A new beacon, GB3WGI in Ulster, has been approved by OFCOM. When turned on it will radiate at least 100W ERP (possibly much more) in the direction of the USA. It will be monitored in the USA and Canada for possible 144MHz openings across the Atlantic.
For many years people have speculated about the possibility of working across the Atlantic on 144MHz. On very rare occasions, this might be achieved by various propagation modes including multi-hop Es, auroral E, tropo or MS, or more probably a combination of these. There have been tantalising hints that this path has been open before now, but no objectively verifiable proof. With new weak signal modes it surely will happen sometime soon.
I once heard a wonderful flurry of activity on 2m in Lancashire (I was on top of a hill with a handie). A Welsh station had just called CQ. It was not a particularly strong signal and, as it broke up, it obscured the G at the start of his callsign, which left it starting with W. (It was interesting to hear how many people had been listening to the frequency until then without transmitting).
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