10,470km opening on the 40 MHz band from California to New Zealand - 25th Jan 2023

It's always nice to see 8m reception reports from different parts of the globe and this time we have a reception report of the 40 MHz WSPR signal of WM2XCC in California by ZL1RS in New Zealand.

WM2XCC is one of the experimental licences for the 40 MHz band and is operated by Chris, N3IZN. The 2-watt WSPR signal of WM2XCC on 40.680 MHz was decoded four times by Bob, ZL1RS in New Zealand during a three and a half hour period on the 25th and 26th of January 2023.

The four reports are below, note that the times are in UTC.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km

2023-01-26 01:18 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681486 2 -29 0 10471
2023-01-26 01:00 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681486 2 -16 0 10471
2023-01-25 22:20 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681488 2 -23 0 10471
2023-01-25 21:58 WM2XCC DM13ji ZL1RS RF64vs 40.681488 2 -16 0 10471

The signals range from -16dB to -29dB which means that they were probably inaudible to the ear and were buried in the noise. The signals were still present though which means the trans-Pacific path existed.

The distance was around 10,470kms and the most likely mode of propagation was via the F2 layer in the ionosphere. At midnight UTC, the sun would have been somewhere over the centre of the Pacific and roughly half way between California and New Zealand.

Back on the 28th of December 2022, there was a similar opening from California to Australia. Link HERE

ZL1RS... For the reception report, Bob ZL1RS reports using an ICOM IC-7610 with a 3-element Yagi for the 40 MHz band at 8-metres above ground level. The antenna is fixed pointing at North America and the 4 WSPR decodes were from the second day after it was put up.

Bob notes that New Zealand regulations permit anyone to freely transmit on 40.680 MHz with 1-watt ERP as long as they don't cause interference to any paid licence system.

Side Note... When I was writing this latest trans-Pacific 8m report, I had completely forgotten about the reception report of WM2XCC in Australia at the end of December. I wrote that blog post and I had forgotten about it after a month! It just shows to me the value of generating a blog post about an unusual 8m opening and then linking to it from the 40 MHz page on the blog.

WSPR reports disappear after 5-weeks and FT8 reports disappear off the PSK Reporter website after 24 hours. How many unusual openings on the various VHF & UHF bands go unreported and unnoticed?

Addendum: Bob, ZL1RS reports... "Another opening 26/27 Jan utc:

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az Mode
 2023-01-27 00:46 WM2XCC 40.681486 -23 0 DM13ji 50 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 23:14 WM2XCC 40.681487 -25 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 22:18 WM2XCC 40.681489 -15 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:44 WM2XCC 40.681488 -19 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:26 WM2XCC 40.681488 -16 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 
 2023-01-26 21:04 WM2XCC 40.681488 -9 0 DM13ji 2 ZL1RS RF64vs 10471 230 W-2 

There would have been more except that reception here was obliterated by severe rain static for about an hour.  During that time there were 3 other partial WSPR traces (which did not decode due to the rain static), but from the timing and frequency offset, we believe it was WM2XCW (aka NR7V)."

Opening on the 40 MHz band between California and Alaska - Jan 2023

Chris, N3IZN is located in the south of California and is the owner of the experimental callsign WM2XCC. He has been conducting tests on the 40 MHz band for over a year using the WSPR beacon mode.

Between the 20th and 25th of January 2023, his WSPR signal was heard by a number of US stations as shown on the map above and in the chart below which is listed by distance.

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-22 17:18 WM2XCC DM13ji WW1L FN54om 40.681497 2 -22 1 4300
2023-01-24 17:36 WM2XCC DM13ji VA2CY FN46lw 40.681426 2 -16 3 4135
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KC0IYT FN42kj 40.681554 2 -21 0 4115
2023-01-21 18:20 WM2XCC DM13ji VE2UG FN35gs 40.681498 2 -3 0 3939
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18 0 3863
2023-01-20 19:06 WM2XCC DM13ji KB2MEN FN20ok 40.681484 2 -21 0 3815
2023-01-20 19:48 WM2XCC DM13ji VE3EUR FN25dn 40.681529 2 -6 0 3763
2023-01-22 16:36 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681511 2 -22 0 3640
2023-01-22 17:52 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.68149 50 8 0 3144
2023-01-22 17:12 WM2XCC DM13ji AC4TO EM70xl 40.681497 50 -15 0 3134
2023-01-22 17:50 WM2XCC DM13ji N4WLO EM50uo 40.681488 50 22 0 2736
2023-01-22 20:04 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7UTS CN89li 40.681491 50 -26 0 1843

The reception report of particular interest is from KL7HBK in Alaska. Even though there are four other reports which were further away, Alaska is of interest because it's so far to the north. This is especially true as it seems likely that the mode of propagation was F2 layer propagation.

