12,400km+ Opening on 50 MHz from Ireland to the Falklands - 21st April 2021

As this Sporadic-E and TEP seasons overlap, it allows for some remarkable contacts to take place on the VHF bands. This is a report from Mark, EI3KD near the south coast of Ireland who managed a contact with the Falkland Islands on the 21st of April 2021.

Mark, EI3KD writes... "50MHz TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) was very good on the 21st of April, mostly at latitudes closer to the geomagnetic equator than Ireland. However, we did have a brief opening here; I was lucky enough to complete a QSO with VP8A in the Falkland Islands (GD18BH) at about 12,464kms. 

I always look for TEP, especially after solar events, but I wasn't expecting that at all! VP8A was in/out here between 17:33z and 17:45z, peaking -14dB on FT8, and also seen working CE8, PY5, LU6 and EA7 (nothing from any of those here). 

Apart from him, the only other signal I decoded was one sequence from PY3KN, GF49, after VP8A had faded, at 17:54z. The "Magic Band", indeed! 73, Mark EI3KD IO51vw"

For this contact, Mark was using a 6-element LFA2 Yagi 15-metres above ground level.

Analysis: As Mark notes, Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) was the main reason for this remarkable contact but it doesn't fully explain the 12,400+km contact. It would seem likely that there was a Sporadic-E hop at the northern end of the path to Ireland and possibly also at the southern end for the final jump to the Falklands.

Prior to the use of digital modes like FT8, there were probably openings like this in the past but with signals down around -14dB, they would hand gone largely unnoticed on SSB or CW as the signals would be buried in the noise.

Example of a 3600km+ opening on 144 MHz from Ireland to Russia - June 2020

I'm always interested to hear about exceptional VHF contacts or reception reports and I like to keep a record of them here on the blog to encourage more people to get active on the bands. I meant to put up this post months ago but it kind of got delayed! 😄

Back on the 16th of June 2020, there was a Sporadic-E opening on 144 MHz over eastern Europe with stations in the south of Russia working into Poland and the Czech Republic. What was really unusual was that it coincided with another opening further west from the UK & Ireland to the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine.

The map above shows the signals that were heard by Mark, EI3KD on the 2m FT8 frequency of 144.174 MHz. 

This is a log extract of what EI3KD heard...

20200616_060700 -21 0.3 866 ~ CQ UC6A KN84
20200616_060730 -15 0.3 865 ~ CQ UC6A KN84
20200616_061200 -11 0.5 705 ~ CQ SQ9IVD KN09
20200616_061330 -14 0.2 1397 ~ EI3KD UX2SB -18
20200616_061330 -12 0.1 724 ~ YO6OBK UW8SM KN28
20200616_065200 -5 0.3 1562 ~ OE5JFL RZ6DD -18
20200616_065400 -19 0.2 1126 ~ CQ OK1VOF JN89
20200616_065430 -11 0.4 1800 ~ US5FZ RA6C -12
20200616_065430 -20 0.2 1126 ~ CQ OK1VOF JN89
20200616_065800 -22 0.0 1486 ~ CQ RX6DN KN94
20200616_065930 -26 0.1 1485 ~ EI3KD RX6DN R-07
20200616_070330 -11 0.3 1088 ~ CQ 9A2RI JN65
20200616_070400 -7 0.3 1089 ~ CQ 9A2RI JN65
20200616_070430 -22 0.2 1090 ~ CQ 9A2RI JN65

The normal maximum distance for single hop Sporadic-E is in the region of 2300 kms. What is highly unusual here is that EI3KD heard four stations in the south of Russia which were in the region of 3500kms!

The longest distance was RZ6DD at 3638kms.

The propagation mode was double hop Sporadic-E and this is clear from the fact that stations at the mid-way point were being heard as well. What's not so clear is if the signal was reflected off the ground at the half-way point or if it was chordal hop with the signal going between two Sp-E clouds without touching the ground. Whatever it was, it's an exceptional distance for 144 MHz.

This is an extract from DXMaps showing the DX-Cluster reports on that day on 144 MHz which were over 2500kms...

First a word of caution! As we all know, some mistakes occur with DX spots with people putting in the wrong band or info data. However, there are enough reports there to show that something special was going on that day.

You'll note that G4RRA in the SW of England also heard RZ6DD but at the slightly lower distance of 3356kms. See addendum below.

Why does this matter?... Because if someone in Ireland can hear a station in Russia on 144 MHz who is 3600+ kms to the east then why not across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland which is even closer at 3200kms?

Surely even if the chance of double hop Sporadic-E over the North Atlantic is incredibly small, there must be times when there are single hop Sporadic-E openings from either side with 1000kms of tropo making up the difference?

