Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Sat 25th April 2020

There was a pretty intensive opening on 28 MHz on Saturday 25th of April 2020 with the MUF going up as high as 50 MHz.

After hearing the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz, I had a listen for the beacon on 40.071 MHz and it eventually came out of the noise.

These were the decodes with the PI4 programme...

40M 13:30 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-22 dB Q=64 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:31 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-1 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:32 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-12 dB Q=98 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:34 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-21 dB Q=38 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:38 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-11 dB Q=100 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:39 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-15 dB Q=78 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:40 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=0 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:41 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=6 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:16 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-16 dB Q=82 T=-0.16 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:17 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-20 dB Q=62 T=-0.15 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB

The strongest signal had a signal to noise (S/N) ratio of +6dB, the weakest -22dB.

Updated version of PI4 reception software... After a successful decode of the PI4 signal, there is the option to right click on it and spot it on the DX Cluster.

OZ7IGY Beacon website... These spots also appear on the OZ7IGY website. When I tried this a few days ago with an older version of PI4 (Ver 0.9.7.0), the spots didn't on the site. With the newer version (Ver 0.9.8.0), they do.

This is screen shot of the site showing the 28 MHz and 40 MHz spots from the 25th...

It worth noting that the various DX Clusters seem to handle the PI4 and 40 MHz spots differently.

DXWATCH DX Cluster... On the DXWATCH site, the PI4 spots sent from within the programme don't appear. The site also seems to filter out 40 MHz as it assumes it's a mistake as it isn't one of the usual bands. The spot above for 28 MHz from me was sent via the DXMaps website.

DXSUMMIT DX Cluster... On the DXSummit site, the PI4 spots appear successfully.

These are the spots on the DXSUMMIT site for OZ7IGY on the 25th of April 2020...

The spots from me shown as just 'EI7GL' are from DXMaps where I am a registered user.

The spots with 'EI7GL-@' were sent from within the PI4 programme.

Also note that EI3GYB also heard the beacon an hour later later at a location further north.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon and the PI4 can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - Tues 21st April 2020

There was a good Sporadic-E opening on Tuesday the 21st of April 2020 with three stations reporting reception of the  OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark on 40.071 MHz.

The screenshot above is from the DXMaps website which has a special page for 40 MHz reports.

Considering the low level of activity on the 40 MHz band, this page is normally blank so it was unusual today to see three traces on it!

These are some of the 40 MHz spots from the DX-Cluster...

EI7GL-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 13:12 21 Apr PI4 -6 dB Q=98 (es) Denmark
G7CNF 40071.0 OZ7IGY/B 12:39 21 Apr 559 Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40070.0 OZ7IGY 12:20 21 Apr PI4 -4 dB Q=100 (es) Denmark
EI7GL 40070.0 OZ7IGY/B 12:19 21 Apr IO51TUJO55WM Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40070.0 OZ7IGY 12:15 21 Apr PI4 -3 dB Q=100 Denmark
EI7HBB 40071.0 OZ7IGY 11:43 21 Apr Denmark
EI7HBB 40071.0 OZ7IGY/B 11:36 21 Apr 539 Denmark

Lloyd, EI7HBB was the first to spot the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz at 11:36 UTC.

I came across the 28 MHZ version of the beacon at 12:01 UTC during a scan of the band. As the 10-metre signal was strong, I then had a listen on 40 MHz and sure enough, the 8-metre beacon was audible. I spotted it on the cluster at 12:15 UTC.

The distance from the beacon is about 1350 kms for Lloyd and 1390 kms for me.

At 12:39 UTC, G7CNF spotted the  beacon from the south-west of England.

The PI4 in the cluster spot refers to the PI4 software which decodes the OZ7IGY signal which alternates between giving out its ID in morse and in PI4.

The amazing thing about the PI4 software is that it can hear the signal buried in the noise. At one stage, it decoded a -18dB signal and I could hear nothing.

More information about this beacon and the PI4 software can be found on the OZ7IGY website.

This is a screen shot of the PI4 software...

Using the Yaesu FT-650 on the new 40 MHz band (8-metres)

The Yaesu FT-650 transceiver was manufactured in the 1990's and operated on the 24 MHz, 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands (12, 10 & 6m).

