4853km TEP opening at 432 MHz reported from Curacao to Argentina - 5th Feb 2023

Brett, PJ2BR in Curacao in the Caribbean reports that on the 5th of February 2023 (01:18 UTC), his 432 MHz signal were heard by Javi, LU5FF in Argentina by Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP). The distance was 4853 kms!

This really is ground breaking news (*). It was only on the 4th of February that I put up a post about what was up to then the only 432 MHz reception report via TEP in South America and that was from 1978. I tagged PJ2BR on Twitter about the post and a few hours later, we have a second 70cms TEP report!

The Green exchange is for 144 MHz while the Yellow is for 432 MHz (*).

Proof of Concept (*)... For this TEP opening on 432 MHz, PJ2BR was using the Q65b weak signal mode. This is significant because it means that modern digital weak signal modes can be used for TEP openings at 70cms. It's not a case of there being too much doppler or spreading of the signal that only CW can be used. This would likely require a much stronger signal for a contact to be made.

For the record, here is a screen grab off the PSK Reporter website before it disappears.

Let's hope that this news will encourage more stations in the Caribbean and in South America to try to make a TEP contact on the 432 MHz.

(*) = Caveat... Someone raised the question if the reports on 432 MHz are genuine? They do after all follow some Q65 reports on 144 MHz and they wonder if it's the software generating these 70cms reports?

It's a bit like conducting a science experiment and we have one data point, not exactly the five-sigma required for a definitive conclusion. What we need are more stations in South America and the Caribbean to test the TEP path on 432 MHz. If there are no more reception reports then it raises some question mark over this new report. If there are more reports then it means this report was probably ok.

Addendum: 6th February 2023... There was another TEP 'reception report' on 432 MHz on the 6th of February 2023. This time it was from WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico to LU9FVS in Argentina.

I believe the stations involved have concerns about the software generating incorrect reports after the band has been changed.

I suspect what is required is the reception of a good old fashioned CW signal to eliminate any software issues.