First contact between Switzerland and Ireland on 70 MHz - 3rd Jan 2023

 In a previous post, I outlined how radio amateurs in Switzerland had obtained authorisation to operate in the 70MHz (4m) band from January 1st 2023.

With this in mind, and noting that the Quadrantids meteor shower was due on 3/4 January 20023, Roger - EI8KN (IRTS VHF / Microwave Manager) was monitoring 70.174MHz and and ON4KST Chat, for a HB9 partner for meteor scatter tests.

On the 3rd January, Roger (IO62) received a CQ from Andre, HB9HLM (JN36) at 09:44 and started calling using the mode MSK144.

No further reflections were received and just as Roger was about to concede, further bursts came through and the QSO was complete after 41 minutes. The distance was 1173Kms. This was ahead of the peak of the shower.

Roger believes that this may be an EI to HB9 first on the 4m band.

If anyone has already accomplished this, he would be interested to know.

It would appear that during this meteor shower, Andre was able to provide a good number of 'firsts' to European operators.

Addendum: EI8KN was using a Dual PA5070-11-6BG antenna, with 6 elements on 4m.

PJ4MM in the Caribbean gets permit for 40 MHz & 70 MHz - Dec 2022

Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean reports that he has just received an experimental license for the 40 MHz (8m) and 70 MHz (4m) band.

These are the frequency allocations with equipment.

8m: 40.680 - 40.700 MHz, all mode, max 50W out, ant modified 4elm 6m yagi (elem length adjusted)

4m: 70.000 - 70.500 MHz, all mode, max 100W out, ant 8elm LFA, fixed to Eu

Martin reports that he has already been heard by FG8OJ on Guadeloupe and K9MU in Wisconsin. 

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
FG8OJ 8m FT8 865 km 18:16:14
K9MU 8m FT8 4243 km 16:58:44

Martin also reports a signal of -22dB in IM67 in the south of Portugal on 8m but it wasn't reported on the PSK Reporter website.

Martin also says that for 4m, he will be following the Region 1 band plan (Europe) and will be mostly operating on FT8.

Analysis... This is really excellent news as it opens up the possibility of a lot of interesting paths from this southerly location.

On 40 MHz, there will be plenty of openings on F2 up to the USA and Canada and will allow some contacts with the experimental stations there as well as crossband contacts and reception reports. Ironically it may be easier to get reports from the NE of the USA (3500-4000kms) than the SE which may be a bit too close.

There should also be plenty of openings to Europe, especially to Spain and Portugal. It should also open eventually to the UK and Ireland and the question is how far east into Europe will the signal travel.

In the Summer months, there should be plenty of multi-hop Sporadic-E openings from May to July and may act as an early warning for 50 MHz openings to follow.

What I find really interesting are the possible openings on 70 MHz.

Will amateurs in the USA and Canada be interested enough to listen on the band now that there is someone on from the Caribbean on 4m?

Will there be multi-hop Sporadic-E openings on 4m to Europe during the Summer? Almost certainly to Spain and Portugal but further north to the UK and Ireland? How far into Europe? Is it possible to get as far east as Cyprus? Further?

Looking at the southern hemisphere, there are a lot of interesting potential paths.

TEP openings on 40 MHz and 70 MHz to Argentina and the south of Brazil are a given. Will anyone there listen?

From Bonaire to the Falkand Islands (VP8) on 70 MHz?? Is it possible?

Bonaire to South Africa on 40 MHz should be possible on F2 but is it even possible on 70 MHz with multi-hop Sp-E? 11,000kms is a long way on 4m.

And what about the really long paths? From Bonaire to New Zealand (ZL) and Australia (VK) on 40 MHz???

We can be sure that some really interesting paths are going to pop up from this location.

Links for more info...
1) My 40 MHz page
2) My 70 MHz page

Addendum: Martin provides the following information of his permit.

1) 8M license is for 40.66 - 40.7MHz, max 50W, all modes. 

2) 4M license is for 70.0 - 70.5MHz, max 100W, all modes, Antenna restricted direction to Europe. Probably because Venezuela still has multiple analog TV channels in use in this range. 

3) Valid until Christmas 2023.

70 MHz amateur band released in Switzerland from the Jan 1st, 2023

Some good news! Swiss radio amateurs will gain access to the 70 MHz / 4m band from the 1st of January 2023.

