Opening on the 40 MHz band from Ireland to Australia - Oct 2023

I noticed in the last few days that there has been a path open on the 40 MHz (8m) band from Europe to Western Australia in the morning hours.

Here are the WSPR spots from the Irish beacon EI1KNH which is just south of Dublin.

 y-m-d txCall txGrid rxCall rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-10-18 09:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014505 20 -29 0 14969

2023-10-16 09:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014511 20 -21 0 14969
2023-10-16 09:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -21 0 14969
2023-10-16 09:14 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -20 0 14969
2023-10-16 08:54 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -26 0 14969

2023-10-15 10:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014509 20 -33 0 14969

2023-10-09 11:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014499 20 -29 0 14969
2023-10-09 11:14 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -22 0 14969
2023-10-09 10:54 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -23 0 14969
2023-10-09 10:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014499 20 -25 0 14969

2023-10-08 10:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -24 0 14969

EI1KNH transmits four times every hour using the WSPR mode and the power is about 20-watts into a vertical half-wave antenna. The receiving station was Wayne, VK6JR to the south of Perth in Western Australia. The distance was 14,969kms.

The signals are very weak and they are in the range of -20dB to -33dB. This would mean that they are inaudible to the human ear.

The path seems to have been open on five days from the 8th to the 18th of October 2023. The times range from 08:54 to 11:34 UTC.

Sunset in Perth is about 10:30UTC so it's likely there was some enhancement due to some tilting of the ionosphere. With the solar flux at about 140, the propagation mode may have been multi-hop F2 layer with perhaps some chordal hop as well.

Greece to Australia on 40 MHz... VK6JR also heard the WSPR beacon of Costas, SV1DH in Greece.

y-m-d txCall txGrid rxCall rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-10-09 08:02 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681494 10 -24 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:38 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -28 -1 12412
2023-10-09 07:30 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -25 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:26 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -23 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:16 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.68149 0.01 -21 -1 12412
2023-10-09 07:10 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681491 0.01 -19 -3 12412
2023-10-09 06:58 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681491 0.01 -22 -1 12412

According to the data above, SV1DH was using around 0.01 watts or 10-milliwatts for the majority of his transmissions! The last one was at 10-watts. The distance was 12,412kms. 

In general, the path from the south-east of Europe to Australia is easier as the path is shorter and the signals stay closer to the equator.

In summary... We have seen plenty of other openings on the 40 MHz band between Europe and Australia over the last 12-months. I have details of these in previous posts which are linked from my 40 MHz page.

It's very likely that we will see more openings like this over the next few months. Serious 50 MHz operators should take note of these 40 MHz openings as they suggest that an opening on the 6m band may be possible.

EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz to trial different modes - April 2022

The 40 MHz / 8m band is one part of the spectrum which is very much experimental in nature be that for checking propagation or equipment.

With that in mind, the EI1KNH 8m beacon near Dublin on 40.013 MHz is currently trialing different modes. These include CW, FT8, SSTV, RTTY, MSK144, WSPR and stepped power levels.

The modes and time sequence is shown below and any reports and feedback should be reported to the beacon keeper, Tim EI4GNB.

Note that this is an experiment. It's highly likely the modes will change again in time depending on feedback and what reception tests people are carrying out.

The highlights:
*Every 10 minutes, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw (00,10,20,30,40,50mins past the hour)
*14,34,44 & 54 past the hour, 24hrs, WSPR (preceded by variable power carrier)
*Full service 6am to midnight
*Night mode midnight to 6am mutes all but WSPR & graduated power carrier
*All modes have 'rich' content, not just callsign & locator

EI1KNH schedule (Testing from March 23rd 2022)
On the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
3mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
6mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
7mins past the hour, 3 minute break
10mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
13mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
14mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
16mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
19mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
20mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
23mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
26mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
29mins past the Hour, 1 minute break
30mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
33mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
34mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
36mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
39mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
40mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
43mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
44mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
46mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
49mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
50mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
53mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
54mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
56mins past the hour, 06-24hrs SSTV (M1) & cw
59mins past the hour, 1 minute break

2021 Report for the 40-MHz EI1KNH beacon

In this post, we'll look at the EI1KNH beacon in Ireland which transmits on 40.013 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2021.

