New 144 MHz TEP beacon in South Africa - April 2024

Bernie, ZS4TX reports that a new 144 MHz beacon has started in South Africa to investigate the possibility of Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) to the Mediterranean and Europe.

Bernie, ZS4TX writes... "New ZS Beacon for 2M TEP tests in April from KG33XU. ZS6RVC has started a 25W beacon on 2M with a 14 element yagi 20M high on a mountain site with a clear shot to EU.

The frequencies to listen on according to my IC910H is as follows:
144.449.2 CW 600Hz tone
144.448.6 USB 600Hz tone

Please monitor this frequency as well between 16Z and 21Z and send any reports to me. It sends ZS6RVC /B KG33XU in CW ~ 12 WPM"

Analysis... As the 144 MHz signals are likely to cross the Geomagnetic Equator at right angles (90 deg), the most likely area for reception of this beacon is probably going to be the eastern half of the Mediterranean.

Back in 1981, there was a TEP opening on 144 MHz from this part of South Africa to the Athens area in Greece so it may be possible again.

Links...

1) See my 144 MHz page for more examples of long distance contacts.

Update on the new 144 MHz beacon on St Helena Island (ZD7)

A few days ago, I had a post about the new proposed 2m beacon for St Helena Island. Dee, ZR1DEE has very kindly sent on some additional information.

Garry, ZD7GWM is the beacon keeper and recently took delivery of  a Motorola GM340 FM radio, power supply, cables and a Diamond X700H antenna.

As of the 4th of February, the antenna still needs to be installed and then the beacon will be turned on.

More info from Dee.....  

Gary will select the beacon frequency from a list of 4 pre programmed frequencies (Channel 1: 144.475 Channel 2: 144.325 Channel 3: 144.375 Channel 4: 144.385 ) to suit .
 
Now we wait for the Diamond antenna to be erected and BEACON SWITCHED ON

* * *

Update 16th Feb 2021: Photos of the new antenna at the bottom of this post.

* * *
 
The keyer circuit is a 8 pin PIC12F675 chip fed to the input of the Motorola  GM340 FM radio

Additional information about the beacon...
Call sign of the beacon  ZD7GWM
QRG – 144.475 frequency
Grid locator IH74DB
QTH LONGWOOD ISLAND OF ST HELENA
Antenna type DIAMOND X700H
Height above sea level  545M
Height above ground  10M
Antenna direction OMNI-DIRECTIONAL
Horizontal or Vertical  VERTICAL
Power output  20 W
Keying – mode CW
Machine Generated Mode if applicable
GPS coordinated  S 15⁰ 56’ 54.68  W005⁰ 41’ 02.34 (-15.9485  -005.6840 )
Beacon status activated soon
Beacon Keeper GARRY MERCURY ZD7GWM

Analysis... Let's have a look at where St Helena is and who is likely to hear this beacon.

2700km contact made on 2m from South Africa to St.Helena Island

It was announced on Southgate Amateur Radio News during the week that a contact had been made between South Africa and St.Helena Island on 145 MHz.

"Kobus van der Merwe, ZS3JPY reports that between 19:45 and 21:45 UTC on Wednesday 7 November 2018, a QSO took place on 2 metres between St Helena Island and the West Coast of the Northern Cape. A distance of 2,740 km.

The QSO was on 145,500 MHz FM using a vertically polarised antenna between Garry Mercury, ZD7GWM and Kobus ZS3JPY and Michelle ZS3TO van der Merwe in Kleinzee as well as Cobus van Baalen, ZS3CVB in Port Nolloth.

They did try a QSO on 70 cm, but the signals did not provide for a successful QSO. "

This is a recording of the contact...



Info from Facebook..."From ZS3JPY Kobus: Qso with ZD7GWM with ZS3JPY Kobus, ZS3TO Michelle 2777km and ZS3CVB Cobus 2740km on vhf 145.500 Fm simplex with Vertical antenna 07.11.2018 qso started 21H45 until 23H45 we even tried 70cm and we nearly made a contact but signal just not good enough we will try tomorrow evening. ZS3CVB qso with Gary ZD7GWM on St Helena Island vhf Fm mode and 50w both sides
Gary: ☓520 dual band Diamond antenna;
ZS3CVB: X700H dual band Diamond antenna explorer the vertical antenna and use quality low loss coax Cable.