With an output power of 100 watts on all three bands, it was an impressive radio in its day and today it still compares well in terms of performance to some of the newer all band HF& 6m radios.

Lloyd, EI7HBB recently acquired one of these radios and he confirms that it can be 'widebanded' to operate on the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band with the full 100 watts. According to Lloyd, the radio can be made to operate outside the usual 12,10 & 6m bands by pushing three buttons at the same time.

Rear of the radio shown with the optional internal mains power supply

The current Irish amateur radio allocation at 40 MHz and 60 MHz allows a maximum output power of 50 watts PEP (17dBW).

More info about the 40 MHz band on the blog can be seen HERE

The specs of the radio are shown below...

Experiments continue on the 40 MHz band in the west of Ireland

Back in early 2018, the 40 MHz (8-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Since then, interest in experimenting on the band has increased and there are now a number of EI stations carrying out tests.

The latest EI station on the band is Stefan, EI4KU in Co.Clare in the west of Ireland. Stefan has kindly forwarded on some details and photos of his latest tests.

Equipment... Stefan has built a small 1-watt beacon running on 40.013 MHz and is carrying out propagation tests. The photo below shows the home made beacon and the associated antenna tuning unit (ATU).

The beacon is using a crystal running at about 13 MHz and this is modulated by a varactor diode (FSK - Frequency Shift Keying). This is then tripled up to 40.013 MHz and is then buffered and amplified. The output transistor is a 2SC1970 running in Class-C with one watt after the low pass filter.

The signal is then fed into a home made Z-match ATU as shown below.

Unusually, 100-Ohm balanced coax cable is used on the output. This however provides a very good match to the antenna which is a single quad loop which would have an impedance of about 100 ohms.

The photo above shows the quad loop. The sides are about 2 metres each and it is shown being fed at the bottom so it is horizontally polarised.

This photo below shows the view to the north from Stefan's location so it looks as if he is in a good spot for VHF.

Stefan is currently in the process of building a transverter for the band. If anyone would like to carry out some tests on the 40 MHz, EI4KU can be contacted via QRZ.

Tests... In November of 2019, Stefan carried out some tests with Phil EI9KP and Michael EI3GYB in Co.Mayo with the equipment shown above and both heard the CW beacon.

EI4KP (IO52OW), EI9KP (IO54MB) & EI3GYB (IO53OT)

The distances covered were about 125 kms for EI9KP and 100 kms for EI3GYB.

The waterfall display below shows the slow cw signal as received by EI9KP in Mayo.

Interestingly, the signal over the 125 km path wasn't always steady. This second screenshot from EI9KP shows some multi-path distortion on the signal.

In an email, Phil EI9KP described it like this..."Screenshot attached showing reception of the beacon signal showing diffracted signal (wavey pattern). The signal diffraction is actually audible on the long carrier and it sounds like a wave building."

Phil also reports that he was using a horizontally polarised 2 element Yagi beam 5m above ground level for reception of the signal and it was RST 519.

EI3GYB... Michael, EI3GYB also reports that he heard Stefan's beacon from a distance of about 100 kms. Interestingly, Michael reports that there was a very slow fading on the band at times with the signal going from nothing up to 519. Most of the time, it was around 319 when the band was stable.

This mix of steady and fading signals would seem to concur with some of the reception reports that EI9KP experienced.

Michael doesn't have a dedicated antenna for the 8 metre band but instead was switching between a Sandpiper Moxon for 2/4/6 in horizontal position and a Windom antenna for 160 to 6 metres. According to Michael..."The Moxon was the best, although I had a period where I received nothing via the Moxon, but a 5/1 signal on the Windom."

It seems like that the 6m part of the Sandpiper Moxon was probably acting as a shortened dipole on 40 MHz so the gain would be somewhat reduced.

Michael also reports having several contacts with Phil, EI9KP on SSB who is 25 kms distant.

Thanks to Phil, EI9KP and Michael, EI3GYB for their reception reports... de EI7GL

Guest post: A look at the Clansman PRC-3512 Low Band VHF Radio...by EI5DD

Regular visitors to the blog will know that I try to promote more interest in the low-VHF part of the spectrum by having a dedicated page related to the new 40 MHz / 8 metre band. If I come across anything of interest that might be related to the band then I post it here on the blog and link to it from the 40 MHz page. 