These are all the WSPR spots from Alaska on the 23rd and the 25th of January. The signal reports range from +18dB which is very strong to -18dB which is buried in the noise and inaudible to the ear.

2023-01-25 20:42 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 -7
2023-01-25 20:22 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 15
2023-01-25 19:58 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 10
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681508 2 -18

2023-01-23 21:54 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 21
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18

Alaska has a reputation of being a bit of wasteland when it comes to VHF propagation so it's interesting to see 40 MHz signals propagate so far north. The solar flux at the time of the reports was around the 190 mark.

Link... For more reports and information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page HERE

Good opening to South Africa on the 40 MHz band - 21st Jan 2023

Saturday the 21st of January 2023 was another busy day on the 40 MHz (8m) band with plenty of activity. I picked out a few notable paths.

South Africa (ZS)... There were three ZS stations on the band... ZSWAB, ZS6OB & ZS4TX. They accounted for some of the longest paths seen on the day.

Here is a list of the longest FT8 paths as reported on the PSK Reporter website...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6OB K9MU 8m FT8 14292 km 15:04:29
ZS6WAB WB0DBQ 8m FT8 14273 km 15:24:59
ZS6WAB K9MU 8m FT8 14252 km 15:38:59
ZS6WAB KA9CFD 8m FT8 14215 km 15:13:29
ZS6WAB N8PUM 8m FT8 13959 km 15:42:28
ZS6WAB VE3DS 8m FT8 13308 km 15:04:43
ZS4TX OH7PS 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS4TX EI9KP 8m FT8 9834 km 11:11:26
ZS6OB GM0SXQ 8m FT8 9671 km 11:13:26
ZS4TX EI3KD 8m FT8 9604 km 15:26:44
ZS6OB OH7PS 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29
ZS6OB EI9KP 8m FT8 9573 km 11:48:11
ZS6WAB MM0AMW 8m FT8 9426 km 15:21:59

This is the FT8 map for ZS6WAB as a sample...

Besides the signals from South Africa reaching North America, they extended well into Northern Europe. It's not that unusual for stations in the south of Europe to hear South African signals on the 40 MHz band but this time, there were reports from stations in Scotland.

It was interesting to see that OH7PS in Finland (KP20AF) reporting reception of both ZS4TX and ZS6OB on FT8.

OH7PS
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS4TX 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS6OB 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29

LA9BN in Norway (JP40CN) reports reception of ZS6WAB on the DX Cluster.

I'm not sure if the ZS stations were reported this far north before on 8m? It feels like a new barrier has been breached when we start seeing reports from the JP/KP locator squares in the north of Europe.

Mexico... XE2OR in Mexico reports reception of the Irish 8m beacon EI1CAH/B and EI2IP. XE2OR is just across the border from Texas but it's further west than recent other reports from the USA.

Trans-Continental in North America... There was also an opening on the 40 MHz band across North America.

WM2XCC is one of the experimental US 8m stations located in California.

Analysis... With the solar flux up around 210, it's probably no great surprise that the F2 layer maximum usable frequency (MUF) is reaching as high as the 40 MHz band. Most of the signals reported are probably via the F2 layer in the ionosphere but for the South African stations then there was probably some TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) as well. As for how much is TEP and how much is F2 for those North-South paths???

I have included below the spots from the DX Cluster and the PSK Reporter spots.

Link... For more info on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Addendum... 1) Report from Vincent, F5OIH...

Additional info... DX-Cluster spots in order of callsign...

Report for activity on the 40 MHz band - Wed 18th Jan 2023

As the map above shows, there was plenty of activity on the 40 MHz band on Wednesday the 18th of January 2023. One of the pivotal stations on the band is Martin, PJ4MM in the Caribbean. With the high MUF due to solar activity, he is ideally placed to put a good signal into the eastern part of the USA and Canada as well as into Europe.

