N7BHC / PJ4VHF Home

This site is dedicated to the operation and history of amateur radio station PJ4VHF / N7BHC. Most of the data pertains to VHF DX operation, propagation, and beacons The focus is on tropospheric ducting.

I was first licensed as ZS2BI in South Africa in the late 70s. Upon emigrating to the USA in 1978, I was first licensed as KA4DRA. My callsign changed to N7BHC when I moved to Utah. You can read more of my ham radio history on these pages.

In 2008, my focus is on trans-oceanic VHF ducting. A number of research projects and operations are in process to expand the global use of this mode.

I moved to the island of Bonaire in 2011 and operated as PJ4VHF. A great place for Trans-Equatorial Propagation with numerous 6m and 2m QSOs into South America. The hot spot from Bonaire on 2m TEP was into Montevideo, Uruguay. Stations running 20W at 3,300 miles distant were often S9+20-60. Most QSOs were on SSB but 2m FM ws also used. It sounds a lot like Aurora.

While TWP is fun, the really exciting part for me was success on trans-oceanic ducting. Most of the effort from Bonaire was on 2m and 70cm ducting. There was some DX around the Caribbean, but by far the greatest excitement was hearing the D4C/B 2m beacon from Cape Verde Islands. As of the end of 2018, this is still the longest distance 2m signal reported across the Atlantic Ocean.