6000km opening on 144 MHz between South America & the Caribbean - 3rd Nov 2021

Wednesday 3rd November 2021: The TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) season seems to be in full swing at the moment with stations in South America and the Caribbean making contacts on the 144 MHz band.

The map above for HI8DL in the Dominican Republic and WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico shows some of the contacts that were made.

Most of the contacts were made with the Q65 digital mode as opposed to the usual FT8. The spots below from the DX Cluster shows some activity on CW as well.

 Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
LU2DPW-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 00:45 03 Nov TKS Q65B QSO Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:20 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Puerto Rico
LU5CQC 144180.0 HI8DL 00:19 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Dominican Republic
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:42 02 Nov Q65B -3 dB 1362 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
LW2DAF 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:41 02 Nov CQ Q65B 15s Puerto Rico
LU7DW-@ 144300.0 HI8DL 23:36 02 Nov GF05sh<TEP>FK58al CW Dominican Republic

Diego, LW2DAF near Buenos Aires in Argentina reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz... "My first contact with Puerto Rico on 144MHz via TEP.......TEP doesn't cross between LU and KP4. Q65B 15s mode. LW2DAF<>WP4KJJ"

Diego writes to say that while there have been contacts between LU and KP4 in the past, there haven't been many in recent years.

Analysis... For TEP signals at 144 MHz, they need to cross the Geomagnetic Equator at or very close to 90 degrees.

What this usually means is that stations in the Dominican Republic (HI) normally work stations near Buenos Aires in Argentina while stations in Puerto Rico (WP4) normally work stations in the far south of Brazil.

It seems as if signals that were slightly further away from 90 degrees got through this time.

Reports... Christian, LU5CQC in Argentina also reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz.

Joe, WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico reports that a ZP station in Paraguay was active on SSB on 144.300 MHz during the opening and he was worked them many times.

These are some of the reports from the PSK Reporter website showing distances in the region of 5000-6000 kms.

LW2DAF
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HI8DL 2m Q65B 6020 km 01:24:34
WP4KJJ 2m Q65B 5923 km 00:32:34
PJ2BR 2m Q65B 5306 km 00:30:25
PJ4GR 2m Q65B 5294 km 00:07:59

WP4KJJ
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
LU5CQC 2m Q65 5924 km 23:57:44
LW2DAF 2m Q65 5923 km 23:35:43
LU7JMS 2m Q65 5698 km 23:52:43
PY5EK 2m Q65 5198 km 23:40:43

HI8DL
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
LU5BE 2m Q65 6026 km 00:23:13
LU5CQC 2m Q65 6022 km 00:32:13
LU2DPW 2m Q65 6010 km 01:09:43
LU4DJC 2m Q65 5998 km 00:25:43
LU4FW 2m Q65 5808 km 00:40:44
LU7JMS 2m Q65 5800 km 01:20:13
LU9FVS 2m Q65 5793 km 01:16:13

PJ2BR
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
LW2EDM 2m Q65 5693 km 23:37:59
LU5BE 2m Q65 5312 km 00:23:14
LU5CQC 2m Q65 5308 km 00:27:59
LW2DAF 2m Q65 5306 km 23:33:44
LU2DPW 2m Q65 5296 km 01:10:14
LU4DJC 2m Q65 5284 km 00:23:44
LU4FW 2m Q65 5094 km 00:40:44
LU7JMS 2m Q65 5087 km 01:20:14
LU9FVS 2m Q65 5079 km 01:16:14

PJ4GR
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
LU5BE 2m Q65 5300 km 00:23:21
LU5CQC 2m Q65 5296 km 23:56:44
LU4DJC 2m Q65 5273 km 00:25:44
LU7JMS 2m Q65 5074 km 01:19:43
LU9FVS 2m Q65 5069 km 00:05:13
CX8JD 2m Q65 4965 km 00:17:51

There are more examples of TEP openings on my 144 MHz page HERE