South African 40 MHz beacon heard in Rome, Italy - 16th Jan 2022

16th January 2022: Emilio, IK0OKY reports that there was a nice opening on the 40 MHz band on the 16th of January when several amateur radio stations in & near Rome reported reception of the ZS6WAB/B beacon in South Africa.

Emilio writes..." Today, there was a 40 MHz opening from Rome area towards South Africa ZS. The ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz was heard in JN61 square from 11.15 UTC until 12.30 UTC.

The beacon was heard first from IK0FTA Sergio and then also from some other locals (IW0FFK Marco , IK0SMG Pino and myself).

I received it up to 559 on a cubical quad fractal antenna for 6m. Unfortunately no 6m QSO took place during the period that the beacon was in."

Grazie Emilio.

DX-Cluster spots...

Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX km Prop. Comments
2022-01-16 12:28:24 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 319 now 
2022-01-16 12:06:59 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC still in 
2022-01-16 11:48:38 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559
2022-01-16 11:16:44 IK0FTA (JN61GV) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) 7522 599 in jn61

Propagation: The solar flux on the day was 116 with an A index of 22 and a K index of 2-3. Considering that the beacon and the stations in Rome are equidistant from the geomagnetic equator, I presume the primary mode of propagation was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. It's probably no accident that the opening was just after local noon.

Early warming... This report I think shows the real value of the 40 MHz band as an early warning system. There is a huge gap between 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands and the 10m band will be open many many times without the propagation ever reaching 6m.

The 40 MHz band helps bridge this gap and this will become even more important as the solar flux begins to rise and the MUF goes above the 28 MHz band and into the low-VHF spectrum.

On this occasion, there was no opening on the 50 MHz band but that won't always be the case. In the future, there will be times when the reception of a 40 MHz beacon will alert VHF operators to get ready on 50 MHz and to have their beams pointing in the right direction.

Links...
1) As always, I have plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.

Successful WSPR reports on the 40 MHz band in the USA - Nov 2021

Over the last few months seven stations in the USA have received experimental permits for the 40 MHz band... see previous post.

While a few have tried FT8, a number have been using the WSPR mode as an experimental beacon. 

A list of of some of the reports are shown below with maps shown above.

1) WX2XCC in California is operated by Chris, N3IZN and he has a remote receiver listening for his own WSPR transmissions. During what was probably a Sporadic-E opening on the 40 MHz band, he was decoded by VA7MM in Vancouver in western Canada at a distance of 1819 kms.

UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2021-10-28  22:12 WM2XCC DM13 N3IZN/SDR DM13ji 40.663484 2 7 0 21
2021-11-28 17:48 WM2XCC DM13 VA7MM CN89og 40.663488 2 -17 0 1819

2) WM2XEJ in Georgia is operated by Tom, WB4JWM and his WSPR signal has been reported by two stations... NZ2X and N4WLO.

UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2021-11-23 15:08 WM2XEJ EM83 NZ2X EM83ij 40.663473 10 5 0 25
2021-11-29 17:48 WM2XEJ EM83 N4WLO EM50uo 40.663433 10 -23 0 589

While NZ2X is a local station, the distance to N4WLO is 589 kms which is pretty short if it was Sporadic-E.

3) WX2XCW is operated by Hal, NR7V is just in the far north-west of Washington state. He is very close to the city of Vancouver and all of the reports are from local Canadian stations.

UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift
2021-10-28 22:06 WM2XCW CN88 VA7MM CN89og 40.663527 0.2 2 0
2021-10-28 22:06 WM2XCW CN88 VE7UTS CN89li 40.663524 0.2 -8 0
2021-11-22 18:16 WM2XCW CN88 VE7RPX CN89lh 40.663529 2 -16 0
2021-11-22 18:36 WM2XCW CN88 VE7AFZ CN89ji 40.663527 2 -28 0

Overall, it's still early days but hopefully more stations will start transmitting on WSPR and more will start listening and uploading their spots to the WSPRnet website.

Link...

1) More info on my 40 MHz page

TEP opening on 40 MHz between South Africa and Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: This seemed like a particularly good day for TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) with signals on the 40 MHz (8m) and 50 MHz (6m) from South Africa reaching Europe. In this post, we'll just look at the 40 MHz opening.

The map above shows the reports from the DX-Cluster with several stations across the south of Europe hearing Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz.

