Opening on the 40 MHz band from Belgium to Australia - 16th Feb 2023

 

Over the last few days, there have reception reports of 40 MHz signals from Ireland and England being heard in Australia. On the 16th of February 2023, VK4FNQ and VK4TVL in the NE of Australia have decoded the FT8 signals of ONA4PS in Belgium.

ONA4PS is the special experimental callsign used by Pierre, ON4PS for the 40 MHz band.

Pierre writes... "I would like to thank the several nice SWL reports I got this morning, Feb. 16th 2023. Andy Musin first from West Kazakhstan, LO51RK (3201 km), next John Goldfinch, VK4FNQ from QG39EX (15229 km) and then Lloyd Baker, VK4TVL from QH30IP (15188 km), the first time that my 40 MHz signal is being heard in Australia. I really appreciate it. Pierre ONA4PS (ON4PS)"

The screenshot above from John, VK4FNQ shows reception of ONA4PS on FT8 on 40.680 MHz with a signal of -19dB. For this reception report, VK4FNQ was using an 80m dipole.

This screenshot is from Lloyd, VK4TVL showing FT8 decodes of both Paul, G9PUV in the SE of England and ONA4PS in Belgium. The strongest signal from ONA4PS seems to have been around -10dB. VK4TVL was using an off-centre fed dipole for the 80m band up about 6m.

ONA4PS (ON4PS) was using just 5-watts into a dipole as per the restrictions on his experimental licence.

Analysis... This was another fine example of the excellent conditions on the 40 MHz band at the moment as the solar flux is up around 200. 

If you examine the map at the top of the post, you'll notice that ONA4PS has a slightly more southerly route than the stations in the UK or Ireland. This is important as the further to the south-east in Europe you move, the more southerly the path becomes and the higher chance of successful paths to Australia or New Zealand.

Surely it's only a matter of time before we see some 40 MHz reception reports of European signals from the VK2/VK3 area of Australia i.e. down around Sydney & Melbourne.

Link... I keep a record of the long distance 8m openings on my 40 MHz page.

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...

40 MHz signal from G9PUV in England is heard in Australia - 13th Feb 2023

13th February 2023: Paul, G7PUV is one of the few stations in the UK with a permit to carry out experiments on the 40 MHz band. On the 13th of February, his test FT8 transmissions with the callsign G9PUV on 40.680 MHz were picked up by Lloyd, VK4TVL in the NE of Australia. The distance was an impressive 15,455 kms.

This comes just one day after signals from EI4GNB and EI2IP were also decoded by VK4TVL on the 12th of February 2023.

Analysis... With the Solar Flux up around the 200 mark, it looks as if there are now some really good long range F2 openings on the 40 MHz band between Europe and Australia. It' raises the question of whether the Europe to Australia path on the 50 MHz band would open if the Solar Flux was a little  higher?

On the 14th of February, the 40 MHz path from Europe to Australia was open again as can be seen from the decodes shown below. It would seem likely that the next likely step is for someone in the SE of Australia (VK2 & VK3) to try and decode these 40 MHz signals from Europe.

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

Decodes by VL4TVL on the 40 MHz band on the 14th of February 2023

14,588km opening on the 40 MHz band from Quebec to New Zealand - 12th Feb 2023

Sunday 12th February 2023: In recent posts, I've reported on how Bob, ZL1RS in New Zealand had heard 3 of the 7 special experimental stations in the USA on the 40 MHz (8m) band as well as PJ4MM on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean. Reports linked from the 40 MHz page.

On the 12th of February, ZL1RS managed to decode the WSPR and FT8 signals from Bernard, VA2CY in Quebec, Canada on 40.680 MHz, a distance of 14,588 kms. Bernard was granted the experimental license CYA373 by the Canadian authorities to carry out tests on the 40 MHz band.

These are the WSPR reports...

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-02-12 21:04 VA2CY FN46lw ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681457 100 13 -4 14588
2023-02-12 20:52 VA2CY FN46lw ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681454 100 17 -4 14588
2023-02-12 20:44 VA2CY FN46lw ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681454 100 16 -3 14588
2023-02-12 20:28 VA2CY FN46lw ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681469 100 -3 -1 14588

Note the signal reports that range from -3dB to a whopping +17dB, well into the region where a comfortable SSB contact would have been possible.

