German beacons heard on 28 MHz in 2020

During the Summer of 2020, I did many scans of the 28 MHz beacon band from about 28.160 to 28.340 MHz. This post is about the number of days that I heard one of the 10m beacons in Germany.

The map above shows the distribution of 28 MHz beacons in Germany. Note that the DB0MFI beacon in the south of Germany was off air in 2020.

The chart below shows the number of days in 2020 that I heard a German beacon on 28 MHz...

1) DL0IGI with its 50 watts into a vertical antenna was heard on 46 days and is easily the most consistent German beacon here in Ireland.

2) DL0UM has just 4 watts into a vertical dipole and was heard on 44 days. Like DL0IGI, it is about 200kms further away from me compared to some of the other beacons and perhaps the slightly longer skip distance made a difference?

3) DK0TEN (10w GP) and DB0TEN (2w GP) were both at 44 days. (Note - GP is a ground plane vertical antenna)

4) DF0ANN (5w dipole) and DM0AAB (10w GP) at 36 and 37 days were slightly behind. As for why?

5) DB0FKS was heard on just 19 days but this can be easily explained due to the fact it has just 1-watt into a small DV-27 vertical antenna (i.e. a loaded mobile whip).

6) DB0BER (5w) was heard on just 5 days. I'm not sure why there are so few reports?

In terms of distance, the German beacons are about 1,200 to 1,500 kms from my location in Ireland.

In 2019, I did a similar experiment... report HERE. It's interesting that the results for 2020 and 2019 are pretty much the same. 

Most of the beacons were in the same order with DL0IGI on top and DB0UM in second place. The key difference was that DL0IGI had a much greater lead in 2019.

In 2019, I heard DL0IGI on 35% more days than DB0UM whereas in 2020, it was just 5% more days.

In conclusion... The reason I collected this data was to see if there were any unusual findings.

a) Was there a difference between North and South Germany? For the second year running, the answer seems to be no. The slightly more northern path didn't seem to have fewer openings.

b) Did distance matter? I seemed to hear beacons at 1,200kms as often as ones at 1,400kms but DB0UM out at 1,550kms seemed to have the edge. The problem is that this is only one data point although I do suspect that extra few hundred kms does give it a slight edge.

German 28 MHz beacons... These are the current ones as of the end of 2020

28.205 MHz - DL0IGI - JN57MT - 50w Vert
28.210 MHz - DB0FKS - JN49IT - 1w DV27 GP
28.245 MHz - DB0TEN - JO42UV - 2w GP
28.257 MHz - DK0TEN - JN47NT - 10w GP
28.265 MHz - DB0ANN - JN59PL - 5w Dipole (Used to be DF0ANN)
28.273 MHz - DB0BER - JO62QL - 5w
28.278 MHz - DM0AAB - JO54GH - 10w GP
28.279 MHz - DB0UM - JO73CE - 4w Vert Dipole
28.285 MHz - DB0MFI - JN58HW - 9w GP (Off Air - Last spot on DX-Cluster Sept 2019)

Methodology notes...
1) The equipment used for reception was a Kenwood TS690 transceiver with a vertical half-wave antenna. The take off to the east towards Germany is good with no obstructions.
2) I usually scan the beacon band on 28 MHz once I hear FT8 signals at a reasonable level that are easily audible. i.e. I know for sure the band is open.
3) All beacons must be positively identified before I post them on DXMaps which in turn puts them on the DX Cluster.
4) The mode of propagation for all signals heard was Sporadic-E.

Looking at the German 28 MHz beacons heard in 2019

During the months of April, May and June of 2019, I did many scans of the 28 MHz beacon band from about 28.160 to 28.340 MHz. This post is about the number of days that I heard one of the beacons in Germany.

The map above shows the distribution of 28 MHz beacons in Germany. Note that the DB0BER beacon near Berlin was off air during the period I was monitoring so it is not included in the data below.

The chart below shows the number of days in 2019 that I heard a German beacon on 28 MHz...

1) DL0IGI with its 50 watts into a vertical antenna was heard on 35 days and is easily the most consistent German beacon here in Ireland.

2) DL0UM has just 4 watts into a vertical dipole and was heard on 26 days. Like DL0IGI, it is about 200kms further away from me compared to some of the other beacons and perhaps the slightly longer skip distance made a difference?

3) DB0MFI (9w GP), DK0TEN (10w GP) and DB0TEN (2w GP) were all about the same mark with 22, 21 and 20 days respectively. (Note - GP is a ground plane vertical antenna)

4) DF0ANN (5w dipole) and DM0AAB (10w GP) at 16 and 14 days were noticeably behind. Was it just pure chance or was there a reason?

5) DB0FKS was heard on just 8 days but this can be easily explained due to the fact it has just 1-watt into a small DV-27 vertical antenna (i.e. a loaded mobile whip).

In terms of distance, the German beacons are about 1,200 to 1,500 kms from my location in Ireland.

In conclusion... The reason I collected this data was to see if there was any unusual findings.

a) Was there a difference in the number of days heard between North and South Germany? The answer seems to be no.

b) Did distance matter? Maybe but the evidence isn't that strong. I seemed to hear beacons at 1,200kms as often as ones at 1,400kms.

The main factor determining what I heard from my location in Ireland seems to be just power and antenna performance of the beacons. 

German 28 MHz beacons... These are the current ones as of the end of 2019

28.205 MHz - DL0IGI - JN57MT - 50w Vert
28.210 MHz - DB0FKS - JN49IT - 1w DV27 GP
28.245 MHz - DB0TEN - JO42UV - 2w GP
28.257 MHz - DK0TEN - JN47NT - 10w GP
28.265 MHz - DB0ANN - JN59PL - 5w Dipole (Used to be DF0ANN)
28.273 MHz - DB0BER - JO62QL - 5w
28.278 MHz - DM0AAB - JO54GH - 10w GP
28.279 MHz - DB0UM - JO73CE - 4w Vert Dipole
28.285 MHz - DB0MFI - JN58HW - 9w GP

Methodology notes...
1) The equipment used for reception was a Kenwood TS690 transceiver with a vertical half-wave antenna. The take off to the east towards Germany is good with no obstructions.
2) I usually scan the beacon band on 28 MHz once I hear FT8 signals at a reasonable level that are easily audible. i.e. I know for sure the band is open.
3) All beacons must be positively identified before I post them on DXMaps which in turn puts them on the DX Cluster.
4) The mode of propagation for all signals heard was Sporadic-E.