The mysterious signal of KI5BLU on 28 MHz... Pt.2

Back on the 26th of April 2019, I had a post up about the signal from KI5BLU in Texas and how unusual it was that he was being heard in Europe on 28 MHz. It was pretty obvious at the time that he couldn't have been transmitting from Dallas, Texas.

Fast forward to today Sunday the 26th of May 2019 and KI5BLU has made a re-appearance on the 28 MHz band.

At about 20:00 UTC, I was checking who I had heard on FT8 on 28 MHz. I noticed that there was a single line heading off to the west to none other than KI5BLU.

When I see lone signals coming from the USA, I get suspicious.

I noticed that G8IXN in Cornwall and MW0ZZK in the NW of Wales had also heard him. And sure enough, neither of them had heard any other station from the USA at that time.

What was interesting though was that MW0ZZK had heard Columbia and Venezuela and G8IXN had heard Columbia and Puerto Rico during the evening. This suggests that there were some conditions to the Caribbean area.

Just after I had heard KI5BLU, I checked the sent-receive list for KI5BLU for the last 15 minutes...

Notice how no-one in the USA was hearing him! Wherever he was, KI5BLU certainly wasn't transmitting from Dallas, Texas.

I then had a look at one of the locals in Dallas...KG5SW. He was hearing other local FT8 stations on 28 MHz around Dallas but not KI5BLU. Again confirming that KI5BLU was not transmitting from Dallas, Texas.

I then checked KP4EJ in Puerto Rico and what he had heard. Again, he heard KI5BLU and no-one else from the USA. He was also hearing European stations so that again confirms that there were conditions from this part of the world.

At this stage, it was obvious that KI5BLU was not transmitting from the USA but was giving out his callsign and locator on 28 MHz FT8 as if he was.

Then lo and behold, the sent-receive map for KI5BLU changes completely about 30 minutes later. All the US stations appear and Europe disappears. Notice the skip zone around Texas also.

Conclusion .....KI5BLU would seem to be using a remote station, possibly in the Caribbean. He is using his US call and locator which is confusing people when they hear and work him. They think the band is open to the USA when it's obviously not.

When KI5BLU was being heard in Europe, he was on the remote station.

When he logged off the remote station and used his own station at home, all of the US stations appeared on his list.

I'm not sure what the legal situation is but I would have thought that there would be a requirement to use the proper callsign when operating remote from another country?

The mysterious signal of KI5BLU on 28 MHz... 26th Apr 2019

Two days ago while listening to FT8 signals on 28 MHz, I heard the signal from KI5BLU in Texas... or so I thought.

On the 26th of April 2019, I saw the signal again while the band was open to South America. Note that the trace shows KI5BLU in Texas (locator square EM12). Note that I have Puerto Rico marked ...more later.

This is the traffic that I recorded on FT8 which shows KI5BLU working Ireland, Wales, England and Germany on 28 MHz...
160630  -1 -0.1 1058 ~  EI8GS KI5BLU EM12
160645  16 -0.3 1224 ~  KI5BLU EI8GS -01
160700  -2 -0.1 1056 ~  EI8GS KI5BLU R-11
160715  17 -0.3 1224 ~  KI5BLU EI8GS RR73
160730   1 -0.1 1055 ~  EI8GS KI5BLU 73
160930 -23 -0.1 1431 ~  KI5BLU MW0PPM R+03
161000 -18 -0.1 1431 ~  KI5BLU MW0PPM 73
161530 -14  0.1 1837 ~  KI5BLU G3ZQH IO92
161630 -12  0.1 1835 ~  KI5BLU G3ZQH R-01
161700 -14  0.1 1838 ~  KI5BLU G3ZQH R-03
161730 -15  0.1 1838 ~  KI5BLU G3ZQH R-03
161800 -15  0.1 1838 ~  KI5BLU G3ZQH 73
163645  -7  0.1  924 ~  DK4CF KI5BLU EM12
164400  -7  0.1  754 ~  <...> KI5BLU EM12

Suspicious...
If this was 14 MHz or even 21 MHz, I would have thought nothing of it. But this was April at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. East-West multi-hop Sporadic-E from Ireland to Texas on 28 MHz would be unusual this early in the season.

I then checked on PSKReporter to see who was hearing KI5BLU over a three hour period...

I then selected several of those... AM70E in Spain, G4HZW, G0LUJ, 2E0XXO, G8IXN and G7KFQ in England, MU0WLV in Guernsey, EI8GS in Ireland and F5OIH in France. I then checked what they had heard over a six hour period.

All nine stations as well as myself had heard KI5BLU but had not heard a single other station on FT8 on 28 MHz from the USA.

It's safe to say that KI5BLU was not transmitting from EM12 in Texas.

Initially I thought he was using a remote station as suggested by his QRZ page.... " Elecraft K3-mini for remotehamradio.com"

After a second search on Google, I found this...
KP4/KI5BLU - Palmas - Puerto Rico 04-22-2019
Thomas, KI5BLU will be active as KP4/KI5BLU from Palmas, Puerto Rico, IOTA NA - 099.
He will operate on HF Bands. QSL via KI5BLU, LOTW, eQSL.
Link

This would certainly tie in with the propagation paths that would seem likely to Europe on 28 MHz at the time. The problem is that he is giving out his locator on FT8 of where he lives in Texas rather than where he is in Puerto Rico. He was also not using the KP4 prefix.

This is what confuses people into believing the band is open to the USA when it's obviously not.