On the 27th of May 2024, a little bit of radio history was made with the very first reception of a trans-Atlantic FM radio station in mainland Europe. The map above shows the radio stations that FMDXer Mauricio Molano in Cáceres in the west of Spain managed to log including CHCM-FM in Marystown, Newfoundland on 88.3 MHz.
Log...
UTC QRG ITU Station, location Details, remarks Distance km kW ERP
12:06 90.20 AZR R80 Rádio, Pico da Barrosa (smg) 1674kms 0.5kw
12:15 87.70 AZR RTP Antena 3, Pico da Barrosa (RDP) (smg) 1674kms 40kw
12:50 88.30 AZR Rádio Clube de Lajes do Pico, Pico do Geraldo 1896kms 0.05kw
14:25 88.30 CAN CHCM-FM, Marystown (NL) Openline with Paddy Daly. Special log: double hop. First Canadian station received from Spain! 3985kms 27kw
As can be seen from the log, CHCM-FM was heard at 14:25 UTC and it's likely that the propagation mode was double hop Sporadic-E.
Mauricio writes... "I have managed to fulfil another of my DX challenges!: to catch an FM station from the other side of the pond!. It was this afternoon, during the opening of Es, which had started around 1200Z and brought me several stations from the Azores Islands with good signals. A couple of hours later, our colleague Larry Horlick (Coley's Point, NL) began picking up Spanish and Portuguese stations.
In the first minutes of the opening was when I caught the CHCM-FM (Marystown) signal on 88.3 with
VOCM programming. On 88.5 I have another signal but very weak. I assume it is CBN-1-FM CBC-R1
Saint John's, but it will be difficult for me to identify it 100%. Both frequencies are very difficult in my
listening place (Aldea del Cano, Cáceres) due to the presence of semi-local stations on 88.2, 88.4
and 88.6 MHz. This year the DX season has started late here, but it has started very, very well!."
Mauricio also notes that he has two receiver/antenna systems. The first one is a three element Yagi points to the Canary Islands (south-west) attached to a RSPDuo receiver. The second one is a 4-element Yagi pointing to Newfoundland and attached to a Perseus with the FM+ converter.
In this case, the station from Canada was actually heard on the antenna pointing to the Canary Islands!
Just to clarify, this isn't the first trans-Atlantic FM stations have been heard in Europe but all of the previous reception reports were to the UK and Ireland. This is the first time of a trans-Atlantic reception report on the Iberian Peninsula and mainland Europe.
Larry Horlick, VO1FOG in Newfoundland... Larry is a long time FMDXer and he caught an impressive haul of FM radio stations from Portugal and Spain in the same opening. Larry has the advantage of a quieter FM band on his side of the Atlantic.
One of the major advantages of modern SDR receivers is that an opening can now be recorded and then be later reviewed afterwards to see what was heard.
Larry's log is shown below and it's worth remembering that these are FM radio stations from the other side of the North Atlantic.
The frequencies range from 87.6 MHz to 102.4 MHz and the distances range from 3632 kms to 4136 kms.
Larry says his catch of the day was SER, Estepa, Spain on 98.3 MHz which has an ERP of just 250-watts.
In conclusion... While there have been trans-Atlantic openings on the FM band before, it is still a remarkable occurrence and worth noting. Every year, we see multi-hop Sporadic-E across the North Atlantic on the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands and while it's of interest to those involved, it's really nothing out of the ordinary.
Band 2 signals (88-108 MHz) are different though and it's always interesting to see FM radio stations from either side of the North Atlantic reach the other side. The question always remains as to how high does an opening reach? Can it get up into the aircraft band at 118 to 135 MHz? What about 144 MHz? Spain to Newfoundland on the 2m band? Is it possible? Is anyone trying?
Links...
1) See my 88-108 MHz my 88-108 MHz page for more examples of trans-Atlantic openings
2) Mauricio has his own SWL website here... https://moladx.blogspot.com/
3) FMList website... https://www.fmlist.org/
