6,100km TEP opening on the 144 MHz band from Uruguay to the Caribbean - 21st Oct 2023

As we head towards the end of October 2023, there have been reports of some TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings in South America on the 144 MHz band.

Carlos, CX5CBA in Montevideo, Uruguay writes... "As of the 21st of October 2023, there have been TEP openings every night for two weeks between South America and the Caribbean.

I have been able to make several contacts on 144 MHz on SSB and Q65 with a 4.7m long Yagi antenna and 50W. The stations worked are:

SSB: HI8D, HI8AN, HI8GSP, NP4BM
Q65: HI8D, HI3I, HI8T, NP4BM, PJ4GR."

The map above shows the path of one of these contacts between CX5CBA and HI8D. Note that the Geomagnetic Equator is almost equidistant from both stations and the path is at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator as well. This is pretty much the ideal path for a TEP opening at 144 MHz.

The other stations NP4BM (Puerto Rico) and PJ4GR (Bonaire) are also located in the western part of the Caribbean. This follows the typical pattern for TEP openings in South America at 144 MHz... i.e. stations in Uruguay and Argentina work the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Bonaire whereas stations in the south of Brazil usually work the eastern part of the Caribbean - Martinique, Guadeloupe, etc.

This is a log extract from CX5CBA...

It shows several contacts made on SSB which means the signals must have been reasonably strong.

You'll notice the one CW contact on the 50 MHz band to V31XX in Belize. With lower frequencies like 50 MHz, signals that are not as close to right angles can propagate.

This screenshot from Carlos shows that some on the contacts were made with the Q65 mode.

This screenshot shows the callsigns, signals and time. Note the time... about midnight UTC which is about 9pm local time in Uruguay.

Comment... Thanks for Carlos for the report and images. While these TEP openings at 144 MHz are pretty common, we should still remember that we are looking at contacts that are over 6,000 kms in length.

It's also a reminder that the TEP season is in full swing in South America and it's time to check out 50 MHz, 88-108 MHz and 144 MHz.

It would also be very interesting to see some stations doing TEP experiments on the 432 MHz (70cms) band.

Link... For more examples of long distance 144 MHz contacts, see my 144 MHz page.