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.

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

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...

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.

Trans-Atlantic opening on the 50 MHz band - Fri 16th Dec 2022

There was an interesting trans-Atlantic opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and North America on Friday the 17th of December 2022 and it looks as if it was either F2 layer or multi-hop Sporadic-E propagation.

The map above shows the 50 MHz paths open via FT8 for AB1OC in New Hampshire. There is evidence of plenty of Sporadic-E activity to the eastern half of the United States but several stations in the UK and Ireland can seen.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
G0CHE AB1OC 6m FT8 5265 km 15:14:44
G4IFX AB1OC 6m FT8 5244 km 15:16:44
AB1OC M0DEP 6m FT8 5194 km 15:13:29
G0GGG AB1OC 6m FT8 5149 km 15:15:14
AB1OC G0HVQ 6m FT8 5117 km 14:38:26
G4RRA AB1OC 6m FT8 5055 km 15:10:44
AB1OC G8IXN 6m FT8 4979 km 14:42:29
EI7GUB AB1OC 6m FT8 4819 km 14:24:14
AB1OC EI3KD 6m FT8 4728 km 14:32:29
EI2IP AB1OC 6m FT8 4688 km 15:09:44

There are plenty of openings on the 50 MHz band at the moment but most of them are from areas closer to the equator. In the last week or so, there have been some very long paths across the Pacific from Australia and New Zealand to the USA. What makes the North Atlantic opening interesting is that it was East-West and it was from a northerly latitude.

It looks as if the opening itself was reasonably modest and it was mainly confined to what might be described as 'large stations' i.e. the numbers were in the tens rather than the hundreds.

WW1L in Maine and W3UR in Maryland have similar list of FT8 across the Atlantic...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
G0CHE WW1L 6m FT8 4965 km 15:15:14
G4IFX WW1L 6m FT8 4945 km 14:49:44
WW1L M0DEP 6m FT8 4894 km 14:44:28
G0GGG WW1L 6m FT8 4850 km 15:15:14
G0HVQ WW1L 6m FT8 4817 km 14:54:44
WW1L G0HVQ 6m FT8 4817 km 14:47:56
WW1L G7RHF 6m FT8 4779 km 14:53:27
WW1L G4RRA 6m FT8 4756 km 15:33:59
WW1L G8IXN 6m FT8 4681 km 14:40:59
EI7GUB WW1L 6m FT8 4518 km 14:13:14
WW1L EI3KD 6m FT8 4428 km 15:02:29

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
G0CHE W3UR 6m FT8 5858 km 15:16:14
W3UR G4IFX 6m FT8 5838 km 15:31:58
W3UR M0DEP 6m FT8 5787 km 14:59:28
W3UR G0GGG 6m FT8 5743 km 14:59:30
W3UR G0HVQ 6m FT8 5711 km 14:59:56
W3UR G7RHF 6m FT8 5673 km 14:59:29
W3UR G4RRA 6m FT8 5648 km 15:31:59
W3UR G8IXN 6m FT8 5571 km 15:31:59
W3UR EI3KD 6m FT8 5321 km 15:33:29

Looking from the eastern side of the Atlantic, the FT8 paths for EI3KD on the south coast of Ireland are shown above. I've included the full path lists for EI3KD and G1IFX at the end of this post.

Analysis... This post certainly isn't an exhaustive list of who worked what but it gives an overview of what the 6m trans-Atlantic opening was like. The big question is if the opening was via the F2 layer or was it multi-hop Sporadic-E like during the Summer months?

In the last three days, there have been 29 M-Class flare from the sun and the solar flux on the 16th was up to 166. It would suggest that F2 propagation might be one explanation. There were some Sporadic-E openings on the day in Europe and North America so the possibility of trans-Atlantic multi-hop Sporadic-E can't be ruled.

Paul Logan, MI3LDO reports that conditions in the low VHF band (~40 MHz) suggests that it was more likely to be Sporadic-E rather than F2 layer.

It's worth remembering that the peak of this sunspot cycle is unlike all of those that came before. Now most radio amateurs are using weak signal modes like FT8 and are listening for signals buried in the noise. In the previous cycles, CW and SSB were the dominant modes.

I didn't see any reports of CW or SSB contacts for the trans-Atlantic opening on the 16th and I'm quite sure that without FT8, it would have been a much smaller affair with just a small few stations making contacts.

The take home message is that if it was F2 propagation then it's likely to happen again. If it was multi-hop Sp-E Sporadic-E then it may not occur again for a while. Keep those beams pointing across the Atlantic and wait for the next 6m opening.

Cont...

FT8 paths for EI3KD in Ireland...

12,400km+ Opening on 50 MHz from Ireland to the Falklands - 21st April 2021

As this Sporadic-E and TEP seasons overlap, it allows for some remarkable contacts to take place on the VHF bands. This is a report from Mark, EI3KD near the south coast of Ireland who managed a contact with the Falkland Islands on the 21st of April 2021.

Mark, EI3KD writes... "50MHz TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) was very good on the 21st of April, mostly at latitudes closer to the geomagnetic equator than Ireland. However, we did have a brief opening here; I was lucky enough to complete a QSO with VP8A in the Falkland Islands (GD18BH) at about 12,464kms. 

I always look for TEP, especially after solar events, but I wasn't expecting that at all! VP8A was in/out here between 17:33z and 17:45z, peaking -14dB on FT8, and also seen working CE8, PY5, LU6 and EA7 (nothing from any of those here). 