USKA is the IARU member society for radio amateurs in Switzerland and they released the following on the 21st of December.... "4m band released in Switzerland from Jan 1, 2023

After lengthy negotiations with OFCOM, the USKA was able to release the 4m band. The approval is valid from 1 Jan 2023. The following operating conditions apply:

Only radio amateurs with HB9 licenses are allowed to use the band.
Frequency range: 70.0000MHz to 70.0375 and 70.1125 to 70.5000MHz.

Any transmission is prohibited in the range from 70.0375 to 70.1125 MHz.

The maximum power is 25 watts ERP
All common types of modulation are allowed. Use according to the IARU band plan is suggested.
The band is to be used for direct connections. Unattended stations such as relays and Echolink gateways are not allowed.
Remote-controlled stations require a report to OFCOM.
The USKA wishes all 4m enthusiasts every success in exploring the new 4m band.

Bernard Wehrli, HB9ALH - OFCOM liaison officer"

What to expect???....... See the map below...

Even with an ERP of 25-watts, HB9 stations should have no problem working out to 500kms with weak signal modes.

In the Summer months, Sporadic-E will be the main propagation mode. Stations in the 1000 to 2200 km range should be easy to contact with a peak around the 1500-2000km mark.

Multi-hop Sporadic-E is always possible so there will be more exotic paths.

Source: https://www.uska.ch/4m-band-in-der-schweiz-ab-1-jan-2023-freigegeben/

Thanks to Andrea, HB9DUR for the info source.

5900km+ opening on 70 MHz from the Canary Islands to Kazakhstan - 25th May 2021

Tuesday 25th May 2021: There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening on the VHF bands with openings all of the way up to 144 MHz. On 70 MHz, there was evidence of plenty of multi-hop Sporadic-E including the one shown above from EA8JF in the Canary Islands to UN3M in Kazakhstan, a distance of 5946kms.

The map above from the PSK Reporter website clearly shows the 3 hop zones. First hop to Spain & Portugal, second hop to the centre of Europe and the one lone triple hop to Kazakhstan.

While double hop Sporadic-E at 70 MHz is rarer than 50 MHz, it is unusual to see triple hop on the band. Sometimes this can be as much to the limited number of countries with access to the band as much as the difficultly of getting three hops at 70 MHz.

These are the reports from the PSK Reporter website for distances over 4000kms.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

UN3M EA8JF 4m FT8 5946 km 09:49:14

SP2CHY EA8WU 4m FT8 4014 km 11:53:42

YL2CP EA8/DF4UE 4m FT8 4399 km 11:40:44

YL2CA EA8/DF4UE 4m FT8 4208 km 12:24:59

It was interesting to see that EA8/DF4UE managed to hear Latvia as well.

From the Kazakhstan point of view, this is the map for UN3M...

...and for UN7MBH...

These are the combined reports for distances over 4000kms from Kazakhstan...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

UN3M EA8JF 4m FT8 5946 km 09:49:14

EA4T UN3M 4m FT8 4462 km 10:11:59

EC4TR UN3M 4m FT8 4414 km 10:12:29

UN3M EA3KE 4m FT8 4114 km 09:54:42

EA1YV UN7MBH 4m FT8 4566 km 13:53:56

UN7MBH EA1YV 4m FT8 4566 km 13:46:44

UN7MBH EA1UR 4m FT8 4468 km 07:10:12

UN7MBH EA1AF 4m FT8 4279 km 13:46:14

DX Cluster: Some of  the double hop Sporadic-E spots for 70 MHz from the day are shown below. Note the spot for EA8BPX to ES1II/8, a distance of 4537ms which is close to the maximum for double hop Sporadic-E.

Upgrade to the Irish 70 MHz beacon EI4RF - Apr 2021

The Irish 4m beacon EI4RF has now been upgraded and is now transmitting on 70.013 MHz. It was previously operating on 70.130 MHz due to the limits of the older Irish 4m band. 

It is still located to the south of Dublin in the locator square IO63VE.

It is running 25-watts into a 3-element Yagi pointing east (90 degrees). The map above shows the beam heading with the -3dB (half power) headings as well.

EI4RF: 3-element Yagi for 70 MHz

The signal for the beacon comes from a GPS locked RFzero board and it uses the following format per minute: 3 x 15 second FT8 transmission and 1 x CW transmission.

