Bands are used by radio amateurs. PART 2. VHF Bands
The VHF spectrum starts with the band, allowed in some European countries – 70 MHz.
Propagation on 70 MHz band depends on many factors which up to this day are not investigated fully. It is heavily dependent on of solar cycle and the Summer Es (reflection from Es clouds) propagation is considered standard. There are frequent tropospheric openings as well.
The International Amateur Radio Union Region1 VHF committee holds annual contests on this band.
Most of the 70 MHz users use homemade antennas, power and receiving low noise amplifiers.
RigExpert AA-230 ZOOM or other VHF/UHF RigExpert analyzers are excellent tools for checking and making precise tuning adjustments of directional 70 MHz antennas.
For portable and Field Day operation RigExpert Stick XPro can be an outstanding date tool
The most popular VHF band is 144 MHz. Hundreds of thousands of amateurs around the world use it from their stationary home positions, during mainly Summer months from mountain tops and fields. Not surprising, that the most popular VHF contests are called “Field Days”.
The International Amateur Radio Union Region1 VHF committee holds annual contests on this band.
Almost any ham nowadays has a portable FM 2m handy-talkie to communicate locally and through voice and digital repeaters. The 144 MHz DX Packet Cluster networks used to be widespread in the pre-Internet era.
Long-distance communication on this band mainly depends on tropospheric propagation, there are rare Es openings and Auroral reflections in the North.
What makes this and other VHF and UHF bands even more “amateur” is that people are making a lot of their equipment themselves. This includes Low Noise receive preamplifies, High transmit Power Amplifiers, antennas, from small Yagies for local FM work to monstrous Moon bounce EME arrays which needed the proper RF for checking and tuning.
RigExpert AA-230 ZOOM or other VHF/UHF RigExpert analyzer is one, or even more sophisticated VHF/UHF RigExpert analyzers could be a good choice.
For portable and Field Day operation RigExpert Stick XPro will serve the purpose perfectly as well.
The highest VHF band that amateurs in IARU Region 2 (North America and South America) can use is 222MHz.
Long-distance propagation on this band is similar to 144 MHz – tropospheric propagation prevails.
The band is used both for local FM and long-distance phone, CW, and digital FT8 communications.
There were Moon bounce EME experiments on this band as well.
American Radio Relay League holds annual VHF contests in January, June, and September where 222 MHz is used. The special ARRL “222 MHz and Up Distance Contest” is held annually in August.
A lot of the 222 MHz users use homemade antennas, power, and receiving low noise amplifiers.
RigExpert AA-230 ZOOM or other VHF/UHF RigExpert analyzers are excellent tools for checking and making precise tuning adjustments of directional 222 MHz antennas.
