Opening on 50 MHz from Australia to Europe??? - 17th Dec 2021

Friday 17th December 2021: I got an interesting email from Nigel, VK6CPU informing me of what looks like an opening on the 50 MHz band from Australia & New Zealand to Europe in December!

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Update 18th Dec: VK3ZAZ & VK6CPU says that this was a bogus reception report with a VK station in Australia using the callsign of LZ2HV to generate false reports.

It still doesn't mean that mid-Winter openings like this can't happen. It would still worthwhile for stations in the south of Europe to listen for VK stations on 6m.

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According to the reports on the PSK Reporter website, LZ2HV in Bulgaria heard several VK & ZL stations on FT8 in what looks like a short opening.

Normally when I see reports of very unusual openings, the first thing I do is to check if a mistake was made. Was someone reporting spots for the wrong band? Are they reporting local stations on the same band as well as the unusual stations? Are the locals on the same band as well? ...and so on.

The problem though is that it's around 4am in the morning in Bulgaria in the middle of December and no-one is going to be on the 50 MHz band.

Nigel, VK6CPU writes... "We have VK to LZ at ~ 02:15 UTC today. It doesn’t look like spotting to the wrong band. The majority of calls in his log were on 6m at the time there was in ES over Eastern States of Australia at that time.

Two hours later there was a good JA to Vk3/VK7 opening.

In November we had some excellent TEP openings from JA into VK1,2,3,4,5 & 6.   From memory, much earlier and more extensive/intense than the previous season.

Last year we had good openings from Australia to Europe in May/Early June (northern summer). Maybe its worth reminding EU stations its summer down under !!"

Time for Europeans stations to look to openings?? : As Nigel reminds us, it is Summer time in Australia and they are in their Summer Sporadic-E season.

In June & July of 2021, I reported on several amazing openings from Europe to Australia on the 50 MHz band... see my 50 MHz page.

Now we are in the middle of the Summer season in Australia, why can't there be openings again from Australia to Europe?

It might be a good idea for stations in the south of Europe on 50 MHz to point their beams towards Australia and monitor the FT8 frequency overnight?

Likewise, maybe the stations in Australia could beam towards Europe from time to time and give a few calls?

Let's see if there is a path there on 50 MHz and if some 6m contacts can be made.