Analysis: This new upgraded EI4RF beacon should prove to be a valuable propagation tool for the 70 MHz (4m) band especially as it is running 25-watts into a directional antenna with about 6dB (x4 time power) of gain. 

Anyone in England up to a distance of 500kms with a very modest station on 4m should be easily able to hear the beacon via tropo. Under enhanced tropo conditions, well equipped stations in the Netherlands at about 700-800kms might hear it.

As regards Sporadic-E, it should be very strong in the range of 1500 to 2200kms when the band is open... e.g. Poland, Baltic states, Croatia & Slovenia. During stronger openings when the MUF is higher, shorter distances down to 1000 kms may be possible... e.g. Germany.

Reception outside the -3dB points will be possible but obviously the further away from -3dB points you get, the weaker the signal.

EI4RF Site Profile: I have done up a site profile for the EI4RF site and it is shown below with the outline of the horizon.

I have included the 0 degree and 1 degree lines and I have coloured in the sea in light Blue to make it clearer.

As you can see, the beacon is on an elevated site and is looking down at the Irish Sea. Some of the mountains in the NW of Wales (90 deg) at a distance of 150kms or so are also visible. The plot clearly shows that there are no local obstructions between the -3dB points which is very good.

Outside of the main beam heading to the East, the path to the rest of Ireland is largely blocked by local hills and mountains. In the direction of Waterford (210 deg), the horizon has an elevation of about 3 degrees. In the direction of Cork (227 deg), the horizon rises to about 5 degrees. To the west, the horizon is over 7 degrees. It's highly unlikely that this beacon would be heard across the North Atlantic if there was ever some double hop Sporadic-E.

In conclusion: This beacon with its 25 watts should be easily heard in England via tropo and in eastern Europe via Sporadic-E. The inclusion of the FT8 digital mode is a welcome touch as it allows people to hear signals buried in the noise and there is already a lot of people using that mode. Any reception reports can be automatically uploaded to the PSK Reporter website to alert others of any opening.

Thanks to Tony, EI7BMB and Tim, EI4GNB who got this upgraded 4m beacon up and running.

* * * 

Other site developments: From Tim, EI4GNB...

EI0SIX had a mild tune-up, as one of the pair of antennas had gone a bit droopy, now the SWR and bandwidth are excellent. It remains 40w to a pair of loops phased.

EI1KNH on 8m has had it's monopole antenna moved to the top of the 4m mast, away from the FDP for 5m, and now has a much healthier looking lot on my VNA. No more interaction with 5m. It's happy on 40w from the NXP PA.

EI1KNH on 5m now runs FT8 for 3 periods of 15 seconds, then runs a slow CW ID and a long carrier - previously it had been looping FT8 every 15 seconds. It's PSU was toast, and was causing hash all over HF to the remote stn there, so it's temp on the same PSU as EI0SIX. No change to the chain, 25w to a folded dipole.

70 MHz permits in Iceland allowed for 2021 & 2022

 

The Icelandic Radio Amateur federation (ÍRA) has been notified by the countries Post and Telecom Administration (PSF) that permits to operate on the 70 MHz / 4-metre band will be allowed from another two years. 

The frequency range is 70.000-70.250 MHz and is valid for two years from the 1st of Jan 2021 to the 31st of Dec 2022.

As before, the following conditions apply:

(1) Maximum bandwidth is 16 kHz. No molding conditions; 

(2) the maximum radiated power is 100W; 

(3) the authorization is subject to the interruption of other electronic communications activities, transmissions must be stopped immediately and 

(4) call signs must be used at the beginning and end of the electronic communications connection and at appropriate regular intervals during the electronic communications connection.

Licensees must apply for authorization to the PTA before transmissions begins in the frequency range. 

The map above shows the distances in kms from Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. 

Analysis... It's very likely that stations on 70 MHz from Iceland will be heard elsewhere in Europe from May to July during the Sporadic-E season. These will likely be in the range of 1000 to 2300 kms with most in the range of about 1300 to 2100 kms.

As the map shows above, the countries within one-hop range are likely to be the UK & Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, NW Germany, Denmark, Norway & Sweden.

Distances greater than 2300kms may be possible be some form of multi-hop propagation but this is rarer at 70 MHz as compared to 50 MHz where it is a lot more common.

Temporary 70 MHz permit for SM0TSC in Sweden

 

While the 70 MHz (4m) amateur band is allocated across much of Europe, it is allocated to 'Land Mobile and Fixed radio' in Sweden. The Swedish licensing authority however do allocate temporary 4m permits to radio amateurs.

