First contact on the 40 MHz band between Ireland and South Africa - 21st April 2022

A little bit of radio history was made on the 21st of April 2022 with the very first contact ever between Ireland (EI) and South Africa (ZS) on the 40 MHz band.

Phil, EI9KP in the west of Ireland managed to complete two way contacts with Jan, ZS6OB in South Africa on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 and FT4 modes, a distance of about 9,570 kms.

EI9KP writes... "For me a first band "opening" to South Africa, logged ZS6OB from 1044z till 1420z.  To my delight we managed a 2-way contact on 40.680MHz using FT8 and FT4 modes."

EI9KP was using 25-watts from an ICOM IC-7300 to a home brew 2-element Yagi for the 8m band. ZS6OB was using in the region of 30-50 watts.

2-el Yagi for the 40 MHz band used by EI9KP

Phil continues..."I could see ZS6OB making many a contact to S5 Slovenia.  At a certain moment the PSKReporter 8m map was lit up by 20 monitoring stations. For the first time I logged ZS6WAB/B on 40.675MHz CW."

This is the map showing the stations in Europe that heard ZS6OB...

It's worth noting that the 40 MHz band can act as an early warning for potential openings on the higher 50 MHz and is being used by serious 6m operators for that purpose.

Here are the FT8 reports for ZS6OB from the PSK Reporter site...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6OB S58P 8m FT8 8116 km 14:48:56
ZS6OB EA3ERE 8m FT8 8000 km 14:47:44
ZS6OB S59F 8m FT8 8104 km 14:47:44
S57A ZS6OB 8m FT8 8115 km 14:43:26
ZS6OB G7PUV/A 8m FT8 8956 km 14:42:45
ZS6OB S50B 8m FT8 8098 km 14:41:43
S50B ZS6OB 8m FT8 8098 km 14:41:26
S52O ZS6OB 8m FT8 8123 km 14:33:27
ZS6OB S57TW 8m FT8 8106 km 14:27:11
ZS6OB S52O 8m FT8 8123 km 14:25:14
ZS6OB ON5QRP 8m FT8 8687 km 14:19:42
ZS6OB HC02 8m FT8 7949 km 14:14:44
ZS6OB EI9KP 8m FT8 9573 km 14:04:44
ZS6OB G0CHE 8m FT4 8979 km 13:29:28
ZS6OB G4FTC 8m FT4 9037 km 13:28:43
G9PUV ZS6OB 8m FT4 8964 km 13:23:06
ZS6OB G9PUV 8m FT4 8964 km 13:22:59
ZS6OB G4IFX 8m FT8 9019 km 13:20:58
ZS6OB PA11605 8m FT8 9030 km 13:17:27
S58P ZS6OB 8m FT8 8116 km 13:06:44
S59F ZS6OB 8m FT8 8104 km 12:26:41
ZS6OB OK1NP 8m FT8 8534 km 12:19:59
9A2Y ZS6OB 8m FT8 7767 km 12:16:12
ZS6OB NL8992 8m FT8 8960 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB G7PUV 8m FT8 8964 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB IW4EGP 8m FT8 7933 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB DK2EA 8m FT8 8613 km 12:15:26
EI9KP ZS6OB 8m FT8 9573 km 12:13:12
F4FRQ ZS6OB 8m FT4 8451 km 12:07:06
ZS6OB F4FRQ 8m FT4 8451 km 12:01:44
ZS6OB PA5M 8m FT8 8940 km 11:59:26
ON5QRP ZS6OB 8m FT8 8687 km 11:55:12
ZS6OB G0LFF 8m FT8 8981 km 11:42:29
ZS6OB G4APB 8m FT8 9022 km 11:40:27
ZS6OB M0NYW 8m FT8 9427 km 11:37:57
ZS6OB G0DJA 8m FT8 9241 km 11:33:26
ZS6OB SM7FJE 8m FT8 9184 km 11:24:29
ZS6OB ON4IQ 8m FT8 8838 km 11:19:29

Just to note that Paul, G7PUV in the SE of England also heard ZS6OB. ZS6OB also heard the FT8 transmissions from G9PUV which is the call used by G7PUV for his experimental transmissions under his 40 MHz Innovation and Trial license.

ZS6WAB was also operating his beacon on 40.675 MHz and was reported in Europe.

Here are the 40 MHz DX-Cluster spots from the day...

EI9KP 40013.0 EI1KNH 15:46 21 Apr IO54MB<>IO63VE WSPR -24dB Ireland
EA3ERE 40680.0 ZS6OB 14:27 21 Apr <TEP> FT8 cq usa South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 48600.0 ZS6OB 14:23 21 Apr -21 db - RX South Africa
S50B 40680.0 ZS6OB 14:16 21 Apr CQ USA South Africa
EA3ERE 40680.0 ZS6OB 13:23 21 Apr <TEP> FT8 -7 South Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 13:22 21 Apr JN11CX<>KG46 CW 539 South Africa
ON4PS-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:23 21 Apr -06 from KG44 (ft8) South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 EI9JA 12:20 21 Apr -17db - RX Ireland
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:17 21 Apr RX -07db -FT8 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 EI9KP 12:14 21 Apr RX +10db Ireland
F4FRQ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:13 21 Apr JN37KQ<>KG44DE ft4 +02 South Africa
F4CXO 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:11 21 Apr JN26PP<>KG46RB CW 579 in FT 81 South Africa
F4FRQ 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:04 21 Apr JN37KQ<>KG46RB CW 529 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:03 21 Apr 55 - RX South Africa
F4CXO 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 11:51 21 Apr JN26PP<>KG46RB 539 QSB South Africa
EI9KP 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 11:50 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>KG46RB CW 539 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 11:36 21 Apr RX +13db South Africa
IW4EGP 40680.0 ZS6OB 11:32 21 Apr FT8 -10 CCC ZS6* South Africa
EI9KP 40680.0 ZS6OB 10:48 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>KG44DE FT8 -6dB South Africa

EI9KP 40680.0 G3XBM 10:33 21 Apr IO54MB<>JO02DG FT8 -18dB England
EI9KP 40680.0 S59F 09:28 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>JN65UU FT8 -16dB Slovenia

Propagation Mode: With the increasing solar activity, I suspect a combination of TEP and F2 layer propagation was responsible for these 40 MHz openings.

Link...

1) As always, plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.