The map above shows the spots for 2021. A total of 21 stations reported the beacon the cluster which is down a little on the 26 in 2020. 

If we count just a maximum of one spot per station per day then there were 52 spots in 2021 compared to 77 in 2020.

Update - 11th Jan 2021: After posting this, I subsequently found out that the DXSummit cluster is missing a LOT of the dx spots for the 40 MHz band. I'll have to rework and update this post.

These are the top spotters of the EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon (again, based on counting just one spot maximum per person per day)

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 500 to 1700kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

The report for the year 2020 can be seen HERE

The EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon which is just to the south of Dublin first became operational in May of 2020.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the EI1KNH beacon can be found here... https://www.qrz.com/db/EI1KNH/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Listening to the EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon during the 2022 Quadrantids meteor shower

The 2022 Quadrantid meteor shower was predicted to peak at 21:00 UTC on the 3rd of January and as an experiment, I wanted to see if I could detect the peak using the EI1KNH beacon on the 40 MHz band.

First, let me set out what I did. The EI1KNH beacon transmits on 40.013 MHz using both CW and the PI4 digital mode. It is 213 kms from my location and is is badly screened by mountains to the south-west of the beacon site.

Using just a 28 MHz vertical antenna, I listened for two 18-hour periods for two days i.e. 18:00 UTC on the 3rd of January to 12:00 UTC on the 4th of January AND from 18:00 UTC on the 4th of January to 12:00 UTC on the 5th of January. For both 18 hour sessions, I monitored the frequency for PI4 signals.

Some of the decodes are shown above so I had some success. This is the distribution of decodes...

The chart with the Blue bars shows the number of decodes on the 3rd & 4th of January and I had 22 decodes in total. There seems to be a peak in the number of PI4 decodes from 02:00 UTC to 08:00 UTC on the morning of the 4th of January.

During the 18 hour period on the 4th & 5th of January, I had just 8 decodes.

Was the experiment a success??? Well... maybe. I came to following conclusions...

1) To do the experiment properly, I should probably have monitored over several days. Maybe something like 2 days before the peak and 2 days after.

2) I don't think PI4 is the best mode for meteor scatter. The PI4 transmission is about 20 seconds in length and many of the bursts heard were quite short. I'm not sure how much of the signal I would need to hear for a valid decode but I suspect I was only getting the really big meteor scatter bursts. As can be seen from the chart, the 'peak' is hardly outstanding. 

3) With the distance around 210kms, I think I'm a bit too close. If I was further away... say 500-1000kms then I think the meteor scatter bursts on 40 MHz would be much better. As I'm only 210 kms, I am also getting some aircraft reflections and I'm not 100% all of the signals heard were actually meteor scatter. The longer distance would also rule out any tropo.

In conclusion: The attraction of PI4 for me was that I could just leave the radio on a frequency and count the number of decodes afterwards. It was a worthwhile experiment but I get the feeling that I was only seeing the 'peak' with a very low resolution. 

I'll probably try some experiments again for a future meteor shower but I'll use a different signal and mode.

EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon heard in Lincoln, England - Oct 2021

I got a recent email from Keith, G0RQQ to say that he was hearing bursts of the Irish EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz recently. The distance is approximately 370 kms.

Keith, who is in the city of Lincoln, England heard the 15-second burst with a signal of S5 at around 08:15 UTC on the 13th of October 2021. He was unable to listen to the PI4 signals as he didn't have the software installed. 

Keith is using a Yaesu FT-817ND wide-banded, and the antenna is an end-fed wire 20m long and about 1.5m above ground.

It's just a reminder that it is very easy for anyone in the UK to listen to the Irish 40 MHz beacons during the early morning (~6-7am) when meteor scatter conditions tend to be best.

For EI1KNH/B, just leave your receiver on SSB about 800 Hz lower on 40.0122 MHz and you should hear the CW and PI4 tones eventually.

For more information on the 40 MHz band, check out my 40 MHz page.

