Opening from Guam to Ireland on the 50 MHz band - 5th Nov 2024

Tuesday 5th Nov 2024 - I had a quick listen to the FT8 frequency of 50.313 MHz today and almost straight away, I got FT8 decodes from India and Sri Lanka. It was obvious that there was some really good F2 propagation on the band.

I checked the PSKReporter website later to see if there were any good DX paths. I was interested to see that there was a path open from KG6DX on the island of Guam in the Pacific to Ireland & the UK.

Sometimes, it's not the distance that matters but how far north or south the path goes.

In this case, did the 50 MHz signals really go direct and pass that far north over Russia? Or was the path skewed with the signals following a path further south?

The solar flux today was 246 with a smoothed sunspot number of 191.

Here are some of the stations that had a path open to Guam (12,000kms +)

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR

CT1EEB KG6DX 6m FT8 13398 km 11:20:13 -15
KG6DX CT1EEB 6m FT8 13398 km 11:18:59 -15
CT7BIZ KG6DX 6m FT8 13360 km 11:25:43 -17
KG6DX EA5K 6m FT8 13311 km 11:18:59 -18
F4BKV KG6DX 6m FT8 12588 km 11:28:13 -18
F8BON KG6DX 6m FT8 12540 km 11:35:43 -15
F8DBF KG6DX 6m FT8 12494 km 11:20:13 -7
KG6DX F6HRP 6m FT8 12429 km 11:18:59 -12
G7RAU KG6DX 6m FT8 12377 km 11:39:43 -13
KG6DX G7RAU 6m FT8 12377 km 11:18:57 -1
G8BCG KG6DX 6m FT8 12309 km 11:35:43 -16
EI7BA KG6DX 6m FT8 12305 km 11:21:13 -16
EI3EBB KG6DX 6m FT8 12290 km 11:23:43 -11
KG6DX GE1SDX 6m FT8 12267 km 11:18:59 -11
KG6DX G0KDY 6m FT8 12260 km 11:18:59 -15
KG6DX G0ABI 6m FT8 12243 km 11:19:29 -7
G0GGG KG6DX 6m FT8 12150 km 11:24:43 -18
GW7SMV KG6DX 6m FT8 12147 km 11:29:13 -10
KG6DX GW7SMV 6m FT8 12147 km 11:19:56 -11
KG6DX G0KTN 6m FT8 12141 km 11:26:00 -9
F6GCP KG6DX 6m FT8 12140 km 11:18:43 -17
G4CCZ KG6DX 6m FT8 12068 km 11:21:13 -16
KG6DX GW0WZL 6m FT8 12052 km 11:18:57 -6
F5OHS KG6DX 6m FT8 12027 km 11:30:43 -16
G0MTN KG6DX 6m FT8 12019 km 11:28:13 -10
KG6DX GW8ASD 6m FT8 12005 km 11:18:56 -10
GW8ASD KG6DX 6m FT8 12005 km 11:17:13 -14

17,000km+ opening on the 50 MHz band from the UK to Sydney, Australia - 27th Oct 2024

There's an expression in the English language called 'CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FOR THE TREES'. Sometimes DX on the VHF bands can be like this, you can see a flood of reports and contacts on a particular band during an opening but the exceptional DX reports often get missed.

There have been many reports of openings in the last week from Australia to Europe but a lot of these are from the south of Europe and to places like Western Australia (VK6). There's a huge difference between say an opening on 6m from Perth to Athens compared to say an opening from the UK to New South Wales.

Conditions on Sunday the 27th of October 2024 were really good on the 50 MHz band and Stewart, G0LGS in the west of England reports working VK2IR in Sydney, Australia... a distance just under 17,120kms.

Stewart sends on the following report... "After being on six (on/off) since 1985 I was lucky to get one of those magic moments on Six just after 07:00 on Sunday 27th October 2024

I was up early and had the beam looking East for a while on 6m FT8 (50.313) when at 07:07:15 I saw VK2IR calling an OZ station (Denmark).

I immediately stated calling CQ and after 4 calls at 07:09:15 UTC. VK2IR called me giving me -17. Report, my report back was R-17 and at that point the conditions faded a little (I could see faint trace in waterfall but no decodes) and I was not sure if we would complete however at 07:11:45. I finally received RR73 for my first ever 6m contact with VK at 17,089km.

This QSO was later confirmed on LoTW

Paul G4RRA saw things a little better than I did and during that period when VK2IR also worked PA3GCV and then just after that PA0O and PC5C as can be seen from Paul's Screenshot.

I am told that this might be the best distance Terrestrial DX on 6m from the UK so far this season.

