What are the chances of Aurora signals from VK0JJJ?

[ZS2FM]

On very rare occasions the glow of the Aurora Australis has been visible from Port Elizabeth (34 degrees south) low down on the southern horizon. In view of this Gordon Glasgow, ZS2CO, at East London and I in Port Elizabeth conducted a series of nightly Aurora tests. We were beaming at the magnetic south pole around midnight on 50 MHz CW; the tests lasted for a month during the period that a magnetic storm was present. Every night we picked up meteor signals from each other, but on a few occasions we heard some strange CW signals with a very rough tone and distortion. Could this have been Aurora-enhanced Meteor Scatter? Hopefully VK0JJJ at Mawson on Mac Robertson Island, Antartica will provide the answer.

73 Mike, ZS2FM

[VK3ZAZ]

Southern Auroral very different from Northern AAuroral.

In 1993 when we first worked VK0AQ we had some AU es.
I heard a VK3 before I heard the VK0 Beacon

1994 was in amongst Summer es.

Darin said the es extended into SPREAD F.

Spread f data is availbale froM ANARE sites but I havenet found it yet.

Your best shot for VK0 is from NOVEMBER

ZL heard VK0 in 1993 also but KC4 has not been heard.

There is also reports of VK0 beacon way back in 1970s heard.

Data is sketchy, this is a HARD ONE

[VK7DX]

Hi Steve,

The only other clue is the time of day.I see you worked vk0ix 14th Jan 1995 at 0800z.
I worked him a week later,31st Jan 1995 at 0930z,thats about the same time of the day.

Has Craigs beacon been heard anywhere as yet?

cheers
Frank

[VK2ZRH]

Steve, VK3ZAZ said:
There is also reports of VK0 beacon way back in 1970s heard.

I built and installed the first VK0GR 6m beacon when I was at Casey over 1970-71. This was the first 6m beacon on the Antarctic continent. It was a 50 watt transmitter built from discarded equipment, with a pair of 6146s in the final. The only crystal available that would multiply to 6m put it on 53.55 MHz. It fed a 3-element Yagi, also built from discarded/spare aluminium tube and wood.

I was encouraged to build it by Ron Wilkinson VK3AKC (SK).

After returning from Antarctica, I subsequently secured a job at IPS Radio & Space Services in Sydney. I soon convinced them to institute a VHF propagation research program, for which the Engineering Branch built two 100 watt beacons (4-125A finals) that were installed at Casey (signing VK0GR) and Mawson (signing VK0MA).

The Casey beacon was heard in Sydney on 11 December 1972 by Mike Farrell VK2AM, now VK2FLR. [Source: 6UP, March 1973, pp 14-15].

Here's a clip of the received audio (courtesy of VK2FLR).

Vk0gr (VK2FLR)_use.mp3

(75.98 KiB) Downloaded 201 times

Posted in the interests of the facts

73, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH

[ZS2FM]

Many thanks to Steve VK3ZAZ, Frank VK7DX and Roger VK2ZRH for the very interesting information. We are monitoring the VK0RTM beacon on 50,300 MHz and will keep a special eye on it during the Lyrids meteor shower.

73 Mike, ZS2FM