Funny what you find on ebay these days.

[boiss]

I wasn't thinking of what "We" might do, "We" could knock up something putting out 100W in a couple of hours. It was the option of a neat little across the city connection with a cheapo Chinese digital Rx. If a few nerdy types hit on it ...................................?
Mike

[Yorkie]

The world record for distance of a transmission, (or more correctly, reception), set in January 2005, is an 13,467,980 miles per watt.The precise distance between the two stations is 546.8 miles. The peak carrier output was measured using an Agilent 8563EC Spectrum Analyzer at 40.6 uW (40 millionths of a watt). (The transmitter used an 80 Metre dipole at just 45 Ft ASL - the receiver used something a tad more impressive - a 1,000ft Beverage!).

The transmitter was the highly regarded kit-built Elekract K1 transceiver, which outperforms many commercial transceivers.

Full story:

Amateur Radio Set New World Record, 13 Million Miles per Watt:
January 2, 2005 – New London, NC

Bill Tippett, W4ZV, of New London, NC correctly copied code word OMAHA from the N2XE beacon transmitting with a peak carrier power of .0000406 watts at 3.5455 MHz on the 80 meter Amateur Radio band. Bill confirmed reception of the beacon at 2328Z, January 2, 2005. The precise distance between the two stations is 546.8 miles, establishing Bill's record reception distance at 13,467,980 miles per watt. Tippett used a Ten Tec Orion Transceiver with a 1000 foot Beverage antenna (named after Dr. Harold Beverage who invented it in the 1920s).

The N2XE beacon transmits from an Elecraft K1 (heavily attenuated) using an 80 meter off-center fed dipole, 45 feet AGL (above ground level). The beacon peak carrier output was measured using an Agilent 8563EC Spectrum Analyzer at 40.6 uW (40 millionths of a watt). The beacon transmits a unique code word each evening. Receiving stations are required to correctly copy the code word in their report. The word is published the following morning.

The N2XE Beacon Project was started in December, 2004 by Paul Stroud, AA4XX, Raleigh, NC and John Ceccherelli, N2XE, Wappingers Falls, NY with the goal of having a little fun and to go where no diminutive signal has gone before. Beacon times and frequencies are posted daily on the QRP-L reflector www.kkn.net/archives/html/QRP-L. Tests will continue on 160, 80 and 40 meters through the end of February 2005.

Commenting on his remarkable success, Bill said "I've spent 25 years on 80 & 160 listening to below noise level signals. There are at least three factors to this stuff: Antennas with good signal to noise like Beverages, a good receiver and the knowledge to use it and an operator with good ears and knowledge of propagation--not to mention patience and persistence."

Beacon station operator John Ceccherelli, N2XE, seemed more exited than Tippett about the achievement, even though it requires almost no effort on his part. "Hey, I have to flip the switch, grab a beer and go watch TV—that’s effort" he's reported saying, adding “I’m thrilled the record was set by an all-American team using all-American equipment.” The Ten Tec receiver is manufactured in Severville, TN and the Elecraft transmitter is produced in California and offered as a kit.

Source: http://www.eham.net/articles/9982

[boiss]

When I was with the IBA back in the early 80s there was a guy experimenting on 23GHz with regular links of over 150 miles from Butser hill (Portsmouth) into France.
I don't remember the location there. This was also with mW O/P. Antennas for the uW bands were nowhere near as good as today and were hellishly expensive.
Sorry about the digression.
Mike.
Certainly quite a feat with 40 uWatts over 540 miles!