On Monday some UK and EU stations managed to make SSB QSOs with VK6 and on Tuesday some had SSB QSO's with DU6/PE1NSQ and FT8 with both DU6/PE1NSQ and 4S7AB and others, but I missed out on those.

Currently (Weds 0820) VK's are getting good propagation to East EU and Scandinavia."

G0LGS was using an ICOM IC-7300 with an Acom 1000 Linear (set to about 700W) with a 4 Ele LFA at 7m above ground level.

Analysis... As we reach the peak of the current sunspot cycle, conditions are really getting good on the 50 MHz band. Unlike previous solar peaks when the dominant modes were SSB and CW, there are now huge numbers of stations using weak signal modes like FT8 which allows reception of very weak signals buried in the noise. It's probably fair to say that openings and contacts are being made now that would have gone unnoticed in the past.

On the 27th of October, the solar flux was at 246 and the sunspot number was 198. The propagation mode was via the F2 layer of the ionosphere.

Over the next few months, we're likely to see more remarkable paths appearing on the 50 MHz band and now is the time to be active on the band. If the 6m band can open from the NW of Europe to the SE of Australia then there should be plenty of more opportunities.

Link... See my 50 MHz page for more reports of other long distance openings on the 6m band.

Trans-Atlantic opening on the 50 MHz band - 31st Oct 2024

Now that we're at or near the peak of the sunspot cycle, there are plenty of reports on the 50 MHz (6m) amateur radio band. While north-side openings are reasonably common, it's the east-west openings from more northerly latitudes that are more difficult.

One of the key indicators of very good conditions on the 50 MHz band is an opening across the North Atlantic from Europe to North America. On the 31st of October 2024, there was one such opening as can be seen above.

The map shows the 50 MHz paths on FT8 from EI3KD on the south coast of Ireland but I'm sure there were plenty of other similar paths for stations in the UK and Ireland.

It's interesting to see the footprint of the signals in the USA dropping off around the 6,000km mark which would suggest perhaps 2 x 3000km hops.

The key takeaway message is that now is the time to get on the 50 MHz band and make the most of the good openings. There should be plenty of openings on the 6m band over the next few months.

L-Match antenna coupler for the low VHF bands - 40 MHz to 70 MHz

Peter, VK3YE has just released a video on his YouTube channel about a very simple L-match antenna coupler for the 50 MHz band.

As Peter marks in the intro to the video... "Most HF antenna couplers have too much minimum inductance and capacitance to work up to 50 MHz. Here's one that uses just two parts. "

In the video, Peter uses a ferrite core but you could also try an air spaced inductor to get the required 0.5uH.

According to the calculator on the M0UKD website, an 11-turn coil with a diameter of 10mm and 20mm in length will give an inductance of 0.49 uH. Website HERE

This type of simple L-match will also work on the other low VHF bands. For 40 MHz, try an extra 2-3 turns and a little bit more capacitance. For higher bands like 70 MHz, try a few less turns and lower capacitance. The key is to experiment.

Many people use non-resonant antennas when they are trying to listen to the low VHF bands like 40 MHz, 50 MHz or 70 MHz. A lot of short wave listeners and radio amateurs may have antennas for the HF and short wave bands but may not have anything for listening above 30 MHz.

A simple L-match antenna coupler like this is an interesting way to get a better antenna match and improve reception.

See the video below from VK3YE...

Video: Factors Affecting F-layer Propagation at 50 MHz - Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH

On the 9th of October 2024, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH have a presentation titled 'Factors Affecting F-layer Propagation at 50 MHz as Solay Cycle 25 peaks' to the Madison DX Club.

In the video, Roger looks at the current sunspot cycle and the potential for some F2 layer and Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) paths.

The presentation is about 25 minutes in length and is shown below...

Link... See my 50 MHz page for other presentations and posts about some long distance paths on 50 MHz.

Video: Long-haul Ionospheric Propagation on 50 MHz - Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH

On the 14th of May 2024, Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH have a very detailed presentation titled 'Long-haul Ionospheric Propagation on 50 MHz' to the Madison DX Club.

In the video, Roger goes into quite a bit of depth about Sporadic-E propagation, Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) and the complexities of both.

I think anyone who has an interest in propagation at 50 MHz or even in the low VHF region will find this presentation of interest.

The presentation is about 70 minutes in length and is shown below...

Link... See my 50 MHz page for other presentations and posts about some long distance paths on 50 MHz.

Radio quiet site in Scotland required for 50 MHz meteor scatter reception

The GB3MBA beacon near Mansfield in England operates on 50.408 MHz and was set up to investigate reflections from meteor trails.

As the map shows above, the project team has already has a number of dedicated receivers set up to monitor the 6m band for any meteor reflections from the beacon. They are however looking to for a quiet radio site in Scotland for a receiver there.