When I was preparing this post, I noticed that the path was also open on the 13th of February.

2023-02-13 20:24 VA2CY FN46lw ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681467 100 -16 -4 14588

Bob also reports that he also heard several US signals as well as VA2CY on FT8 as well.

Bob, ZL1RS writes... "Some thumping signals received on 8m from VA2CY in Quebec this morning ... +17 in WSPR and +15 in FT8 !

Here are today's decodes (12th Feb) from my WSJT-X  ALL_WSPR . txt and ALL . txt files ...

15,700km opening on the 40 MHz band between Ireland and Australia - 12th Feb 2023

12th February 2023: With the solar flux just above the 200 mark, some interesting paths are beginning to appear on the 40 MHz (8m) band. On the 12th of February 2023, Lloyd, VK4TVL in the north-east of Australia received the FT8 signals on 40.680 MHz from Tim, EI4GNB and Robbie, EI2IP in Ireland.

 Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR
EI2IP 8m FT8 15766 km 11:11:44 -16
EI4GNB 8m FT8 15587 km 11:00:14 -17

The signal reports of -16dB and -17dB suggest that the signals were very weak indeed and just below what is really audible to your ear. It is however stronger than what would be required for a successful FT8 contact.

Lloyd reports using an off-centre fed dipole for the 80m band up about 6-metres. No doubt with a dedicated antenna for the band, the signals would have been even stronger.

Analysis... This opening happened just after sunset in NE Australia and that no doubt was a factor in the opening. The primary mode of propagation was likely F2 with possibly some help from TEP to the north of Australia.

The distances of 15,587 kms and 15,766 kms are the longest paths that have been reported on the 40 MHz band so far for amateur radio or experimental stations. Could it go further?

The next obvious step is for someone down around Sydney & Melbourne to receive the 40 MHz DX signals. Even though it's about an additional 1000kms or so, the path is a little more southerly so the chances of success are high.

New Zealand to Europe on 40 MHz??? The problem here is that the short path and long path start getting close to the polar regions. This is especially true for stations in the UK or Ireland.

The path above shows the path from the centre of England to the north tip of New Zealand. i.e. location of ZL1RS. The path from Ireland is even worse. From the UK, the SE of England looks like the best spot i.e. G9PUV.

Perhaps a 40 MHz path from New Zealand to the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark or the stations in Slovenia or Croatia might be more likely? The short path and long path routes certainly don't get as close to the poles.

Link: For more information on the 8m band, visit my 40 MHz page.

Signals heard on the 40 MHz band - Sun 12th Feb 2023

Sunday 12th February 2023: Due to interference from some silly RTTY contest, I had to abandon listening on the 28.1246 MHz, the frequency for WSPR signals on the 10m band. Instead, I turned my attention to the 40 MHz band and had a listen there for a change.

The signals heard on FT8 over a 2-hour period are shown above including ZS6WAB and ZS6OB from South Africa. If this was on the HF bands, I'd be thinking 'whatever' but there is something special about hearing a signal from South Africa on a VHF band. And when I say 'hear', I really mean hear. Both the South African FT8 signals were audible to my ear.

All of the signals were on FT8 although I was able to hear Robbie, EI2IP and Willem, ZS6WAB have a contact on SSB as well. ZS6WAB was quite weak with me, maybe peaking 4/1 but still very audible. Robbie by contrast is 62kms away and is audible all of the time with a 5/2 signal report.

I was a bit surprised to hear the EI4GNB. EI9KP and G9PUV was well. At 200-600kms, they're in that kind of skip zone for signals. As for the mode of propagation, I think it was F2 layer backscatter. I see a lot of debate about aircraft scatter but most of these 'close in' radio signals on the 40 MHz band during the daytime can be easily explained by F2 layer back-scatter.

To close off the reception report, I had a listen for the EI1KNH 8m beacon as well and it was easy to hear, again probably via backscatter. There was no sign of EI1CAH in the west of Ireland or of GB3MCB in Cornwall.

