6000km opening on 144 MHz between the Caribbean & S America - 20th Dec 2021

Trans-Equatorial Propagation - TEP: There was a very good opening on 144 MHz on the 20th of December 2021 between the Caribbean area and South America with distances in the region of 5000 to 6000kms.

While TEP openings like this are a regular occurrence, what I found interesting was the fact that it happened almost at the Summer solstice for the southern hemisphere.

I suspect the fact that the Geomagnetic Equator is well to the south of the real equator in South America might be a factor here. TEP openings are supposed to be at their best near the equinoxes but that may be for areas of the world where the geomagnetic and real equators are at the same point.

PJ2BR: The map above shows the contacts made by Brett, PJ2BR on the island of Curacao with the Q65 mode and the stations are listed below.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

PJ2BR LU5BE 2m Q65B 5312 km 01:14:58
PJ2BR LU8EDA 2m Q65 5311 km 01:14:59
LU8EDA PJ2BR 2m Q65 5311 km 01:10:44
PJ2BR LU5CQC 2m Q65 5308 km 01:14:59
LU5CQC PJ2BR 2m Q65 5308 km 01:14:14
PJ2BR LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5306 km 01:15:05
LW2DAF PJ2BR 2m Q65 5306 km 00:53:59
LU2DPW PJ2BR 2m Q65 5296 km 01:33:29
PJ2BR LU2DPW 2m Q65B 5296 km 00:55:15
PJ2BR LU4DJC 2m Q65 5284 km 01:08:44
LU7JMS PJ2BR 2m Q65 5087 km 00:59:59

It wasn't all digital though with many making contacts on SSB as well. Note the very rapid flutter in the audio...

The band opened with a relaxed, arm chair copy, with LW2DAF. Then it got wild afterwards. #LW2DAF Thanks Diego y feliz navidad pic.twitter.com/YGXcpbJjgv

— Brett Ruiz (@pj2br) December 21, 2021

Dominican Republic (HI8) & Puerto Rico (WP4): The TEP opening from South America extended further north as well with distances of just over 6000kms being achieved. Again, lots with the Q65 mode as opposed to FT8.

Signal reports for LW2DAF in Argentina...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HI8JSG LW2DAF 2m Q65B 6020 km 00:51:20
LW2DAF HI8JSG 2m Q65 6020 km 00:44:00
HI8DL LW2DAF 2m Q65B 6020 km 00:43:49
LW2DAF HI8DL 2m Q65 6020 km 00:39:58
HI8T LW2DAF 2m Q65B 6015 km 00:41:18
LW2DAF HI8T 2m Q65 6015 km 00:39:58
LW2DAF WP3DN 2m Q65 5946 km 00:43:59
PJ2BR LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5306 km 01:15:05
LW2DAF PJ2BR 2m Q65 5306 km 00:53:59
PJ4EL LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5299 km 01:08:35
LW2DAF PJ4EL 2m Q65 5299 km 00:06:59
LW2DAF PJ4GR 2m Q65 5294 km 00:51:59
PJ4GR LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5294 km 00:51:18

Signal reports for WP3DN...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
LW2DAF WP3DN 2m Q65 5946 km 00:43:59
LU7JMS WP3DN 2m Q65 5721 km 00:59:59
WP3DN LU7JMS 2m Q65 3556 miles 00:59:19
WP3DN PY5EK 2m Q65B 3246 miles 00:58:15
PY5EK WP3DN 2m Q65 5223 km 23:33:14

DX-Cluster: Spots on the cluster show plenty of SSB contacts.