Brian, G4NNS writes... "What is needed is a reasonably radio quiet site with no nearby 6 m transmissions, with power, (10 W or less) and an internet connection. The data stream is about the same as an audio stream so not excessive. Ideally the site would be a minimum of 200km North of the beacon which is located near Mansfield 53.10N, 1.22W.

An astronomy society with  a dark sky observing site would be ideal. We would need someone local who is radio "savvy" to check the site and help with installation.  A locally sourced mast of 3 or 4m would be handy but we can supply all other materials.  We are trying to achieve a range  of different reflection geometries for each meteor event. When we can make observations from a sufficient number of  different directions it may be possible, by using Doppler measurements, to calculate the trajectory and hence radiant of the meteor."

More information about the beacon can be found here... https://ukmeteorbeacon.org

Propagation alert as Sporadic-E season begins - April 2024

If you have an interest in propagation or DX on the 50 MHz band, this is an important time of year.

Sporadic-E... At the end of April, we should see the start of the Sporadic-E season in the northern hemisphere. The initial openings should be on the 28 MHz band with stations about 1500-2000kms away being heard and worked.

It's only a matter of time before the openings extend up to the 40 MHz, 50 MHz and 70 MHz bands.

Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP)... The TEP season peaks around the Equinox but it extends until early May. The important thing to note here is that there is an overlap between the Sporadic-E season and the TEP season.

Normally stations in the norther part of Europe or the USA are too far north to reach the TEP zones which are roughly shown above. All that is needed is just one Sporadic-E hop for more northerly stations to reach this TEP zone.

What to look out for over the next few weeks...

The key point is to look to the south for the next few weeks to make the most of this overlap. Once the TEP season ends in early May, the Sporadic-E season will continue until August.

Guest Post: 6m operation from Lesotho – 7P8EI ...by Roger, EI8KN

Thanks to Roger, EI8KN for sending on details of the activity of the 7P8EI team on the 50 MHz band.

6m operation from Lesotho – 7P8EI

From the 19th March to the 31st March 2024, I was fortunate to be part of the thirteen-strong EIDX Group dxpedition to the Kingdom of Lesotho. The callsign was 7P8EI; incorporating the usual Group suffix. We had approximately ten days of operating from the Molengoane Lodge, Nazareth, Lesotho. The locator was KG30VO.

The HF stations achieved around 53,000 contacts during the ten days.

We only had a basic setup for 6m consisting of an IC-7300, running around 60 watts to a Diamond HB9CV. No rotator. Software was MSHV.

We experienced TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings on 24th to 27th March, and again on 29th March.

573 contacts in total were made consisting of 481 unique’s.

Thirty-five DXCC were worked, with the majority being in Europe (98%) with Italy the highest country (28%).  Seven stations were worked in Africa, and five in Asia.

Only one G station was worked – G7RAU. Dave must be very happy!

The openings did not extend to EI unfortunately.

Roger Greengrass EI8KN / G4NRG

20,000km opening on 50 MHz from Chatham Island to Europe - 9th Mar 2024

As we approach the equinox, there are some really good openings on the 50 MHz (6m) band. On the 9th of March 2024, there was a path open from Chatham Island in the Pacific to southern Europe.

The paths from the PSK Reporter website are shown above and note the ones in Europe. The PSK Reporter website shows the shortest path but it's likely that the signals from ZL7DX on Chatham Island to Italy and Malta were in fact long path and over 20,000kms.

I have listed the European stations that heard ZL7DX below and I've adjusted the distances.

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
9H1TX (Malta) ZL7DX 6m FT8 21286 km 18:04:43
IW5DHN (Italy) ZL7DX 6m FT8 20559 km 20:28:14
F5BZB (France) ZL7DX 6m FT8 19896 km 20:29:14
F4GGJ ZL7DX 6m FT8 19893 km 20:25:43
F4ARU ZL7DX 6m FT8 19814 km 20:20:44
F1HFW ZL7DX 6m FT8 19768 km 20:08:45
EA5Y (Spain) ZL7DX 6m FT8 19294 km 19:56:44
EA1IOK ZL7DX 6m FT8 19111 km 20:03:14
EA1FK ZL7DX 6m FT8 19015 km 20:04:14
EA1NL ZL7DX 6m FT8 19014 km 20:08:14
EA1YV ZL7DX 6m FT8 18998 km 20:10:14
CT1EEB (Portugal) ZL7DX 6m FT8 18959 km 20:51:44
CT2FEY ZL7DX 6m FT8 18948 km 20:04:44
CT1APE ZL7DX 6m FT8 18853 km 20:37:43
CT2GLO ZL7DX 6m FT8 18834 km 20:39:43
CT4NH ZL7DX 6m FT8 18806 km 21:01:44
CT1IUA ZL7DX 6m FT8 18781 km 20:47:44

Link: Examples of other long distance 6m paths can be seen on my 50 MHz page.

