Thursday, February 9, 2023

Request for more reception reports on the 40 MHz band - Feb 2023

The 8th of February 2023 was another good day on the 40 MHz band with lots of reports. Both Robbie, EI2IP in Ireland and Paul, G9PUV are active almost daily on the band and their reports are shown below.

Both EI2IP and G9PUV are looking for more reception reports on 40.680 MHz. Just try listening on that frequency with FT8 and see if you can decode anything. Just make sure you have the correct frequency set on your FT8 software.

With WSJT-X, go to File - Settings - Frequencies and change one of the unused microwave bands to 40.680 000 MHz.

An antenna tuned for 28 MHz or 40 MHz should still give reasonable reports although of course, it would be best to have a dedicated antenna for the band.

Reports for the 8th of Feb 2023...


EI2IP: The map above shows the stations that heard the FT8 signals from Robbie on 40.680 MHz. Robbie writes... "The band has been on fire these last few months, and the SWL reports are extending to Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador and well into East Coast of North America."

Robbie reports that Osmany, CO2OQ  in Havana, Cuba was using a 6M Moxon antenna and an ICOM-7300 and 50 Watts. Signal reports of +4dB and -12dB were exchanged on FT8.


G9PUV: The map above for Paul shows a similar pattern with the 8m signals reaching Cuba, Mexico and Ecuador to the west.

F14700: The FT8 signal from CO2OQ was also received by SWL Jean Trenscène, F14700 in the north of France. Jean was using a SDR Play RSP1A receiver with a D3000 discone antenna.

Analysis... The signal paths that are now being reported on the 40 MHz are reminiscent of what the 50 MHz band would be like if only the solar flux and sunspot numbers were higher.

The problem in the past was that the 28 MHz band was too far away from the 50 MHz band to warn of imminent openings. Now with the 40 MHz band, 6m operators know that the maximum usable frequency is just 10 MHz below and there is some potential of an opening.

It would be good to have more stations providing reception reports on FT8 and WSPR. 40.680 MHz in the middle of the ISM band seems to have become the default frequency in terms of activity.

Both EI2IP and G9PUV are looking for more reports from Asia, Africa, South America and the western half of the USA.

Link... For more info on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page

Heard lists... These are the stations that heard both G9PUV and EI2IP in order of distance...


G9PUV
Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HC2FG 8m FT8 9488 km 16:38:30
XE2JS 8m FT8 8606 km 15:59:15
XE2OR 8m FT8 8298 km 16:10:41
K5YT 8m FT8 7553 km 15:27:44
CO2OQ 8m FT8 7517 km 14:09:28
N4WLO 8m FT8 7306 km 16:27:41
W4TAA 8m FT8 7184 km 16:43:44
N2OTO 8m FT8 7101 km 15:59:00
VE1PZ/W4 8m FT8 7086 km 13:40:29
AC4TO 8m FT8 7037 km 15:59:44
WP4G 8m FT8 6766 km 15:02:12
WM2XEJ 8m FT8 6756 km 16:38:14
K1HTV-4 8m FT8 6011 km 16:12:15
K1RA-4 8m FT8 5994 km 16:06:15
WW1L 8m FT8 5010 km 16:22:14
VO1SIX 8m FT8 3956 km 16:06:11
HC02 8m FT8 1657 km 15:30:14
S50B 8m FT8 1167 km 14:12:56
S59F 8m FT8 1150 km 15:00:13
OZ2PJ 8m FT8 979 km 13:37:59
F6HTJ 8m FT8 935 km 14:59:14
DF6HT 8m FT8 883 km 15:27:41
DG0OPK 8m FT8 739 km 14:23:27
EI9KP 8m FT8 705 km 16:10:44
DK8NE 8m FT8 705 km 16:38:14
MM0AMW 8m FT8 631 km 15:30:44
DL5WP 8m FT8 613 km 15:59:14
NOCALL/P 8m FT8 598 km 13:38:57
F6ACU/SWL 8m FT8 553 km 12:28:42
PC5C 8m FT8 502 km 15:59:11
DK6M 8m FT8 497 km 13:50:58
EI4GNB 8m FT8 495 km 14:23:29
NL8992 8m FT8 477 km 15:27:44
G4YTD 8m FT8 454 km 13:37:59
LX1JX 8m FT8 433 km 16:40:41
PA11605 8m FT8 413 km 14:23:26
M0CTP 8m FT8 341 km 15:12:13
ONA4PS 8m FT8 340 km 14:58:14
OR7T 8m FT8 327 km 14:40:27
G3WCS 8m FT8 324 km 16:39:14
G3YPQ 8m FT8 316 km 14:20:28
G0DJA 8m FT8 278 km 16:55:41
GW7SMV 8m FT8 228 km 12:49:41
F14700 8m FT8 218 km 13:40:29
G4VPD 8m FT8 215 km 16:24:11
G8BQR/OWRX 8m FT8 214 km 16:42:00
G0HVQ 8m FT8 204 km 16:38:11
G4FKA 8m FT8 190 km 15:27:41
G3TKF 8m FT8 188 km 14:31:56
WESSEXSDR 8m FT8 187 km 16:42:00
G0KTN 8m FT8 177 km 16:59:45
G3XBM 8m FT8 158 km 13:20:12
G4IFX 8m FT8 66 km 18:31:13

