Good opening from Europe to Australia on 28 MHz - 31st Jan 2022

Monday 31st January 2022: There was a nice opening on 28 MHz on the 31st with some strong signals between Australia and Europe.

The map above shows what I heard on WSPR on 28 MHz on the 31st. While conditions were poor to the west, it was good to the south and the east. It's worth noting that this is WSPR where there is a limited number of stations transmitting. If I had been listening on FT8 then the map would have a lot more dots.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km 
2022-01-31 09:20 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126017 50 8 0 17449
2022-01-31 12:10 VK3KTT QF22gg EI7GL IO51tu 28.126102 50 -18 0 17388
2022-01-31 10:54 VK3QD QF22ik EI7GL IO51tu 28.12601 2 -23 1 17385
2022-01-31 09:58 VK6XT OF86td EI7GL IO51tu 28.12618 5 -11 0 15311

I heard four VK stations on WSPR with all three of the VK3 stations near the city of Melbourne. 

The 50 watt signal of VK3KCX/1 had a signal to noise ratio of +8dB which is up at the level where a SSB contact would be possible. It was nice to see the 2 watt signal from VK3QD also making it through with a signal of -23dB.

I also heard the VK8VF beacon near Darwin on 28.268 MHz which was just above the noise. There's something magic about actually hear a CW signal from the other side of the world on 28 MHz. 

The video clip below from G8DX shows how strong the signals were on SSB...

Amazing conditions on 28MHz today - here’s a short clip of VK3KJ from this morning with my aerial at just 25ft due to strong winds #hamradio pic.twitter.com/RFsS2acrnN

— Jack G8DX (@jackg8dx) January 31, 2022

The solar flux was up at 130 so it seems the sun is well up on the 100 or so of late.