Reception of the 50 MHz GB3MBA beacon during the Quadrantids meteor shower - 4th Jan 2024

Back in December, I carried out an experiment to find and record the peak of the Geminids meteor shower by listening to the GB3MBA 50 MHz beacon which is 500kms from my location. See post HERE

On the afternoon of 4th of January 2024, there was the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower which tends to be very narrow but intense. This time, I just took some screenshots of the meteor reflections.

Introduction... Back in 2022, a new radio beacon called GB3MBA was put on air on the 50 MHz band and its primary purpose was carrying out meteor scatter experiments. Located near the town of Mansfield in the centre of England, the beacon runs 75-watts into a small Moxon antenna which beams straight up.

Unlike most amateur radio beacons, this one is basically a carrier that is on nearly all of the time which is exactly what is needed for meteor scatter experiments. The main coverage area is the UK itself but as I'm 502 kms from the beacon, I'm close enough for it to be of use.

For the Quadrantids meteor shower, I was using a Yaesu FT817 on USB as a receiver and the antenna was a 2-element Yagi in the attic of my house. The antenna was beaming about 120 degrees which is about 45 degrees off the beam heading for the beacon (The choice of beam heading is determined by the space in the attic and I wasn't trying to beam away from the beacon).

Quadrantids screen shots...

The image above shows the composite collection of seven different screenshots. As can be seen, there was plenty of evidence of pings and bursts from the GB3MBA beacon.

The images on the blog are quite small and a link to a larger version of the image is on Facebook HERE.

I'll use the more detailed example above to explain what you are looking at. The time is moving from right to left and you will notice the 30-second timestamps. As my receiver isn't GPS locked, I'm probably around 5 Hz off frequency which is ok. 

If I was hearing the beacon directly, it would show up as a solid yellow line going across the centre of the screen. Instead, you are looking at the signal reflecting / refracting off the trail of electrons left behind by the meteor as it burnt up. As these electrons are in motion in different layers of the upper atmosphere, there is some doppler shift on the signal.

In the example above, the 50 MHz signal lasted for about 90-seconds.

The signal on the far right of the image above is one of my favourites. This is called an 'epsilon' echo as it twirls around. What causes such a complex pattern as opposed to the other 'smudges'?

Link...
1) GB3MBA website

F2 opening on the 50 MHz band across the North Atlantic - 27th Nov 2023

As we approach the peak of the solar cycle, things are beginning to improve on the 50 MHz (6m) band with some F2 layer propagation appearing.

In general, north - south openings are the first to occur on the 6m band as the conditions improve in the F2 layer of the ionosphere. You'll see reports of openings from the Europe to South Africa and from North America to South America. Nice openings but nothing to get too excited about.

The openings to watch out for are the east-west ones from more northerly latitudes. These paths are much more difficult so it was interesting to see an opening on the 27th of November 2023 from the north-west of Europe to North America.

The image above shows the FT8 paths for EI7BMB near Dublin and it's an example of what the opening was like. It's likely that the path from Ireland to Newfoundland was the only single F2 hop. All of the other longer paths required at least two hops.

The most westerly station was W5LDA in Oklohoma.

The image above shows the 6m paths for K1TOL in the state of Maine. The most interesting paths here are the most northerly ones with an opening to the north of Denmark and the south of Sweden.

The solar flux on the day was 187. This isn't going to be a one-off and there should be plenty more east-west openings on the 50 MHz band across the North Atlantic over the next few weeks. Check around 13:00 to 16:00 UTC.

It'll be interesting to see over the next few weeks if there are any openings from the west coast of the USA to the north of Europe.

27,300km Long path opening on the 50 MHz band from Italy to Hawaii - 16th Oct 2023

Now that we have reached October and at this stage in the solar cycle, the 50 MHz band is starting to open up with some remarkable paths. This is especially true for stations in the south of Europe.

Riccardo, IZ5BRW in Italy reports a very interesting long path opening on the 50 MHz band on the 16th of October 2023 to Hawaii, a path of about 27,300kms.

IZ5BRW writes... "The opening occurred mainly on Monday 16th Oct. (09 to 11 UTC +/-) and on Tuesday 17th. (8 to 10:30 UTC +/-).

I only worked KH6HI on Monday 16th. There were also other friends able to work the KH6 stations here in Zone 5 – Tuscany.

Tuesday was stronger even though I was not at home to work KH6. My friend Steve IK5MEJ worked 3 different stations on Tuesday 17th., KH6HI – KH6WI – NH6Y.