The Clansman is an ex-British army radio that can operate on FM on the low VHF spectrum from 30 to 76 MHz. As such, it is one of the few radios available on the second hand market that can operate at 40 MHz, 50 MHz, 60 MHz or 70 MHz. 

Thanks to Steve EI5DD for his permission to post this guest post here....de EI7GL

The Clansman PRC-3512 is an intra-platoon level backpack VHF FM transceiver. The PRC 351 has 4 watt RF power output, and operates in the 30–75.975 MHz range with a possible 1840 channels spaced 25 kHz apart.

This radio is also capable of being mounted on a vehicle in conjunction with the TUAAM (Tuning Unit Automatic Antenna Matching). The PRC 352 is identical, with the addition of a 20 watt RF amplifier and can be used as a ground station also.

The Clansman RT-351 / VRC-351 Back-Pack 4 Watt portable VHF (FM) Radio was made by RACAL BCC Ltd. in England. The PRC-351 was designed to provide command communications at battalion and company level for dismounted troops. It was also used in vehicles by mounted troops. The PRC-351 replaced the older A41 and A42 British VHF radios.

The frequency Range 30 to 76.000 MHz in 25 Khz steps giving a total of 1841 programmable channels. The desired frequency is set by four knobs on the side of the radio which can be operated even while the operator is wearing Arctic mittens, or in the dark by counting clicks from the end-stops.

Big opening from Ireland to Denmark on 40 MHz - Wed 19th June 2019

Sporadic-E conditions were really good on Wednesday the 19th of June 2019 with some very strong signals on 28 MHz. Propagation extended up into the VHF bands as well with the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark being heard in Ireland on 28 MHz, 40 MHz and 50 MHz.

The beacon on 40.071 MHz was audible in Ireland for several hours during the morning and was very strong at times.

40 MHz Crossband Contacts... Lloyd EI7HBB in the west of Ireland made the best of conditions to make a 8m/6m crossband SSB contact with SM6BCD in Sweden. This is probably a first EI/SM crossband  contact for 8 metres.

EI7HBB was running 4 watts on 40.250 MHz from one of the Ukrainian transverters into a home made 2 element Moxon in the loft space of his house. He was listening to the Swedish station using a 4 element Moxon on 50.150 MHz.

The distance was 1343 kms.

2019-06-19 10:30:39 EI7HBB (IO53SQ) 40.250 SM6BCD (JO57WQ) 1343 IO53SQ JO57WQ cross band 50150

OZ7IGY Beacon... The OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz was logged by both Don EI8DJ and myself.

EI8DJ was using a Yaesu FT817 with a ground mounted HF vertical antenna to receive the beacon.

I found that I was getting some really strong signals with my 28 MHz vertical half-wave. I also found out by accident that I could actually hear it with a 2m Slim Jim!

It's probably fair to say that any sort of wire antenna would have heard the signal as long as the local interference was low.

Both EI8DJ and myself used the PI4 software to decode the beacon and to upload the spots to the cluster with Don doing it on three bands.

Danish OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon back on air... May 2019

Back in March of 2019, I had a post up about how OZ7IGY in Denmark was off-air for the foreseeable future.

Well now it is back on again!

On the 26th of May 2019, the keepers of the beacon network released the following...

"40 MHz on air and intermittent NMEA loss solved – 2019-05-26

The 40 MHz beacon is back into service.

OZ1BNN, OZ2M and OZ7IS"

The OZ7IGY beacon operates on 40.071 MHz.

Tip! The 10-metre version of the beacon operates on 28.271 MHz. If you can hear that at a good signal strength then there is a chance you might hear the 40 MHz one as well.

If you hear it then be sure to put it up on the DX Cluster to raise the profile and awareness of the new 8-metre band.

Inter-EI activity begins on 40 MHz...

In April of 2018, Irish (EI) radio amateurs gained access to much of the low VHF spectrum including 40 MHz. Some short distance contacts were established in November of 2018.

Over the winter months, several EI stations have been busy getting ready for the new 8-metre band and this has now resulted in more inter-EI 40 MHz activity.

Thanks to Phil EI9KP in Co Sligo who has sent on the info on all the activity.