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
SV8CS 40675.0 ZS6WAB 14:04 23 Oct FT8 Beacon South Africa
I0YLI 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:28 23 Oct JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB Calling CQ . South Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:18 23 Oct JN11CX<ES>KG46 +2db cq South Africa
IZ0CBD 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:00 23 Oct JN61FP<TEP>KG46RB Rx 589 South Africa
IK0OKY 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:52 23 Oct JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 South Africa

Most of the distances seem to be in the region of 7000-8000kms.

SV2DCD in Greece and 9H1TX on Malta also report hearing ZS6WAB.

Report 1: Francesco, IZ0CBD in JN61FP near Rome reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz with a Kenwood TS2000 transceiver and a 6-element Yagi for the 50 MHz band.

Here is a nice video from Francesco showing his reception of the 8m beacon...

Report 2: Emilio, IK0OKY writes to say that he and Pino, IK0SMG both heard ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz from JN61 Square. IK0OKY writes... "Signals were very good with peaks up to 559 on a FT 847 and 2 element quad fractal antenna for the 6 meter band. Pino uses an IC7300 plus a 2 el HB9CV for 6m as well. After a nice 50 Mhz opening to South Africa and Namibia took place as well with ZS6 and V51 stations coming in."

Video 1 from IK0SMG shows how strong the signal was...

Video 2 from IK0OKY shows reception of the 8m beacon on a Yaesu FT-847...

Propagation Mode: It seems to be assumed that the propagation mode for these low band VHF signals near the bottom of the sunspot cycle are TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). However as the solar flux rises, there will be a stage where North-South paths on the low VHF bands are possible via F2 layer propagation.

Considering this opening reached 50 MHz as well, I suspect it was due to TEP but as the solar flux rises, I don't think we can always assume it is. It could well be that paths that cross the equator like this will be a mixture of both.

Links...

1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE

First contact between Slovenia and South Africa on the new 40 MHz band - 17th Oct 2021

Sunday 17th October 2021: A little bit of radio history was made today when there was a successful two way contact between S50B in Slovenia and ZS6WAB in South Africa on the new 40 MHz band.

Not only was this the first contact between Slovenia and South Africa but it was also the first contact between Europe and Africa on the new 8-metre band.

Borut, S50B reports that he worked Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 digital mode...

As can be seen, the signal was quite weak at -8dB and -10dB which suggests that a contact on CW might have been possible but unlikely on SSB.

S50B writes... "I'd like to announce the first 8m, 40mhz, FT8 qso between AF-EU and South Africa and Slovenia. Mny tnx to ZS6WAB.....Juupii 🙂 73 de Borut s50b"

The key point about this contact is that it shows the 40 MHz path between Europe and South Africa is possible and in future, CW and SSB contacts may follow.

Distance: The contact was in the region of 7925kms which means by default, it also sets a new distance record for the new 40 MHz band.

Propagation Mode: If this contact was on 50 MHz, I'd probably be saying it was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. At the moment, we're getting modest East-West openings at 28 MHz further north in Europe. It stands to reason that openings from the south of Europe on paths to the South must extend well up into the low VHF region above 30 MHz.

Does the F2 MUF to the south extend up as far as 40 MHz? I really don't believe anyone can say with 100% certainty that this opening was only F2 layer or it was only TEP. The solar flux today was just 78 which isn't all that high.

Equipment: Subject to confirmation, I think S50B was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-7100 into a 4-element Yagi as shown above. 

ZS6WAB uses an old ICOM IC-706 for the 8m CW beacon with a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi so I presume that is what was used.

Antenna stack at ZS6WAB with the 40 MHz Yagi at the top

Hopefully, this contact will encourage more experiments on the 40 MHz band. There is a number of new 40 MHz experimental stations in the USA and an 8m contact contact between South Africa and North America would be really interesting.

As always, if you want more information on the new 8m band then check out the links in my 40 MHz page.

Guidelines for US stations applying for an experimental 40-MHz permit

In the last few months, two US amateur radio stations have applied for and received special experimental callsigns for the 40-MHz band. Lin, NI4Y near Atlanta got the call WL2XUP while John, AE5X in Houston got the call WL2XZQ.

The application form 442 from the FCC is called an Experimental Radio Station Authorization and it costs €125 for two years.

AE5X has a page up on his blog now with guidelines for US stations interested in applying for a permit. Go to http://ae5x.blogspot.com/p/operating-on-40-mhz.html

While the Summer Sporadic-E season is pretty much over for now, there is plenty of time to get ready for when it starts again in May of 2022.