Aircraft Scatter on the 40 MHz band

 A few days ago during the Sporadic-E backscatter tests on the 40 MHz band, I noticed some curious little ticks on the waterfall display. These short lines were moving slowly downwards in frequency and lasted for about 30 seconds, a tell tale signature of aircraft scatter.

On the 21st of May, the band seemed to be quieter with less Sporadic-E about so I tried some aircraft scatter tests with both of the Irish 40 MHz beacons (EI1KNH 40.013 MHz & EI1CAH 40.016 MHz).

Both beacons are about 200kms from my location and I used the FlightRadar24 website to track the various flights. This was the strongest signal that I got...

The image above shows the carrier & CW portion of the signal appearing at about 11:06 UTC (12:06 Summer time). As the aircraft was moving at several hundred kph, there was some doppler shift in the received signal and this can be seen in the signal slowly drifting downwards in frequency.

There is a gap at around 11:07 UTC when the beacon was sending out PI4 signals and it then returns again.

This was one of the longest signals I got as the vast majority last maybe 20-30 seconds.

The image below shows what happened....

The EI1KNH beacon is about 200kms from my location. A Delta Airlines plane heading from London to Seattle crossed over the mountains to the south-west of the beacon and it reflected the signal.

While the beacon has an excellent take off to the East, it is badly blocked to the West by the local mountains. I have a pretty good take off in that direction which means I am probably close to line of sight to planes at an altitude of 35000-40000 feet (7-8kms) over the mountains near the beacon.

Despite the doppler shift, I managed to get a successful PI4 decode during this crossing and a small number of other ones.

Using the FlightRadar24 site as a reference, I could correlate a lot of the doppler tracks seen with passing aircraft near both of the beacons. Nearly all of the signals were incredibly weak and were not audible to the ear. Most of the tracks were also about 10-30 seconds in duration. 

It's also worth noting that not all passing aircraft resulted in me hearing a signal. One large airplane went right over the EI1KNH beacon and I saw nothing. Obviously the orientation of the aircraft with respect to the beacon and my location are a factor here. It needs to be close but not too close.

I also got some reflections from aircraft that were on the far side of the beacon. I got one trail from a Ryanair flight just off the coast of Wicklow and heading north for Dublin as well as tracks from trans-Atlantic aircraft passing just north of the EI1CAH beacon in the west of Ireland.

FT8: Considering how often I was seeing these little doppler tracks at 40 MHz, I suspect a lot of people are getting FT8 decodes on the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands from stations in the 100km to 250km range via aircraft scatter without even really realising it. I often see this, I get one FT8 decode from a station and get nothing else.

Other bands: Needless to say, aircraft scatter isn't confined to the 40 MHz band. If you or a distant beacon or station are blocked by a local hill then you might see aircraft scatter on 28 MHz or any of the VHF and UHF bands.

In the tests that I carried out above, I was 200kms away from the distant beacons and aircraft and the signals were weak as a result. If you try this and the distance are much shorter then you may experience much stronger reflections and signals.

Guest Post: 40 MHz band on 7th & 8th May 2021 ...by F1EIT

Thanks to José, F1EIT for the following information which forms the basis of this post.

Friday May 7th was surely a great day for the S55ZMS beacon with the first 40 MHz spots but also

for 8m Sporadic-E activity that increased on the 8th .

Joan EA3ERE put the first spots (PI4) for EI1KNH on the 23rd of April but I heard nothing on CW.

On the 7th of May, Michel, F6HTJ heard the EI1KNH beacon on CW but I still heard nothing!

Finally today the 8th of May, both Michel and myself heard the EI1KNH beacon on CW and we also were able to hear the S55ZMS beacon in Slovenia at the same time.

I have a lot of QRM in the 40 MHz ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) and sometimes also on the beacon frequency.

I am still using my 50MHz Hentenna with an ICOM 575A. I am also working on a 40MHz wire halo based on the G3XBM (10m) design and am also looking at building a YU7EF 4-element Yagi.

José, F1EIT

Info from DXMaps website...

Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX km Prop. Comments SFI A K E.MUF

2021-05-08 14:43:17 F1EIT (JN03SJ) 40.670 CW S55ZMS (JN86CR) 1207 JN03SJ<ES>JN86CR CW 519 growing

2021-05-08 16:27:52 EI7GL (IO51TU) 40.670 CW S55ZMS/B (JN86CR) 1860 IO51TU<ES>JN86CR 

2021-05-08 16:13:15 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.670 CW S55ZMS/B (JN86CR) 1265 JO00AU<ES>JN86CR Beacon 579

2021-05-08 14:41:02 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.670 CW S55ZMS/B (JN86CR) 1143 JN86cr<ES>JN12kq 8m beacon

2021-05-07 18:10:43 F5JRX (JN26AC) 40.670 CW S55ZMS (JN86CR)934 JN26AC<>JN86CR 529 on BIGWHEEL 

2021-05-07 17:34:48 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.670 CW S55ZMS (JN86CR) 831 JN26PP<ES>JN86CR HRD 559 

2021-05-07 14:15:01 F1EIT (JN03SJ) 40.670 CW S55ZMS (JN86CR) 1207 JN03SJ<ES>JN86CR BCN CW+PI4 

2021-05-07 14:46:10 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.670 CW S55ZMS/B (JN86CR) 1143 JN86cr<ES>JN12kq 8m beacon 

Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX km Prop. Comments SFI A K E.MUF

2021-05-08 14:32:37 F1EIT (JN03SJ) 40.013 EI1KNH (IO63VE) 1228 JN03SJ<ES>IO63VE CW529rising 

2021-05-08 14:59:02 OE3FVU (JN78VE) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1638 59 - 51 with heavy QSB 

2021-05-08 14:51:27 S57RW (JN65UM) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1666 559 in jn65um 

2021-05-08 14:31:54 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1346 IO63ve<ES>JN12kq 8m beacon 

2021-05-08 14:12:36 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1095 JN26PP<ES>IO63VE HRD 539 QSB 

2021-05-08 13:55:44 IW4BET (JN54QL) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1602 579 io63ve<es>jn54ql 

2021-05-08 11:11:52 S50B (JN65XU) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1659 

2021-05-07 15:42:38 IZ0CBD (JN61FP) 40.013 EI1KNH (IO63VE) 1891 JN61FP<>IO63VE 558 very clear 

2021-05-07 18:23:22 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1876 JN61ES<ES>IO63VE 559 hrd 

2021-05-07 15:45:20 9A3TN (JN85UH) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1931 JN85UH<AUE>IO63 

2021-05-07 15:12:43 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.013 CW EI1KNH/B (IO63VE) 1346 IO63ve<ES>JN12kq 8m beacon 

2021-04-23 13:42:28 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.012 PI4 EI1KNH (IO63VE) 1394 JN11<ES>IO63 PI4 -9 dB 1396 km 

For more information on the 40 MHz band, visit https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

2020 Report for the 60-MHz EI1KNH beacon

The EI1KNH beacon on 60.013 MHz is currently the only operational 5-metre beacon in the world and has been on air since December of 2019. In this post, we'll look at how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 6 stations spotted the EI1KNH beacon on 60 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual were... EA3ERE (3), EI7BMB (3), F6HTJ (1), GW0GEI (1), NL8992 (2), SP7VVB (1).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 1800kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

Note the reception report by GW0GEI in West Wales at a distance of 175 kms by tropo.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 60 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the EI1KNH beacon can be found here... https://www.qrz.com/db/EI1KNH/

For more information on the 60 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/60-mhz.html

2020 Report for the 40-MHz EI1KNH beacon

Back at the start of January of this year, I had a post up about how often the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz was reported back in 2020. In this post, we'll look at the EI1KNH beacon in Ireland which transmits on 40.013 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 26 stations spotted the EI1KNH beacon on 40 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual were... 9A6W (13), CT1DDN (2), CT1HMN (1), CT2IWW (1), DG0JPM (1), DK7UK (6), DM2TT (1), DM6HK (1), EA1FBU (1), EA2US (1), EA3ERE (24), EI3GYB (6), EI7BMB (1), EI7GL (2), F1EIT (7), F4FRQ (2), F6HTJ (4), OE3EMC (6), OH3BCX (1), OH3NE (1), ON4TA (3), OZ1BNN (1), PE1ITR (2), S5/M0MPM (1), SP5XMU (1), SP7VVB (1).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 2000kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

The EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon which is just to the south of Dublin first became operational in May of 2020.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the EI1KNH beacon can be found here... https://www.qrz.com/db/EI1KNH/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Addendum...