According to PSK Reporter, PJ4MM was involved in the three longest paths reported on the 8m band on the 18th.

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
UW8SM PJ4MM 8m FT8 9303 km 14:56:11
PJ4MM SR4DON 8m FT8 8830 km 11:55:30
G9PUV TI5N5BEK 8m FT8 8757 km 15:15:13

Reports...

Paul, G7PUV (G9PUV) in the SE of England reports... "My tally for this afternoon was heard and flagged by 12 US stations, 4 Canadians, PJ4MM and TI5N5BEK. I worked WM2XEJ, VA2CY, PJ4MM and heard WM2XAN plus had 22 F2 backscatter reports from Europe."

This short video from Paul shows reception of WB4JWM/WM2XEJ ON 40.680MHz.

Patrik, 9A5CW reports the first contact on the 40 MHz band between Croatia and Bonaire, a distance of about 8419kms.

Robbie, EI2IP reports the following... "SSB Contact Worked PJ4MM, Martin in Bonaire Island on 8M/40MHz"

and... "SSB Contact WM2XEJ, Tom in Georgia, North America on 8M/40MHz"

Miha, S51FB reports that the 8m beacon in Slovenia, S55ZMS/B was heard by Tim, WW1L in the state of Maine in the USA (FN54).

***

DX Cluster reports are at the bottom of this post.

All reports... All of the 40 MHz paths are shown below. I have removed BG0GE who was almost certainly reporting the wrong band. The WESSEXSDR seems to generate a good few bogus spots as well and I have marked these and other suspect ones with a question mark.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

Big opening on the 40 MHz band - Sun 15th Jan 2023

As the solar flux soars to over 230, the 40 MHz band is opening up nicely with plenty of F2 propagation. These are some of the 8m paths reported on the PSK Reporter website on Sunday 15th January 2023.

The longest path was 8242 kms from Slovenia to the USA.

S50B N2OTO 8m FT8 8242 km 13:59:00

There are a few dubious ones in the main list and most seem to have a web based receiver in England as a common theme. These are marked as ??? below.

WSPR... It looks as if there was a trans-continental opening on 40 MHz in N America as well.

Wspr reports...
Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-15 17:10 WM2XCW CN88lx N2OTO EL96wi 40.663555 10 -23 0 4452
2023-01-15 16:38 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681505 2 -8 0 3640
2023-01-15 11:56 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XCC/6 DM13ji 40.681484 2 7 0 0
2023-01-15 11:56 WM2XCC DM13ji N3IZN/SDR DM13ji 40.681493 2 -10 0 0
2023-01-15 11:54 EI1KNH IO63ve WESSEXSDR IO80qr 40.014477 20 -17 0 367
2023-01-15 11:48 WM2XCW CN88lx VE7UTS CN89li 40.681539 10 8 0 42

List of FT8/PI4 stations in Transmit order...

Trans-Atlantic opening at 40 MHz - 13th Jan 2023

With the solar flux now up over the 200 mark, there was another trans-Atlantic opening on the 40 MHz band on Friday 13th January 2023.

In the past, the only thing we had to warn about potential trans-Atlantic openings on the 50 MHz (6m) band was strong signals on 28 MHz or utility signals in the low VHF spectrum. Now that there are stations transmitting on the 40 MHz band, it acts as a much better indicator that something might happen higher up in frequency.

It really does show the potential of 40 MHz as a beacon band when there is a rising F2 MUF due to solar activity. It really isn't 'just another band' as some might suggest.

A list of transmitting and receiving stations is shown below with question marks after the dubious ones which may be reports for the wrong band.

Report from PJ4MM in the Caribbean about 40 MHz activity - 25th to 30th Dec 2022

In a previous post on the 24th of December 2022, I wrote about how Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean had received permission to use the 40 MHz and 70 MHz bands - see HERE

Martin has sent on a short report for the six days from the 25th to the 30th of December 2022 inclusive with a list of stations worked on 8m, stations heard on 8m and reception reports of PJ8MM on 8m.