On the 26th of January 2021, Johan SM0TSC got a temporary 6-month license for the 70MHz band. The terms of the permit are that he must operate on the spot frequency of 70.1375 MHz and the ERP (Effective Radiated Power) of his transmissions must be 25 watts or less.

SM0TSC is near the capital Stockholm and his locator square is JO99CF. In recent months, both SM4KYN (JO69XH) and SM7CAD (JO77UM) have been active on the 70 MHz band with temporary permits.

The map above shows the location of SM0TSC. The major activity on 70 MHz will be in early May when the summer Sporadic-E season starts. The typical range for Sporadic-E on 4m is about 1000 to 2300 kms with the majority in the 1200 to 2000 km range.

There is also license free radio band in Sweden at 69 MHz and these FM signals were often audible here in Ireland during the summer of 2020. It's likely that the Swedish radio amateurs on 70.1375 MHz should be easy to work from the UK and Ireland as well.

Credits: Thanks to Rob PE9PE for the original news item

D4VHF on Cape Verde plans to be on the 70 MHz band during the Summer of 2021

The D4VHF team on Cape Verde Islands have just announced that they plan to be operational on the 70 MHz (4-metre) band during the Summer of 2021!

They will be using a 4-element Yagi (shown above) beaming towards Europe with an output power of 500-watts.

As the map shows below, the Cape Verde Islands are a long way from Europe and some multi-hop propagation will likely be required.

Analysis... The annual Sporadic-E season in the northern hemisphere normally starts in late April and runs until mid-August. 

It's likely that the first Sp-E openings from Cape Verde will be single hop with a maximum range of 2300kms or so. Stations in the Canary Islands (EA8) at 1500kms or so are ideally placed for a one-hop Sporadic-E opening on 70 MHz.

To get further up and into Europe, it will likely require a double hop opening with ranges of say 2500 to 4400 kms. This should allow stations in the UK and Ireland to work Cape Verde on 4m.

Obviously the more hops that are required for a path to open then there are statistically fewer openings. However, 70 MHz isn't that high a frequency when it comes to Sporadic-E and there should be occasions when even three hops or even four hops are possible. I suspect though that multi-hop openings like this to say central or northern Europe may only occur once per season? We'll see.

Tropo Ducting at 70 MHz???... The D4VHF station on Cape Verde has made many spectacular contacts on 144 MHz and 432 MHz thanks to a marine duct off the north-west coast of Africa.

This marine duct establishes itself for long periods at different times of the year and this allows stations on the coast of Spain and Portugal to work D4VHF on 2m with relative ease over a 3000km or so path. At times, this duct moves further north allowing stations in the UK and Ireland to get in on the action.

This duct behaves like a waveguide and it has certain dimensions. As such, like a waveguide it will have a lower cut off frequency below which signals will not propagate.

The big question is if 70 MHz signals with a wavelength of four metres will be able to propagate through this marine duct?

Will the 70 MHz signals from D4VHF be able to reach the Canary Islands (~1500kms) by tropo ducting? The south-west coast of Spain and Portugal at 2800kms? Will the frequency be too low?

If the marine duct does propagate 70 MHz signals then there is the possibility of it coupling to Sporadic-E openings more often. If not then it looks as if rarer double hop Sp-E might be the only option.

In conclusion... I'm sure many fans of the 70 MHz band will look forward to D4VHF from Cape Verde appearing on the band during the summer of 2021. Single hop and even double hop Sporadic-E contacts I believe are a forgone conclusion and these shouldn't be that difficult.

What I find most interesting however is the ability of a 70 MHz signal to propagate inside a marine duct. Is it possible? If it does happen, is it common? And how far?

It'll be interesting to see the results.

Update on the 70 MHz Gateway in Galway...

The IRTS recently had a news item about a 4-metre gateway in Galway in the west of Ireland.

Galway Analogue 4 Metre Gateway - Following the competition of phase one of the Galway Digital Repeater programme, attention now turns to analogue. The EI4GCG Analogue 4 metre Gateway operating on 70.425MHz, with CTCSS tones of 77Hz to access, is scheduled for bench testing in the next 2 weeks. The Echolink node number for this Gateway is 5422 and the Call sign is EI4GCG-L. The gateway will also be running Allstar and the Allstar node number is 52469. This project was sadly neglected over the years due to lack of interest. It is hoped that this might just put some activity on a band that sees little interest in the Galway area. This will not be linked into any digital system - analogue stays analogue and digital remains digital.

