Day 9: TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 8th Apr 2024

The Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) openings from Namibia to Europe on the 144 MHz continued on the 8th of April 2024. The reports from the PSK Reporter website are shown above.

As can be seen from the list, this was quite a good opening and the one big change was the path to SV1DH near Athens in Greece. The horizontal spread of stations at the northern end of the circuit was in the region of 800kms.

At 144 MHz, the signals need to cross the Geomagnetic Equator at nearly 90 degrees for TEP and it gets a lot more difficult the further the station gets from 90 degrees. That's why it is interesting to see SV1DH listed.

The optimal TEP path from Athens is probably down to Zimbabwe but there are no stations active there on 144 MHz.

These are the spots from the DX Cluster...
IZ8FFA 144192.0 V51WW 19:09 08 Apr TNX Namibia
IT9XDJ 144192.0 V51WW 18:54 08 Apr Q65B -12 dB 1225 Hz  Namibia

Alex, SV1NZX reports... "V51JH heard SV1 and a smattering of other stations; ZD7GWM was cqing on 144.300 but sadly no copy from EA stations. SV1DH worked V51WW quite easily."

Felice, IZ8FFA reports working V51WW with 100W to a 12-element home made LFA Yagi on a 7m book.

Links...

1) See my 144 MHz page for more examples of long distance contacts.

Day 5: TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 4th Apr 2024

The Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) openings from Namibia to Europe on the 144 MHz continued on the 4th of April 2024 but to the same geographical area. The reports from the PSK Reporter website are shown above.

Alex, SV1NZX reports... "V51WW is currently the only station being heard from Africa but working IK7UXY, SV2DCD, SV8PEX, IT9GSF, IK7EZW and 9H1PA, amongst others. Same geography and area but slightly stronger signals tonight, initially

Interestingly, also, ZS4TX was tx-ing North too, although nothing was received and FR5DN was beaming to A6/TA/9K where stations are located. No luck as of yet but conditions are not ideal, to be fair."

From SV2DVD

Spots from the DX-Cluster...

IT9GSF 144190.0 V51WW 20:56 04 Apr JM67-TEP-JH81 6314Km @18:38 Namibia
IK7EOT 144190.0 V51WW 19:01 04 Apr Q65B -21 Namibia
SV8PEX 144190.0 V51WW 18:42 04 Apr Q65B first -13 nice via TEP Namibia
IK7EZN 144190.0 V51WW 18:39 04 Apr TEP 6550 KM Namibia
IV3KKW 144190.0 V51WW 18:38 04 Apr Q65 wkg Med Namibia

Links...

1) See my 144 MHz page for more examples of long distance contacts.

Day 4: TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 3rd Apr 2024

Day 4: This was the 4th day in a row that there was a Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe. It's very likely that this path was open for most of March as well but there was no-one testing the path.

The paths from the PSK Reporter website are shown above and this time, the signals reached further north in Italy.

Here are some spots from the DX Cluster...

SV2DCD 144190.0 V51WW 18:35 03 Apr -15db Q65B via TEP tnx Namibia
SV8PEX 144190.0 V51WW 18:33 03 Apr JH81 Q65B only RX tonight, wea Namibia

It's interesting to note how the maximum spread of the TEP footprint at the northern end is about 750kms. The TEP signal needs to cross the Geomagnetic Equator close to 90 degrees and the question is how far from 90 degrees can the path be before there is no propagation at 144 MHz?

Alex, SV1NZX notes that he has heard no signals from V51WW with a 9-element yagi at his location near Athens (KM17) which suggests he is too far to the east. He writes... "SV2DCD was using a 4 x 17 array to hear / work EME-level signals from V51WW. On the other hand, SV8PEX and IZ8/IT9/9H have had the lion's share of signal strength, hence the SSB QSO's."

I know the TEP posts can be a bit repetitive but I think it's important to keep a record of the information and maps. This is the most important VHF news in Europe at the moment.

Links...

1) See my 144 MHz page for more examples of long distance contacts.