Worked on 8m:
25/12 G9PUV (JO00AU), WM2XAN (EN74OH)
27/12 DL5WP (JO43CD), S50B (JN65XU), G9PUV, WM2XAN
28/12 ZS6WAB (KG46RC) in FT8 and SSB
30/12 WM2XAN (decoding >1.5hr)

Heard on 8m:
24/12 WM2XEJ (EM83JI), WM2XAN
25/12 EI2IP (IO52QJ), WM2XEJ
27/12 WM2XEJ, WM2XCC (DM13JI)

Listener reports on 8m:
23/12 FG8OJ (FK96HG)
27/12 DK8NE (JO50AL), NL8992 (JO32FL), ON7EQ (JO21FC), EA8/DF4UE (IL38BP), EA8BFK (IL38BO), VE1PLZ (FN85PR), KA9CFD (EN40OM), N8PUM (EN66DL), VA2CY (FN46LW), PJ4RF (FK52UD), VE3MMQ (FN14PR), KC0IYT (FN42KJ), W4TAA (EL87VB), PJ4BZL (FK52UC)
30/12 N8PUM, PJ4RF, K5YT (EM22NV), WW1L (FN54OM), EA8BFK , KA9CFD (EN40OM), KE8PFV (EN82JG), WB0DBQ (EN46BW)

Most of the propagation paths are probably F2 and the solar flux was up around the 150 mark for the period in question.

It's gives a nice insight into what is propagation is possible on the 40 MHz (8m) band.

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

12,000km+ opening on the 40 MHz band from California to Australia - 28th Dec 2022

Following on from the report of a 12,000km+ opening from South Africa to the United States, here is another report of remarkable opening on the 40 MHz band from California to Australia.

On the 28th of December 2022, Hilary VK2AZ in Sydney, Australia managed to get two decodes of the WSPR signal from Chris, WM2XCC in California on the 40 MHz (8m) band. The distance was 12,156 kms.

2022-12-28 01:36   WM2XCC   40.681491   -22   0   DM13ji   50   VK2AZ   QF56if   12156   242   2 
2022-12-28 01:28   WM2XCC   40.681492   -22   0   DM13ji   50   VK2AZ   QF56if   12156   242   2

Screenshot from VK2AZ

WM2XCC is the experimental callsign allocated by the FCC to Chris, N3IZN. For his experimental 8m WSPR transmissions, he was using 50-watts to a half-wave vertical.

VK2AZ in Sydney was using a horizontal half-wave dipole in a very noisy suburban location.

Analysis... At 01:30 UTC, the sun would have been over the centre of the Pacific Ocean so it's probably no great surprise that it happened at this time as the level of ionization would have been at maximum. With the solar flux now reaching 150-160, F2 trans-equatorial (north-south) paths up as high as 50 MHz are being reported recently.

In the last few weeks, there have been paths on the 50 MHz band from Australia & New Zealand to the western half of the United States. As 40 MHz is a lower band, it was likely that the path was open as well recently but this is the first time that an 8m signal across the Pacific has been reported.

In terms of propagation and potential paths, the 40 MHz band will never be as good as the 28 MHz band but it should always be better than 50 MHz. The reason it isn't obvious is just a lack of activity and reports.

Link...
1) For more info on the 8m band, visit my 40 MHz page. 

12,475km opening on the 40 MHz band from South Africa to the USA - Dec 2022

With the solar flux now reaching the 150 mark, the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) is now allowing more paths on the 40 MHz band to open up.

Tim, WW1L in the state of Maine in the USA reports reception of the FT8 signals from ZS6WAB in South Africa on Monday the 26th of December 2022. The distance was about 12,475 kms.

The Red lines on the map above are for the 50 MHz band and the Purple lines are for the 40 MHz band. On the 8m band, WW1L was hearing two of the US experimental stations as well as ZS1WAB in South Africa.

The main frequency for SSB and FT8 on the 8m band is 40.680 MHz, right in the middle of the ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

Wed 7th Dec 2022: This day seems to have been even better with WW1L hearing ZS6WAB & ZS6OB from South Africa and G9PUV from England.

A note of caution about the map above... there may be some mistaken reports from other bands but overall, it seems about right. ZS6WAB and ZS6OB can both be seen in South Africa and they had 8m paths to Europe and the USA.

PJ4MM in the Caribbean is hearing 8m signals from Europe. The station in the south of Portugal and in the Canary Islands are hearing 8m signals and reporting them.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of activity on the band.

It looks as if one of the US experimental stations WM2XAN in Michigan exchanged a signal report with ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz...

160015 -20 0.3 1399 ~ WM2XAN ZS6WAB R-02

Link...
1) For more info on the 8m band, visit my 40 MHz page. 