As the topographic map above shows, the city of Galway is screened to the south and south-west by various mountains. It's likely that coverage of the new 4-metre gateway will be mainly to Galway city and perhaps in as far as the midlands.

Australian authorities turn down request for 70 MHz allocation

There was a news item on the Internet recently about how the Australian regulator was not considering an allocation at 70 MHz for radio amateurs.

“We note the continued interest in this band from the amateur community. The ACMA will not be further investigating this matter at this time.

The ACMA considers that operating amateur services in this frequency range is not feasible as it would be inconsistent with ITU Radio Regulations and existing services are already operating in the frequency range. 

This frequency range is used by a variety of fixed and land mobile services as supported under the VHF mid band (70–87.5 MHz). Class licensed devices authorised under the LIPD Class Licence operate in the frequency range 70–70.24375 MHz.”

This was the reply to a submission to an earlier submission by the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) to the ACMA which essentially consisted of a single sentence... "10. The WIA still has an interest in an allocation at 70 MHz."

ITU Region 3... As can be seen from the map below, Australia is in ITU Region 3 while nearly all of the 70 MHz allocations are in Region 1 countries.

It's a pity that something like a 4m beacon couldn't be established in Australia or even a or a few experimental licences for the band.

It would be interesting to see if say someone in Perth on the west coast (VK6) could investigate if there is a multi-hop Sporadic-E path across the Indian Ocean to South Africa or up to the Middle East.

What would be good is for one of the smaller countries in Region 3 to give a small allocation for the 4m band which would then set a precedent. Even a 200 kHz wide segment of spectrum dedicated to weak signal modes would satisfy most requirements.

6000 km plus contact made between the Canary Islands & Kazakhstan on 70 MHz - 18th June 2019

I recently came across details of a remarkable 70 MHz contact that was made on the 18th of June 2019 between EA8DBM in the Canary Islands and UN7MBH in Kazakhstan. It's possible that someone hadn't noticed the date on the FT8 screen capture when posted online and thought it was from 2020 instead.

Despite the fact that it's over a year old, it was still an interesting contact as it was in the region of 6,112 kms. As you can see from the screenshot below, the contact was made via the FT8 digital mode.

While most Sporadic-E contacts on 70 MHz might be in the region of say 1500 to 2200 kms, the 6000 km plus distance for this contact suggests that it may have been triple hop Sporadic-E.

Triple hop Sporadic-E on 50 MHz is interesting but not that unusual. After all, most of the 6-metre contacts between Europe and the USA are triple hop or more.

However as the frequency get higher, a higher level of ionisation is required. At 70 MHz, single hop Sporadic-E is very common, double hop is a more unusual but triple hop is more exceptional.

I searched on the net for more information on this remarkable contact but there didn't seem to be anything about it. I thought I'd make a post about it so that at least a record of it now exists.

I know that there have been triple hop contacts from the north-west of Europe to the Arabian Peninsula but I don't think any of those exceed 6000 kms.

Falkland Islands gain access to 70 MHz band

Dave, EI3IO, reports that the Falkland Islands Telecoms Regulatory Body has granted access for radio amateurs to the 4-metre band from 70.000 MHz to 70.500 MHz using a maximum power of 1 kW on a secondary basis since 15 November 2019.

The Falkland Islands (VP8) is now one of the few countries in the southern hemisphere with access to this unique VHF band. The map below shows the countries that have some form of access to the 4-metre band.

Red & Blue = Countries with some form of access on 70 MHz

What is perhaps unique about the 70 MHz allocation in the Falkland Islands is the sheer isolation of the location. There are no countries within a normal one-hop Sporadic-E range of the islands and indeed, the closest other radio amateurs on 70 MHz are probably in South Africa, a distance of some 6,200 kms!

This raises the very real possibility that contacts outside of the Falkland Islands may not be possible on the band.

The most likely possibility if at all would be a multi-hop Sporadic-E link across to South Africa but it would probably require 3 hops at 70 MHz which isn't easy. The other possibility is St.Helena in the South Atlantic but this is almost as far.

There may be a remote possibility of Sporadic-E link to some Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) to the north but this seems unlikely.

