4X1BG from Israel appears on the 40 MHz band - 15th Feb 2023

15th February 2023: I think most people were surprised when Nimrod, 4X1BG in Israel popped up on the 40 MHz (8m) band. Israel is about 4000kms from the UK and Ireland and is the ideal distance for F2 layer propagation. 4X1BG was using 100-watts into a Stepp-IR antenna.

The map above shows the paths on FT8 from 4X1BG and as you can see, two stations in the USA managed to decode the FT8 signals as well on 40.680 MHz. The distance to the US stations was just over 10,000kms.

The full list of FT8 decodes is shown at the end of this post and they show that 4X1BG decoded a lot of FT8 signals as well.

Robbie, EI2IP in the SW of Ireland completed a SSB contact on 40.670 MHz...

Full list of FT8 decodes in order of distance...

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR
4X1BG AC4TO 8m FT8 10509 km 14:14:59 -13
WM2XEJ 4X1BG 8m FT8 10236 km 14:24:29 -17
4X1BG EI9KP 8m FT8 4181 km 14:08:56 10
EI2IP 4X1BG 8m FT8 4108 km 14:36:44 1
EI3KD 4X1BG 8m FT8 4068 km 14:10:44 1
4X1BG EI3KD 8m FT8 4068 km 14:08:59 -13
4X1BG EI5IN 8m FT8 4064 km 14:08:56 2
EI8HEB 4X1BG 8m FT8 4058 km 14:16:14 -2
4X1BG EI8HEB 8m FT8 4058 km 14:08:56 2
4X1BG EI2HZB 8m FT8 4002 km 14:08:56 -15
4X1BG GM4UYE 8m FT8 3964 km 14:08:56 18
4X1BG NOCALL/P 8m FT8 3955 km 14:08:57 3
4X1BG GW4HDF 8m FT8 3730 km 14:08:56 -1
G8JNJ 4X1BG 8m FT8 3660 km 14:21:14 -18
4X1BG G8JNJ 8m FT8 3660 km 14:08:59 -18
4X1BG WESSEXSDR 8m FT8 3658 km 14:08:45 1
4X1BG G4IFX 8m FT8 3553 km 14:08:59 -14
4X1BG G3XBM 8m FT8 3532 km 14:08:59 -18
4X1BG G9PUV 8m FT8 3487 km 14:14:59 -14
G9PUV 4X1BG 8m FT8 3487 km 14:14:14 -12