In two recent posts, I covered some recent 144 MHz TEP openings from Guadeloupe to Brazil during October 2020 and from Curacao to Argentina in early November.
P41E on the island of Aruba has been also been busy during the month of November 2020 and has worked several stations in Argentina via TEP.
One of the longest contacts was with LU2EPO with a claimed distance of an impressive 5449 kms.
In the graphic above, the geomagnetic equator is shown in Purple. Both P41E and the LU stations are equidistant from it and are also at right angles to it, both factors which are 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.
Here are a selection of videos showing the contacts made during the month of November 2020...
Contact with LU4FW on SSB...
— P41E (@Etiennechat1) November 26, 2020
Contact with LU3FCI and great to see the vintage Yaesu FT-480R in action! ...
And of course we did some FM again. pic.twitter.com/eDlcLfiLR4
— P41E (@Etiennechat1) November 26, 2020
Contact with LU3FCI...
— P41E (@Etiennechat1) November 26, 2020
P41E was using 100 watts into a 13-element Cushcraft Yagi.
* * *
Addendum: Thanks to Etienne, P41E for sending on the following information.
This is a photo of the antennas used for 144 MHz and 50 MHz
P41E is using an old an old Yaesu FT-767GX and a Tokyo HL160V running about 100 watts.
Etienne has very kindly sent on a log extract of what he has worked on 144 MHz from the 17th to the 28th of November 2020.
There are a total of 33 contacts in total. Looking through them, some are repeat contacts on different days or on a second mode. The log contains 17 separate stations from Argentina and most of these would have been in the 4500km plus range.
You will note that the majority of the contacts are on SSB with a few on FM and FT8.
Note also the times of the contacts which are around 00:00 to 02:00 UTC. This is around 21:00 to 23:00 for stations in Argentina and 20:00 to 22:00 for P41E in Aruba. This ties in well with Trans-Equatorial Propagation which is thought to peak at about 20:00 local time.
Solar Data... Just for reference purposes, I have included the solar data for the range of dates concerned...
# Flux Sunspot
# Date 10.7cm Number
2020 11 17 79 11
2020 11 18 77 11
2020 11 19 77 11
2020 11 20 82 11
2020 11 21 85 23
2020 11 22 88 35
2020 11 23 96 38
2020 11 24 100 37
2020 11 25 104 40
2020 11 26 106 43
2020 11 27 106 60
2020 11 28 110 67
Links...