Link...
1) https://www.regulatorfi.org.fk/spectrum/national-frequency-allocation-table/60-fi-spectrum-allocation-table-v2-0-full-table-public-pdf/file

Germany to get 70 MHz allocation from 2nd May to 31st Aug 2018

I saw a news item recently that Germany is to get a temporary allocation on 70MHz again in 2018 from the 2nd of May to the 31st of August.

The allocation will be from 70.150 - 70.180 MHz. This does of course coincide with the Summer Sporadic-E season which will greatly increase the chance of making some contacts.

The suggested range for someone in central Germany is shown below....

The shortest skip distance is likely to be around the 1000 km mark and will probably require a very intense opening, possibly from mid May to early July.

The longest skip distance should be around the 2200 km mark. It's likely that the most common openings will be around the 1500 to 2000 km range.

If you live in Ireland, it might be handy to check for some useful markers. If you can hear Polish radio stations on 88-108 MHz, then check 70MHz to see if it is open to Germany. If you can hear Dutch or Belgian stations on 50 MHz, then check 70 MHz.

Proposed changes to the 70 MHz Band in Ireland

This is the current IARU Region 1 band plan for 70 MHz band...

The Irish allocation is from 70.125 to 70.450 MHz while the British one is from 70.0 to 70.5 MHz.

What it has meant is that the UK calling frequency of 70.450 MHz is actually on the limit of the Irish band. If any EI station were to transmit there on FM then their side bands would be outside the Irish allocation.

The most recent newsletter from the Irish Radio Transmitters Society carried details on submissions that had been made to Comreg, the Irish licensing authority. While many of the submissions were declined, it was obvious that Comreg was using European Common Allocations as their guide. i.e. if the European agreements said something about the amateur radio service then that's what they were likely to implement.

As regards to the 70 MHz / 4 metre band, they are guided by footnote ECA9 in the CEPT European Table of Frequency Allocations.

This is what the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) said about ECA9 / EU9...

The 70MHz band is increasingly recognised as being appropriate for amateur allocations. In the CEPT area this progress is now recognised in the European Table of Frequency Allocations by Footnote EU9 which states:
EU9: CEPT administrations may authorise all or parts of the band 69.9-70.5 MHz to the amateur
service on a secondary basis. In addition it is worth noting that there is some experimental access on a national basis in the range 69.90 - 70.0MHz in cases where 70MHz is not available.

In response to the IRTS proposal, Comreg said the following about 70 MHz...

"Comreg's work plan for radio amateur services is to make available the following bands:
. the 30-49 MHz and the 54 - 69.9 MHz and 69.9 - 70.125 bands to facilitate propagation beacons, digital amateur television repeaters and to align current allocations with those in the European Common Allocation Table: and 
. the 70.45 - 7-.50 MHz band to align it with the European Common Allocation Table.

So it looks as if they will be extending the Irish allocation so that it will cover 69.900 to 70.500 MHz. This is likely to be implemented soon...perhaps early 2017???

This is how the new Irish allocation will look now compared to other countries...

As can be seen, Irish stations will now be able to work other countries simplex without having to resort to split frequency operation.

Overall, a very positive result!

Additional info : 
1) Region 1 Band Plan... http://www.irts.ie/dnloads/IARU-R1-Bandplan-VHF-UHF.pdf
2) 70 MHz website... http://www.70mhz.org
3) Comreg document 16/19 (See Page 69)... https://www.comreg.ie//csv/downloads/ComReg_1649.pdf
4) CEPT European Allocation Table... http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ercrep025.pdf

New US Trans-Atlantic 70 MHz beacon...

I saw this news item last week. A 70 MHz beacon near the East Coast of the USA will be operational this summer and beaming towards Europe. However, as you can see from the map it is operating from Virginia as opposed to the NE of the USA.

Here is part of the statement........As of  2 May, a 4-Meter Band Radio Science E-skip Trans-Atlantic (TA) propagation beacon is QRV from the East Coast of the US. QRG is 70.005 MHz, QTH is FM07fm, CW emissions. ERP is 3kW aimed at 60 degrees true towards Europe. This year’s parameters are identical to the previous 2010 operations but with a new call sign, WE9XUP, for 2011.


The beacon is scheduled to run 24 hours a day until 1 Sept, 2011 but must QRT sooner if there are technical or *any* QRM issues.


Any and all QSL/SWL reports are welcome via email to: WA1ZMS ( at ) ARRL.NET.

