Big opening on 50 MHz between South Africa & Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: I was first alerted to this big opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and South Africa when Tom, SP5XMU posted the map on the left on Twitter and tagged me.

This is a snapshot of FT8 signals on the 50 MHz over a short period but it clearly shows an opening in progress.

As well as posting the photo, Tom writes... "First solid Trans-Equatorial Propagation #TEP on 50 MHz in Solar Cycle 25 from south Europe to South Africa"

In this post, we'll look at the opening and keep a record of how extensive the opening was.

FT8: As per usual, FT8 was the dominant mode for the opening and the list below shows how many European stations were heard by each of the African stations.

Call - # of stns heard

ZS6NJ - 86 (10 DXCC)

ZS6NK - 79

ZS6WAB - 53

ZS6AF - 44

ZS6OB - 23

ZS6JGL - 18

V51WC - 16

ZS6BOS - 15

ZS4TX - 6

ZS6AYE - 5

ZS6NK: While ZS6NK was the second highest in terms of stations heard, it was interesting to see that the path for him extended beyond the usual TEP zone.

You can see the line of stations in the south of Europe that ZS6NK heard but it goes up to the UK and Germany as well.

Here is the map of Europe in more detail...

FT8 reports from Germany & England...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

ZS6NK G0BNR 6m FT8 8965 km 14:45:26

ZS6NK DK8NE 6m FT8 8489 km 15:34:59

ZS6NK DL1YM 6m FT8 8370 km 15:34:59

It's likely that there was some Sporadic-E which allowed the TEP signals from Africa reach further north into Europe.

Sometimes, the locations where there are no signals can be interesting as well. For example, there was no path for ZS6NK to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Likewise in South Africa, it was the stations in the north of the country that were enjoying the TEP opening and there was no sign of the stations further south near Cape Town.

Namibia: V51WC in Namibia was also active and his FT8 is shown below...

Like the stations near in the north of South Africa, he is far enough north to avail of the TEP opening.

SSB & CW: Looking at the DX Cluster, there was some activity on SSB and CW as well. See below...

The DX cluster spots for V51 & ZS on the day are shown below. Non-FT8 are in bold...

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
IW0FFK 50313 V51WC 16:32 23 Oct 21 JN61FS<TEP>JG77GJ Namibia
IK5YJY 50313 V51WC 16:31 23 Oct 21 1197 ~ CQ V51WC JG77 Namibia
IU8FRE 50313 ZS6NK 16:27 23 Oct 21 73 Paul - ok Lotw South Africa
IK7EOT 50110 ZS6NK 16:04 23 Oct 21 SSB Booming TNX qso South Africa 
IK4DRY-@ 50314.4 ZS6WAB 15:55 23 Oct 21 FT8 South Africa 
EA7KBX 50313 ZS6NK 15:55 23 Oct 21 TNX QSO South Africa
IZ0CVF 50112 ZS6NK 15:51 23 Oct 21 QSB South Africa 
EA7KBX 50313 ZS6OB 15:49 23 Oct 21 tnx qso Jan South Africa
IU8FRE 50313 ZS6AF 15:48 23 Oct 21 73 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50112 ZS6NK 15:48 23 Oct 21 CQing South Africa
IZ0CVF 50110 ZS6NK 15:46 23 Oct 21 Nice QSO 73 South Africa
SV3AQT 50313 ZS6WAB 15:40 23 Oct 21 FT8 South Africa
IK8PGQ 50110 ZS6NK 15:40 23 Oct 21 JN70CU<>KG46RC 59 TNX PAUL South Africa
F1BBI 50313 ZS6WAB 15:39 23 Oct 21 RX FT8 -6 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:36 23 Oct 21 JN70JT<TEP>KG46RD South Africa
IK8PGQ 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:33 23 Oct 21 JN70CU<TEP>KG46RD strong 599 South Africa
TA1BM 50313 ZS6WAB 15:27 23 Oct 21 KN40LX<ES>KG46RB Hrd South Africa
IZ8NVV 50313 ZS6OB 15:20 23 Oct 21 Hrd FT8 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6CO 15:19 23 Oct 21 -10 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50313 ZS6JGL 15:19 23 Oct 21 Hrd FT8 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6BOS 15:18 23 Oct 21 FT8 TNX QSO South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6JGL 15:16 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG44 R+11Tnxqso South Africa
IT9RZR 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:09 23 Oct 21 599 in jm76 South Africa
IU8FRE 50110 ZS6NK 15:07 23 Oct 21 73 South Africa
IT9RZR 50110 ZS6NK 15:07 23 Oct 21 cq ssb boooming South Africa
EA3AQJ 50110 ZS6NK 15:05 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 599 sorry keye South Africa
IS0ZOD 50110 ZS6NK 15:04 23 Oct 21 55 in jn40dn South Africa
IK5YJY 50313 ZS6AF 15:01 23 Oct 21 Tnx qso South Africa
IT9RZR 50313 ZS6AYE 14:59 23 Oct 21 tnx qso 73 South Africa
IK0FTA 50110 ZS6NK 14:58 23 Oct 21 cq cw hrd South Africa
IT9RZR 50313 ZS6AYE 14:56 23 Oct 21 cq ft8 -08 South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6WAB 14:55 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 R+15tnxqso South Africa
IK5YJY 50313 ZS6JGL 14:54 23 Oct 21 Tnx qso South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6OB 14:51 23 Oct 21 TNX FT8 73 South Africa
SV8CS 50110 ZS6NK 14:35 23 Oct 21 Tnx CW qso South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NK 14:30 23 Oct 21 Cq dx cq dx South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6WAB 14:29 23 Oct 21 kg46<>im86 +05db South Africa
F5LNU 50313 ZS6WAB 14:23 23 Oct 21 JN04JV<>KG46 ft8 +17 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NK 14:19 23 Oct 21 FT8 +5 strong South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6NJ 14:18 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG33 R+10tnx qso South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6NK 14:18 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 R+10tnxqso South Africa
IK7FPV 50313 ZS6NJ 14:16 23 Oct 21 tnx qso South Africa
F5LNU 50313 ZS6NK 14:16 23 Oct 21 JN04JV<>KG46 ft8 +00 picking South Africa
F5LNU-@ 50313 ZSS6NJ 14:08 23 Oct 21 tu qso -3 South Africa
IK5YJY 50313 ZS6AYE 14:06 23 Oct 21 1206 ~ CQ ZS6AYE KG54 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6NJ 14:01 23 Oct 21 tep South Africa
EA5EN 50314.3 ZS6NJ 14:01 23 Oct 21 South Africa
IK0FTA 50110 ZS6NK 13:59 23 Oct 21 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NJ 13:59 23 Oct 21 ft8 +5 South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6NJ 13:58 23 Oct 21 -08db tnx q South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6NK 13:58 23 Oct 21 +00db South Africa
F5LNU-@ 50313 ZS6NK 13:57 23 Oct 21 +00 in JN04 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6AYE 13:57 23 Oct 21 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS4TX 13:55 23 Oct 21 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6NK 13:55 23 Oct 21 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6WAB 13:54 23 Oct 21 jm49 es kg46 tnx qso 73 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NJ 13:53 23 Oct 21 jm49 es kg33 tnx qso South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6WAB 13:51 23 Oct 21 South Africa 
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NK 13:46 23 Oct 21 jm49 es KG46 tnx new one South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NK 13:45 23 Oct 21 +3 ft8 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6WAB 13:40 23 Oct 21 Cq dx cq dx sent-08 in JM49 South Africa