LU5BE 144305.0 PJ2BR 00:35 21 Dec Curacao

LU2DPW-@ 144305.0 PJ2BR 00:30 21 Dec TKS SSB QSO 73 Curacao

CX1DDO 144300.0 PJ2GR 00:27 21 Dec GF15XD<>FK52 53 -5.5 SSB Curacao

LU7DW-@ 144305.0 PJ2BR 00:22 21 Dec Curacao 

LU7DW-@ 144300.0 PJ2BR 00:08 21 Dec GF05<<TEP>FK52 loud ! Curacao

PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:35 20 Dec Q65B +0 dB 1302 Hz tnx tep Puerto Rico

LU7DW-@ 144300.0 NP4BM 00:44 20 Dec Puerto Rico

WP4KJJ-@ 144180.0 LU7JMS 01:01 21 Dec Argentina

PJ2BR 144300.0 LW2DAF 00:48 21 Dec So loud!! tnx QSO Argentina

WP4KJJ-@ 144300.0 PU2MBY 00:11 21 Dec 5/2 Brazil

WP4KJJ-@ 144300.0 PY5EK 23:41 20 Dec 57 pick Brazil

KP4EIT-@ 144300.0 PY5EK 23:40 20 Dec NOW 57 SWL Brazil

KP4EIT-@ 144300.0 PY5EK 23:37 20 Dec 5/5 SWL LOUD Brazil

It should be noted that all of the times are in UTC. This opening was around 8pm local time on the 20th of December for the stations involved.

Links...

1) For more examples of long distance contacts on 2m, see my 144 MHz page.

6000km opening on 144 MHz between South America & the Caribbean - 3rd Nov 2021

Wednesday 3rd November 2021: The TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) season seems to be in full swing at the moment with stations in South America and the Caribbean making contacts on the 144 MHz band.

The map above for HI8DL in the Dominican Republic and WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico shows some of the contacts that were made.

Most of the contacts were made with the Q65 digital mode as opposed to the usual FT8. The spots below from the DX Cluster shows some activity on CW as well.

 Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
LU2DPW-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 00:45 03 Nov TKS Q65B QSO Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:20 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Puerto Rico
LU5CQC 144180.0 HI8DL 00:19 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Dominican Republic
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:42 02 Nov Q65B -3 dB 1362 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
LW2DAF 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:41 02 Nov CQ Q65B 15s Puerto Rico
LU7DW-@ 144300.0 HI8DL 23:36 02 Nov GF05sh<TEP>FK58al CW Dominican Republic

Diego, LW2DAF near Buenos Aires in Argentina reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz... "My first contact with Puerto Rico on 144MHz via TEP.......TEP doesn't cross between LU and KP4. Q65B 15s mode. LW2DAF<>WP4KJJ"

Diego writes to say that while there have been contacts between LU and KP4 in the past, there haven't been many in recent years.

Analysis... For TEP signals at 144 MHz, they need to cross the Geomagnetic Equator at or very close to 90 degrees.

What this usually means is that stations in the Dominican Republic (HI) normally work stations near Buenos Aires in Argentina while stations in Puerto Rico (WP4) normally work stations in the far south of Brazil.

It seems as if signals that were slightly further away from 90 degrees got through this time.

Reports... Christian, LU5CQC in Argentina also reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz.

Joe, WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico reports that a ZP station in Paraguay was active on SSB on 144.300 MHz during the opening and he was worked them many times.

These are some of the reports from the PSK Reporter website showing distances in the region of 5000-6000 kms.

LW2DAF
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HI8DL 2m Q65B 6020 km 01:24:34
WP4KJJ 2m Q65B 5923 km 00:32:34
PJ2BR 2m Q65B 5306 km 00:30:25
PJ4GR 2m Q65B 5294 km 00:07:59

TEP opening on 144 MHz between Argentina & the Caribbean - 20th Oct 2021

Wednesday 20th October 2021: It's interesting to see that the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings are continuing on 144 MHz in South America.

This is a sample of the TEP spots from the DX-Cluster with distances in the region of 5300 to 6000kms...