As you can see from the map above, the beacon in Virginia is at least one Sporadic-E away from the NE of the USA so it will require multiple hops to get across the Atlantic.

A similar beacon WE9XFT was operational in 2010 and looking at the DX-Cluster, several stations in the NE USA and Canada heard it. As this area is one Sp-E hop from Virginia, this is the most likely area where this beacon will be heard again.

In 2010, CT1HZE in Portugal heard it several times...

CT1HZE         70005.0 WE9XFT/B     539 3xEs  FB!!!      2026 04 Jul   United States
CT1HZE         70005.0 WE9XFT/B     599 3xEs             2306 02 Jul   United States
CT1HZE         70005.0 WE9XFT/B     539 Es wow! tnx Brian     1808 26 Jun   United States

I wonder if it was heard further North in 2010??? Considering that SWL stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England have heard FM Radio stations from North America before on Band II (88-108 MHz) then it should certainly be possible.

CQ 2m Counties Contest...kind of

For the first time in about 2 years, I put out a signal on 144 MHz again today. I noticed about a few days ago that the IRTS 2m Counties Contest was on Easter Monday in the afternoon. Despite my best plans, I ended up just putting an old 2m 5/8th mag mount on the roof of the car in the driveway, running out a mains cable for a small power supply and quickly powering up my Yaesu FT290R.....with it's mighty 2.5 watts!

Considering I caught only the last 20 mins of the contest, this is probably not really a fair assessment of the level of activity but it did seem quiet.

A quick initial scan revealed nothing....no 5/9+ signals. Checked the Cork Repeater on R6 (50 kms west)...opened it...RF getting out...aerial must be working in some fashion....back to a careful scan on FM.

Heard EI3GAB in Mallow.....gave him a few calls with my mighty 2.5 watts...no joy. Mallow is about 35kms away and on the other side of the Nagle Mountains (Hills ;o) so the received signal here was pretty weak anyway....about 5/2

Heard EI3FFB up in Co.Tipperary on the other side of the Galtees, maybe around 65 kms or so. Just above the noise on receive so no hope of him hearing me.

I'm pretty sure I heard EI4CF in Co.Galway. I didn't hear any /P at the end so I presume he was at home? If so, that's about 150 kms to the north. While my take off in that direction is very good, I'm still impressed that I heard him on the mag mount.

Down on SSB, I got my only contest contact when I worked Tommy using the club call EI7T from Caher in Co.Tipperary, a distance of roughly 65 kms. Not bad for 2.5 watts!

So that was the contest....20 mins...one contact. Tommy had given me #035 and considering that he may have worked some stations twice (SSB and FM) then I guess that it was quiet enough.

Tried out the Helvick head repeater on R3 (~50 kms) after the contest and met up with Andrew EI3GSB/M and Denis EI8GAB for the first time. With the FT290 on 0.5 watts, I had no problems working that repeater so that's a good sign. I could hear Andrew at times on the input although very weakly driving on the motorway near Caher about 60 kms away...another good sign. So it looks like if I put up any sort of decent aerial for 2m then I should get reasonable coverage.

70 MHz in Cork....
After the repeater contacts, I had a simplex QSO with Denis, EI8GAB on FM. Denis got his call in the time that I was off-air....2009/10. I was interested to hear that he is active on 4m with a converted Taxi PMR radio and there seems to be a few others active in the Cork area as well.

Looking at EI4DIB's blog, there seems to be some activity up in the Louth / North of Dublin area as well so there are at least some small pockets of activity on 70 MHz. Not sure though if anyone from either group has worked the other group yet?

On the local scene, Denis told me that there is a Simplexer in operation. This is like a repeater except that it records your audio and plays it back on the same frequency. It obviously makes for slow contacts but it's better than nothing when you can't hear the other station. It would also seem to be a good way as keeping a bit of activity on the band.

To be investigated!

Greece to South Africa via TEP on 70 MHz...

I came across this today....the first ever contact between Greece and South Africa on 70 MHz!

As far as I can tell, it happened on the 28th of March 2011 when SV2DCD in KN00LI worked ZS6WAB in KG46RC via Trans-Equatorial Propagation. The distance was just over 7,200 kms as they worked on 70.200 MHz SSB.

SV2DCD was running 70w into a 9 el yagi at 10m agl.

It just goes to show the possibilities of this band.