Opening on the 40 MHz band from the Caribbean to Europe - 27th Dec 2022

In a previous post a few days ago, I gave details about how Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean had received permission for the 40 MHz and 70 MHz bands. With the Solar Flux up around the 150 mark, it looks as if the F2 MUF (maximum usuable frequency) for some paths is well above 30 MHz and into the low-VHF region.

The map above shows the paths on 40 MHz from Bonaire and the list below shows extracts of the 8m FT8 log from the PSKReporter website.

The furthest signal to the east was to S50B in Slovenia (8435 kms), the furthest to the west was to WM2XCC in California (5485 kms).

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PJ4MM PJ4RF 8m FT8 10 km 17:14:41
PJ4BZL PJ4MM 8m FT8 12 km 17:33:26
PJ4MM PJ4BZL 8m FT8 12 km 17:32:41
WM2XEJ PJ4MM 8m FT8 2803 km 16:07:59
PJ4MM KC0IYT 8m FT8 3370 km 17:25:14
PJ4MM VE3MMQ 8m FT8 3709 km 17:16:41
PJ4MM VE1PZ 8m FT8 3765 km 16:26:44
PJ4MM KA9CFD 8m FT8 3846 km 17:14:44
PJ4MM VA2CY 8m FT8 3873 km 17:14:44
PJ4MM WM2XAN 8m FT8 3906 km 17:28:41
PJ4MM N8PUM 8m FT8 4229 km 17:14:44
WM2XCC PJ4MM 8m FT8 5485 km 19:44:44
PJ4MM EA8BFK 8m FT8 5896 km 16:22:00
PJ4MM EA8/DF4UE 8m FT8 5896 km 14:20:29
PJ4MM G9PUV 8m FT8 7438 km 14:01:59
PJ4MM ON7EQ 8m FT8 7748 km 13:49:27
PJ4MM NL8992 8m FT8 7899 km 13:40:29
PJ4MM DL5WP 8m FT8 8022 km 13:47:29
PJ4MM DK8NE 8m FT8 8136 km 13:38:28
PJ4MM S50B 8m FT8 8435 km 13:45:26

Additional report from PA3GHQ... "I received 9 times CQ from PJ9MM with Elad FDM DUO SDR, HM dipole in the attic & JTDX from 13:45 x 13:51 UTC. Signals from -9 tot -24 dB. ‘73 Kees PA3GHQ/ SWL BDXC CAS4147 Gorinchem The Netherlands"

Link...
1) For more info on the 8m band, visit my 40 MHz page. 

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.

OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon in Denmark is transmitting again - Dec 2022

In a previous post on the 30th of November 2022, I wrote about how the OZ7IGY team in Denmark had  announced that their 8m beacon on 40.071 MHz has been turned off due to increased electricity costs.

The good news is that a few days later on the 5th of December 2022, they announced the following... "The 40 MHz beacon is back on the air. The 10 GHz beacon is now off the air.... OZ7IS"

This is good news as it would be nice to have the 8m beacon operational for the peak of the sunspot cycle.

Annual sponsorship of one individual beacon for one year costs 1400 Danish Krone which is about €190.

OZ7IGY website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

2022 Reports... Looking at the DX Cluster, there are plenty of reports for the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz but they are all from Europe. I'm open to correction on this but I have seen no reports from South Africa, South America or North America.

There are plenty of reports of Trans-Atlantic paths on 40 MHz from the USA to Ireland and UK but what about Denmark?

It's further east and the path would be more northerly. Can it be heard outside of Europe?

A plan of action... The OZ7IGY beacon is on both 28.271 MHz and 40.071 MHz. A good place is start is on 10m. Put your receiver on 28.2702 MHz USB and listen for the CW beacon. Try to use the PI4 software and get experience with it to decode the PI4 signals.

If the 10m beacon is a reasonable signal strength then repeat the experiment on 40.0702 MHz USB.

The key point here is that if you are interested in the 40 MHz band then don't spend all your time on 40.680 MHz. Try the other beacon frequencies and report what you hear.

Link...
a) My 40 MHz page

Big opening on the 40 MHz band - 7th Dec 2022

Wednesday 7th December 2022: With the Solar Flux up at 148, the F2 MUF is now extending well above 30 MHz and into the low VHF spectrum. The map above shows some of the FT8 activity on the experimental 40 MHz band on the 7th of December.

