It’s not uncommon for hams to be asked questions along the lines of, “how far can you talk with that?” For the last century, the answer to that question has been, more or less any spot on Earth.

Shown here is the December 1924 issue of QST announcing that hams had made contact between the antipodes–two points directly opposite each other on Earth. In this case, it was between Britain and New Zealand.  The magazine noted that the record might be stretched by a few hundred miles, since the two points were not directly opposite.  In fact, it wondered whether some well-equipped ham might not operate from a ship in the Indian Ocean, and work North America from the most distant point possible.

The contacts discussed here took place on 150 meters, or about 2 MHz.  As hams would soon learn, if they kept increasing the frequency, the contacts would get easier and easier.  At 14 MHz and above, even a modest station can boast the same results routinely.  In fact, there’s a slight advantage working another station at the antipode.  Since it doesn’t matter which direction you go to get there, you can take advantage of propagation in all directions.