Both Phil EI9KP and Tim EI4GNB run manned beacons on the band. Over the weekend of Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of May 2019 , they both managed to hear each others beacons at a distance of about 208 kms.

This is all the more impressive as the Dublin mountains block a lot of the signals from the west of Ireland getting into Bray where EI4GNB is located.

Here is a report from Phil EI9KP....

In EI there are two manned beacons running i.e. On air when supervised in the shack.  Info below by coincidence Tim and I are using the Yaesu FT-857D in ‘beacon mode’ for this purpose. An interesting set-up which allows us to switch to SSB for in band and cross band QSO.

EI9KP in Aclare, Co. Sligo (locator IO54MB): FT-857D, chosen freq.: 40.300MHz, mode CW, power 5W, antenna: Delta Loop horizontally polarised.  Site agl: 200m.

EI4GNB in Bray, Co. Wicklow (locator IO63WE): FT-857D, chosen freq.: 40.250MHz, mode CW, power 5W, antenna: 2 element quad horizontally polarised.

Saturday 25 May 2019:  Listening on 8m band I heard fragments of CW on 40.300MHz, some searching on the web pointed me to EI4GNB and I asked him to turn the antenna north west and  confirmed report 515 via KST Chat.  I activated my beacon on the same frequency and he confirmed report 555 after a few trials due to local QRM.

Propagation type?  Was it purely ground wave (diffracted) or tropo or something else?  We are not sure, the distance is a good 205km.  Tim reports experiencing similar propagation on 6m receiving EI3KD from time to time.  I’ll be watching his beacon signal over the next month or so.

The next day, Phil managed to make a two way SSB contact with Andrew EI3FEB in Co Galway, a distance of about 65 kms.

Again, I'll let Phil outline the contact...

Sunday 26 May 2019:  I had a sked with Andrew EI3FEB in Headford, Co. Galway (locator IO53KL).  On a test previous week on 40.250MHz we could not make contact, not even hearing a blip, it appeared our antennas were not correctly aligned for ground wave.  

Both Andrew and I are using a Delta Loop in Horizontal Polarisation;  the delta loop has a noticeable null on the tips, this time we were aligned broadside.  Success:  a 2-way SSB QSO with 5/1 reports both ways.  Distance is 65km, diffracted signal (one hill in the path).

If you are in the UK, have listen for the beacons if there is tropo about. Likewise, these signals should be easily heard on the continent when there is Sporadic-E.

Both EI9KP and EI4GNB can be contacted through their respective QRZ pages. Also look for them on the ON4KST chat page.

More information about the new 40 MHz band can be found here... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Photo of Phil's Delta Loop...

IARU adopt IRTS band plans for 40 MHz and 60 MHz

In April of 2018, the Irish regulator Comreg gave Irish radio amateurs access to most of the low VHF spectrum from 30 to 49 MHz.

In May of 2018, the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) published a provisional draft for two bands at 40 MHz and 60 MHz.

In July of 2018 after a period of consultation, the IRTS published a formal band plan for the new bands.

In February of 2019, the IRTS announced that they would be presenting a paper proposing that the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU - Region 1) adopt the new 40 MHz and 60 MHz bands.

On the 5th of May 2019, the IARU published the minutes of the meeting in April. See newsletter HERE.

With respect to the new 8-metre and 5-metre bands, it says the following...

5.3 40 MHz / 60 MHz (C5_02):

Background:
• IRTS (Ireland) has now access to those two bands.
• There are also beacons in other countries

 Proposal:
• Incorporate the proposed 40 MHz and 60 MHz Bandplan in the VHF Handbook

Recommendation: 
VIE19_C5_Rec_05: To add the 40 MHz and the 60 MHz Bandplan in the VHF Handbook in a separate dedicated section.
17 in favour, 1 Abstention (RSGB)

While it is a small step, it does give the new 40 MHz and 60 MHz bands formal status within the IARU. It will hopefully raise the awareness of the bands with other national societies who may well in turn try to get small allocations.

Transverters for 40 MHz

One of the obvious problems with the new 8-metre (40 MHz) band is the lack of equipment. Some amateur radio transceivers could be modified but there is a risk doing this as the output filters in the PA stages might be way off.

