My first ham license was ZR2BI in 1977, a VHF-only license. I quickly moved up to a Yaesu FT-221R and a homebrew 8-element short boom yagi. The antenna was on a 35' tall wooden pole. Rotation was manual, accomplished by rotating the entire pole by hand. Reversing directions typically took 30 minutes. In the summer months, we experienced frequent coastal temperature inversions. These made for good 2m tropospheric ducting conditions up and down the east coast of South Africa where I lived. My interest in VHF DX was born. I also did some Oscar 6, 7, and 8 satellite work in those years. A Tempo FMH 2m was used for 2m FM portable operation.
The best 2m DX worked was 600+ miles to Cape Town. In 1977, a Portuguese or Spanish speaking station was heard during a very strong opening towards Cape Town. The presumption is that the signal originated in South America.