162 Mhz NWR distance

[Elf36]

I haven't got an antenna set-up yet for VHF/UHF, but I was messing around listening to weather stations near me using an HF antenna. I was wondering how far out you have heard these WX stations around 162 Mhz?

[ThaDood]

Well, they are great VHF High Band Propagational 24/7 Beacons, fo' sure. I've heard them +200 miles when tropo enhancement happens. Hey... Our taxes pay for these, so might as well use them.   https://www.weather.gov/nwr/ 

[Elf36]

Good deal. Always looking for new things to check out. Been doing some local aircraft listening also. I tuned into 123.450 Mhz a bit, but didn't hear anything. I'll have to try it earlier in the morning or late at night. If I'm not mistaken I learned about the 123.450 from a post you made a while back. Take care.

[RobRich]

If NOAA/NWS transmissions are circularly polarized, your might actually fair okay if a station is within one of the many lobes your OCFD presents at VHF.

In the meantime, you might consider a basic coaxial vertical dipole. It is lightweight enough to hang on even a rather small branch of a tree. Receive bandwidth should be rather wide at VHF, too, so one cut for VHF air should suffice for the weather band as well. Example here:

https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/portable-2m-144-mhz-coaxial-dipole-antenna/

I would make some improvements like using a lower sleeve instead of the coax shield if transmitting, but otherwise building it as described with even cheap RG-6 would be okay for receiving, and you even could replace the turned choke with just 2-3 snap-on chokes for simplicity's sake if desired.