Video clip from Tom, SP5XMU in Poland showing reception of the EI1KNH beacon...

Reception of the EI1KNH beacon on 40 MHz via meteor scatter

 

The Irish 8-metre EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz is located just to the south of Dublin and became operational in May of 2020.

Due to the nearby Dublin and Wicklow mountains, it is badly screened from the south west and even though I have a good take off in that direction, I am unable to hear it directly.

However, I tried listening for it during the Perseid meteor shower and even though I'm a bit close for meteor scatter, I thought 206 kms was far enough for it to work.

As you can see from the graphic above, I got several successful PI4 decodes on the 12th of August 2020.

The EI1KNH signal alternates between the digital PI4 mode, an identification in morse code and a carrier. The PI4 part of the transmission lasts about 24 seconds so a reasonable meteor burst is required to decode the signal. The 40 MHz band is excellent for meteor scatter so there are plenty of bursts available during major meteor showers.

The chart above shows the meteor bursts decoded on the 13th of August. Note that the signals were quite weak as they are in the range of -20dB to -26dB, below what can be heard by ear. This is probably the average signal for the duration of the 24 second PI4 transmission because I could certainly hear PI4 signals by ear at times.

Antenna... It's worth pointing out that I was only using a vertical antenna for 28 MHz for these tests. If I had a resonant antenna or a small directional beam then the results should have been even better.

If I can hear meteor burst from 206 kms away then anyone in the UK should certainly be able to hear it.

For EI1KNH, tune to 40.0122 MHz and listen on USB. For the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark, try 40.0702 MHz USB.

EI1KNH - Update on the new Irish beacon on 60 MHz

Back in early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Now we have news that the very first beacon on 60 MHz is operational! See updates below...

The new beacon is operational since the 16th of December 2019 and has the call EI1KNH.

It is on 60.013 MHz and runs 25 watts into a vertical folded dipole. This is currently the only 5-metre beacon operational in the world.

The new 5-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons - EI0SIX on 50 MHz, EI4RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO63VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin.

An 8-metre beacon operating on 40.013 MHz from the same site became operational in May of 2020 with an output power of 40 watts.

The photo above shows the vertical folded dipole for the 60 MHz beacon and the 40 MHz vertical for the 8-metre beacon.

* * *

Update : 20th June 2020 - FT8 replaces PI4 -  Tim, EI4GNB reports that the new configuration for the EI1KNH 5-metre beacon in FT8 - CW - Carrier, with FT8 being in the first period of every minute. There are no breaks, just 60 phases an hour non-stop. This should make it easier for people to listen for it as there is a huge user base running the FT8 and WSJT-X software.

Previously it was running PI4 which is a specialised digital mode for beacons.

If anyone hearing the beacon tunes to 60.012 MHz USB, they should see FT8 decode at 1240 Hz.

Tim writes..."It is hoped that the FT8 addition will encourage more people to check for the beacon, it being a simple task of adding the 60.012 frequency to their software's FREQUENCIES list, as ALL REGIONS and ALL MODES, then they can just quickly flip over when working ft8 on 6m to see if the MUF is rising to at least 60 MHz."

* * *

The 60 MHz beacon transmits on the digital PI4 mode and CW. Details below...

PI4 + CW + Carrier 00111 (1st, 2nd & 3rd Minute of every 5 minutes) Synchronised Beacon Project (SBP)

The RF for the beacon is generated by an RFZero module running about 20 milliwatts (+13dBm).

This is then fed into a homebrew amplifier with an RA30H0608 PA stage generating 25 watts of RF.

This is then fed into a homebrew band pass filter before going to the vertical folded dipole.

Expected Range???..... What range might be expected from a beacon on 60 MHz? Considering it a weak signal mode, a tropo range of somewhere in the range of 200 kms might be expected. Perhaps up to 400 kms during times of high pressure.