Anyway, all qsos made in FT8 and Long Path, which is more or less 170° from my qth JN53OP. My setup is FT-5000 + 7L Yagi EF0607X home made + 500W.

It’s a 27,000Km+ path and for me, KH6 was a new one on 6m as well as a new grid and new WAZ!

Albert, KH6HI has already confirmed the qso on LOTW."

Thanks to Riccardo for the report.

Comment & Analysis... As can be seen from the screenshot above, the contact was made with FT8 and the signals were in the region of -9 to -13dB. This is just about audible to the human ear and it would be difficult to have a CW QSO at this signal level. Obviously, those signal levels are not a problem with FT8.

No doubt there were others who made similar long path contacts like this on the day but this one is a good example of what the opening was like and that others should be looking for this path as well. Note the time and beam heading.

As for the mode of propagation, it was probably multi-hop or chordal hop F2-layer.

Sunset in Hawaii was about 18:00 local time or 10:00 UTC. It's no great surprise that the opening was about 30 mins after sunset and the F2 layer would have tilted at this stage to the west of Hawaii. This allows propagation of higher frequency signals and at a lower angle.

The takeaway message from this is to look at the sunset for a region you're interested in working and try beaming long path to see if an opening is possible. 

Links... 1) See my 50 MHz page for examples of other long distance openings on the 6m band.

Opening on the 50 MHz band from Europe to Fiji - Short path or Long Path?

Andreas, SV2JAO in Greece sent on a report of his JT65 signal being heard by 3D2AG in Fiji in the Pacific on 50 MHz (6m) band on the 31st of March 2023. This then raises the question... Was it short path or long path?

The screenshot above was taken by Andreas from the PSK Reporter website just after the signal was heard. That site will always by default show the shortest path but it doesn't mean that it's correct.

3D2AG to Europe... First of all, I checked the PSK Reporter website myself and I had a look at the paths from Fiji to Europe.

As you can see from the map above, there were three stations in Europe. These were the reports in the last 24 hours...

31st March 2023...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR
IZ8FWN 3D2AG 6m JT65 17124 km 22:02:50 -21
SV2JAO 3D2AG 6m JT65 16634 km 22:02:50 -23

1st April 2023...
3D2AG SV9CVY 6m FT8 16801 km 07:39:44 -19

Long path or Short path??? ...If it's on the higher HF bands or 50 MHz then the guide is to follow the sun. The JT65 signals from IZ8FWN in Italy and SV2JAO in Greece were heard in Fiji at 22:02 UTC UTC, the sun is now somewhere over the Pacific and the short path over Asia has been in darkness for quite a few hours. Conclusion, it's most likely long path.

The other path was from SV9CVY on Crete to Fiji at 07:39 UTC which is about 10 hours after the other reports. Now, the Pacific path is in darkness and the path over Asia is in sunlight. Conclusion, it's most likely short path.

This doesn't rule out that the path may have been skewed somewhat but we can't come to any conclusion about that with some information about the various beam headings from the respective stations.

In conclusion... I know the above will sound obvious to a lot of experienced radio amateurs but I do think there is a tendency for newer operators to just look at a map, see the line presented and take it as fact.

The reality is that PSK Reporter 'suggests' the most likely path, you have to use your own experience and knowledge to decide if it's correct. A good guide is to follow the sun and then decide if it's long path or short path.

Links
1) Other examples of long distance paths on the 6m band can be found on my 50 MHz page.

Opening on the 50 MHz band from Antarctica to Europe - 21st March 2023

Tuesday 21st March 2023: Considering it was the equinox with equal day and equal night, it seemed appropriate that there was an opening on the 50 MHz band between Antarctica and Europe.

LU1ZV is located at the Argentine Esperanza base in Antarctica. As can be seen from the map above, the FT8 beacon on 50.313 MHz was heard by several stations in the south of Europe.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR
CT1FFU 6m FT8 12189 km 16:14:14 -19
EA6SX 6m FT8 12582 km 16:06:15 -19
CT1EHX 6m FT8 11974 km 16:06:14 -19
SV9CVY 6m FT8 13060 km 13:21:14 -12
IT9TYR 6m FT8 12955 km 13:21:13 -11
IT9RZR 6m FT8 12817 km 13:16:14 -17
SV2DCD 6m FT8 13425 km 13:15:14 -16
IZ8WGU 6m FT8 13029 km 13:15:14 -19
ZA/IW2JOP 6m FT8 13310 km 13:13:11 -18
SV2JAO 6m FT8 13476 km 13:08:14 -15
SV1DH 6m FT8 13299 km 13:06:14 -20

There have been plenty of long distance openings on the 50 MHz band recently but they tend to be East-West and not too far from the equator... interesting but nothing special.