Transverters-Store is a company in Ukraine and they make a number of transverters that allow a 28 MHz radio to covers various bands from 40 MHz to 432 MHz.

The 40 MHz version converts 40-42 MHz down to 28 to 30 MHz. The PCB is shown below.

Technical specifications
RF range  -  40 ... 42 MHz
IF range  -  28 ... 30 MHz
IF input power  -  1 ... 50 mW (0.05 W max.) or 0 ... 17 dBm
Output power  -  10 ... 15 W
Noise figure  -  typ. 1.0 dB
Supply voltage  -  +13.8 V DC (+12 ... 14 V DC)
Current consumption  -  typ. 2 A (TX)

Italian 43 MHz CB's for sale...

One of the obvious problems with the new 8 metre band at 40 MHz is the lack of equipment. I recently came across an Italian website selling 43 MHz radios. As outlined in a previous post, there is a CB band in Italy on 43 MHz.

The HardSoft Products website is selling the following at present...

1) INTEK - SY-5430M - MOBILE 43 MHz
...a) The Italian version has 24 channels with a 4 watt output. It covers 43.3 MHz to 43.5875 MHz. The cost is €185.

...b) The Export version has 224 channels with a 20 watt output. It covers 42.3 MHz to 45.0875 MHz. The cost is €210.

2) LAFAYETTE - MOBILE UTILITY 43 MHz 24 CHANNELS
This has 24 channels with a 4 watt output. It covers 43.3 MHz to 43.5875 MHz. The cost is €145.

Please note that these were the prices and models as of mid-March 2019. I don't know anything about the website so I can't say if it's ok or not.

Photo of the Lafayette below...

Experiments on 40 MHz begin in the West of Ireland

There was an interesting item in the IRTS news dated 28th Oct 2018 about some activity on the new 40 MHz / 8 metre band in the West of Ireland.

8 Meter Band Operation
Phil EI9KP (ON4TA) is back in Ireland for the next few weeks. Following tests with Dominic EI9JS, he is now fully QRV on the 40 MHz 8 meter band with a converted FT 857 in CW, SSB and FM. He has constructed some dipoles and a delta loop for the band and is keen for some more contacts either two way or cross band. Pictures and more info can be found on the MREN website at ei7mre.org

A number of Irish radio amateurs in the Mayo-Sligo region have been conducting experiments with various radios and antennas for the band and a two way SSB contact between Phil EI9KP and Dominic EI9JS took place on 40.250 MHz on the 19th of October 2018. The distance was roughly 20 kms.

Along with Brendan EI6IZ, they have found that the following radios can be modified to cover 40 MHz...

ICOM  IC-706, IC-7200, IC-7300

Yaesu FT-817, FT-857

Please note that the 40 MHz band is quiet a distance from 29 MHz or 50 MHz so the performance may not be optimal.

More information can be found on the Mayo Radio Experimenters website... http://ei7mre.org/

They also have a number of photos here... https://photos.app.goo.gl/PcyZygBrXSD2o6W8A

SNOTEL on 40 MHz in the USA...

This post is about the SNOTEL network in North America which shows how 40 MHz signals from remote weather stations are relayed by meteor scatter back to base stations.

SNOTEL (SNOwpack TELemetry). Across the western half of the USA, remote weather stations in mountainous locations record the level of snowfall in their respective areas. This data can then used to calculate the potential amount of melt water in the catchment area of a particular river.

Radio bursts around 40 MHz are sent at the remote sites and these signals are then reflected off trails of ionised gas left by small meteors in the upper atmosphere. These trails decay quite rapidly so the signals tend to be of a short duration.

The frequencies I have seen listed for SNOTEL are 40.530 MHz, 40.670 MHz and 41.530 MHz.
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More information is presented below...

Italian Paging System at 40 MHz...

There was a news item on the Southgate ARC website today about a new DAPNET POCSAG Pager Gateway being licensed in the UK.

After reading up a bit on it, I found a website which lists the frequency allocations for commerrcial paging devices and it turns out that there is one in Italy at 40 MHz.

As always, I try to keep a record of any 40 MHz information here on the blog for references purposes.

Copied text below......"In Italy the 26.225-26.935 MHz band (AM/FM, odd frequency steps) and 40.0125-40.0875 MHz (in 25 kHz steps) may be used for local pagers. These frequencies are often used for on-site hospital paging systems, including voice paging."

