Opening on the 40 MHz band between California and Alaska - Jan 2023

Chris, N3IZN is located in the south of California and is the owner of the experimental callsign WM2XCC. He has been conducting tests on the 40 MHz band for over a year using the WSPR beacon mode.

Between the 20th and 25th of January 2023, his WSPR signal was heard by a number of US stations as shown on the map above and in the chart below which is listed by distance.

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-22 17:18 WM2XCC DM13ji WW1L FN54om 40.681497 2 -22 1 4300
2023-01-24 17:36 WM2XCC DM13ji VA2CY FN46lw 40.681426 2 -16 3 4135
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KC0IYT FN42kj 40.681554 2 -21 0 4115
2023-01-21 18:20 WM2XCC DM13ji VE2UG FN35gs 40.681498 2 -3 0 3939
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18 0 3863
2023-01-20 19:06 WM2XCC DM13ji KB2MEN FN20ok 40.681484 2 -21 0 3815
2023-01-20 19:48 WM2XCC DM13ji VE3EUR FN25dn 40.681529 2 -6 0 3763
2023-01-22 16:36 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681511 2 -22 0 3640
2023-01-22 17:52 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.68149 50 8 0 3144
2023-01-22 17:12 WM2XCC DM13ji AC4TO EM70xl 40.681497 50 -15 0 3134
2023-01-22 17:50 WM2XCC DM13ji N4WLO EM50uo 40.681488 50 22 0 2736
2023-01-22 20:04 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7UTS CN89li 40.681491 50 -26 0 1843

The reception report of particular interest is from KL7HBK in Alaska. Even though there are four other reports which were further away, Alaska is of interest because it's so far to the north. This is especially true as it seems likely that the mode of propagation was F2 layer propagation.

These are all the WSPR spots from Alaska on the 23rd and the 25th of January. The signal reports range from +18dB which is very strong to -18dB which is buried in the noise and inaudible to the ear.

2023-01-25 20:42 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 -7
2023-01-25 20:22 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 15
2023-01-25 19:58 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 10
2023-01-25 19:38 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681508 2 -18

2023-01-23 21:54 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681507 2 21
2023-01-23 21:36 WM2XCC DM13ji KL7HBK BO49et 40.681506 2 18

Alaska has a reputation of being a bit of wasteland when it comes to VHF propagation so it's interesting to see 40 MHz signals propagate so far north. The solar flux at the time of the reports was around the 190 mark.

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

50 MHz opening between Alaska and Europe - 5th July 2021

On the 5th of July 2021, there was a remarkable three hour opening between Alaska and Europe on the 50 MHz band. In this post, I'll present all the information that I was able to find on it.

The map above from the PSK Reporter website shows the paths open from KL7HBK in Alaska on the 50 MHz band. I have listed the stations at the end of this post. 

I was unable to find any other reports of any other station in Alaska hearing or being heard in Europe during this opening. KL2R who is a few hundred kms to the north however did report seeing signals over the pole but these digital signals had too much flutter to decode.

It should be noted that while the opening was in the middle of the day for the European stations, it was the middle of the night for stations in Alaska which would explain the lack of activity.

This is a map of the European stations which shows their distribution...

These are the spots from the DX Cluster...

G3ZSS 50323.0 KL7HBK 14:55 05 Jul Heard clg CQ Alaska
G8BCG-@ 50325.6 KL7HBK 14:41 05 Jul FT8 Alaska
S57RR-@ 50314.5 KL7HBK 14:28 05 Jul FT8 -05dB JN65um<>BO49 TU! Alaska
F5LNU 50323.0 KL7HBK 14:20 05 Jul JN04JV<>BO49 ft8 -14 big surpr Alaska
IK5YJY 50313.0 KL7HBK 12:43 05 Jul TNX !!!! #242 Alaska

Analysis: To be honest, when I first read about this opening on 50 MHz, I thought it couldn't be true. The perceived wisdom is that an opening on a VHF band like 50 MHz between Alaska and Europe is highly unlikely.

The fact that KL2R was also hearing signals across the pole and that the opening was in the middle of the Alaskan night convinced me otherwise (The opening started at 4:07am local time in Alaska).

I did a check on the DX-Cluster and I noticed that some stations in the north of Scandinavia and Russia were reporting auroral conditions on 144 MHz just after this 50 MHz opening from Alaska to Europe. This may have been a significant factor.

It's unlikely that one single propagation mode was responsible for this opening. It's likely that the first hop near Europe may have been the usual type of Sporadic-E.

Further north, Auroral-E propagation may have preceded the arrival of the small aurora.

We are right in the middle of the season for Noctilucent Clouds and scientists have recorded radar echoes from that part of the atmosphere. It's possible that this region was also a factor in this opening.

When we consider the many openings on 50 MHz between say the UK and Japan during the Summer months with signals traveling over the far north of Russia then maybe an opening from Alaska to Europe shouldn't be that suprising.

Problems and Opportunities: First off the problem. FT8 is a digital mode and it's not ideally suited for making contacts across the Polar regions where there can be a lot of distortion on signals. Some of the reported signals during the opening on the 5th of July were in the region of -6dB which should be strong enough for a weak CW contact. It's unwise to depend 100% on FT8.

The opportunity really is for stations in Alaska to get active during the night and explore this VHF path to Europe. It's also a reminder for more stations in Europe to beam north and to check for conditions.

Is an opening on 50 MHz to Alaska possible in the middle of the night in Europe?

Can beacons be heard rather than just FT8? 

If you beam north, are there distorted FT8 signals on the waterfall?

Is the period before a predicted aurora the best time for this type of trans-Polar propagation?

There is probably a lot more going on propagation wise over the Polar regions than we realise and it's an area that should be explored for possible paths.

FT8 spots from the PSK Reporter website...