What makes this unusual is that the 6m signal was coming from the polar regions. Admittedly the station is at about 63 deg S and about as far north as you can get on the Antarctic continent but it's an impressive journey all the same for a signal on the 50 MHz band to reach Europe.

Report from SV2DCD... Leonidas, SV2DCD in Greece sends the following report...

"Today, SV1DH and I copied the LU1ZV 50MHz FT8 beacon from the Esperanza Base in Antarctica. 

It is the first time for me to copy signals from Antarctica here. Beacon conditions - Antenna is a half wave sloper dipole to the north and power is 3w"

As can be seen from the screen grab above, the best signal that SV2DCD managed to get was -11dB which is a very noisy but audible signal to the human ear. These are the kind of signals that prior to the advent of FT8 would have gone unnoticed on CW or SSB.

Analysis... It looks as if the sun was pretty much at its highest point for the midpoint of this opening. It would seem to have been a multi-hop F2 layer opening. The solar flux was 152.

Thanks to Leonidas, SV2DCD for the report.

More reports on other long distance openings on the 6m band can be found on my 50 MHz page.

Addendum: Report from SV2JAO in Greece...

Skewed path opening on the 50 MHz band between the S Pacific and Europe - 12th Mar 2023

12th March 2023: As we approach the equinox, there are a lot of TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings between the south of Europe and South America on the 50 MHz band. As were near the peak of the solar cycle and with the solar flux up around the 150 mark, this is nothing special.

What is highly unusual however was the appearance in Europe of some stations in the South Pacific during the TEP opening!

E51WL is located on North Cook Island in the South Pacific and the 50 MHz paths are shown above. 

Things to note...

1) South America... There was an opening from E51WL to South America and was being reported by South American stations at around 23:00 UTC. At the same time, there was a TEP opening from South America to the south of Europe.

2) Direct SP... The map shows the paths on FT8 from E51WL to the south of Europe. The direct short paths travel far to the north.

3) Skewed Path... European stations were beaming towards South America when the path to E51WL was open. On KST Chat, SV1DH in Greece reports E51WL on a beam heading of 225 degrees, IW5DHN in the north of Italy reports 220 deg and IT9TYR in Sicily reports 240 deg. IW0FFK in Rome reports working E51WL at 235 deg but didn't have time to verify the beam heading.

While it's difficult to know the exact beam heading with a modest antenna at a frequency of 50 MHz, it still shows that the signal was coming from the direction of South America on a beam heading of about 240 degrees, not on the direct short path heading to the north-west. i.e. the path was skewed.

For the stations in the eastern half of the Mediterranean, the short path actually goes to the east while the long path would go down over Africa and cross the Antarctica to reach the Cook Islands. Regardless of long path or short path, the signal was at roughly 240 degrees and skewed.

Fiji to Europe... 3D2AG on the island of Fiji was also reported in the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands.

Note the direct short paths from CT1BOH in Portugal and EA5NW in Spain go over the Arctic. In reality, it was a skewed path to the south-west.

On the map above, there are several paths to EA8... the Canary Islands. I suspect that these may have been skewed to the south as well.

As for the how???.... There is a theory that the signal can get propagated westwards between the north and south boundaries of the TEP zone. Eventually the signal escapes further west where the direct path via F2 layer propagation is more favourable.

I put together a simple diagram above which shows this concept.

In Conclusion... Skewed paths like this have been reported in the past but now with so many stations using a weak signal mode like FT8 on one frequency, these skewed paths should become a lot more obvious.

The key take away point is that for very distant paths, don't always assume a signal is on the direct short path.

It would be interesting to see more stations in the Pacific exploring these skewed paths to Europe. Obviously doing it near the equinox is important as well as the time of day... around 22:00-23:00 UTC.

It might be an idea to also try a quieter frequency than 50.313 MHz and use the appropriate time slot for transmitting.

Questions, questions, questions... I wonder if there is an equivalent but longer skewed path from Europe to the South Pacific to the east rather than the west? 

Maybe 8-9pm local time for each station in the Pacific? 

A skewed long path rather than a skewed short path? 

Is it too early in the morning for 50 MHz signals in Europe?

Does it happen on the higher HF bands all the time but nobody notices or knows any better?

***

Signal reports for E51WL and 3D2AG are shown below.

FT8 reports (15,000kms +) for E51WL...

30,000km Long Path opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and Japan - 7th & 8th March 2023

After a decline in solar flux at the end of February, there has been a marked bounce in conditions in early March with the solar flux going back up to around the 180 mark.

Late on the 7th of March 2023, there was a very good long path opening on the 50 MHz band from the south of Europe to Japan.