The stations in South Africa (ZS), Slovenia (S5), Croatia (9A) and Ireland (EI) are radio amateurs who have permission to use this band. The stations in the USA, Canada and the UK are using experimental licences for transmitting.

I have a full list of the stations decoded at the end of this post. I'm not sure about a few of the transmitting callsigns as there may have been some mistakes and the wrong band was reported.

Martin, PJ4MM on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean sends the following report...

 Just copied multiple stations from EU on 8M:

G9PUV JO00 ft8 +20  S9 on meter)
EI2IP IO52 ft8 +22  S9 on meter
EI4GNB IO63 ft8 +12
S50B JN65 ft8 -6
S59F JN65 ft8 -1
9A5CW JN65 ft8 -8

The G and EI stations were loud enough for SSB. Opening started ~1530Z and lasted until 1629Z

Last Monday (5th Dec) copied:   144230  6  0.1  798 ~  CQ WM2XEJ EM83  (ft8). Opening lasted ~30min
And on Sunday 20221204 (wspr):
2022 -23  0.11  40.6814841  WM2XCC DM13 33
2040 -13 -0.15  40.6814851  WM2XCC DM13 47
2102 -27  0.15  40.6814844  WM2XCC DM13 33
RX: IC7300, Antenna modified 6m 4el with increased element length

Link: My 40 MHz page

Full log of activity is shown below...

Trans-Continental opening on the 40 MHz band in the USA - 14th Apr 2022

On the 14th of April 2022, there was an interesting Transcontinental opening on the 40 MHz band in the USA.

There are currently seven US radio amateurs using experimental callsigns and licenses for the 40 MHz band. Three of these... WM2XCC in California, WM2XCW in Washington State and WM2XAN in Michigan are using the WSPR digital mode and their signals were heard by W4WLO in Alabama and N2OTO in Florida.

The WSPR reports for each of the three stations are shown below...

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-04-14 21:52 WM2XAN EN74oh WLO/O5 EM50vo 40.6636 100 -26 -4 1553

2022-04-14 22:14 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -9 0 3640
2022-04-14 22:02 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663492 2 -14 0 3640
2022-04-14 21:52 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -20 0 3640
2022-04-14 21:44 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -16 1 3640
2022-04-14 21:34 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -24 0 3640

2022-04-14 21:34 WM2XCC DM13ji W4WLO/S32 EM50vo 40.663489 2 -11 0 2743
2022-04-14 21:24 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663495 2 -24 0 3640
2022-04-14 21:24 WM2XCC DM13ji W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663449 2 -8 0 2743
2022-04-14 21:16 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -23 1 3640
2022-04-14 21:16 WM2XCC DM13ji W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663449 2 -3 0 2743
2022-04-14 21:08 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -11 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:58 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663492 2 -8 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:48 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663492 2 -9 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:38 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663491 2 -9 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:28 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663492 2 -12 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:20 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663493 2 -7 0 3640
2022-04-14 20:12 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663494 2 -1 0 3640

2022-04-14 21:16 WM2XCW CN88lx WLO/O5 EM50vo 40.663601 10 -20 0 3561
2022-04-14 21:16 WM2XCW CN88lx W4WLO/S32 EM50vo 40.663538 10 -27 0 3561
2022-04-14 21:06 WM2XCW CN88lx W4WLO/S32 EM50vo 40.66354 10 -17 0 3561

Some observations...

1) WM2XAN to WLO/05 (W4WLO) at 1553kms is normal enough. Some weak Sporadic-E could account for this reception report.

2) WM2XCC in California to W4WLO in Alabama and N2OTO in Florida is 2743kms and 3640kms respectively. These were the most numerous reports and are well beyond the normal 2300km limit or so for single hop Sporadic-E. In that respect, it's a very unusual opening.

3) WM2XCC in Washington state to W4LO in Alabama is 3561kms and is again an unusually long distance path.

Analysis... What caused the opening and what was the propagation mode? 

First of all, let's look at the times. The opening was at roughly 21:00 UTC which was roughly 3pm local time in the centre of the United States.

Theory 1: Double hop / Chordal hop Sporadic-E - It's possible that Sporadic-E with more than 1 hop was involved which extended the range beyond the normal 2300kms or so. Even though the Summer Sporadic-E season has started, it's still only the 14th of April. It's possible it was double hop but I think it's unlikely.

