3000km opening on Band 2 (88-108 MHz) from Ireland to Western Sahara - 10th Nov 2024

Paul Logan in the north-west of Ireland is one of the most active FM DXers in Europe and on the 10th of Nov 2024, he caught an interesting opening on the 88-108 MHz band.

From about 11:00 to 12:00 UTC, he heard a large number of FM radio stations from Spain and Portugal due to a Sporadic-E opening. While this is quite normal during the summer Sporadic-E season, it is unusual during the month of November and especially at these frequencies.

However, the really interesting signals were those that were much further to the south. This is an extract from Paul's log...

Mode UTC  QRG ITU Station, location Distance km kW ERP Pol
Es 1209 87.90 AZR RTP Antena 2, Pico Alto de Santa Maria 2346 1 v
Es 1151 93.00 CNR COPE, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906  4
Es 1154 88.60 CNR Happy FM, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 0.25
Es 1152 91.20 CNR Onda Fuerteventura, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 0.5 m
Es 1149 87.70 CNR RNE Radio Clásica, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 7 m
Es 1146 90.20 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania, Tarfaya 2960  4 v
Es 1146 93.90 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 3.16 v
Es 1146 91.00 MRC SNRT Radio Régionale de Laâyoune, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 10 h
Es 1146 87.90 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al Amazighia, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 10 h

AZR - Azores, CNR - Canary Islands, MRC - Morocco / Western Sahara

Note that the signals are in the lower portion of the 88-108 MHz band and the highest frequency listed is 93.9 MHz.

For this opening, Paul was using a SDR Play RSP1A receiver with a 9-element Yagi for Band 2.

The normal maximum range of single hop Sporadic-E signals is about 2300 kms so an explanation is required as to how the signals above were heard.

The image above shows the tropo forecast by Pascal, F5LEN showing enhanced conditions to the north of the Azores and Canary Islands.

It seems likely that while there was a Sporadic-E opening from Ireland to Spain and Portugal, this very likely extended to the west as well to the sea to the west of Portugal. This then coupled into a maritime surface tropo duct as far as the Azores, Canary Island and the Western Sahara / Morocco. 

Of course, no-one can say for certain that this is exactly what happened. There is always the possibility of two Sporadic-E hops but the chances of that are a lot lower then the combined Sp-E / Tropo scenario.

Paul Logan as a very active FM DXer has heard stations in this area before but it's usually during the summer Sporadic-E season. It's just very unusual to hear 3000 kms signals in mid-November.

Indeed, Paul reports that this is the first time he has heard the Canary Islands by Sporadic-E outside of the usual summer season.

Links...

1) For latest logs on FM DX, see https://www.fmlist.org/

2) For more examples of long distance reception reports, see my 88-108 MHz page.