Going off the information above, the four Italian frequencies are...
40.0125 MHz
40.0375 MHz
40.0625 MHz
40.0875 MHz

As can be seen from the proposed 8 metre band plan from the IRTS, these pagers are in the beacon band.

Considering that pagers are only intended to receive local signals, it's unlikely that they are susceptible to interference from Sporadic-E type signals. However, those frequencies are probably best avoided for beacons in Ireland or elsewhere.

Low Band VHF Pagers... I have included a list of frequencies between 30 and 50 MHz which are used for paging systems below...

IRTS release updated band plans for 40 MHz and 60 MHz...

Back in April of 2018, the Irish Radio Transmiters Society (IRTS) announced that Irish radio amateurs had gain access to a huge swathe of the VHF spectrum from 30 to 70 MHz.

In May, they released a proposed band plan with an invitation for comments.

Based on the feedback received, the IRTS have further refined the band plan and it can be seen HERE

While the band plan covers quiet a lot of spectrum, the IRTS considers the key areas to be 40-42 MHz for the 8-metre band and 58-60 MHz for the 5-metre band.

From the document....."IRTS considers that the band most likely to be transverted to an IF of 28 – 30 MHz might be 40 – 42 MHz." ... "Similarly to 40 MHz the band most likely to be transverted to an IF of 28 – 30 MHz is considered to be 58 – 60 MHz."

They are inviting comments before the end of July 2018.

Links...
1) New proposed band plan (v6) ...link may break in time
2) Copy of new proposed band plan (V6)
3) My 40 MHz page where I keep some information

Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Fri 6th July 2018

Both 28 MHz and 50 MHz were wide open on Friday the 6th of July 2018 with plenty of strong Sporadic-E signals on the bands. One of the best things about monitoring FT8 signals on 28 MHz is that I can get a very good idea of where the band is open to.

Since I started listening in mid-May, the 28 MHz band has been open every day but openings from Ireland to Denmark are the exception rather than the norm. Openings from Ireland to the South to Spain / Portugal or the South-East to Italy/Germany seem a lot more common.

Today was an exception and as soon as I saw FT8 spots from near Copenhagen on 28 MHz, I listened on 40.071 MHz for the OZ7IGY beacon.  As can be see from the decoded PI4 spots below, I was hearing the 40 MHz beacon from about 13:20 UTC till 21:00 UTC with some gaps.

The 40 MHz signal was never that strong although my use of an indoor 50 MHz antenna probably has a lot to do with that.

This is currently the only signal in Europe on the 40 MHz band.

OZ7IGY beacon decodes below... (Signals stronger than -10dB sigal to noise ratio in bold)

SIRIO 5/8 ground plane antenna for 40 MHz

The Italian firm SIRIO manufacture vertical antennas that cover 36 to 60 MHz. The TORNADO 35-42 model covers 35 MHz to 42 MHz which would tune nicely to the new 40 MHz (8 metre) band.

Reception of OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Mon 14th May 2018

At about 09:00 UTC this morning, I noticed that I was hearing FT8 signals on 28 MHz from Denmark. Later, I heard the OZ7IGY beacon on 50.470 MHz so I knew that the Sporadic-E conditions were well above 40 MHz.

I listened on 40.071 MHz and eventually heard the OZ7IGY beacon down in the noise. The distance was 1390 kms.

In terms of equipment, I was using a Yaesu FT-817 and a simple indoor 2 element beam in the attic for 50 MHz. The beam is pointing roughly 120 deg where as the OZ beacon is at 65 degrees so it is some bit off. I suspect on 40 MHz, it may be behaving as a shortened dipole so it certainly wasn't optimal.

I also noticed that the noise level on the FT817 seemed to drop off as I tuned below 45 MHz so I suspect it might not be the most sensitive on 40 MHz. Still though, the signal was heard which was a positive step.

The signal itself alternates between a morse code ID and a digital PI4 signal which almost sounds like someone playing a bugle! :o)

The beacon has an erp of 10 watts on 40 MHz and the website is http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Now that there is an allocation in Ireland, hopefully we might hear a few more signals on the 8 metre band.