In conclusion: An interesting day but the takeaway message here is that I was just using a simple CB type vertical half-wave antenna for reception. As it is tuned for 28 MHz, it's performance at 40 MHz probably isn't great.

I think anyone in Europe would be able to hear these 40 MHz signals with any sort of reasonable antenna and a special dedicated 40 MHz antenna is not required.

WM2XCS/B 40 MHz beacon heard 4000kms away on the west coast of the USA - 7th to 11 Feb 2023

George, N2CG in New Jersey has one of the seven special experimental permits for the 40 MHz band -  call WM2XCS. He has a 30-watt beacon on 40.685 MHz which beams towards Europe. The following report is about recent reception of his beacon on the 8m band.

George writes... "This week I received two WM2XCS/B 40.685 MHz CW Beacon reception reports from over 2k miles away from CA and WA as follows:

Report 1 from K6YK: I've been checking 8 meters now & then to see if I hear anything.  Yesterday and the day before I heard you! Feb. 7 and 8  your beacon was in for hours! And fairly strong at times on 40.685.
2-7-23 from 1915 to at least 2200 UTC, I checked several times and there it was! 
2-8-23 I checked around 1700 UTC and it was there already, and I didn't document how long it was in.
I was listening on an IC7600, IC756proII, FT-100D, 3 element tri-band beam.  I don't have any proper antenna for 8 meters.
I'm unable to make the auto tuners in these radios to tune on 40 MHz because they won't transmit there. So it's possible the signal might have been much stronger than what I was getting.
John Lee K6YK

Report 2 from N7MWV: I was listening to the 8m band today (I decoded WM2XEJ in EM83 on FT8 at 18:24 UTC)
and found your beacon later today; Friday 2/10. I’m no longer hearing the beacon, but it was up to
a S3 to S4 at 20:49 UTC. My QTH is Rochester WA and I’m in grid square CN86lt. QRZ says we’re
2,432 miles away. My antenna is a 7 element 6m M2 at about 61ft AGL. My receiver is my ICOM 756 Pro III transceiver with the 1st RX preamp on.
John Price N7MWV"

George continues..."Like the two reception reports I received about two weeks ago from AZ and AB that I reported to you, this weeks CA and WA stations reception reports both over 2K miles away were receiving the 30 Watt beacon on the backside of the beacon's antenna (which I keep beaming towards Europe).  I believe the current SFI of over 200 and SSN at 190 is having a positive effect in the beacon being heard in the western part of US and Canada."

Addendum: In addition to the two reports above, I also found an additional report from K7RWT on the DX Cluster from the 11th of February 2023. 

K7RWT 40684 WM2XCS/B 17:53 11 Feb 23 FN30-CN85 539 United States

K7RWT is just to the south of N7MWV and the distance is again around the 4000km mark.

In conclusion: With the solar flux now up around the 200 mark, we are now seeing east-west trans-continental openings at 40 MHz across North America. The distance of about 4000kms is perfect for one F2 layer hop. 

The fact that the 8m opening is east-west as opposed to north-south just goes to show how good conditions are at the moment. Any serious 6m operators on the west coast of the USA should be looking for this 8m beacon in New Jersey as it may suggest that a trans-continental opening at 50 MHz is possible.

Link: For more information on the 8m band, look at my 40 MHz page.

13,318km opening on the 40 MHz band from the Caribbean to New Zealand - 10th Feb 2023

10th Feb 2023: This was another good day on the 40 MHz (8m) band as shown from the map above showing the FT8 paths from Martin, PJ4MM on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean.

The 8m signal from PJ4MM went well into Europe and reached as far as Poland and Greece. The one path that caught my attention was the opening across the Pacific to New Zealand. I believe this is the first time a 40 MHz signal from the Caribbean has been heard in New Zealand.

These are the FT8 reports for PJ4MM in order of distance.

