Fleeting opening between Europe and Australia on 50 MHz - 22nd Jan 2023

It looks as if there was a very short opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and Australia on Sunday the 22nd of January 2023. What I found interesting was that one of the paths was from Poland to Australia which is much further north compared to the opening on the 16th of January 2023.

SP4MPB in Poland exchanged a few FT8 signals with VK3FZ in Australia and the QSO could not be completed. SP4MPB reports a maximum signal of -14dB.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK3FZ SP4MPB 6m FT8 15505 km 08:54:58

Earlier, there was another very short opening between Italy and Australia with VK2EFM reporting reception of the FT8 signals of IK0FTA

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

VK2EFM 6m FT8 16255 km 08:25:42

Again, this seemed like a very short opening with just a single reception report. As far as I know, there were no other Europe - Australia paths on 6m reported.

In truth, these openings were fleeting and the signals were very weak. In previous solar cycles, openings like this wouldn't even have been noticed as people were using SSB and CW then.

Now that there are so many stations using FT8 on the same frequency, even the weakest opening on the 50 MHz band gets reported.

It's also likely to just a hint about the long distance 6m openings which are more likely to happen as we head towards the equinox.

South African 40 MHz beacon heard in Rome, Italy - 16th Jan 2022

16th January 2022: Emilio, IK0OKY reports that there was a nice opening on the 40 MHz band on the 16th of January when several amateur radio stations in & near Rome reported reception of the ZS6WAB/B beacon in South Africa.

Emilio writes..." Today, there was a 40 MHz opening from Rome area towards South Africa ZS. The ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz was heard in JN61 square from 11.15 UTC until 12.30 UTC.

The beacon was heard first from IK0FTA Sergio and then also from some other locals (IW0FFK Marco , IK0SMG Pino and myself).

I received it up to 559 on a cubical quad fractal antenna for 6m. Unfortunately no 6m QSO took place during the period that the beacon was in."

Grazie Emilio.

DX-Cluster spots...

Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX km Prop. Comments
2022-01-16 12:28:24 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 319 now 
2022-01-16 12:06:59 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC still in 
2022-01-16 11:48:38 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559
2022-01-16 11:16:44 IK0FTA (JN61GV) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) 7522 599 in jn61

Propagation: The solar flux on the day was 116 with an A index of 22 and a K index of 2-3. Considering that the beacon and the stations in Rome are equidistant from the geomagnetic equator, I presume the primary mode of propagation was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. It's probably no accident that the opening was just after local noon.

Early warming... This report I think shows the real value of the 40 MHz band as an early warning system. There is a huge gap between 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands and the 10m band will be open many many times without the propagation ever reaching 6m.

The 40 MHz band helps bridge this gap and this will become even more important as the solar flux begins to rise and the MUF goes above the 28 MHz band and into the low-VHF spectrum.

On this occasion, there was no opening on the 50 MHz band but that won't always be the case. In the future, there will be times when the reception of a 40 MHz beacon will alert VHF operators to get ready on 50 MHz and to have their beams pointing in the right direction.

Links...
1) As always, I have plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.