Opening on the 40 MHz band between California and Alaska - Jan 2023

Chris, N3IZN is located in the south of California and is the owner of the experimental callsign WM2XCC. He has been conducting tests on the 40 MHz band for over a year using the WSPR beacon mode.

Between the 20th and 25th of January 2023, his WSPR signal was heard by a number of US stations as shown on the map above and in the chart below which is listed by distance.

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-22 17:18 WM2XCC DM13ji WW1L FN54om 40.681497 2 -22 1 4300
2023-01-24 17:36 WM2XCC DM13ji VA2CY FN46lw 40.681426 2 -16 3 4135
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KC0IYT FN42kj 40.681554 2 -21 0 4115
2023-01-21 18:20 WM2XCC DM13ji VE2UG FN35gs 40.681498 2 -3 0 3939
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18 0 3863
2023-01-20 19:06 WM2XCC DM13ji KB2MEN FN20ok 40.681484 2 -21 0 3815
2023-01-20 19:48 WM2XCC DM13ji VE3EUR FN25dn 40.681529 2 -6 0 3763
2023-01-22 16:36 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681511 2 -22 0 3640
2023-01-22 17:52 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.68149 50 8 0 3144
2023-01-22 17:12 WM2XCC DM13ji AC4TO EM70xl 40.681497 50 -15 0 3134
2023-01-22 17:50 WM2XCC DM13ji N4WLO EM50uo 40.681488 50 22 0 2736
2023-01-22 20:04 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7UTS CN89li 40.681491 50 -26 0 1843

The reception report of particular interest is from KL7HBK in Alaska. Even though there are four other reports which were further away, Alaska is of interest because it's so far to the north. This is especially true as it seems likely that the mode of propagation was F2 layer propagation.

These are all the WSPR spots from Alaska on the 23rd and the 25th of January. The signal reports range from +18dB which is very strong to -18dB which is buried in the noise and inaudible to the ear.

2023-01-25 20:42 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 -7
2023-01-25 20:22 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 15
2023-01-25 19:58 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 10
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681508 2 -18

2023-01-23 21:54 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 21
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18

Alaska has a reputation of being a bit of wasteland when it comes to VHF propagation so it's interesting to see 40 MHz signals propagate so far north. The solar flux at the time of the reports was around the 190 mark.

Link... For more reports and information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page HERE