Apart from him, the only other signal I decoded was one sequence from PY3KN, GF49, after VP8A had faded, at 17:54z. The "Magic Band", indeed! 73, Mark EI3KD IO51vw"

For this contact, Mark was using a 6-element LFA2 Yagi 15-metres above ground level.

Analysis: As Mark notes, Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) was the main reason for this remarkable contact but it doesn't fully explain the 12,400+km contact. It would seem likely that there was a Sporadic-E hop at the northern end of the path to Ireland and possibly also at the southern end for the final jump to the Falklands.

Prior to the use of digital modes like FT8, there were probably openings like this in the past but with signals down around -14dB, they would hand gone largely unnoticed on SSB or CW as the signals would be buried in the noise.

Good opening on 50 MHz as propagation modes overlap - 20th Apr 2021

Tuesday 20th April 2021: This was a really good day for DX on the 6-metre band with distances of 9000 to 12000 kms being worked on North-South paths.

The map above shows the FT8 reports for Diego, LW2DAF in Buenos Aires, Argentina in South America. As can be seen, there were a substantial number of 50 MHz signals reaching way up into the eastern half of the USA as well as some really interesting paths to the SW of Europe and the Middle East.

There has been numerous reports on social media of people reporting TEP openings on 6m. While this was true, it doesn't fully explain what might have been going on.

Analysis... On the map above, I have shown where the Geomagnetic Equator is. For TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation), the normal range for LW2DAF might be from say his location to the Caribbean. You can see a line of stations above going from the Dominican Republic to Mexico. These were likely to be 100% TEP.

Radio amateurs in the northern US states are well outside the range for TEP just like stations in northern Europe are. It's likely there was a Sporadic-E (Sp-E) opening on 50 MHz at the same time as the TEP opening and this resulted in a signal from Argentina reaching well into the USA.

What we are likely seeing is an overlap of the TEP and Sp-E seasons. The TEP season is around the equinox and is still going in April. The Sporadic-E season kicks off properly at the end of April with openings on 28 MHz and 50 MHz.

Now, it's possible that the openings were due to just multi-hop Sp-E but considering the season is is just starting, a combination of TEP + Sp-E is the more likely scenario.

What to do???.... This overlap of propagation modes won't last much longer so stations should be beaming North and South now to make the most of it. For example, someone in the NE of the USA should beam south and listen for a Sp-E opening to the Caribbean area. If that path is open then there is a chance it might link to some TEP to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Good luck!

New report shows 84% of contacts on the 50 MHz band are via the digital FT8 mode

A new report by Michael, G7VJR of the popular  ClubLog website shows that an amazing 84% of contacts on the 50 MHz band over the last 13-months have been via the FT8 digital mode.

The data is taken from the almost 1.8 million QSO's logged on the site in the last 13-months.

This is bound to stir some controversy with a lot of people having misgivings about how this digital mode seems to be replacing the traditional SSB and CW means of communication.

As can be seen from this previous post, FT8 has enjoyed an explosion in popularity since it was released in 2017.

It does look though as if the pendulum have swung a bit too far in the digital direction. During the Summer Sporadic-E season, there are many times where signals are reasonably strong and a SSB contact could be completed in a much shorter time frame than say a FT8 contact with its 15-second transmission cycles going back and forth.

There is also the advantage of SSB and CW users being spread out over 100 or so kHz where as the FT8 users are all gathered at the 50.313 MHz watering hole.

How to get more of a balance though might be easier said than done.

Links...

1) G7VJR Blog

11460km contact on 50 MHz between the USA & Saudi Arabia - 2nd July 2020

 This is one of the VHF contacts that caught my attention during the summer last year.

On the 2nd of July 2020, HZ1SK in Saudi Arabia and K4MOG in the USA completed a successful FT8 contact on 50 MHz. 

What was unusual about this contact was the fact that it was in the region of 11,460 kms. To put that into context, that is the equivalent of London to Hawaii or London to the NW of Australia.

The propagation mode was probably multi-hop Sporadic-E with at least six hops being required. While single hop or double hop Sporadic-E is reasonably common, the chances of getting six Sp-E clouds in the right spot and the correct distance apart is much lower.

The very first 6m contact between the USA and Saudi Arabia took place just a few weeks earlier when K1TOL in the state of Maine in the NE of the USA worked 7Z1SJ. The distance on that occasion was around 9933 kms which may have been five hop Sporadic-E.

Video: 6m FT8 DXing... by VE3VN

The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) held their annual conference online this year and as part of the event, there was a talk by Ron Schwartz on FT8 DXing on the 50 MHz band.

The 64-minute video is shown below...

There is some interference and dropouts in the presentation during the first 28-minutes but the second half is much better.

This video gives an interesting perspective of what DXing on 6m looks like from a Canadian perspective and it should be of interest to anyone thinking of getting going on the 50 MHz band.

Opening to Japan on 50 MHz...Fri 29th June 2018

I saw a note on G3XBM's blog today that 6m was open to Japan from the UK. I checked the online FT8 log of local station Tom EI4DQ on 50 MHz and sure enough, there was an opening from Ireland to Japan as well.

Several other EI stations on 50 MHz such as EI3KD and EI7BMB had similar FT8 spots to Japan.

What I found interesting was that I heard nothing like this on 28 MHz with a vertical half-wave and I was listening all day.

Usually 28 MHz is better than 50 MHz and it opens earlier and closes later. Nothing on 10m this time though.

Was the path only open to the higher frequency signals? Was it a case that beams and high power were needed to exploit this opening on 50 MHz?