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PJ4MM ZL1RS 8m FT8 13318 km 22:51:41
PJ4MM SV8CS 8m FT8 9094 km 15:43:44
PJ4MM SR4DON 8m FT8 8830 km 14:26:30
PJ4MM SP9TTG 8m FT8 8755 km 14:35:11
PJ4MM 9H1TX 8m FT8 8563 km 15:39:44
PJ4MM DG0OPK 8m FT8 8173 km 14:51:12
PJ4MM DK8NE 8m FT8 8136 km 14:50:14
PJ4MM G9PUV 8m FT8 7438 km 14:52:44
PJ4MM EI4GNB 8m FT8 7083 km 14:28:14
WM2XCC PJ4MM 8m FT8 5485 km 19:00:56
PJ4MM CE3SX 8m FT8 5080 km 20:24:43
PJ4MM WB0DBQ 8m FT8 4453 km 18:04:41
PJ4MM VO1SIX 8m FT8 4072 km 15:05:41
PJ4MM VE2BI 8m FT8 4025 km 15:59:11
PJ4MM XE2OR 8m FT8 3826 km 18:04:44
PJ4MM WW1L 8m FT8 3595 km 15:08:44
PJ4MM K5YT 8m FT8 3557 km 18:01:44
PJ4MM K2ZD 8m FT8 3348 km 14:51:11
PJ4MM N4WLO/3 8m FT8 2901 km 20:52:11
PJ4MM PJ4GR 8m FT8 10 km 22:43:41

Bob, ZL1RS mentions that his 8m Yagi is permanently fixed at about 70 degrees.  With just 3 elements, the -3dB beam width is about 70 degrees (+/-35 deg).  So it covers 040 to 110 degrees quite well. PJ4MM is at 96 degrees.

Just for reference, the solar flux on the 10th of February was back over 200.

Bob confirms that there many decodes of PJ4MM on the day and he has kindly sent on a list of decodes to me. I have them listed below for reference.

Even more Trans-Pacific openings on the 40 MHz band - 6th to 9th Feb 2023

In previous posts, I reported on some impressive 40 MHz openings across the Pacific Ocean. On the 28th of December 2022, there was a 12,000km+ opening on the 40 MHz band from California to Australia. On the 25th of January 2023, there was a 10,470km opening on the 40 MHz band from California to New Zealand.

The common element in both posts was that the station in California was WM2XCC, the experimental 40 MHz station which is operated by Chris, N3IZN. Now we have reports of two other experimental stations being heard across the Pacific.

WM2XEJ: The first report is of Bob, ZL1RS in New Zealand receiving the WSPR signal from WM2XEJ in Georgia in the USA. This is interesting not only because of the 13,129km distance but WM2XEJ is a lot further east than the previous reception reports of WM2XCC in California.

These are the WSPR reports...

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-02-08 23:34 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.68156 100 -18 0 13129
2023-02-08 23:40 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681561 100 -1 0 13129
2023-02-08 23:46 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681558 100 1 -1 13129
2023-02-08 23:54 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.68156 100 -1 0 13129
2023-02-09 00:08 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681558 100 -9 0 13129
2023-02-09 00:14 WM2XEJ EM83ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681558 100 -17 0 13129

As you can see, the signal comes out of the noise and peaks at +1dB which is strong enough for say a good CW contact. After that, it fades away again. The opening possibly coincided with a sunset in Georgia. or a sunrise in New Zealand?

The other stations shown on the map above are from the last week and show plenty of F2 propagation on the 40 MHz (8m) band.

WM2XCW: The WM2XCW experimental 40 MHz station is located in the far north of Washington state and has now been received in New Zealand. This is significant because WM2XCW is the most northerly of the US experimental stations on the 40 MHz band.

ZL1RS... Again, most of the reports are from Bob, ZL1RS on the 6th and 8th of February 2023...

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-02-06 21:48 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681533 10 3 0 11246
2023-02-06 21:58 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681533 10 -4 0 11246
2023-02-06 22:48 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681532 10 -7 0 11246
2023-02-06 22:38 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681534 10 -7 0 11246
2023-02-08 22:48 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681535 10 -10 0 11246
2023-02-08 22:58 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681535 10 -12 0 11246
2023-02-08 22:38 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681534 10 -12 0 11246
2023-02-08 22:18 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681532 10 -12 -1 11246

Note that while WM2XEJ in Georgia is listed as 100-watts, WM2XCW in Washington state is using a much lower 10-watts. The strong signal peaked at +3dB suggesting a weak SSB contact may have been possible.