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a permanent online receiver based in Newfoundland with a beam pointing east and listening all of the time on 144 MHz? Stations in western Europe could then beam west and listen for their own signals online to see if the path is open. Or people could just log in and check if the receiver is hearing one of the Trans-Atlantic beacons?

At the moment, the North Atlantic path could open up on 144 MHz and nobody will ever know because there is no-one listening at the Canadian end.

Addendum: Thanks to Paul G4RRA for the following info...

Here's how my screen looked during that event. Both Mark and I are always looking out for events like this which are very rare indeed in my experience.

This was only the second one I've participated in in over 40 years, at least I managed a QSO in the first one !

R6DB also mentioned seeing me on KST chat.  ...de Paul, G4RRA

Excellent end of year tropo opening results in new world record 432 MHz contact of 4562 kms

On some days, there are good openings on the VHF and UHF bands. Saturday the 28th of December 2019 was not only good, it was exceptional.

As outlined in a previous post, some record breaking signals from the Cape Verde Islands were heard in the UK and Ireland on Friday the 27th of December. On Saturday the 28th of December, those tropo conditions got even better.

The day got started with Mark, EI3KD working D41CV on FT8 on 432 MHz at 09:06 UTC for a new IARU Region-1 70cms record of 4,170 kms. Mark later went on to work the Cape Verde Islands on 432 MHz SSB.

Like on previous occasions, the record only lasted a few hours. At 11:09 UTC, Ian GM3SEK in the south-west of Scotland managed to work D41CV on FT8 on 432 MHz extending the record distance to an amazing 4,562 kms. GM3SEK was using 100 watts and a 23 element on 70cms.

It would seem as if this is not only a new IARU Region-1 70cms tropo record but also a new world record!

To put that into context, the red dot on the map below shows the limit of the old record of 3,284 kms which was between D44TS and CT1HBC back in July of 2014.

This is a screenshot of the FT8 contact between D41CV and GM3SEK on 432 MHz.

144 MHz... GM3SEK also worked D41CV on 144 MHz for a new IARU Region-1 tropo record. This is covered in a separate post HERE

More of propagation?... The tropo prediction map from Pascal, F5LEN is shown below. The key point to note is that the path between D41CV and GM3SEK is mostly over water.

It's probably unlikely that GM3SEK would have managed the contact if it was not for the fact that he is located on the northern edge of the Irish Sea between the UK and Ireland. Like on previous occasions, the most likely mode of propagation for most of the path was marine ducting with the UHF signal getting trapped in a layer above the surface of the ocean.

New record... Can it be broken? The map below shows the how far the new record distance reaches.

Considering that it's probably likely that a maritime path will be required, somewhere slightly further north in Scotland. Someone in the north-east of England might do it but it would require crossing a lot of the UK.

The one stand out location however is from the far western isles of Scotland.

4,562 kms.... Just how far is it? Sometimes it can be difficult to really appreciate just how far distances are, especially when the numbers get really high. I have prepared 3 maps which help illustrate just how far the new record is. And keep reminding yourself, this is 432 MHz!

If you put the transmitter on the south-west of Ireland, this is how far it would reach into North America...

If the transmitter was at St.Johns in Newfoundland, this is how far it would reach into Europe...

And for our Australian colleagues, this is how far the signal would reach if the transmitter was located on the north island of New Zealand...

Will the record be broken? ... I guess you should never say never but the potential number of stations to the north of GM3SEK seems to make it unlikely.

An amazing day for UHF radio and records.

Links...
1) F5LEN tropo propagation forecasts

Unusual 50 MHz opening from Australia to Europe - Wed 24th July 2019

Over the last few weeks, there have been multiple openings from Europe to Japan at 50 MHz as stations make use of digital modes like FT8 to dig weak signals out of the noise. Most of these contacts are in the region of 9,000 to 10,000 kms which suggest multi-hop Sporadic-E was the likely propagation mode.

On Wednesday the 24th of July 2019, there was a very unusual opening on 50 MHz between Europe and New South Wales in SE Australia.

Here are some of the send/receive reports from PSK Reporter for the Australian stations on the 50 MHz band...

VK3ZL...

A successful FT8 contact was made between VK3ZL and EI3KD in Ireland, a distance of 17,375 kms. This seems to have been the longest contact of the day.

VK3BD...

VK3ANP...

VK3ZYC...

VK3EW...

The opening from Europe to SE Australia seemed to be from about 07:09 UTC to about 08:20 UTC.

The graphic below shows where the sun was shining at 07:30 UTC.

The opening seemed to coincide with sunset in SE Australia.