Theory 2: F2 layer propagation - The solar flux on the day was at 103 but note how the opening happened just before a major aurora.

It is often observed that there is an improvement in the upper HF bands like 28 MHz as an aurora is commencing or about to start.

At the moment, East-West paths across the USA have a maximum usable frequency (MUF) in the low VHF spectrum just above 30 MHz. I suspect the onset of the aurora caused to MUF to jump upwards and propagation via the F2 layer at 40 MHz was possible.

While we can never be 100% certain what the reason was, I think the fact the 40 MHz opening happened at the start of an aurora is significant.

In conclusion... Over the next few weeks, the Sporadic-E season will really begin to get going and I suspect there will be plenty of double hop Sp-E openings in May and June.

As the sunspot numbers improve, F2 layer openings like this will be become a lot more common and I think 40 MHz WSPR reports will be of particular value to those operating on the 50 MHz band waiting for an trans-continental opening in the United States.

ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz heard in Europe - 4th to 11th Feb 2022

During the period of the 4th to the 11th of February 2022, quite a number of stations have reported hearing the ZS6WAB 8m beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz.

These are the 8m spots from the DX Maps website...

 Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX Prop. Comments SFI A K 
2022-02-11 11:40:46 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RB 539 coming up
2022-02-11 11:00:40 TT8SN (JK72MC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JK72MC<>KG46RB Wow, gd signal

2022-02-11 10:33:05 F5JRX (JN26AC) 40.765 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RB) Multihop Sp-E JN26AC<ES>KG46RB 519
2022-02-11 10:27:10 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN26PP<>KG46RB 529 QSB

2022-02-10 13:05:25 TT8SN (JK72MC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JK72MC<>KG46RB More than 1h

2022-02-10 10:28:14 F6ACU (JN38FC) 50.000 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) TEP 40.0675 QSB 559

2022-02-09 15:08:17 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP KG46rb<>JN12kq cw beacon 419 

2022-02-09 14:49:33 I0YLI (JN61HU) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB 519 qsb
2022-02-09 14:26:08 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN11CX<>KG46 55 qsb
2022-02-09 14:18:42 9H1TX (JM75FU) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) EP 559 
2022-02-09 12:54:11 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN26PP<>KG46RB 529 QSB
2022-02-09 12:18:55 DK2EA (JO50UF) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JO50UF<F2>KG46RB 559 QSB

2022-02-07 14:23:55 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN11CX<>KG46 5-5
2022-02-07 13:18:13 M0DEP (IO90CR) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 KG46<>IO90 55
2022-02-07 11:30:01 G0DJA (IO93IF) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 539 IO93if 

2022-02-06 13:14:57 IZ5ILX (JN54AC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN54<>KG46RB 579 QSB!

2022-02-06 13:09:39 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC)  Multihop Sp-E JN11CX<ES>KG46 s8 qsb
2022-02-06 12:00:35 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RC S9 QSB. F2+Es
2022-02-06 14:31:47 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) TEP JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 539 

2022-02-04 14:55:57 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RC 57 QSB
2022-02-04 14:57:04 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) Multihop Sp-E JN11CX<ES>KG46 cw beacon 5/
2022-02-04 12:51:51 IK5YJY (JN53PG) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) TEP s5 qsb > jn53

It's worth noting the times of these reports. The earliest is around 10:30 UTC and the latest is around 15:00 UTC. 

That is roughly a 4-5 hour window centred on local noon when the sun is at its highest.

It was also interesting to see a report from Nicolas, TT8SN in Chad at 4,300kms. This was likely to have been one hop F2 propagation.

This is the map of the stations in Europe in more detail...

Notes...

1) It's very encouraging to see so many stations listening for and reporting a beacon on the 40 MHz band!

2) Any serious 6m operator on the 50 MHz band will be always looking for sources of information be it on air or online with DX clusters or chat forums. Even if someone on 6m in Europe has no real interest in the 40 MHz band, the 8m beacon can be used to indicate that an opening to South Africa on 50 MHz may be imminent.

3) Dave, G0DJA in IO93 square in England reports hearing the beacon with a simple dipole. That is also I believe the most northerly reception report of the ZS6WAB 8m beacon to date.