José, CT1BOH reported the long path opening to Japan on Twitter and looking at the PSK Reporter website, one of the longest paths was to JR4ABB which is around 29,000kms. The path is shown above and the key thing to note is how far to the south the path travels.

The reality is that there were a lot of paths on FT8 between stations in the south-west of Europe and stations in the south-west of Japan. It's not really feasible to list them all and I don't think it would anything of value, the key point is that there was a long path opening on the 6m band.

However, we can look at the specific example of CT1BOH and JR4ABB in more detail.

The map above shows the Japanese stations that reported CT1BOH or were reported by CT1BOH. You'll notice that they are clustered in the south-west of Japan. The long path signals are coming in from the south-east and JR4ABB is one of the furthest away.

A list of the Japanese stations are listed at the end of the post. The opening lasted an hour.

There are two points here...

1) The further north a station is in Japan then the maximum usable frequency (MUF) is lower and may not reach 50 MHz. 

2) The further to the north-east a station is in Japan, the further south the long path travels and the closer it gets to Antarctica and a more difficult path.

This image above shows the stations in Europe that reported JR4ABB or were reported by JR4ABB. In this scenario, the long path signals from Japan are coming in from the south-west. 

You'll notice that it was an opening that favoured the south of Europe, again the MUF is better in the south of Europe. Note that there was also a long path opening to I8IGS in the south of Italy, a distance of about 30,000kms.

For a long path opening to Japan, it gets harder the further to the north-west you go in Europe. It's likely that EA5 and EA6 stations in the SE of Spain had a distinct advantage over their EA1 compatriots in the NW of Spain even though the long path distance was similar.

In conclusion... It's remarkable to see long path signals not only reach as high as the 50 MHz band but to travel around 30,000kms as well. It will be interesting to see if there are any long path 6m reports from stations further north.

Link... For other examples of long distance paths on the 6m band, see my 50 MHz page.

1) A list of Japanese stations reporting or being reported by CT1BOH

Long path opening on the 50 MHz band between Germany and New Zealand - 28th Jan 2023

In a previous post, I reported on how there was a short path opening on the 50 MHz band between Germany and New Zealand on the 25th of January 2023. What's better than a short path opening? A long path opening of course!

On the 28th of January 2023, there was an amazing long path opening between Europe and New Zealand on the 50 MHz band. More specifically, DK1MAX in Germany managed to complete a FT8 contact with ZL1SG in New Zealand.

DX-Cluster spots...
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
ZL1RS 50323.0 DK1MAX 20:18 28 Jan RF64<>JN58 long path Fed. Rep. of Germany
ZL1SG-@ 50323.0 DK1MAX 20:10 28 Jan FT8 -9 Tnx Max great qso Fed. Rep. of Germany

On the PSK Reporter website, I found three European and two New Zealand stations that were involved in this long path opening. I have put in the approximate long path distances and I have recorded the signal reports that appeared on the site as well.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) Approx Signals
IV3KKW ZL1SG 6m FT8 ~22,000 km 20:23:11 -18dB
DK1MAX ZL1SG 6m FT8 ~22,100 km 20:20:41 -19dB
OE5OLL ZL1SG 6m FT8 ~22,200 km 19:40:41 -15dB

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
IV3KKW ZL1RS 6m FT8 22,000 km 20:27:13 -16dB
DK1MAX ZL1RS 6m FT8 22,100 km 20:03:43 -13dB

Analysis... Let's have a look at what happened. First of all the location of the stations which is important.

ZL1LG and ZL1RS have the same locator square and are located at the far north of New Zealand.

The three European stations are in roughly the same geographic location and are only about 200-300kms apart.

Opening... At the time of the long path opening, there was a path on 50 MHz between ZL1SG and South America.

At the same time, there was an opening from DK1MAX to South America.

It looks as if the two openings coupled into each other and allowed a long path at 50 MHz opening between the far north of New Zealand and a small area in Europe.

I need to stress that the location of the stations had a huge bearing on the opening. Because New Zealand is effectively on the other side of the planet from Europe, the beam heading changes drastically with a small change in location.

The geometry of the path from say the north of Germany is very different than the south of Germany. From the UK, the long path to New Zealand goes almost directly south and over the Antarctic which makes a 50 MHz path highly unlikely.

By contrast, stations to the south of DK1MAX have the possibility of long paths that are closer to the equator and more likely.

Mode of Propagation... The solar flux on the day was in the region of 150-160 but this was after coming down off a peak of around 230 about a week earlier. The path was almost certainly F2 with possibly some chordal hop involved. There may have been some TEP from Europe to South America.

In conclusion... The signals were weak for this long path opening as they were down around -13 to -19dB. If it wasn't for FT8, the opening would have gone unnoticed. It was an amazing opening and there are no doubt plenty more to come. 

