5900km+ opening on 70 MHz from the Canary Islands to Kazakhstan - 25th May 2021

Tuesday 25th May 2021: There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening on the VHF bands with openings all of the way up to 144 MHz. On 70 MHz, there was evidence of plenty of multi-hop Sporadic-E including the one shown above from EA8JF in the Canary Islands to UN3M in Kazakhstan, a distance of 5946kms.

The map above from the PSK Reporter website clearly shows the 3 hop zones. First hop to Spain & Portugal, second hop to the centre of Europe and the one lone triple hop to Kazakhstan.

While double hop Sporadic-E at 70 MHz is rarer than 50 MHz, it is unusual to see triple hop on the band. Sometimes this can be as much to the limited number of countries with access to the band as much as the difficultly of getting three hops at 70 MHz.

These are the reports from the PSK Reporter website for distances over 4000kms.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

UN3M EA8JF 4m FT8 5946 km 09:49:14

SP2CHY EA8WU 4m FT8 4014 km 11:53:42

YL2CP EA8/DF4UE 4m FT8 4399 km 11:40:44

YL2CA EA8/DF4UE 4m FT8 4208 km 12:24:59

It was interesting to see that EA8/DF4UE managed to hear Latvia as well.

From the Kazakhstan point of view, this is the map for UN3M...

...and for UN7MBH...

These are the combined reports for distances over 4000kms from Kazakhstan...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

UN3M EA8JF 4m FT8 5946 km 09:49:14

EA4T UN3M 4m FT8 4462 km 10:11:59

EC4TR UN3M 4m FT8 4414 km 10:12:29

UN3M EA3KE 4m FT8 4114 km 09:54:42

EA1YV UN7MBH 4m FT8 4566 km 13:53:56

UN7MBH EA1YV 4m FT8 4566 km 13:46:44

UN7MBH EA1UR 4m FT8 4468 km 07:10:12

UN7MBH EA1AF 4m FT8 4279 km 13:46:14

DX Cluster: Some of  the double hop Sporadic-E spots for 70 MHz from the day are shown below. Note the spot for EA8BPX to ES1II/8, a distance of 4537ms which is close to the maximum for double hop Sporadic-E.

OK1TEH 70200.0 EA8BPX 12:11 25 May booming tnx! jo70-il18 Canary Islands

DH2UAK 70200.0 EA8BPX 12:09 25 May IL18 Canary Islands

DK2EA 70154.0 EA8WU 12:03 25 May JO50UF<ES>IL28HC gracias, 73! Canary Islands

SP2CHY 70156.3 EA8/DF4UE 11:55 25 May ES Canary Islands 

SP2CHY 70156.3 EA8JF 11:40 25 May JO94GO<ES>IL38 Canary Islands

OK1TEH 70154.0 EA8JF 10:36 25 May still vy strong I cq .200ssb Canary Islands

DL4MFF 70154.0 EA8JF 10:31 25 May JN57IW<>IL38FX tnx ft8 Canary Islands

EA7KJE 70155.0 EA8JF 10:31 25 May DXCC 29 WAC AF WAZ 33 WPX EA8 Canary Islands

DM2ECM 70154.0 EA8JF 10:06 25 May JO62GJ<ES>IL38 tnx ft8, 73 Canary Islands

SP5AOZ 70154.0 EA8JF 09:58 25 May KO02LI<ES>IL38 FT8-05dBTnx QSO Canary Islands

SP2DDV 70154.0 EA8JF 09:57 25 May FT8 -02dB 2230Hz Canary Islands

OK1TEH 70154.0 EA8JF 09:57 25 May booming i cq .200ssb Canary Islands

DG1VL 70154.0 EA8JF 09:56 25 May FT8 -14dB from IL38 2161Hz Canary Islands

OZ8ZS 70154.0 EA8JF 09:28 25 May calling u Canary Islands

DJ4TC 70154.0 EA8JF 09:28 25 May JO63PN<ES>IL38 TNX Canary Islands

DF5VAE 70154.0 EA8JF 09:22 25 May FT8 -7 dB 2196 Hz Canary Islands

EA2BFM 70154.0 EA8JF 09:20 25 May Gracias Qso y nuevo Locator Canary Islands

SP5XMU 70154.0 EA8JF 09:20 25 May KO02<ES>IL38 FT8 Canary Islands

SP2MKO 70154.0 EA8JF 09:13 25 May JO93CB<ES>IL38FX tnx qso Canary Islands 

DF5VAE 70154.0 EA8JF 09:12 25 May FT8 -16 dB side ***ter Canary Islands

EA1YV 70155.2 UN7MBH 13:57 25 May IN52<>LO51 FT8 Kazakhstan

OK2BRD 70154.0 UN7MBH 13:43 25 May JN99ET<>LO51QG SORRY TYPO Kazakhstan

YO2IS 70154.0 UN7MBH 13:13 25 May <ES> FT8 -16 dB 1208 Hz Kazakhstan

OH4MVH 70154.0 UN7MBH 12:08 25 May TNX FT8 QSO via ES Kazakhstan

YL2CP 70154.0 UN7MBH 11:20 25 May KO27PH<>LO51QG Tnx QSO! Kazakhstan

PA7MM 70154.0 UN7MBH 10:35 25 May Kazakhstan 

EA3NJ 70154.0 UN3M 10:01 25 May tnx qso 73 Kazakhstan

EA6SX 70154.0 UN7MBH 06:46 25 May FT8 -14 dB 1141 Hz rx Kazakhstan

G4FUF 70154.0 UN7MBH 06:33 25 May JO01GN<ES>LO51QG Kazakhstan

ON4GG 70154.0 UN7MBH 06:28 25 May lo51>jo20 Kazakhstan

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country

UN7MBH 70154.0 9H1PI 10:17 25 May <ES> FT8 -14 dB 914 Hz Malta

UN3M-@ 70154.0 SV8RV 10:07 25 May 0db tnx qso Greece

UN3M-@ 70154.0 9H1PI 09:57 25 May +15db!!! tnx qso Malta

UN3M-@ 70154.0 9H1TX 09:55 25 May +14db!!!!! Malta

UN3M-@ 70154.0 EA3BS 09:54 25 May -20db Spain 

UN3M-@ 70155.0 EA4T 09:52 25 May -16db Spain

UN3M-@ 70155.0 EA3NJ 09:51 25 May -16db Spain

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country

EA8BPX 70202.0 ES1II/8 12:34 25 May es 55 KO18 IL18 Estonia (4537kms)

EA8BPX 70200.0 OK1TEH 12:11 25 May 59 Czech Republic

EA8BPX 70195.0 DH2UAK 12:08 25 May ES Fed. Rep. of Germany