4000km opening on 144 MHz between the Azore Islands and Greece - 10th June 2021

10th June 2021: When the events on a day have to be broken up into three posts then you know something special must have happened! 😄

This is part 3 of 3.

* * *

This post looks at the 144 MHz opening from CU3EQ on the Azore Islands in the North Atlantic.

There were at least eight paths on FT8 on 144 MHz that exceeded 3000kms and one was over 4000kms!

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
SV8PEX CU3EQ 2m FT8 4008 km 16:56:57
CU3EQ IK7XWJ 2m FT8 3879 km 16:57:42
CU3EQ IZ8GGE 2m FT8 3706 km 16:14:11
CU3EQ IK2MKS 2m FT8 3117 km 16:59:44
CU3EQ IW2EQR 2m FT8 3059 km 16:37:41
IK2JUG CU3EQ 2m FT8 3052 km 17:03:27
IK2OLD CU3EQ 2m FT8 3042 km 16:57:59
IK1MTZ CU3EQ 2m FT8 2950 km 17:01:59

As outlined in a previous post, it looks as if there was an intense Sporadic-E region over the Sardinia / Corsica area and this 2000km or so hop was responsible for the eastern half of the path. As for the western half from Portugal to the Azores? This was probably a tropo duct although a second Sporadic-E hop can't be ruled. out.

4000kms from the Azores: It's very easy to just look and say, just another 4000km path on 2-metres. To put this perspective, let's have a look at 4000kms west from the Azores...

Q. Is a 144 MHz signal can get from Greece to the Azores, then why can't one get from North America to the Azores?

Q. Is anyone in North America trying? Is anyone in North America listening? Has anyone in North America even tried to make a sked?

Other Possibilities??? This 4000km opening raises some other possibilities....

Q. Is a 144 MHz opening between the Azores and the Caribbean possible???

Q. On the 10th of June, 144 MHz signals from Lebanon and Israel reached the west coast of Portugal. Is a 5,400km opening between the Azores and Lebanon / Israel possible?

For more examples of 3000km+ openings, check out my 144 MHz page.

3000km Sporadic-E opening on 144 MHz from the Azores to Germany - 3rd June 2021

Thursday 3rd June 2021: There was a remarkable opening on the 3rd of June from the Azores in the North Atlantic to Europe with paths in excess of 3,000kms being recorded.

The FT8 map above from the PSK Reporter website for CU3EQ in the Azores with a cluster of reports out around the 3000km mark in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. A full list of stations is shown at the bottom of this post.

This is the map for CU3AA which has a similar pattern...

And this is the map for CU1AL...

For all three CU stations, paths in excess of 3000kms were open to Germany on 144 MHz.

Propagation Mode: As reported by stations on the DX Cluster, the primary propagation mode was Sporadic-E. However as the maximum range for one hop is in the region of 2300kms, something else had to make up the additional 700 or so kms.

There are two possibilities. 

One was Chordal Hop Sp-E with a bounce going from Sp-E to Sp-E cloud. This would however require two intense areas of Sporadic-E at just the right spot to support 144 MHz propagation.

The more likely scenario was that it was one Sporadic-E with a tropo extension. The weather charts show high pressure over the Azores...

The tropo forecast from the website of Pascal, F5LEN suggests that a few hundred kms of tropo around the Azores might be possible.

The Sporadic-E prediction map from Jim, G3YLA shows a kink in the Jet Stream to the south of Ireland which may have been a trigger mechanism for the Sporadic-E.

In his daily E's prediction on the PropQuest website, G3YLA wrote... "The sharp upper trough west of the UK is also a good source of atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) and the southerly jet stream from Portugal to Ireland could look good for paths to EA and CT with a possible extension by second hop to EA8/D4."

This region is shown in Purple above and is very close to where the 144 MHz Sporadic-E cloud was located.

Conclusion: It seems likely that the first few hundred kms were via tropo from the Azores and then coupled into a single Sporadic-E hop onwards to Europe.

Trans-Atlantic on 144 MHz??? The map below shows a 3000km circle centred on the Azores...

