ES season is coming up so I want to know if ES applies to UHF. Google says that it applies to 6 meters and 2 meters. What about 70 centimeters? Can I talk further with 8 watts? They say you can DX and go up to 500 miles! How many watts do you need? The gain for my antenna is 2.15 dBi for VHF and 3 dBi for UHF. Because it is directly attached to my radio, it does not have feedline loss.
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1$\begingroup$ Assuming it does, it depends on your antenna gain and feedline loss, which you have not yet provided. $\endgroup$– Mike WatersCommented May 7 at 21:08
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In short, most likely no.
According to this article at electronics notes:
Sporadic E is used by radio hams on bands from about 24 or 28MHz up to 144 MHz and very occasionally 225 MHz in the USA. It is widely used on 28 and 50 MHz to yield long distance contact when no other forms of ionospheric propagation re available.
Emphasis added.
While theoretically possible at 70cm, it seems highly unlikely that conditions would support a MUF in the UHF range.
You can use realtime propagation maps like this one to keep track of possibilities.
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1$\begingroup$ What's your antenna, its height above ground, and the local terrain (urban, rural desert, trees, hills, etc), are you using a repeater? It depends. $\endgroup$– webmarcCommented May 8 at 15:40
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1$\begingroup$ Years ago, my dad calculated with sufficient height, you could get from Michigan to California with 1W into a 1/4 wave. Of course the "sufficient height" part carries a lot of weight. $\endgroup$– DustonCommented May 8 at 16:01
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1$\begingroup$ @o'o my questions were rhetorical, the best way for you to understand range is to work with another local ham and experiment. With what you describe (a Baofeng FM handheld with a vertical), I imagine you can probably max out somewhere between 10 and 30 miles simplex depending on tree density and terrain... possibly less than 5 or more than 50. Just try it out. If you mean via Sporradic E, possibly hundreds of miles... but that's much better on SSB not FM. $\endgroup$– webmarcCommented May 8 at 17:00
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1$\begingroup$ @webmarc Over 1000 miles on E-skip has been done many times. For example, years ago on 2m SSB I worked from Toledo, Ohio to the SW USA and to the Canadian Maritimes. :) $\endgroup$ Commented May 8 at 22:04
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1$\begingroup$ Of course you're correct @MikeWaters, I'm forgetting the time I worked Arizona from just outside Washington DC!! $\endgroup$– webmarcCommented May 9 at 12:55