont have horizontal up at present). If you want to see what you can hear feel free. For example Steve VK3MEG and I tried a test earlier in the week where he was using a Diamond omni vertical at 3m above the ground and with 10 watts the path was no real problem into here, so you may be surprised.
Leigh VK2KRR
QF34
Members of the Melbourne Electronics and Radio Club run these very informal nets on Mondays and Tuesdays.
We realised that many people have SSB capability on VHF/UHF but most SSB operation is by the use of horizontally polarised antennas.
But not everyone has horizontal antennas.
However most people have some sort of vertical whether it is a mobile whip in a vehicle or a hi-gain base antenna so the Cas-Nets (short for casual nets) were started up to enable the use of SSB vertical on 2m & 70cm.
Newcomers are usually pleasantly surprised as to the performance of SSB on VHF/UHF.
We're always interested in Melbourne metro or country/regional operators to call in.
Mondays 7.30pm: 432.310 USB
Tuesday 7.30pm: 144.310 USB
Bill. VK3CWF (formerly VK3LHB)