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.

Selective TEP opening on 144 MHz from the Caribbean to South America - 9th Feb 2022

9th February 2022: There was another TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) opening on 144 MHz between the Caribbean and South America but this time, it was a bit unusual.

As the map above shows, nearly all of the signals shown on the PSK Reporter website were from Argentina to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and the Dominican Republic. There was also some from Argentina to Puerto Rico. What was unusual was the lack of signals further east from Puerto Rico to the south of Brazil.

Usually there are two parallel TEP paths crossing the Geomagnetic Equator. For whatever reason, the eastern path to Brazil seems to have been mostly absent.

Spots on the DX Cluster show a small bit of activity from Puerto Rico to Brazil but it seems to have been at a very low level compared to the path further west.

Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 LU2EPO 01:03 09 Feb tnks tep q65b qso Argentina
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 LW2DAF 01:01 09 Feb tnks tep q65b qso Argentina
PY5EK 144180.0 WP3DN 23:53 08 Feb Q65B -9 dB 994 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico

The path from PY5EK in Brazil to WP3DN in Puerto Rico was the only one I noticed on the PSK Reporter website.

As for why the western TEP path was better than the eastern TEP path???

144 MHz Report... Martin, PJ4MM in Bonaire reports working the following stations in Argentina...

2022-02-09,00:43:15,2022-02-09,00:46:31,LU2EPO,GF14FW,144.181550,Q65,+05,+03,1300,Q65 Sent: +05  Rcvd: +03,,TEP 
2022-02-09,00:47:15,2022-02-09,00:48:01,LU4DJC,GF05PO,144.181550,Q65,+06,+02,1300,Q65 Sent: +06  Rcvd: +02,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:48:30,2022-02-09,00:50:01,LU5CQC,GF05SK,144.181550,Q65,+04,+10,1300,Q65 Sent: +04  Rcvd: +10,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:51:45,2022-02-09,00:53:30,LU8EDA,GF05RJ,144.181550,Q65,-11,+05,1300,Q65 Sent: -11  Rcvd: +05,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:54:30,2022-02-09,00:55:01,LU2DPW,GF05GI,144.181550,Q65,-15,-09,1300,Q65 Sent: -15  Rcvd: -09,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:13:45,2022-02-09,01:14:31,LW2DAF,GF05RK,144.181550,Q65,+03,+00,1300,Q65 Sent: +03  Rcvd: +00,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:16:30,2022-02-09,01:21:01,LU9FVS,FF97NC,144.181550,Q65,-10,-01,1300,Q65 Sent: -10  Rcvd: -01,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:21:45,2022-02-09,01:24:01,LU5CQC,GF05SK,144.181550,Q65,+01,+03,1000,Q65 Sent: +01  Rcvd: +03,,TEP
2022-02-09,02:04:30,2022-02-09,02:07:00,LU8GMM,GG02MN,50.314400,FT8,+20,-14,35,FT8  Sent: +20  Rcvd: -14,,TEP

Most of these contacts were in the region of 5,000 kms.

For the TEP contacts with Argentina, PJ4MM was using 100-watts to a 13-element Tonna Yagi which is 13 metres above ground level.

Links...
1) More info about long distance 2m openings on my 144 MHz page.