For more information on the 8-metre band, see my 40 MHz page HERE

FCC issue another experimental permit for the 40 MHz band in the USA (WL2XZQ)

On the 19th of August 2021, the FCC in the USA allocated the callsign WL2XZQ for experiments on the 40 MHz band from Houston in Texas. This was allocated to John, AE5X in the EM20 grid square.

This is I believe the second experimental permit for the 40 MHz band in the USA with the first one WL2XUP going to Lin, NI4Y near Atlanta, Georgia.

The permit for WL2XZQ allows for experiments in the frequency range of 40.660 to 40.700 MHz which is the 40 MHz ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

The permit allows a maximum ERP of 100-watts and the license expires on the 1st of September 2023.

Propagation & Range - What to expect: The band is affected by several propagation modes. Let's have a look at them...

a) Tropo: It's likely that it will have a range of up to 200kms locally but it's unlikely that there will be many listening from that small area.

b) Sporadic-E: This will be main propagation mode from April to August every year and it WILL be heard all over most of the United States. The map above shows the likely range being in the range of 500kms to 2200kms. The most consistent signals should be in the 1200 to 1800km range.

In terms of double hop Sporadic-E, there may be a skip zones in the NE of the USA near New Hampshire and in the NW in the north of California and Oregon. The one issue for the western states may be interference from SNOTEL stations on the same band.

Looking further afield, there will also be times in June and July when there will be multi-hop Sporadic-E to Europe, a distance of about 6000-8000kms.

Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP): The experimental station is also well placed for tests to South America in May and November. While it is too far north for TEP, just one Sporadic-E hop is required to the south to open up the path to Argentina (LU), Uruguay (CX) and Brazil (PY).

F2 Propagation: The 40 MHz band will be certainly be impacted by the rising solar flux as we approach the peak of the next sunspot cycle. The 40 MHz band will open a lot earlier than say 50 MHz and it could prove to be a useful resource for European stations monitoring the trans-Atlantic path.

In Conclusion: This second experimental 40 MHz station is a very welcome development and it should mean that there is some amount of activity on the band in the Summer of 2022. This should raise awareness among the amateur radio community in the USA and perhaps more will apply for permits.

Links...
1) AE5X blog
2) See my 40 MHz page for more info about the band

US Experimental 40 MHz Station WL2XUP is heard across the Atlantic in England - 22nd July 2021

On the 18th of July, I had a post up about the new US experimental station WL2XUP on the 40 MHz band. Just four days later on the 22nd of July, a WSPR signal from WL2XUP was heard across the Atlantic in England.

The owner of the experimental station WL2XUP is Lin, NI4Y and in a message he writes... 

"I can report that VE3QC and VE2DLC received my station via Eskip on July 22nd. Shortly after VE3QC received my signal G7PUV received WL2XUP via multi hop Eskip. The following Day KI4RVH received the WSPR signal via what was likely tropo ducting. 

VE3QC also reports hearing my FT8 signals transmitted later in the day on July 23rd. 

2021-07-22 19:00 WL2XUP 40.663508 -26 -1 EM73vv 20 VE3QC FN25fk 1557 29 2 

2021-07-22 20:42 WL2XUP 40.663488 -34 0 EM73vv 20 VE2DLC FN58rk 2155 35 2 

2021-07-22 19:40 WL2XUP 40.663514 -26 -1 EM73 20 G7PUV JO00au 6869 46 2 

2021-07-23 14:08 WL2XUP 40.663536 -13 -2 EM73 20 KI4RVH EM95 429 58 2"

Paul, G7PUV is located in the SE of England and was using an SDRPlay RSP1A SDR and a W4KMA 18-100MHz Log Periodic on a 6.2M boom up at 15M AGL.

Paul heard seven WSPR transmissions from WL2XUP between 19:40 and 20:42 UTC and the strongest signal was -16dB. 

The 40 MHz trans-Atlantic opening coincided with a big opening on 50 MHz between Europe and North America.

Analysis: As NI4Y points out, this was very likely to be a multi-hop Sporadic-E opening across the North Atlantic with maybe 3-4 hops involved. What is significant about this reception report is not so much the distance but the fact that this is the first crossing of the Atlantic on the 40 MHz band.

During Sporadic-E openings on 50 MHz, it's very likely that paths on lower frequencies like 40 MHz will be open as well. It's just a question of more people listening on the band and reporting what they hear.