It's important to note however that the Dublin and Wicklow mountains which are just to the west attenuate the signals in that direction. The path across to the west coast of Wales is much better.

A good guide would be the other beacons on 50 MHz and 70 MHz. If you can hear those then there is a reasonable chance of hearing the 60 MHz beacon.

Sporadic-E Range... It's certain that the 60 MHz beacon will be heard in Europe during the Sporadic-E season from late April to mid-August.

The map below shows the approximate limit of one hop Sporadic-E. It's likely that stations in the Baltic states, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy and the south of Spain should be able to hear it on a regular basis.

When conditions are really good, stations in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway should be able to hear it.

Shorter skip than that might be a problem though. If it's is exceptional then the skip might shorten to say the Netherlands. I suspect that most of the UK will be in the skip zone for Sporadic-E.

North America???.... There is every chance that the beacon could be heard in North America via multi-hop Sporadic-E. It just needs someone over there to make the effort.

Reports... Reception reports should be sent to Tim EI4GNB. Look up EI1KNH on https://www.qrz.com/

Report on 40 MHz activity for Mon 18th May 2020

There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening across Europe on Monday the 18th of May 2020 with strong signals being reported on all the VHF bands from 28 MHz to 70 MHz. This is a report on some of the activity on the new 40 MHz band.

1) 40 MHz Crossband contacts - Tim EI4GNB reports working crossband from 40 MHz to 28 MHz with DJ3AK (JO52GJ) at 11:22 UTC and OE3FVU (JN78VE) at 11:28 UTC. All contacts were on FT8.

The distances were roughly 1200 kms and 1700 kms respectively. Tim was also busy making more crossband contacts from the 60 MHz band, I'll put that in a separate report.

***

2) Irish 40 MHz EI1KNH Beacon - At least three stations reported reception of the Irish EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz.

a) Gintas LY2YR (KO24OS) managed to get four successful decodes of the beacon using the PI4 software.

40M 11:45 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=46 T=0,40 s F=50 Hz Carrier: F=851,6 Hz C/N=-17 dB
40M 11:46 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=60 T=0,35 s F=50 Hz Carrier: F=851,6 Hz C/N=-23 dB
40M 11:50 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-20 dB Q=36 T=0,37 s F=55 Hz Carrier: F=852,4 Hz C/N=-19 dB
40M 11:52 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=20 T=0,40 s F=55 Hz Carrier: F=852,5 Hz C/N=-31 dB

The signal was quite weak at -19dB to -20dB which is understandable considering the distance is over 2,000kms.

b) Andreas DJ5AR in Germany got six successful PI4 decodes  with the signal going from =1dB to -12 dB.

c) Tom SP5MXU in Poland also reports reception of the beacon with an ICOM IC7300 and a 5 element beam for 50 MHz...

This short video clip shows reception of the EI1KNH beacon in Poland...



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3) Danish 40 MHz OZ7IGY Beacon - There were two reports of the beacon on the DX Cluster.

a) Michael EI3GYB reported reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz at 12:19 UTC.

b) And finally EI7GL! I managed to hear the Danish beacon in two separate openings. The first one I caught was roughly from 13:03 UTC to 13:54 UTC with the second shorter opening from 17:42 to 17:51 UTC.

There may have been more openings of course but this is what I heard.

Links...
1) For more information on the 40 MHz band, visit this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Reception reports for the EI1KNH 40 MHz Beacon - May 2020

Sunday 17th May 2020. Interesting to see a report on the PSKReporter website showing EA3ERE near Barcelona reporting reception of the EI1KNH/B beacon on 40.013 MHz.

F4FRQ in JN37KQ also reported it on the DX Cluster.

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New Irish 40 MHz beacon now operational - May 2020

Back in early 2018, the 40 MHz (8-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Now we have news that the very first beacon on 40 MHz in Ireland is operational!

The new beacon is operational since the 9th of May 2020 and has the call EI1KNH. It is on 40.013 MHz and runs 20 watts into a vertical half-wave antenna.

