Over the last few weeks and months, there have been a lot of excellent openings on the 40 MHz (8m) band (reports HERE). While the really long distance paths are impressive, some of the shorter East-West paths in the same hemisphere can be equally difficult.
While there have been many 40 MHz openings from the eastern half of the USA to Europe, openings to the west coast have been largely absent. There were hints though that things were getting close.
Paul, MI3LDO in the north-west of Ireland reported hearing CHP (California Highway Patrol) stations at 39 MHz in late February 2023. In early March, Robbie EI2IP in the south-west of Ireland reported hearing SNOTEL traffic on 40.670 MHz which is usually associated with the west coast of the United States.
On the 9th and 10th of March 2023, the elusive California to Europe opening on the 40 MHz band finally happened.
Thursday 9th March 2023: Tom, K6EU near San Francisco in California reports hearing Robbie, EI2IP and Paul, G9PUV on FT8 on 40.680 MHz.
174730 -15 0.2 495 ~ CQ EI2IP IO52 EU
181630 -18 -0.0 1464 ~ CQ G9PUV JO00 EU
181700 -21 -0.0 1464 ~ CQ G9PUV JO00 EU
181715 -19 0.3 502 ~ CQ EI2IP IO52 EU
181730 -18 -0.0 1464 ~ CQ G9PUV JO00 EU
181745 -15 0.1 503 ~ CQ SSB EI2IP IO52 EU
181800 -17 -0.0 1464 ~ CQ G9PUV JO00 EU
181930 -19 -0.0 1464 ~ CQ G9PUV JO00
Chris, N3IZN near Los Angeles and who is the holder of the experimental licence WM2XCC also reported decoding EI2IP and G9PUV on 40.680 MHz.
No reports were shown on the PSK Reporter website.
Friday 10th March 2023: Conditions were very good again on the 8m band and both G9PUV and EI2IP were reported on the west coast of the USA. This time, there were reports on the PSK Reporter website.
G9PUV... The reports over 8000kms for G9PUV in the SE of England are shown below while the map is shown above.
ZS6OB G9PUV 8m FT8 8964 km 12:17:59 1
G9PUV WM2XCC/JTDX 8m FT8 8822 km 19:02:43 -19
G9PUV ZS6WN 8m FT8 8799 km 11:28:59 -8
ZS6WN G9PUV 8m FT8 8799 km 11:24:29 -7
G9PUV K6EU 8m FT8 8704 km 19:02:12 -17
While the path to South Africa is longer in some cases, it is also easier as it's north-south. The thing to note here is how far north towards the Arctic region the signal has to travel. The maximum distance to the US was to WM2XCC near Los Angeles, a distance of about 8820kms.
EI2IP... As Robbie was about 600kms further west than G9PUV, the path to California is slightly shorter and doesn't have to travel so far to the north.
EI2IP VK4TVL 8m FT8 15766 km 09:28:15 -13
EI2IP ZS6AYE 8m FT8 9480 km 10:43:44 -13
ZS6OB EI2IP 8m FT8 9406 km 11:29:26 -4
ZS6WN EI2IP 8m FT8 9254 km 11:06:56 -15
EI2IP ZS6WN 8m FT8 9254 km 11:04:14 -9
EI2IP HC2FG 8m FT8 8942 km 18:28:30 -24
EI2IP HC1BI 8m FT8 8681 km 15:21:11 -12
EI2IP WM2XCC/JTDX 8m FT8 8244 km 18:48:13 -17
EI2IP WM2XCC 8m FT8 8244 km 18:35:44 -17
EI2IP K6EU 8m FT8 8152 km 18:46:12 -11
As you can see from the reports above, EI2IP was heard again in the north-east of Australia. I've covered previous openings from Europe to Australia in previous posts.
Where next??? The next obvious question is if there is a path from the UK and Ireland to the NW of the USA? Up in Washington state or near Vancouver in Canada?
For stations in California, is there a path further east into Europe? The OZ7IGY beacon Denmark? S5 and 9A stations in Slovenia and Croatia?
Can stations in continental Europe hear the experimental stations on the US west coast?
Links... For more information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page.