This new experimental 40 MHz station has already sparked some interest in the 8m band in North America so hopefully it will encourage activity on the band.

Update: The exact frequency was 40.662 MHz USB with the WPSR signals roughly 1.5kHz higher.

Link...

1) See my 40 MHz page for more info on the band

New US experimental station WL2XUP now operational on the 40 MHz band

In June of 2021, the FCC in the USA issued the experimental call sign WL2XUP to conduct tests on the 40 MHz band. The owner of the call, Lin Holcomb (NI4Y) reports that the station is now on air.

The license allows for operation between 40.660 MHz to 40.700 MHz with a maximum output of 400-watts ERP. The license was issued on the 17th of June 2021 and it lasts until the 1st of July 2023.

As of mid July 2021, WL2XUP is intermittently transmitting WSPR on 40.662 MHz (1500Hz). It transmits for 2 minutes out of every 10 with an output power of 20-watts ERP into an omni-directional antenna. For FT8 skeds and tests, an ERP of 100-watts can be used.

It is hoped in time to upgrade to a log-periodic antenna pointing at Europe.

Location: The experimental WL2XUP station is located near the city of Atlanta in Georgia in the SE of the USA. It is in the EM73 locator square.

Propagation & Range - What to expect: The band is affected by several propagation modes. Let's have a look at them...

a) Tropo: It's likely that it will have a range of up to 200kms locally but it's unlikely that there will be many listening from that small area.

b) Sporadic-E: This will be main propagation mode from April to August every year and it WILL be heard all over the eastern half of the United States. The map above shows the likely range being in the range of 500kms to 2200kms. The most consistent signals should be in the 1200 to 1800km range.

In terms of double hop Sporadic-E, there may be a skip zone out going from Arizona to Montana but anyone in California to Washington should get signals in June and July. The one issue for the western states may be interference from SNOTEL stations on the same band.

Looking further afield, there will also be times in June and July when there will be multi-hop Sporadic-E to Europe, a distance of about 6000-8000kms.

Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP): The experimental station is also well placed for tests to South America in May and November. While it is too far north for TEP, just one Sporadic-E hop is required to the south to open up the path to Argentina (LU), Uruguay (CX) and Brazil (PY).

F2 Propagation: The 40 MHz band will be certainly be impacted by the rising solar flux as we approach the peak of the next sunspot cycle. The 40 MHz band will open a lot earlier than say 50 MHz and it could prove to be a useful resource for European stations monitoring the trans-Atlantic path.

In Conclusion: This new experimental station is a very welcome development and it establishes a presence on the 40-MHz band in North America. It may also allow for more US stations to follow this lead and apply for similar permits.

The really big challenge now is trying to raise awareness amongst the amateur radio community in North America and making them aware of the 40 MHz band and the activity on it. 

First 9A to 9A contact on 40 MHz - 25th May 2021

25th May 2021: A little bit of history was made on the 40 MHz band on the 25th of May when the first contact between two stations in Croatia took place.

At 06:00 UTC, Patrik, 9A5CW and Zeljko, 9A2EY completed a successful FT8 contact on 40.680 MHz.

The distance was 24.5kms between the two stations over an obstructed path and both stations were using vertical non-resonant HF antennas.

One of the antennas was a vertical for the 60m HF band without a tuner and the radio was an ICOM IC706 Mk2.

Hopefully this will encourage more 9A stations to experiment with the band.

New 40 MHz propagation beacon in the West of Ireland - EI1CAH

17th May 2021: There is now a new 8-metre propagation beacon in the west of Ireland using the callsign EI1CAH and it is operating on 40.016 MHz. The locator square is IO53CK.

This new beacon is designed to compliment the existing EI1KNH beacon which is situated near the east coast of Ireland. While EI1KNH has a superb take off the East, it is blocked by mountains to the West. By contrast, the new EI1CAH beacon has a good take off to the West and is poor to the East.

The EI1CAH beacon runs PI4 every second minute as well as CW. Its power is approximately 25 watts and the antenna is a horizontal dipole running roughly NW/SE.

The beacon keepers are using a QRPLabs Ultimate 3 (previously used on EI0SIX) to generate the 40 MHz signal and it has a matching internal QRPLabs 6m low pass filter which was modified to cut in closer to the 8-metre band.

They are using a NXP MRF101 based power amplifier to generate the required output power.