Me and Cobus were having our evening qso on 145.500 and Gary called in and Cobus ZS3CVB said somebody is breaking in and iam jumping up and down screaming to Michelle: St Helena Island is calling in on the frequency!"

This was a really good contact especially as it was on FM as opposed to SSB, CW or FT8. The tropo forecast for the area shows very good conditions off the west coast of Namibia so the propagation mode was probably marine ducting.

How does this compare to other contacts made on the 2m band? This is the equivalent distance of 2740kms from the South-West of Ireland.

It almost reaches across the Atlantic to Newfoundland. However, it's also the same distance from Ireland to the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

Most years, we have openings from Ireland and the South-West of the UK to the Canary Islands (EA8) via marine ducting tropo. It's unusual but not rare.

I suspect that the contact from South Africa to St.Helena is pretty much the same, unusual but not rare. If anyone looks at the topography of St.Helena then they can see that the populated area on the north-west of the island is blocked to the south-east by hills. ZD7GWM is in the centre of the island with a better take off and perhaps this is what made the difference. When similar ducting happens again...and it will, another contact may well be possible.

Is a contact possible from South Africa to South America. The distance is about 5800 kms, over twice the distance of the South Africa - St.Helena contact. Unlikely.

Although I seem to remember a news item from a few years back where someone in Namibia did tests on 2m with someone in Brazil?

Another big opening on 144 MHz - Tues 23rd & Wed 24th of Oct 2018

After hearing someone mention that there were French stations on 2 metres, I had a listen to the FT8 frequency of 144.174 MHz for 24 hours from 20:00 UTC 23rd to 20:00 UTC 24th Oct 2018.

This is a chart of the signals heard...

If this was a chart of signals heard with say a medium size Yagi beam then I'd say it looked pretty good. However, these signals were heard with a Slim Jim half-wave vertical in the attic of my house!

The game changer here is the FT8 digital mode. When I was pretty active on 2m SSB before, I never heard a signal from Denmark (OZ) with the 9 element beam that I had. Now with FT8, I've heard Denmark for the first time. Amazing.

OZ1BEF in Denmark was 1240 kms away which is pretty good for tropo.

Another interesting signal was that of F8DBF in Britanny. At a distance of 475 kms, it was just a reminder that the North-West tip of France isn't that far from my location in Cork and is about the same distance as Southampton on the south coast of England.

Great to see so much activity on 144 MHz!

FT8 tests on 144 MHz with limited success

After reading a post on the blog of Roger G3XBM about the possibilities of FT8 on 144 MHz, I tried it out for myself. The results for me on receive on a flat band however were mediocre at best...

Like any experiment, you always learn something even if the results are poor.

The key points for me are...

1) Poor antenna..... Using an indoor Slim-Jim half wave vertical antenna in the attic doesn't cut it for weak signals on 144 MHz. It might be fine in the SE of the UK, the low countries or Germany but not here in Ireland.

2) Too far west..... I estimate the bulk of the FT8 stations on 144 MHz are at least 400 kms to the east of me. Roger had a lot more stations closer to him even from the continent.

3) Fewer planes..... With a 15 second transmission time, aircraft scatter probably plays a big part on the number of FT8 signals heard on 144 MHz. Here on the south coast of Ireland, most of the aircraft traffic is Trans-Atlantic going east-west. There would be a much higher number of planes criss-crossing over the south east of the UK with many at lower altitudes.

The results confirm what I would have kind of guessed anyway. FT8 is good but it's not that good. To operate 2m FT8 from here, I would need an external horizontal Yagi.

Bandscan on 145MHz during Nov 2016

I have been scanning and listening on 145MHz for most of November 2016 so I now have a reasonable idea as to what the level of activity on the band is like. As expected, the level of local activity is very low and is mainly confined to mobile stations calling through the various repeaters.

The only real activity period is after the IRTS news broadcasts on Monday and Tuesday evenings.

This is a map of the repeaters that I have heard on 145 MHz under flat conditions...

These are the frequencies I have heard most activity on  while listening to 145 MHz FM. The set up was pretty modest with just a home made half wave vertical antenna. The signals in Purple are those heard under lift conditions.