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
LW2DAF 144180.0 HI8DL 00:12 20 Oct CQ CQ Q65B 15s Dominican Republic
LU5BE 144180.0 HI8DL 00:11 20 Oct Q65B -4 dB 961 Hz Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144290.0 HI8DL 00:04 20 Oct USB PHONE S5 A 6022 KM Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144180.0 HI8DL 23:52 19 Oct Q65 DX 6022KM TEP Dominican Republic
LW2DAF 144310.0 HI8DL 23:42 19 Oct 55 IN GF05rk Dominican Republic
LU7DW-@ 144290.0 HI8DL 23:38 19 Oct Dominican Republic

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
LU5CQC 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct Q65 DX 5300 KM TEP Curacao
LW2DAF 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct CQ CQ Q65B 15s Curacao 
LU5BE 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct Q65B -3 dB 1395 Hz Curacao
LU5BE-@ 144300.0 PJ2BR 23:48 19 Oct cq CQ Curacao
LW2DAF 144300.0 PJ2BR 23:44 19 Oct CQ CQ 55 in GF05rk Curacao

It's nice to see that a lot of the reports for the opening were on SSB...

In the video, LW2DAF near Buenos Aires is working HI8DL in the Dominican Republic. Note the distortion due to TEP.

pic.twitter.com/PHcp0mpzxT

— Diego Alejandro Feil (@LW2DAF) October 20, 2021

In the second video clip, LW2DAF is working PJ2BR in Curacao and the distortion is even worse.

This is actually a very good reminder to all of those stations who stay all of the time on FT8 that they might be missing some good openings. If the TEP signals are too distorted then FT8 doesn't work.

It's all about using the appropriate mode for the conditions at the time.

Update: As the frequency gets higher then only signals that are at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator are propagated. This means that signals at say 28 MHz can arrive at a wide range of angles but 144 MHz signals need to be close to 90 degrees. 

The result at 144 MHz is that stations in Argentina are working Curacao, Aruba and Dominican Republic, stations in the south of Brazil are working Guadeloupe and Martinique.

This is a video of PY2AOL working FM5CS on the 20th of October...

3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between the USA and the Caribbean - 13th July 2021

In this post, we'll look at what looks like an unusual 3000km+ opening in North America between the USA and the Caribbean on the 13th of July 2021.

There seems to have been two very active Sporadic-E regions that were both capable of supporting propagation at 144 MHz. The map above shows the paths on FT8 from WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico to the USA. Most of the stations in Florida, in the SE of the USA and up the east coast are all likely to be one hop Sporadic-E. That cluster of stations out around the 3000km mark are probably double hop Sporadic-E.

The longest path that I found on the PSK Reporter website was between WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico and K2DRH in the NE of Illinois, a distance just over 3470kms.

The double hop part of the opening seems to have been mostly confined to Puerto Rico (KP4) and the Dominican Republic (HI8). The map above from HI8DL shows the same single hop and double hop Sporadic-E pattern.

K2DRH seems to have been the furthest away from the Caribbean stations and this is the FT8 map for him...

As you can see, it shows some single hop Sporadic-E to Florida as well as double hop to the Caribbean.

I also found another 3000km+ opening between K2TXB in New Jersey and PJ4NX in Bonaire at 15:02 UTC.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

K2TXB PJ4NX 2m FT8 3172 km 15:02:30

NV4B also reports that he made a FT8 contact with J79WTA in Dominica, a distance of just over 3370kms.

J79WTA

NV4B 2m FT8 3381 km 15:51:30

WB4OMG 2m FT8 2548 km 17:05:29

On the DX Cluster, N0JK in the east of Kansas reported hearing WP4KJJ at -18dB although the report didn't appear on the PSK Reporter website. The distance was just under 3650kms.

N0JK 144174.0 WP4KJJ 17:05 13 Jul EM28IX<>FK68XF copied -18 rpt

While there were some SSB contacts made, most if not all of the double hop ones were via FT8.

Propagation Mode: It does seem that in this instance, it really was a case of a double hop Sporadic-E opening. The tropo forecast shows some enhancement over the ocean but I suspect it was mostly double hop. 

Whether it reflected off the Atlantic ocean at the mid point or was chordal hop (Sp-E cloud to cloud) is open to debate.

