A few days ago, I reported on an 18,000km+ opening on the 7th of March on the 50 MHz band between New Zealand (ZL1) and the Canary Islands (EA8). The previous post is HERE
On the 9th March 2022, there was another similar opening on 50 MHz but this time, it was only between two stations. As the map shows above, ZL1RS on the northern part of New Zealand managed to complete a contact using FT8 with EA8DO in the Canary Islands.
This is a screen shot of the FT8 contact...
It looks as if the distance was in the region of 18,694 kms which is pretty remarkable for the 50 MHz band.
The opening on this occasion was at 21:07 UTC. The previous opening from ZL1 to EA8 on the 7th was between roughly 21:48 to 23:22 UTC.
Besides the distance, there are two things that I find interesting about this contact.
1) Time... For the opening on the 7th of March, it looks as if the path from ZL to EA8 was open before or at the start of the opening from EA8 to South America.
 |
| PSK Reporter log for EA8DO |
For the opening on the 9th of March, it was the same. Why is this? Normally openings follow the sun moving from East to West. Why did the main opening from the Canary Islands to South America happen after the more westerly opening to New Zealand?
Will there be more openings like this from EA8 to ZL1 and will they all be at the start of the opening to South America?
2) No opening from ZL1 to South America... In the previous opening on the 7th, I noted how none of the four ZL1 stations in New Zealand heard or were heard by anyone in South America.
On the 9th, the same happened again. Note the map at the top of the post from the PSK Reporter website. There are no FT8 reports from any station in South America despite the fact that the path crosses over the continent.
As I mentioned in the previous post, it's almost like chordal hop with the signal going between different parts of the ionosphere without reaching the ground.
Propagation Mode?... How exactly does a signal from the Canary Islands reach what is effectively the other side of the planet on 50 MHz? Trans-Equatorial Propagation is probably responsible for part of the path from the Canaries to South America but how did the signal get across the Pacific?
Someone suggested that antipodal focusing may be a factor in the opening but it's worth noting that this is 50 MHz, not 14 MHz. It may help but it doesn't explain what happens to make the path or paths possible.
It's good that we have two openings with some similarities but like all good science experiments, we need more openings and more data. Two data points isn't exactly 5-Sigma! 😄
The PSK Reporter log for EA8DO is shown below and you can see that ZL1RS was at the start of the opening.