ZL1RQ... There are several reports from Alan, ZL1RQ for WM2XCW but they are listed as being on 28 MHz. As WM2XCW only transmits on 40 MHz, it seems likely that ZL1RQ is listening on 40 MHz but his older version of WSJT-X software isn't configured for 40 MHz reports.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km version
2023-02-07 21:18 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RQ RF64 28.12616 10 -26 0 11318 2.5.2
2023-02-07 21:08 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RQ RF64 28.12616 10 -23 0 11318 2.5.2
2023-02-06 22:48 WM2XCW CN88lx ZL1RQ RF64 28.126157 10 -16 1 11318 2.5.2

There is also one report from ZLBEACON with the same frequency, short locater square and software version as ZL1RQ so I presume these were from Alan as well.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km version
2023-02-08 21:08 WM2XCW CN88lx ZLBEACON RF64 28.12616 10 -28 0 11318 2.5.2

WM2XCC: Unsurprisingly, most of the trans-Pacific 8m reception reports are for WM2XCC in California. Note that WM2XCC is using different power levels at different times.

VK4OTZ: There is one single report from VK4OTZ on the east coast of Australia on the 7th of February 2023.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km 
2023-02-07 23:38 WM2XCC DM13ji VK4OTZ QG62jo 40.681528 50 -24 1 11637 

ZL1RQ: There are several reports of WM2XCC from ZL1RQ but again, the frequency shown is 28 MHz rather than the correct 40 MHz one.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km version
2023-02-08 00:00 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126111 50 -25 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 23:56 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126111 50 -23 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 23:46 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126111 50 -11 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 23:42 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126112 50 -16 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 23:38 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126113 50 -12 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 22:56 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126113 2 -28 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 22:38 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126113 2 -21 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 22:18 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126113 2 -23 0 10550 2.5.2
2023-02-07 21:56 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RQ RF64 28.126113 2 -20 0 10550 2.5.2

ZL1RS: Bob has by far the most reception reports and these are shown below.

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...

Good conditions on the 40 MHz band - Mon 6th Feb 2023

Several stations have reported good conditions on the 40 MHz band on the 6th of February 2023.

These are the FT8 paths for Paul, G9PUV / G7PUV in the SE of England.

Robbie, EI2IP in the SW of Ireland experienced similar conditions.

Martin, PJ4MM was heard by quite a number of stations across the Atlantic on the 40 MHz band. This makes a pleasant change from just a year or two ago when the number of stations listening on the band was a lot lower.

PJ4MM writes... "Today's reports 8m, everybody thanks for the reports! All ft8 except 9a5cw

Successful low power tests on the 40 MHz band in Australia - 29th Jan 2023

In Australia and New Zealand, anyone can use up to 1-watt ERP on a non-interference basis without a license on the 40 MHz ISM band. Hilary, VK2AZ has taken advantage of this and has been experimenting with a WSPR beacon on 40.680 MHz since the end of December 2022. 

On the 29th of January 2023, several stations heard the WSPR beacon from X/VK2AZ on 40.680 MHz. What's really amazing is that the power output was just 0.005 watts or 5-milliwatts!

VK2AZ writes... "At the end of December 2022 I decided to place a WSPR beacon on 40.680 MHz.
My beacon is an RFZero loaded with the WSPR transmitter code and a LPF (low pass filter) for 40MHz on its output. Currently it puts out about 5 milliwatts WSPR every 10 mins on 40.680 MHz using the call X/VK2AZ.

A local friend and Amateur, Michael, VK2TMC who is 8 km from me in the Blue Mountains, set up a Flex SDR and WSJT-X on 40.680 which allowed me to tune and test my setup.

The RFZero is also GPS locked. https://rfzero.net/examples/wspr-transmitter/

To my surprise, my 5 milliwatt beacon has been spotted at considerable distance. On 29 Jan 2023 my beacon was spotted by Peter, VK5PJ in South Australia at a distance of 1076 km and Warwick, E51WL in the North Cook Islands at a distance of 5902 km.

Just goes to show that you don't need a lot of power on these "Magic Bands". In an email to Bob, ZL1RS, Warwick, E51WL described it as "nice wspr frames from that VK with his flea"

***

For his 40 MHz propagation tests, VK2AZ is using a horizontal dipole for 40 MHz and it's broadside to Central America.

