PA2S biography

Henk has been very interested in radio, television and everything that had to do with it. Building radios and trying to receive signals from weird places was the word… He was licenced on January 1, 1976 as PEoHJS (VHF and up only). Soon, VHF and UHF became favourite parts of the frequency spectrum. But still, he wanted his licence to be upgraded to a full permit. In May, 1977, after passing his CW (morse code) exam, the call sign was changed to PA2HJS.

In september 2003, the authorities decided to issue 2×1 callsigns. Although emotionally attached to PA2HJS, it is rather inefficient in CW…so the call was shortened to PA2S.

Activity
Next to 144 MHz, in 1977, the 432 MHz was activated, followed by higher bands each year:

  • 1978: 1296 MHz
  • 1979: 2304 MHz (now 2320 MHz)
  • 1980: 3456 MHz (now 3400 MHz)
  • 1981: 10368 MHz

Opposed to the rising frequencies, in 1978, Henk read an article about 50 MHz. Interesting stories about radio propagation during periods of high solar activity, spanning long distances at that frequency band triggered a new kind of activity: listening on a band which was not allocated to amateur radio in Europe. At first, no signals were heard, except for television signals, which can be observed during the summer months. In March, 1979, the first amateur signal was received: a strong signal from a beacon transmitter in South Africa: ZS6PW

It took until November 1979, before amateur signals were heard again on 50 MHz. On the 6th and 7th of November, stations from North America and Canada were logged. Later, signals from Central and South America were received. The period of high solar activity lasted until 1981 and numerous stations from the Americas and Africa were logged.

Ever since, Henk has been very much interested in 50 MHz. It was a great achievement that special licences were awarded in 1988 to explore the world of 50 MHz from a two-way point of view. During the autumn of 1988, the first 50 MHz openings with F2 propagation were observed. By then, we did not realize what had to come…

It took until 1992 for PA2S to complete the DXCC award (which is ussued to Ham Radio operators who prove evidence of two way communication with amateur stations in more than 100 different countries).

In 1994, Henk had to move to another location and unfortunately, he could not put up the tower again and he had to accept a major setback with regard to station performance. Nevertheless, as the next solar cycle progressed, some new countries could be added to the list. Summer Es was also good for new additions.

In 2015, a new wave of activity was triggered when permits for 60 meters (5.4 MHz) were granted. Due to limited space, a dipole was about the best to be put up. The station performs quite acceptable. Noise and interference from man made sources is a major problem, still on the rise. The distance record is 3D2AG (Fiji) via the long path, with nearly 24,000 km.