Link...
1) I have put links to posts about previous long distance 6m openings up on my 50 MHz page.

Addendum: Max, DK1MAX reports... "That's a screenshot from and after the QSO with ZL1RS. We worked on 50323 as 313 was way too busy with strong EU transmitting 2nd period. Still very much excited. Thanks for the summary in the EI7GL blogspot."

Javier, LU5FF in Argentina reports paths on 50 MHz to the following stations in New Zealand...

Pipe, CE3SAD reports that during the same opening, CE6TK in Chile worked 16 ZL stations in New Zealand. In the CE3 zone of Chile, there was only one.

CE3SAD also recounts a previous long path opening way back on the 21st of April 2001. Operating as CE3SAD/2 from FF48 locator square, he managed to complete some long path contacts with VK4 stations in Australia while beaming towards Europe. The stations were located in the QH30 and QG39 locator squares and the long path distance was in the region of 27,000kms.

CE3SAD did try beaming the more direct short path to Australia but the stations disappeared. It's worth remembering that back in 2001, the dominant modes were SSB and CW and the signals had to be above or at the noise level. It's a huge difference from now when FT8 allows contacts to be made from signals that are buried in the noise.

18,646km opening on 50 MHz between Germany and New Zealand - 24th Jan 2023

Tuesday 24th January 2023: It looks as if there was another very short opening on the 50 MHz band but this time between Germany and New Zealand. It seems as if there was an impressive path of 18,646kms between DK6M in Germany and ZL4LV in New Zealand. 

As far as I know, both parties managed to complete a FT8 contact. The FT8 signal from the ZL station peaked at -5dB in Germany.

The first thought of course is if the path is genuine? VK3WE in the SE of Australia also heard DK6M so there was a path open to that area. See Addendum below for a report from DK6M.

PSK Reporter log...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL4LV DK6M 6m FT8 18646 km 08:10:58
DK6M VK3WE 6m FT8 16592 km 08:59:41

SP4MPB in Poland also heard ZL4BV and was heard by DU6/PE1NSQ in the Philippines. 

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL4LV SP4MPB 6m FT8 17696 km 08:38:28
SP4MPB DU6/PE1NSQ 6m FT8 9839 km 09:20:44

Analysis... So what is going on? Why the short openings on 50 MHz? 

I suspect that the propagation mode was via Chordal-Hop with the signal going from F2 layer to F2 layer without reflecting off the ground in between.

It's a bit like shining a flashlight at a series of mirrors... the more reflections then the smaller the spotlight at the far end.

It's likely that the footprint from this Chordal Hop propagation after multiple hops at 50 MHz is probably very small and it would be very easy to miss an opening. 

If it wasn't for the fact that most of the 6m stations are listening and transmitting on the one frequency with a weak signal mode like FT8, these openings wouldn't be even noticed.

The take home message is that with the solar flux up around 200 at the moment, it's a bit like a propagation lottery. You might in the right spot at the right time, you might not be. You just need to keep checking the band at the same time as previous openings and see if there is anything there.

They don't call 6-metres the 'Magic Band' for nothing.

Addendum: Here is some of the back story of the Germany to New Zealand contact thanks to Mike, DH6JL

DH6JL is the owner of the DK6M callsign and was using this to call CQ on FT8 on 6m. After 3-4 periods, he received a call from ZL4LV in New Zealand. Initially the signal was so strong (for FT8) that he thought it was someone messing about. After holding back for 2-3 more CQ periods, he answered and completed the contact. DK6M got a -4dB report and sent -8dB.

After the contact, Mike closed the JTDX software and opened MSHV and started to call ZL4LV with his own personal call (DH6JL) as this would be a new DXCC and locator.

Peter, ZL4LV had started to call CQ DX in the meantime but it was more difficult this time. After 6 to 8  periods of calling ZL4LV, he heard DH6JL and answered and the contact was completed.  DH6JL sent -5db and received -11db.

DH6JL started to call CQ DX again and noticed that ZL4SY had also heard him. ZL4SY wasn't heard by DH6JL so no contact was made. Some minutes later, PSKReporter showed me that VK3WE and VK3BD had also heard DH6JL but again, there was no sign of them in Germany.

The duration of the 50 MHz opening was approximately 20 to 25 minutes with a lot of fading (QSB) and decoding problems also when the tones were "clear" to hear.

Mike reports that he did not hear the station in the Philippines who was also involved in this opening.

Mike writes... "As a conclusion, I have to say I am more then very happy to work twice nearly to the antipode of me. This event showed me that it was worth to wait such a long time and that in Solar Cycle 25, much has happened as I expected... Mike DH6JL / DK6M"