WSPR Spots from E51WL in the Cook Islands (5902kms) and VK5PJ near Adelaide...

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-29 00:30 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.663511 0.005 -26 1 5902
2023-01-29 00:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.681511 0.005 -26 0 5902
2023-01-29 00:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.681513 0.005 -24 1 5902

2023-01-29 10:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681565 0.005 -20 0 1084
2023-01-29 10:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681559 0.005 -18 1 1084
2023-01-29 10:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681539 0.005 -20 4 1084
2023-01-29 09:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681514 0.005 -15 4 1084
2023-01-29 10:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -22 1 1076
2023-01-29 10:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -20 0 1076
2023-01-29 10:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -25 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681514 0.005 -24 1 1076
2023-01-29 09:40 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -24 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:30 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -33 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:10 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -25 1 1076
2023-01-29 09:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -23 1 1076
2023-01-29 03:10 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -26 0 1076

RF Zero board

VK2AZ has been monitoring 40MHz for about a year and a half now, hoping to see some activity from around the world using an ICOM IC-7100 and a horizontal dipole for 40MHz.

As reported in this previous post, VK2AZ managed to receive the WSPR signals from WM2XCC in California on the 28th of December 2022.

Analysis... First of all... WOW! What amazing reception reports for just 5-milliwatts and at 40 MHz as well! But what about the propagation mode?

VK5PJ at 1076 kms was probably via Sporadic-E and the strongest report was -15dB which is buried in the noise. As it's the Summer Sporadic-E season in the Southern Hemisphere then that's easy to explain.

As for E51WL at 5902 kms??? If it was Sporadic-E then we have to believe that it was something like 3 x 2000km hops. I suspect F2 propagation was involved and it was something like 2 x 3000km hops.

Whichever one you want to believe, it's still amazing for just 0.005 watts.

The way forward... I have no doubt that we need more people using the WSPR beacon mode on 40.680 MHz. A lot of countries seem to allow people to transmit very low power on the 40 MHz ISM band without any special sort of licence or permit.

Wouldn't it be great to have a load of low power WSPR stations all over Europe for the Sporadic-E season? Check your local regulations.

Links... As always, there is loads of 8m information on my 40 MHz page.

40 MHz Facebook Group reaches 600 members

Over the weekend, the 600th person joined the 40 MHz and 60 MHz Group on Facebook.

While there are many platforms for sharing information, a group on Facebook works well for sharing photos, screenshots and commenting on other peoples posts.

There are plenty of posts on this group now with lots of news about the various openings and tests in the low VHF part of the spectrum. You can find the group HERE

Guest Post: WM2XCS/B 40 MHz beacon heard over 3000kms away in Arizona and Alberta ...by George, N2CG

Thanks to George, N2CG / WM2XCS for the following report on recent reception of his beacon on the 40 MHz band.

WM2XCS/B 40.685 MHz CW Beacon Heard over 2000 miles away in Arizona and Alberta!

I'm happy to report the following 40 MHz band reports concerning WM2XCS/B 40.685 MHz CW Beacon.

I recently received two reception reports (one from SE Arizona near the Mexico border and on from VE6 land near Edmonton, Alberta for my WM2XCS/B 40.685 MHz 8m experimental band CW beacon as follows:

"Here’s a report on your 40MHz beacon.  WM2XCS/B  1/21/2023  1745 UTC 40685.0 KHz  CW  RST 579  I’m using an IC7610 and 7 element LPDA (18-32 MHz) at 55’.  Nothing like a solar flux over 200 to get the MUF high!  73,  Chuck - AA6G  Hereford, AZ"

"Copied your beacon on 40.685 for quite a while around 2045z Jan 23rd, 2023.  Nice signal here in DO33gs on my 7 el 6 meter yagi.  All the best.  Grant VE6TA" 

Keep in mind that the beacon's output power is 30 Watts into a 4 element 7 dBd gain yagi at 30 feet above ground beaming ~45° from my QTH towards Europe.  So both of these stations were receiving the beacon somewhat on the backside of the beacon's antenna.  I guess the recent SFI around 200 played a helping hand with WM2XCS/B being heard over 2000 miles (3200kms) away off the back of the antenna!