Considering there was a 3000km opening on 144 MHz between the Azores and Germany on the 3rd of June, sure a 3000km path on 144 MHz from the Azores to North America is possible?

Stations in St.John's, Newfoundland are close to the one hop Sporadic-E range. Stations in Nova Scotia would need a tropo extension.

If the North Atlantic is going to be bridged on 144 MHz then surely Canada to the Azores would be a first step in the process?

Reports from the PSK Reporter website...

Opening on 144 MHz from the Azores results in several contacts over 3,000kms

On the evening of the 14th and the morning of the 15th of September 2019, there was a very good tropo opening on 144 MHz from the Azore Islands in the Atlantic Ocean to parts of the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

A list of the stations worked by José CU3EQ using the digital FT8 mode is shown below...

Saturday 14th September 2019
20190914 18:30 G7RAU IN79JX JT65 -18 -10 2138km
20190914 18:47 G4LOH IO70JC FT8 -02 +01 2145km
20190914 18:54 F6DBI IN88IJ FT8 -16 -16 2193km
20190914 19:47 ON4KHG JO10XO FT8 -24 -16 2768km
20190914 20:39 F6KHM IN78RJ FT8 -20 -21 2107km
20190914 20:46 GW0KZG IO71LW FT8 -16 -09 2257km
20190914 22:12 G4RRA IO80BS FT8 -19 -23 2263km
20190914 22:15 G4KWQ IO92AQ FT8 +03 +05 2480km
20190914 22:49 M0JDK IO93KH FT8 -24 -19 2563km
20190914 22:57 G8VHI IO92FM FT8 -19 -21 2496km
20190914 23:17 M0CGL JO03BF FT8 -11 -19 2632km
20190914 23:19 G0GMB IO92NB FT8 -21 -19 2513km
20190914 23:20 PA2M JO21IP FT8 -14 -07 2852km
20190914 23:24 PA3FYC JO31AF FT8 -23 -21 2927km 
20190914 23:27 ON8KW JO20BW FT8 -14 -16 2790km
20190914 23:28 G4FUF JO01GN FT8 -19 2579km
20190914 23:49 PA3BIY JO22HB FT8 -24 -16 2861km

Sunday 15th September 2019
20190915 00:06 DJ6AG JO51EQ FT8 -22 -15 3231km ODX of all
20190915 00:08 G3NJV IO70JA FT8 -09 -16 2141km
20190915 00:45 ON4GG JO20AR FT8 -08 -05 2777km
20190915 00:59 PA2M JO21IP FT8 559 559 2852km
20190915 06:53 ON4IQ JO20AR FT8 -24 -04 2777km
20190915 07:10 DG1KDD JO31LE FT8 -22 -20 2988km
20190915 07:15 M0CKM IO90QT FT8 -17 -10 2472km
20190915 07:25 DF2ZC JO30RN FT8 -16 -17 3006km
20190915 07:26 ON4PS JO20KQ FT8 -12 -06 2832km
20190915 07:33 PA0JMV JO21PM FT8 -09 -13 2886km
20190915 07:34 PA5Y JO21VO FT8 -18 +04 2922km
20190915 07:35 PA3CMC JO21WI FT8 -19 -12 2920km
20190915 07:40 ON4LDP JO10UN FT8 -21 -15 2749km
20190915 07:44 G8BCG IO70RK FT8 +01 +00 2204km
20190915 08:00 PA2CHR JO32DB FT8 -15 -20 2970km
20190915 08:06 M0AFJ IO70IC FT8 -13 -03 2140km
20190915 08:36 DK4TG JO31LB FT8 -15 -21 2984km
20190915 08:54 DF1JC JO31OG FT8 -22 -11 3007km
20190915 09:12 DF6PW JO40AQ FT8 -17 -08 3049km
20190915 09:13 DL6YBF JO31OX FT8 -17 -06 3027km
20190915 09:23 PA3PCV JO20VV FT8 -24 -18 2901km
20190915 09:44 PA4EME JO20WX FT8 -17 -02 2909km

This is a more detailed view of the stations worked...