Very long distance openings on the VHF bands are always of interest and one such instance happened back on the 7th of January 2021 when Leigh, VK2KRR in New South Wales in Australia managed to log and record several FM Band 2 radio stations from Indonesia.
Normally with Sporadic-E propagation, the maximum distance is around 2300 kms. In this case, VK2KRR heard FM radio stations on the 88 to 108 MHz band from Indonesia, a distance of about 4000 to 5000 kms!
While a number of Indonesian stations were recorded, it looks as if it was difficult to get a positive ID on the exact location for each one. There was however a positive ID of RADIO FBI on the island of Bali on 91.8 MHz and at a distance of 4380 kms.
It's likely that the propagation mode was double hop or chordal hop Sporadic-E. While this is pretty common on lower frequencies like 50 MHz, it is much rarer at the Band 2 frequencies of 88 to 108 MHz.
A full list of videos from the opening on the 7th of January can be viewed HERE.
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