Analysis: This new 8-metre beacon is an excellent addition to the European suite of 40 MHz beacons and will be very useful in exploring Sporadic-E and F2 propagation paths across the Atlantic.

Site Profile: The graphic below shows the elevation profile for the EI1CAH beacon site.

There are some serious hills to the East which will block off a lot of low angle propagation paths. A typical Sporadic-E signal may be down around 5 degrees which as the image shows will be blocked by the local hills.

This is the likely maximum range due to one hop Sporadic-E...

As you can see, under short skip Sp-E conditions, reception of this beacon may be possible in say the SE of England, Belgium, Netherlands, N France and the fast west of Germany. As the antenna is running NW-SE, the signal towards Spain will be poor.

What is key however is the low elevation to the West ...towards South America, the Caribbean and North America.

Under multi-hop Sporadic conditions, this 8-metre beacon will be heard across the Atlantic and the most likely people to hear it are those out around the 4000km mark in Nova Scotia and Maine. There is also the potential that it will be heard anywhere in the eastern half of the USA.

Likewise, it will reach the Caribbean at times and will certainly make it down to Brazil and Argentina.

Solar Maximum: Around the time of the Solar Maximum, there should be some East-West openings and this 8-metre beacon could be heard anywhere in the Americas.

Value of a 40 MHz beacon: The real value of this beacon is that there is a huge 20 MHz gap between the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands. As the maximum usable frequency (MUF) for Sporadic-E and F2 propagation rises, it can be very difficult to know where exactly or how high it is.

By having a beacon at 40 MHz, it will allow serious 50 MHz stations to monitor the rising MUF and be ready for any potential 6-metre opening. 

I think this beacon will be of real value as we get close to solar maximum and North American stations are checking for a 6-metre opening to Europe.

Thanks to Tim, EI4GNB and Tony, EI7BMB in getting this beacon up and running.

For more information on the 40 MHz band, see the information on my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Contact between Ireland & Croatia on 40 MHz - 7th May 2021

Tim, EI4GNB reports making a FT8 contact on 40.680 MHz with 9A5CW in Croatia during the big Sporadic-E opening on the 7th of May 2021.

The screen composite below shows the FT8 contact from Tim's station.

While this wasn't the first 40 MHz contact between Ireland and Croatia, I think it may have been the first time 9A5CW has worked Ireland on this new amateur radio band.

This is the screen from 9A5CW...

It's good to see activity on the increase on 40 MHz from Croatia.

For more information on the 40 MHz amateur radio band, go to https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Report on 40 MHz activity on the 8th of May 2021 ...by EI7HBB

Lloyd, EI7HBB reports that he was active on the 40 MHz band on the 8th of May and caught the extensive Sporadic-E opening. He managed to work S50B in Slovenia twice on SSB during the day as well as hearing S57RW and S5/M0MPM on FT8.

LLoyd also reports managing to complete a 40 MHz / 50 MHz crossband SSB contact with Hugo, ON6ID in Belgium at a distance of about 900kms. ON6ID was on 50.145 MHz and EI7HBB was on 40.680 MHz and the contact took place at 15:22 UTC. He also wonders if this was a first EI-ON crossband contact for 8-metres?

LLoyd was also heard in the Netherlands at a distance of about 1000 kms.

Guest Post: Experimental reception of the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon via meteor scatter ...by S57RW

Andrej, S57RW in Slovenia left the following comment on the blog today under an old post. Rather than leaving it there largely unnoticed, I am putting it up as a short guest post.

* * *

Wednesday 5th May 2021:  Today I tried to listen to beacons on the 8m band and around 09:30 UTC, I got two bursts from OZ7IGY in Denmark. 

Both had a duration of about 10-seconds. First, I got a part of the PI4 transmission but that was not long enough to decode. After 2-3 minutes, I got a second burst and copied part of locator and final carrier.

This one was quite strong about S5 to S7 and had a typical burst and after burst. Don't know if that is the right term but it sounded like typical strong MS burst. 

It may be worth listening in the morning when there are more meteors around :) 

RIG was IC-7300 and a dipole for 8m abt. 4m high N/S direction. 73 Andrej - S57RW!

* * *

As the map shows above, S57RW is about 1200kms from the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark, an ideal distance for meteor scatter on the 40 MHz band.

Note that the Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks on the 6th of May.

40 MHz page has now over 10,000 pageviews

 

At the end of January 2021, the 40 MHz page on the site passed the 10,000 pageview mark.

