A total of 16 stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual was... 9A2SB (1), 9A6W (9), DK7UK (2), EA3ERE (13), EI3GYB (10), EI4GNB (1), EI4KP (13), EI7GL (44), EI7HBB (13), F1EIT (13), F6HTJ (4), G0LUJ (5), G7CNF (1), IK0OKY (7), ON4TA (1) & OZ1BNN (9).
As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 1200kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.
It's interesting to look back through the years and see just how stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon each year.
The OZ7IGY beacon first became operational on 40 MHz back in 2007 and a total of 44 individual stations spotted it on the DX cluster that year. It was probably widely reported in the amateur radio press at the time as it was a beacon for a new band and quite a few people would have been curious to see if they could hear it.
Over the next few years, the only other signal on the band was the GB3RAL beacon which was operational from 2007 to 2014. There were also times when OZ7IGY was non-operational. The lack of any other developments in countries in Europe in getting access to the band didn't help with the level of interest in the new 8-metre band.
This finally changed in 2018 when radio amateurs in Ireland got access to the 8m band and that kicked off some renewed interest across Europe.
In 2020, 16 individual stations reported the OZ7IGY beacon on the DX Cluster, the same as 2019. The main difference was that only one OZ (Denmark) station was putting up spots in 2020 compared to six in 2019.
As for the number of individual spots for OZ7IGY on the DX cluster, this is the distribution since it started...
Curious Fact... As of the end of 2020, there are a total of about 500 spots for the OZ7IGY beacon since it first became operational on 40 MHz in 2007. Out of all of the spots, there isn't one from outside Europe. There are no double hop Sporadic-E reports. There must have been plenty of times when the 40 MHz signal was audible in North America and South Africa.
DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.
More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/
For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html
Since the start back in 2007 the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon has been running on yearly experimental licenses based on reasoned applications. It has been increasingly difficult to come up with new good reasons every year. As a result it was off air in-between licenses.
ReplyDeleteThe last five months of 2020 it was off-air!
As all 12 OZ7IGY beacons together represent an operating cost of approx. 2500 € every year the 40 MHz beacon was occasionally switched off for economic reasons.
After all OZ7IGY beacons switched to the “Next Generation” platform a new problem arose: The 40 MHz beacon interfered with the microwave beacons and was therefore switched off for several periods.
The good news is that due to changes in the regulations we have now been granted a permanent license until the end of 2035. On January 2, the beacon on 40,071 was back on air!
In addition, we have solved our interference problems and found a sponsor to cover the license fee for the 40 MHz beacon.
So if no other problems arise the 40 MHz beacon of OZ7IGY has now become reliable 24/7/365!
On behalf of the OZ7IGY-team - Vy 73 de OZ7IS, Ivan.