There did seem to be another smaller double hop opening around 22:00 UTC but the data I have presented here is after the first one.

These are the FT8 reports that I saw over 2500kms for the opening around 17:00 UTC...

Recent 5000km+ TEP contacts made on 144 MHz by LU1DL in Buenos Aires

Recently on the blog, I had several posts about some remarkable Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) contacts made on 144 MHz between stations in the Caribbean and South America. Most of these were in the region of 5000 to 6000 kms. See my 144 MHz page for a list of posts. 

Gabriel, LU1DL in Buenos Aires has kindly sent on some information about his 144 MHz TEP contacts during the months of November & December 2020 and it's interesting to see what can be worked from someone on the southern end of the TEP path.

You'll notice that all of the TEP contacts that LU1DL made were at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator.

Here is the log from Gabriel...

What's interesting is that while stations in Argentina were able to work the Dominican Republic (HI8), Curacao (PJ2) and Aruba (P4) on 144 MHz, stations in the south of Brazil were working the likes of Martinique (FM) and Guadeloupe (FG) in the western Caribbean. The paths were parallel to the paths from Argentina as they were also perpendicular to the Geomagnetic Equator.

With Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP), zones of high ionization occur either side of the geomagnetic equator in the F layer of the ionosphere. What makes the mode so interesting is that it can allow propagation on the VHF bands from 50 MHz to 144 MHz. As the zones of ionization is roughly 400kms above ground level, the propagation paths achieved are in the region of 4000 to 5000 kms, much greater than what might be usual with Sporadic-E.

Equipment... For these 5000-6000km contacts on 144 MHz, LU1DL was running 180 watts into a single 10-element Yagi with a 5m boom.

This is the antenna system for P41E in Aruba...

HI8DL in the Dominican Republic...

Video... Have a listen to this TEP contact on 144 MHz and note the distortion on the audio...

Links...
1) A list of long distance contacts made on 2-metres can be seen on my 144 MHz page.

6000km TEP path on 144 MHz opens up between Buenos Aires and the Dominican Republic - Nov 2020

Hot on the heels of the last post about the 5400km TEP opening on 144 MHz between Argentina and the island of Aruba, we have details of some more contacts that reached in excess of 6000kms!

In a message, David HI8DL reports... Last night (Nov 29th 2020), Edgar, HI8PLE and I (HI8DL - FK58AL), contacted LU2EPO on 144.300 MHz at 23:57 UTC. 

The mode was SSB and the distance was 6102kms. 

On Nov 26th at 00:57 UTC, I (HI8DL) made a QSO with LW2DAF on 144.174 MHz. The mode on that occasion was FT8 and the distance was 6011kms. 

Otra excelente noche de TEP en 144MHz, record de distancia personal 6020Km, trabajado con @HI8DL, en FT8, gracias David!!! pic.twitter.com/AUkvjFptjf

— Diego Alejandro Feil (@LW2DAF) November 26, 2020

73's  David, HI8DL

In the map above, the geomagnetic equator is shown in Purple. Both the HI8 and the LU stations are at right angles to it which is important at 144 MHz.

With Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP), zones of high ionization occur either side of the geomagnetic equator in the F layer of the ionosphere. What makes the mode so interesting is that it can allow propagation on the VHF bands from 50 MHz to 144 MHz. As the zones of ionization is roughly 400kms above ground level, the propagation paths achieved are in the region of 4000 to 5000 kms, much greater than what might be usual with Sporadic-E.

Normally on 144 MHz, both the northern and southern stations are equidistant from the geomagnetic equator. The stations in the Dominican Republic seem to be slightly further away on this occasion so it's possible that there was a slight tropo extension of a few hundred kms across the Caribbean.

A 6000km contact on 144 MHz is really incredible. To put that into perspective, that is twice the distance across the North Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland!

Link...

1) I have details of some other long distance 144 MHz contacts on this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/144-mhz.html