The other day I was in Ham Radio Outlet, and while strolling around I noticed a new VHF book published by the RGSB. And for some resaon, it made me think: I’ve got three different dual HTs, and an FT-817 which can work on 2m/70cm, why aren’t I doing more on VHF/UHF? I had a lot of fun operating via AO-51, AO-27 and SO-50, as well as the various APRS satellites, but except for SO-50, those have all gone black, and Fox isn’t due for a few months yet. I haven’t found repeaters to be very interesting overall: the sort of abstract social nature doesn’t seem all that exciting, and they represent little in the way of technical challenge. I like the idea of meteor scatter: I’d need to upgrade some equipment and build some antennas, but that seems reasonable. 2M weak signal SSB is probably something that would only pay off mobile (my home location is in a bit of a valley) but has some construction opportunities in it (antennas and the like). I’ve recently heard of coming Digital TV downlinks from the ISS, but haven’t got a clear idea of what hardware will be needed for reception.

I thought I’d toss is out to my readers: are there any VHF/UHF activities that you are participating in or would like to? I suspect that there are people who would like to have some new ideas, either because of limitations of their license class or their home situation, which may not favor large antennas. I’m also interested in hearing about any Bay Area groups who may do unusual activities on VHF+ frequencies.