Back in 2018, Irish radio amateurs gained access to a large part of the low VHF spectrum between 30 MHz and 50 MHz. As I went looking for information on anything to do with 40 MHz operations, I found it scattered across the net with no real central source.

In 2018, I started collecting information about low band VHF signals and equipment and in the summer of 2018, I put the 40 MHz page up on the site. This was a place where I could put links to all of the relevant posts that I had put up on the site. It also meant that anyone new starting off could go there and get all of the relevant information in one spot rather than trying to find it on the net.

As the stats above show, the page got a steady stream of traffic in 2018 and 2019 but really took off in 2020 with the increased level of interest in the band.

Link to the 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

40 MHz contacts now accepted on the eQSL platform

 

Tim, EI4GNB reports that the eQSL website is now accepting 40 MHz (8m) contacts on their platform.

Many radio amateur use this site to confirm contacts that were made on the radio and is an alternative for many to the traditional physical QSL card.

Tim also notes that while eQSL are handling 8m QSOs now, a lot of the various logging software programmes still have to catch up as they still don't recognize 8m as a valid amateur band.

First contact between Croatia (9A) and Slovenia (S5) on 40 MHz - 26th Jan 2021

The very first contact between Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia on the new 40 MHz (8m) amateur band took place on the 26th of January 2021. This comes just two weeks after the very first 40 MHz contact between Croatia (9A) and Ireland (EI).

Using the FT8 digital mode, Patrik 9A5CW completed a successful QSO with Ivo, S59F over an hilly 70km path.

The screenshot above from S59F shows the FT8 contact with the signal from 9A5CW being in the region of -7dB to -8dB. This suggests that while the signal levels were too weak for say a SSB voice contact, a marginal CW or a solid FT8 contact was possible.

The contact took place on 40.680 MHz which is in the centre of the 40 MHz ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

Patrik 9A5CW said that he was using an ICOM IC-706 Mk2 running 10 watts into an inverted L vertical antenna for the 60 metre band (5 MHz). S59F was using an ICOM IC-7300 and a HF vertical with very good vswr on 40MHz.

9A5CW also conducted tests over a 70km path with S50B using the JT9 digital mode. While S50B heard a -22dB signal, there was no contact in this case.

Links...

1) 40 MHz page on this blog

JTDX Digital Mode Software now supports 8-metre operation

JTDX is modified WSJT-X software that many radio amateurs use for the JT9, JT65, FT4 and FT8 digital modes.

In a software update released on the 30th of December 2020, it was announced that the JTDX software suite will now support operation on the new 8-metre (40-MHz) band.

Although this is a small change, it is another welcome step in getting more activity on this new VHF band.

5-Element Yagi for 40 MHz (8-metres) by YU7EF

YU7EF in Serbia is a well known designer of HF and VHF beams and many radio amateurs worldwide use his designs. In this post, we will look at two 5-element Yagi antenna designs for the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band.

(Updated 30th Dec 2020... Thanks to Pop, YU7EF for the additional information)

* * *

A) Design #1 : EF0805S - 5-element Yagi on a 4.5 metre boom

The design with dimensions is shown below.

The calculated gain in free space is about 7.5dBd and has a front to back ratio in the region of 25dB.

40 MHz signals from Slovenia heard in Croatia - 20th Dec 2020

 

Back the start of December 2020, I had a post up about how radio amateurs in Croatia were now able to get permission to use the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band.... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-activity-from-croatia-on-40-mhz-dec.html

Interest continues to grow and tests have been done with stations in neighbouring Slovenia.

On the 20th of December 2020, Toni 9A2WB successfully received FT8 signals from Ivo S59F on 40.680 MHz.

This frequency is in the centre of the 40 kHz wide Industrial, Scientific & Medical (ISM) band at 40 MHz.

The signal between the two stations was in the region of 243kms over a very obstructed path. While the signals were weak and buried in the noise, they did seem to be consistent at about -16 to -19dB.

While this was a one way reception report on this occasion, it does bode well for a successful two way contact between the two countries in the near future.

More information about the new 8-metre band can be seen on my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

4-Element Yagi for 40 MHz (8-metres) by YU7EF

Thanks to Dragan, 9A6W for sending on this YU7EF design for a 4-element Yagi antenna for the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band.

The design with dimensions is shown below.

The calculated gain in free space is about 6.2dBd and has a front to back ratio in excess of 20dB.