73, George  WM2XCS  N2CG

10,470km opening on the 40 MHz band from California to New Zealand - 25th Jan 2023

It's always nice to see 8m reception reports from different parts of the globe and this time we have a reception report of the 40 MHz WSPR signal of WM2XCC in California by ZL1RS in New Zealand.

WM2XCC is one of the experimental licences for the 40 MHz band and is operated by Chris, N3IZN. The 2-watt WSPR signal of WM2XCC on 40.680 MHz was decoded four times by Bob, ZL1RS in New Zealand during a three and a half hour period on the 25th and 26th of January 2023.

The four reports are below, note that the times are in UTC.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km

2023-01-26 01:18 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681486 2 -29 0 10471
2023-01-26 01:00 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681486 2 -16 0 10471
2023-01-25 22:20 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681488 2 -23 0 10471
2023-01-25 21:58 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681488 2 -16 0 10471

The signals range from -16dB to -29dB which means that they were probably inaudible to the ear and were buried in the noise. The signals were still present though which means the trans-Pacific path existed.

The distance was around 10,470kms and the most likely mode of propagation was via the F2 layer in the ionosphere. At midnight UTC, the sun would have been somewhere over the centre of the Pacific and roughly half way between California and New Zealand.

Back on the 28th of December 2022, there was a similar opening from California to Australia. Link HERE

ZL1RS... For the reception report, Bob ZL1RS reports using an ICOM IC-7610 with a 3-element Yagi for the 40 MHz band at 8-metres above ground level. The antenna is fixed pointing at North America and the 4 WSPR decodes were from the second day after it was put up.

Bob notes that New Zealand regulations permit anyone to freely transmit on 40.680 MHz with 1-watt ERP as long as they don't cause interference to any paid licence system.

Side Note... When I was writing this latest trans-Pacific 8m report, I had completely forgotten about the reception report of WM2XCC in Australia at the end of December. I wrote that blog post and I had forgotten about it after a month! It just shows to me the value of generating a blog post about an unusual 8m opening and then linking to it from the 40 MHz page on the blog.

WSPR reports disappear after 5-weeks and FT8 reports disappear off the PSK Reporter website after 24 hours. How many unusual openings on the various VHF & UHF bands go unreported and unnoticed?

Addendum: Bob, ZL1RS reports... "Another opening 26/27 Jan utc:

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az Mode
 2023-01-27 00:46 WM2XCC 40.681486 -23 0 DM13ji 50 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 23:14 WM2XCC 40.681487 -25 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 22:18 WM2XCC 40.681489 -15 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:44 WM2XCC 40.681488 -19 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:26 WM2XCC 40.681488 -16 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:04 WM2XCC 40.681488 -9 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 

There would have been more except that reception here was obliterated by severe rain static for about an hour.  During that time there were 3 other partial WSPR traces (which did not decode due to the rain static), but from the timing and frequency offset, we believe it was WM2XCW (aka NR7V)."

Opening on the 40 MHz band between California and Alaska - Jan 2023

Chris, N3IZN is located in the south of California and is the owner of the experimental callsign WM2XCC. He has been conducting tests on the 40 MHz band for over a year using the WSPR beacon mode.

Between the 20th and 25th of January 2023, his WSPR signal was heard by a number of US stations as shown on the map above and in the chart below which is listed by distance.

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-22 17:18 WM2XCC DM13ji WW1L FN54om 40.681497 2 -22 1 4300
2023-01-24 17:36 WM2XCC DM13ji VA2CY FN46lw 40.681426 2 -16 3 4135
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KC0IYT FN42kj 40.681554 2 -21 0 4115
2023-01-21 18:20 WM2XCC DM13ji VE2UG FN35gs 40.681498 2 -3 0 3939
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18 0 3863
2023-01-20 19:06 WM2XCC DM13ji KB2MEN FN20ok 40.681484 2 -21 0 3815
2023-01-20 19:48 WM2XCC DM13ji VE3EUR FN25dn 40.681529 2 -6 0 3763
2023-01-22 16:36 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681511 2 -22 0 3640
2023-01-22 17:52 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.68149 50 8 0 3144
2023-01-22 17:12 WM2XCC DM13ji AC4TO EM70xl 40.681497 50 -15 0 3134
2023-01-22 17:50 WM2XCC DM13ji N4WLO EM50uo 40.681488 50 22 0 2736
2023-01-22 20:04 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7UTS CN89li 40.681491 50 -26 0 1843

The reception report of particular interest is from KL7HBK in Alaska. Even though there are four other reports which were further away, Alaska is of interest because it's so far to the north. This is especially true as it seems likely that the mode of propagation was F2 layer propagation.