Some notes....
1) Solar..... The solar flux was way down at 67, the sunspot number was zero and there was no sign of any type of enhancement due to a flare. It's hard to imagine there was any normal type F2 propagation which might be seen around the peak of the sunspot cycle.

2) Japan..... The opening from Europe to Australia seemed to coincide with an opening from Europe to Japan. S57RR in Slovenia was on the send/receive list for five of the six VK3 stations and this is what the 6m map was like for him on the 24th...

3) Multi-hop Sporadic-E ???.... The distances worked from Europe to Australia were in the region of 16,000 to 17,400 kms. If it was simple multi-hop Sporadic E, it would require something like eight to nine hops. What are the chances of this many Sporadic-E hops? I find it hard to believe it's possible.

4) Winter..... It's worth noting that it's winter in Australia and this is not their Sporadic-E season. There seems to be no sign that the VK3 stations were hearing any other stations via Sporadic-E, just the opening to Europe.

Theory?...... Just a thought and I'm putting it out there for others to consider. Is it possible there was TEP (Transequatorial propagation) opening from SE Australia to an area SE of Japan and then became skewed via Sporadic-E? The multi-hop Sporadic-E opening from Europe also got to this region in the Pacific?

It's possible the TEP path may have been a bit more westerly from Australia to an area closer to China.

Perhaps it's grasping at straws for an explanation but I find it just as feasible as expecting 8-9 Sporadic-E hops to line up in a row at 50 MHz for the shorter direct path.

The key difference between the two paths would of course be if the beam headings for all parties were the most direct short path ones or if they were skewed. Unless someone is using a long Yagi, it may not be so obvious at 50 MHz.

All good material for debate of course but probably impossible to prove one way or the other.

Addendum : See message below from Brian, VK3BD (Added 12th Aug 2019)...

EI3KD works Cape Verde on 144 MHz to set new Region 1 DX record

On Sunday the 5th of August 2018, Mark Turner EI3KD managed to work D4Z on the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of of Africa on 144 MHz, a distance of some 4163 kms. This remarkable contact made on CW was a new record for tropo in IARU Region 1. The previous record of 4130 kms was set back in July of 2015.

The contact was made on 144.300 MHz at about 18:26 UTC at a time when the band was also open to the Canary Islands from the south of Ireland and the UK.

EI3KD RIG: 11el F9FT, only at 7m agl or so, RX mast preamp, TX 400W.

Station setup
EI3KD:  11el F9FT, only at 7m agl, RX mast preamp, TX 400W.
D4Z: IC 275, max 100W, 2 stacked dipoles on 3 directions (omnidirectional antenna), no preamp.

Just to an idea of just how far the new record is, if the same distance of 4163 kms was measured west of EI3KD's location then it would reach as far as Nova Scotia in Canada!

Earlier in the day, the D4C beacon on 144.436 MHz had been spotted at 08:37 UTC by GI6ATZ locator IO74AJ distance 4476km and by GM4ZJI at 16:40 locator IO86KE distance 4739km. The beacon was running just 14W into a stacked dipole array.

D4Z also worked G7RAU and G4LOH in the South-West of England on 2m SSB.

Video of D4Z working EI3KD on 144 MHz...


The mode of propagation was probably marine ducting which is a process whereby VHF and UHF signals can get trapped between the water surface and a layer in the lower atmosphere. The result is that signals can travel over quite far distances and the path from the UK and Ireland down to the Canary Islands can produce some of the longest distances in Europe. On rare occasions, the path can extend as far as the Cape Verde Islands.

Spot on the DX Summit cluster...
EI3KD 144300.0 D4Z 18:26 05 Aug IO51VW HK76MU tnx!!! 4163km Cape Verde

Previous best distances for tropo on 144 MHz for Region 1...
Band Propagation Call a Loc Call b Loc Mode Date Distance
144 MHz TR D44TS HK77KE M0VRL IO70PO SSB 2015-07-09 4130
144 MHz TR M0VRL IO70PO D44TD HK86NO SSB 2011-08-10 4106
144 MHz TR G4LOH IO70JC D44TD HK86NO CW 2007-08-04 4041
144 MHz TR EB8BRZ IL27HK YT3I KN05HP SSB 2009-06-08 3757
144 MHz TR EI5FK IO51RT RW1ZC/MM IK18PQ SSB 2005-08-15 3745

The tropo forecast below from F5LEN shows the path conditions around the time of the contact.

Video of GI6ATZ hearing the D4C beacon...



Links... (Updated 5th Sept 2018)
1) DX spots for D4Z on 144 MHZ
2) F5LEN Tropo Forecast for EI to D4
3) IARU Region 1 VHF DX records
4) EI3KD's website
5) D4C / D4Z website
6) Newsletter from D4C Contest team