It also reminded me of the perils of using the Mercator projection flat map. When Dave sent me a report, I thought that his location in IO93IF would be a good bit further away from the beacon than my location on the south coast of Ireland which is IO51TU. However in reality as can be seen from the map above which is a great circle projection, I am a little further away.

4) From the 4th to the 11th of February, the solar flux was in the range of 118 to 127.

5) It's worth remembering that all of these reports were heard by a person listening on CW. That is probably 10-15dB above what might be possible with a digital mode like FT8, Q65, WSPR or PI4.

6) This nice video shows reception of the South African beacon by Paul, G7PUV in the south-east of England on the 4th of February 2022....

Propagation Mode??... At the moment, the conditions on the 28 MHz band are reasonably good with plenty of East-West F2 layer propagation. This suggests the the F2 MUF (maximum usable frequency) on North-South paths is up above 30 MHz and into the low VHF spectrum.

Does it reach 40 MHz at the moment? I suspect it does from the south of Europe.

On some bands, you can be reasonably sure what the propagation mode is. On the 40 MHz band at the moment, can we be sure that it's all F2 layer? Is it partially or all TEP related? Is there a Sporadic-E extension at either end of the path?

It would be interesting to see if anyone could hear the beacon at around 20:00-21:00 UTC when there might be evening type TEP. If they could then that might suggest openings on the higher bands like 50 MHz and above.

It would be also interesting to see if stations in the SE of the USA could hear this 8m beacon?

Link...

1) Check out my 40 MHz page for more information about the 8m band.

There are now 7 experimental US stations on the 40 MHz band - Nov 2021

18th Nov 2021: In previous posts, I detailed how some amateur radio stations in the USA had managed to obtain special experimental permits to operate on the new 40 MHz band. 

The first 40 MHz permit WL2XUP near Atlanta was issued back in June of 2021. See this previous post.

The second permit WL2XZQ near Houston was issued in August. See this previous post.

As of mid November 2021, there are now seven experimental permits for the 40 MHz and these are shown on the map above and in the list below. An eight from Alabama is pending.

The permit 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 permits allow ERP powers in the region of 100-400 watts and the license lasts for two years.

Propagation: If you examine the map above, you'll note that the distances between the various experimenters.

For example, take WM2XCS in New Jersey. He is 950kms from WM2XAN, 1200kms from WL2XUP and 2250kms from WL2XZQ. 

WL2XZQ in Houston is 1800kms from WM2XAN.

WM2XCC in California is 2100kms from WL2XZQ, 3050kms from the stations near Atlanta, 1800kms from WM2XCW.

WM2XCW is the far north-west of Washington state is 3150kms from Houston and 3900kms from New Jersey.

It is highly unlikely that tropospheric propagation will contribute much to the experiments. The distances for aircraft scatter are also likely to be too far. Some in the 500-1200km range may manage to complete contacts with digital modes like MSK144 with meteor scatter.

The real workhorse on the 40 MHz band is going to be Sporadic-E. There may be a few openings over the next few months but things will really get going at the end of April 2022. At that stage, the experimental stations will have had time to get their radios and antennas ready for the band and I'd expect that contacts in the range of 800 to about 2200 kms will be common with something in the region of 1700kms being the most common distance.

In the second half of May 2022, double hop Sporadic-E openings will become more common and at that stage, contacts from the west coast to the eastern half of the USA should be possible.

Crossband: Just like in Europe, there are likely to be crossband contacts from 40 MHz to 28 MHz and from 40 MHz to 50 MHz with those who cannot transmit on the 8m band. 

Someone doesn't need an special 40 MHz permit to take part in the experiments. The experimental stations are likely to be using SSB, CW, FT8 and WSPR and I'm sure they would like to make as many crossband contacts as possible as well as receiving any reports of their transmissions.

Analysis: It's great to to this surge in interest in the 40 MHz band in the USA. The 8m band is NOT just another band. It is halfway between the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands and it can be useful for exploring just how high the maximum usable frequency (MUF) goes as the solar activity increases as we head towards the sunspot maximum.

For example, it would be interesting to know what kind of solar flux/sunspot number is required before there are east-west openings between say California and the eastern part of the United States.

It would be really nice if some stations in South America were able to listen on the 40 MHz band and then try to complete some crossband TEP contacts with experimental stations in the southern states of the USA.

Links...
Check out my 40 MHz page for more info... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html