The new 8-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons - EI0SIX on 50 MHz, EI1KNH on 60 MHz and EI4RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO63VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin.

The photo above shows the vertical folded dipole for the 60 MHz beacon and the vertical half-wave for the 40 MHz beacon. This is a converted CB antenna which was reduced in length to a half-wave for the 8-metre band.

The 40 MHz beacon transmits on the digital PI4 mode and CW. Details below...

PI4 + CW + Carrier 00111 (1st, 2nd & 3rd Minute of every 5 minutes) Synchronised Beacon Project (SBP)

The RF for the beacon is generated by an RFZero module running about 20 milliwatts (+13dBm).

The output of the RFZero is then fed into a Chinese 'mini PA' unit. This boosts the power from 2 milliwatts to 500 milliwatts.

Chinese 'mini PA'

Inside the 'mini PA'

The 0.5 watt signal from the mini-PA is then fed into the main power amplifier...

The main amp is a MRF101AN which is fed from a 42 volt switch mode power supply. While the 101 NXP chip is meant to run at 50v by design, they are running it at 42v as the available PSU offers that at  50 amps.  Tim comments that running it at 42v should extend its life and ensure that it can run almost undamaged into any load should the antenna break or the filter fail etc.

Close up of the PA module

This is then fed into a homebrew band pass filter for 40 MHz...

40 MHz Band Pass Filter under test

The 20 watt output then goes to a vertical half wave about 5 metres above ground level.

Expected Range???..... What range might be expected from a beacon on 40 MHz? Considering it a weak signal mode, a tropo range of somewhere in the range of 200 kms might be expected. Perhaps up to 300 kms during times of high pressure.

It's important to note however that the Dublin and Wicklow mountains which are just to the west will attenuate the signals in that direction. Even though the beacon site is roughly 300 metres above sea level, the mountains to the west are at least 300 meres higher.

The path across to the west coast of Wales and the UK is much better. A good guide would be the other beacons on 50 MHz and 70 MHz. If you can hear those then there is a reasonable chance of hearing the 40 MHz beacon.

Sporadic-E Range... It's certain that the 40 MHz beacon will be heard in Europe during the Sporadic-E season from late April to mid-August. The beacon has a very good view to the east with no obstructions on the horizon so it should be very strong in Europe.

The map below shows the approximate limit of one hop Sporadic-E. It's likely that stations in the Baltic states, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy and the south of Spain should be able to hear it on a regular basis.

When conditions are really good, stations in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway should be able to hear it.

Shorter skip than that might be a problem though. If it's is exceptional then the skip might shorten to say the east coast of the UK.

North America???.... There is a possibility that the beacon could be heard in North America via multi-hop Sporadic-E. It just needs someone over there to make the effort. The beacon however has some 600m high mountains just to the west which may well cut off any signals in that direction.

Reports... Reception reports should be sent to Tim EI4GNB. Look up EI1KNH on https://www.qrz.com/

Thanks to the hard work of Tim EI4GNB and Tony EI7BMB, there is now a second beacon on 40 MHz operational in Europe.

Thanks to Tim EI4GNB for all of the information and photos about the beacon.

Links...

1) EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon page on QRZ.COM

2) My 40 MHz page with lots of info and links

Irish 60 MHz beacon EI1KNH/B heard in West Wales - March 2020

Back in early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. A new 5-metre beacon with the call EI1KNH became operational on the 16th of December 2019. See previous post.

It is on 60.013 MHz and runs 25 watts into a vertical folded dipole. This is currently the only 5-metre beacon operational in the world.

The new 5-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons - EI0SIX on 50 MHz, EI4RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO63VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin.

On Sunday the 29th of March 2020, Steve GW0GEI in West Wales reported reception of the EI1KNH beacon on the DX Cluster, a distance of about 175 kms.

While there isn't anything particularly remarkable about this reception, it does seem to be longest reception report to date on the cluster.

It's also an excuse for me to remind people about this beacon on 60 MHz as we head into the Sporadic-E season. A lot of people will have SDR receivers that cover that portion of the spectrum and might well be able to hear it.

More info about the EI1KNH beacon in this previous post.

If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 60 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.