These are all the WSPR spots from Alaska on the 23rd and the 25th of January. The signal reports range from +18dB which is very strong to -18dB which is buried in the noise and inaudible to the ear.

2023-01-25 20:42 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 -7
2023-01-25 20:22 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 15
2023-01-25 19:58 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 10
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681508 2 -18

2023-01-23 21:54 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 21
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18

Alaska has a reputation of being a bit of wasteland when it comes to VHF propagation so it's interesting to see 40 MHz signals propagate so far north. The solar flux at the time of the reports was around the 190 mark.

Link... For more reports and information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page HERE

TEP opening on the 40 MHz band between the Caribbean and South America - 24th & 25th Jan 2023

While there have been plenty of reports of propagation on the 40 MHz (8m) band recently, there have been very few reports from South America.

Martin, PJ4MM on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean reports the following...

"This evening (24th January), I turned my antenna to the South and I received 8 reports from Chile (CE), Argentina (LU) and Brazil (PY).

Date  - Time in UTC - Reports from - Locator Square - Signal / Notes
24/01/23    23:58:00    PT9FD    GG27OR    -20dB    
        23:58:00    PU2MBY    GG47GU    solid trace    No decode, TEP distortion

25/01/23    00:07:00    LU8YD    FF51XB    -15dB           
        00:10:00    CE3VRT   FF46PI    solid trace    No decode, TEP distortion
        00:03:00    LW2DAF    GF05RK    -8dB        (-18dB on 6m)
        00:37:00    LU7FTF   FF88WI    loud audio   
        00:38:00    CE3VRT   FF46PI    -16dB       
        00:48:00    CE3SOC   FF46RJ    -14dB "

Analysis... With TEP signals, they are generally at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator and especially at the higher VHF bands. At frequencies about 100 MHz, the paths are usually from Chile to Colombia, Argentina to Bonaire, Curacao and Puerto Rico and from the south of Brazil to the eastern part of  the Caribbean... e.g. Guadeloupe and Martinique.

On a lower frequency like 40 MHz, signals can be quite a bit off from being at right angles and still get through. Hence you can see that PJ4MM could be heard in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

As the map above shows, most of the reports came from stations in the region of 4000 to 5,500kms which is pretty normal for TEP paths. The time was around midnight UTC which is about 9pm. 8-9pm local time is usually the time for evening TEP openings.

There have been some reports of TEP openings in South America at 144 MHz so it should be no great surprise that it was open at 40 MHz as well. It just took someone to try some tests on the 8m band.

I think it is especially welcome to see so many reports from South American stations and it will hopefully generate more interest in that part of the world in the 40 MHz (8m) band.

It would be interesting to see if the South American stations could hear some of the experimental 40 MHz stations in the USA? I think it might be possible in April when the TEP and Sporadic-E seasons overlap.

USA... Martin did also mention that he thinks there are more radio amateurs in the USA now listening on the 40 MHz band as well. These were the US stations that heard his FT8 signal on the 40 MHz in a 24 hour period.

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

Addendum: 27th Jan 2023 - Martin ,PJ4MM reports... "Today again reports from LU/CE/PY and first time from Ecuador (HC). Also reports from the "Usual suspects" in the USA, and a first time report from WM2XCC in San Diego."

Reports from South America...

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

HC2FG 8m FT8 2049 km 02:40:15

LU3HO 8m FT8 5302 km 02:39:29

CE3SX 8m FT8 5080 km 02:09:28

PU8YPL 8m FT8 2203 km 01:36:58

PP2RON 8m FT8 3833 km 01:24:29