Opening on the 40 MHz band between Australia and Europe - 16th Oct 2024

It was interesting to see that there was a good opening on the 40 MHz (8m) band on the 16th of Oct 2024 from the north of  Australia to Europe.

The map above shows the FT8 reports from PSK Reporter and the frequency is use was 40.680 MHz, the main centre of activity for all modes on the 8m band.

Mark, VK8MS in Australia was operating under the terms of the LIPD (Low Interference Potential Devices) Class Licence.  LIPD allows Australian citizens to operate on several bands in the low VHF spectrum with the need for a licence if the power output is below certain levels.

For the frequency range of 40.660 to 41.000 MHz (340 kHz), a maximum of 1-watt ERP can be used.

I have more details about the Australian LIPD licence in this previous post... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/01/low-vhf-band-lipd-licence-in-australia.html

I have included a log of reports below...

Some of these are reception reports by the stations in Europe but FT8 reports were exchanged with EA7KBX in Spain who was running 25-watts to a 4-element beam.

I believe EA3ERE who was running 10-watts also exchanged FT8 reports with VK8MS.

In conclusion... This is a nice example of some long distance paths which are now possible at the peak of the solar cycle on the 40 MHz band. There will be many times where the maximum usable frequency will support 40 MHz propagation but 50 MHz is a little too high. Sometimes, these 40 MHz openings can give advanced warning of potential openings on 6m.

Over the next few months, we should see plenty of long distance paths like this on the 8m band.

If you want to try and you have a suitable radio, just tune to 40.680 MHz USB and set up FT8 on your computer. Leave your radio on that frequency during daylight hours and see what you can hear.

Link... For more information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page.

15,000km+ opening on 50 MHz between Europe and Australia - 23rd June 2021

Wednesday 23rd June 2021: There was another opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and Australia on the 23rd. While the distances weren't as good as a few days previous, some of the paths were still in excess of 15,000 kms.

It looks as if that most of the opening from the SE of Australia was to the Ukraine and Russia but there were a few stations further west in Europe.

The DX-Cluster spots and FT8 reports are shown below

Another 50 MHz opening between Australia & Europe - Mon 31st May 2021

Following on from the weak opening on the 29th of May, there was another 50 MHz opening between Europe and Australia on Monday the 31st of May 2021.

The above map from the PSK Reporter website shows the almost 15,000km path that was open for VK4MA on the east coast of Australia.

SP4K 6m FT8 14993 km 07:43:30
LY2BAW 6m FT8 14683 km 07:46:59

***

There was a much bigger opening from VK4ABW on the north coast but he is also quite a bit closer with distances just over 12,000kms.

VK4ABW SM7CAD 6m FT8 12650 km 09:11:56
VK4ABW YL2CZ 6m FT8 12300 km 09:11:59
VK4ABW OG3G 6m FT8 12228 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW OH1MN 6m FT8 12199 km 08:44:29
VK4ABW OG2A 6m FT8 12147 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW LY2BAW 6m FT8 12144 km 08:46:57
VK4ABW OH7KM 6m FT8 12113 km 08:22:30
VK4ABW YL2II 6m FT8 12104 km 09:12:59
VK4ABW OH3SR 6m FT8 12091 km 08:22:26
VK4ABW YL2CP 6m FT8 12090 km 09:11:59
OH3JR VK4ABW 6m FT8 12081 km 08:36:44
VK4ABW ES5PC 6m FT8 11999 km 08:44:59

***

The longest paths came from the south-east of Australia. VK3OT was hearing the Ukraine.

UR5LAK VK3OT 6m FT8 14102 km 05:57:11
UR0MC VK3OT 6m FT8 13989 km 06:02:11

***

The longest path seems to have been between VK3ZL and SP4K in Poland at 15,459kms

SP4K VK3ZL 6m FT8 15459 km 05:20:44
UR0MC VK3ZL 6m FT8 14163 km 06:41:44

***

Propagation Mode: We're back to the same question again... How do 50 MHz signals from Europe reach Australia near the bottom of the sunspot cycle?

The easy 'go to' answer was that it was multi-hop Sporadic-E, case closed. 

The problem I'm starting to have with this is down to probabilities. 

Take SP4K in Poland. What are the chances of one hop Sp-E in the direction of Australia capable of supporting a 50 MHz signal? It's late May, it's the Summer Sp-E season so it's pretty high. 

Two hops?... What is the probability of getting two Sp-E regions spaced at just the right distance to allow a double hop at 50MHz? The probability is obviously lower.

Follow that same logic and apply it to 3 hops, 4 hops and so on. By the time we get to 15,459kms, we're probably looking at 8 hops. 

What is the probability of getting eight Sporadic-E clouds capable of supporting 50 MHz spaced at just the right distance from each other... all the way from Europe to Australia?

And if that probability wasn't low enough, what then is the probability of 8 hop Sp-E on 50 MHz from Europe to Australia on two out of three days?

I think the probability is now so low that there must be some other answer. Perhaps TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) from Australia to China accounts for a large part of it? Some other propagation mode?

I'm not sure the simple 'It must be multi-hop Sporadic-E' adds up anymore.