Freq. Station
145.400 ... Used as a net frequency near Waterford city
145.450 ... Used as a net frequency in South Tipperary
145.475 ... Packet type signals from the Chinese Satellite Kaituo 1B. Norad ID 40912.
145.525 ... Used as a net frequency in Wexford
145.600 ... FM repeater. GB3WR nr Bristol. IO81PH. CTCSS F 94.8Hz.
145.6325 ... FM repeater. GB3DN. North Devon repeater. IO70UW. CTCSS 77Hz.
145.650 ... FM repeater. EI2DBR. Devil's Bit Repeater, Tipperary. IO62BU. Southern Ireland Repeater Network.
145.675 ... FM repeater. EI2HHR. Helvick Head Repeater. IO62EC. Southern Ireland Repeater Network.
145.675 ... FM repeater. EI2CCR. Clermont Carn Repeater, Co.Louth. IO64UB.
145.675 ... SSB on downlink from transponder on Chinese satellite XW-2A. Norad ID 40903.
145.6875 ... Digital repeater. No positive ID. Might be GB3WE? Weston Super Mare. IO81MH.
145.700 ... FM repeater. EI2TKR. Truskmore Repeater. Sligo. IO54TI. CTCSS 77 Hz.
145.700 ... FM repeater. GB3AR. Carmarthen Repeater. IO73VC. 110.9Hz.
145.725 ... FM repeater. EI2TAG. Tountinna, Tipperary. Limerick repeater. IO52TU.
145.725 ... Beacon on Chinese satellite XW-2B. Norad ID 40911.
145.725 ... FM repeater. GB3NC. North Cornwall repeater nr St.Austell. IO70OJ. CTCSS 77Hz.
145.750 ... FM repeater. EI2MGR. Mullaghanish, Co.Cork. IO51KX.
145.7625 ... FM repeater. GB3PL. East Cornwall. IO70VM. CTCSS 77Hz. ID is 'GB3PL Amateur Radio Repeater'.
145.775 ... FM repeater. GB3WW. West Wales repeater. IO81CP. CTCSS F 94.8 Hz. 
145.775 ... FM repeater. GB3WT. West Tyrone. IO64JQ. Nr Omagh. CTCSS 110.9Hz.

While this list is unique to my location, it should give a general guide as to what can be heard if you are living near Cork. You may well hear other repeaters but this is a good list to start with and it's a guide on where to listen.

Southern Ireland Repeater Network...2m & 70cms

Since I returned to the radio, I have been listening to the 2m and 70cm bands. While the level of activity on FM seems pretty low, the repeater infrastructure on the bands is very impressive.

The largest of these is the Southern Ireland Repeater Network which links up multiple repeaters. i.e. a signal on one repeater appears on all the others.

The coverage is shown below....

2m Repeaters:

A
Callsign:   EI2DBR
Location:    Devil’s Bit, Co. Tipperary.
Locator:    IO62BU
Output:   145.650MHz
Input:   145.050MHz
Shift:   -0.6MHz
Access:   Carrier

B
Callsign:   EI2HHR
Location:    Helvick Head, Co. Waterford.
Locator:    IO62EB  
Output:   145.675MHz
Input:   145.075MHz
Shift:   -0.6MHz
Access:   Carrier

70cms Repeaters:

C
Callsign:   EI7MLR
Location:    Mt. Leinster, Co. Carlow.
Locator:    IO62OO
Output:   430.950MHz
Input:   438.550MHz
Shift:   +7.6MHz
Access:  156.7Hz

D
Callsign:   EI7WCR
Location:    Carrickphierish, Waterford City.
Locator:    IO62KG
Output:   433.275MHz
Input:   434.875MHz
Shift:   +1.6MHz
Access:   Carrier

E
Callsign:   EI7FXR
Location:    Farmers Cross, Cork City.
Locator:    IO51SU
Output:   430.900MHz
Input:   438.500MHz
Shift:   +7.6MHz
Access:   103.5Hz

F
Callsign:   EI7BWR
Location:    Bweeng, North Cork.
Locator:    IO52OB
Output:   430.875MHz
Input:   438.475MHz
Shift:   +7.6MHz
Access:   103.5Hz

One obvious problem is that one conversation can tie up multiple repeaters but it doesn't seem to an issue as the activity levels are pretty low.

It's certainly a big change from before when there were just simple stand alone repeaters on 145 MHz that didn't connect to anything else.

Additional info..
1) The Southern Ireland Repeater Network website can be seen here... http://sirnrepeaters.blogspot.ie/
2) The repeater list on the IRTS website can be found here.. http://www.irts.ie/cgi/repeater.cgi