EI2IP
Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HC2FG 8m FT8 8942 km 16:19:00
XE2OR 8m FT8 7681 km 15:25:11
K5YT 8m FT8 6935 km 15:28:14
CO2OQ 8m FT8 6904 km 14:44:13
N4WLO 8m FT8 6684 km 16:54:41
W4TAA 8m FT8 6567 km 16:54:41
N2OTO 8m FT8 6487 km 16:54:30
VE1PZ/W4 8m FT8 6468 km 13:40:29
AC4TO 8m FT8 6416 km 15:32:44
WP4G 8m FT8 6209 km 16:28:42
WM2XEJ 8m FT8 6135 km 16:54:44
VE3WEJ 8m FT8 5461 km 16:34:44
K1RA-4 8m FT8 5373 km 14:55:15
VE3DS 8m FT8 5144 km 14:47:43
WW1L 8m FT8 4389 km 16:27:14
VO1SIX 8m FT8 3335 km 16:34:44
EA8EE 8m FT8 2799 km 16:25:30
9A5CW 8m FT8 1823 km 13:31:26
S50B 8m FT8 1788 km 14:50:13
S59F 8m FT8 1771 km 15:20:43
HC02 8m FT8 1705 km 15:30:14
DF6HT 8m FT8 1389 km 14:27:41
F6HTJ 8m FT8 1381 km 16:54:41
DG0OPK 8m FT8 1336 km 14:36:12
DK8NE 8m FT8 1307 km 16:54:43
F6ACU/SWL 8m FT8 1169 km 12:22:57
DL5WP 8m FT8 1132 km 15:20:14
DK6M 8m FT8 1085 km 13:52:58
LX1JX 8m FT8 1051 km 16:25:41
NL8992 8m FT8 1020 km 15:20:14
PC5C 8m FT8 1008 km 16:25:41
ONA4PS 8m FT8 951 km 13:51:29
OR7T 8m FT8 931 km 14:27:41
PA11605 8m FT8 928 km 14:28:41
F1SCR 8m FT8 888 km 14:27:41
G7PUV/A 8m FT8 625 km 16:54:45
G3XBM 8m FT8 607 km 14:19:12
M0CTP 8m FT8 558 km 15:09:14
G4IFX 8m FT8 556 km 16:54:43
NOCALL/P 8m FT8 458 km 15:20:44
WESSEXSDR 8m FT8 454 km 16:54:30
G0KTN 8m FT8 444 km 13:31:30
G4YTD 8m FT8 439 km 13:38:56
G8BQR/OWRX 8m FT8 436 km 16:36:30
G0HVQ 8m FT8 434 km 16:29:41
G3TKF 8m FT8 433 km 14:30:41
G4FKA 8m FT8 432 km 15:20:11
G3WCS 8m FT8 420 km 17:10:14
GW7SMV 8m FT8 393 km 12:17:56
MM0AMW 8m FT8 387 km 17:09:14
G3YPQ 8m FT8 339 km 14:08:58
GI4OWA 8m FT8 301 km 14:09:59
EI4GNB 8m FT8 191 km 16:29:44
EI9KP 8m FT8 186 km 16:54:41
EI9JA 8m FT8 166 km 15:20:11
EI2HZB 8m FT8 121 km 12:20:26

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