My VHF Base Station Going Strong After Quarter Century!

Johnson Francis | March 12, 2023 | Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) | No Comments

My VHF Base Station Going Strong After Quarter Century!

This VHF base station was purchased in 1998 and was being used regularly. Initially I was using a ground plane vertical antenna given by mentor late VU2NYR. Later I was using a beam provided by my friend VU2FWW and could easily access Palakkad Nelliampathy Repeater located about 175 Km away. Both these antenna were on top of my house at a location with not much of elevation from sea level.

I could also listen to Kodai Repeater located at about 300 Km, but was much not successful in accessing it. By turning the beam towards Bangalore, I could occasionally hear the repeater located about 300 Km away, again not successful in accessing it. All these were decades back when I was quite active on VHF. Later Calicut Repeater came up, which of course was very easy to access as it was just a few kilometers from here.

Then came a period of dormancy of about a decade when the base station found its place in the attic and my Ham Radio license expired, only to wake up a few days back after getting it renewed! With renewed interest, I took up the radio back to the shelf and to my relief, it is still working. A new repeater had come in Tirur in between. My beam and ground plane vertical are no longer there. I just have a MagMount antenna meant for the car, again given by VU2FWW.

I have now put it on the window grill, inside a first floor room, as the cable is short. To my surprise, I am able to access Tirur repeater which is about 35 Km away. Of course, Calicut Repeater comes in very strong due to the proximity. In Tirur repeater I am hearing stations from Kollam located more than 300 Km to the South and Kumbla 190 Km to the North, regularly. Stations from Coimbatore located 180 Km South East are also heard. The power supply which I have been using from the beginning was one made by my friend VU2PKH, it is also going strong! As a disclaimer, this is NOT a promotional video, just sharing my experience spreading over a quarter century.