Duct 21.06.04 to 23.06.04

There was a great duct in Australia's south east area from the 21st to 23rd
of June.

I noticed condx picking up late in the evening on Sunday the 20th when at
10pm the Adelaide beacon was noted at S1 @ 750 Km.

At around 4.30am the following morning (monday 21st) the Adelaide beacon
started coming over the S1 SQL setting on the radio. At 6.30 am the signal
was S5.

At 6.30 am I was able to get to repeaters - Murray Bridge @ 733 km, Crafers
@ 764 km, Lobethal @ 747 km and Barossa Valley @ 741 km, all out west. Also
worked Terry VK3ATS in Mildura on FM and SSB simplex on 2m and also VK5ZK on
2m SSB @ 754 km.

On monday afternoon, from 7pm, the Adelaide beacon was S7 @ 750 km. Central
North repeater was there @ 833 km, Port Augusta repeater was S2 @ 913 km,
Port Pirie was S9 @ 867 km. Worked VK5ZLX on 144.100 to a 5/9 signal @ 735
Km.

Later in the evening, I was sure I heard a VK4 station accidently getting
into the Canberra repeater 146.950, possibly working the Glen Innes
repeater. Confirming the possibility was Alan VK2KAW in Wagga who claimed to
have just worked VK2AYO in Dubbo via the Coonabarabran repeater on 146.800.
To add an interesting twist, after that we were lucky enough to have Noel
VK3ANW in Kyabram call into the Canberra (VK1RGI) 146.950 repeater @ 345 km.
Then after Noel we had a noisy signal from Ian VK3IDL in Ballarat into the
same repeater @ 493 km. Both rare occurances.

All one after the other at about 10.30pm I worked on 144.100 SSB  - VK5AKK
at Adelaide 5/9+10dB @ 763 km, VK5ACY on Kangaroo Island 5/3 @ 894 km,
VK5ZLX near Barossa Valley 5/9 @ 735 km, and VK5ZK at Goolwa 5/7 @ 754 km.

In the morning on the 22nd June, Adelaide beacon was S8. Mount Gambier S2
off side of antenna. Mostly the same repeaters were noted. The temp was only
4.1 degC.
That evening Adelaide beacon was S3 along with some signals from the north
such as the Orange repeater, and also good signals from Melbourne way. I
copied the Grampians repeater in VK3 at S9+50dB @ 471 km. Also got to Mt
Gambier 2m repeater at S4 signal 630 km.
Later at 9pm I got to the Broken Hill repeater @ 638 km, it got to a good
S9+10 for around an hour, spoke to VK2YVG and VK2SRN, VK2SRN was also worked
on FM simplex.
At 11.55 pm worked Col VK5DK at Mt Gambier on 144.100 SSB @ 630 km. Colin
peaked at S9+10.

The following day, Wednesday the 23rd, Adelaide was totally cut out and this
was confirmed by checking the duct graphs showing no duct at Adelaide. A few
signals were present from the NE, but not much, the main path was to
Melbourne and other areas of VK3, including Mildura.Worked VK3ATS in Mildura
on FM and SSB up to S9+40 @ 466 km. Got to Warrnambool repeater @ 512 km. Mt
Macedon 2m was S9+60dB+ @ 324 Km.

That evening when I came home, it was all gone!

Regards

Leigh VK2KRR

Persistent fog in NSW
Matt Pearce, Tue 17:17 EST

Widespread, persistent fog resulted in very low daytime temperatures
across southern inland NSW on Tuesday. The setup which led to the
development of the fog consisted of a strong high pressure system
across inland NSW. This resulted in a substantial temperature
inversion developing in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Trapped
beneath this inversion was an ample supply of low level moisture. As
temperatures dropped on Monday night, a layer of fog formed and then
became trapped beneath the inversion. This persisted well into
Tuesday afternoon before it finally lifted. Some of the lowest
temperatures relative to average were Tuggeranong 6C(average 13),
Corowa 8C(14), Wagga Wagga 9C(14) and Gundagai 10C(14). Fog areas are
once again possible on Wednesday morning but they will not be as long-
lasting.