2022 Report for the 40-MHz OZ7IGY beacon

In this post, we'll look at the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark which transmits on 40.071 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2022. I have used the DXSummit.fi DX Cluster as the source of data for this post as I can check the whole of 2022 and download the spots into a spreadsheet to examine.

There may be some spots that are missing and didn't appear on the DXSummit cluster but the aim of the post is to give a general overview of the stations reporting reception of this Danish 8m beacon during 2022 and not list every single report that appeared on multiple platforms.

If anyone would like to add any additional reports for 2022 then they can leave it in the comments.

One other caveat is that I only used one DX spot per person per day for the overall numbers.

Annual Comparison... In terms of the number of DX spots for 2022, there was a total of 176 spots from 30 people for reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 8m. This is in marked contrast to just 13 spots from 9 people in 2021 when the beacon was off the air for most of the Sporadic-E season.

The OZ7IGY beacon was on air for most of 2022 and what also helped was the growing interest in the 40 MHz band as more stations start listening. The number of report for 2022 also surpassed the previous best which was 146 spots from 16 people in 2020.

These were the top spotters of the OZ7IGY beacon in 2022 (30 in total)...

As can been seen on the map at the top of the post, nearly all of the stations heard the OZ beacon via Sporadic-E propagation. It is perhaps a little suprising that there seems to have been no reports from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Portugal or indeed a lot of Eastern Europe.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Danish 40 MHz beacon heard for the first time in N America - 17th Jan 2023

On the 17th of January 2023, Rupert N2OTO reported the reception of the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz. This is as far as I know the first reception report of the Danish 8m beacon in North America. 

I have never seen any reports before for this 8m beacon being heard outside of Europe although paths were very likely open.

The distance from OZ7IGY/B to N2OTO is 7739kms and it's very likely the propagation mode was two hops of the F2 layer. It's probably no accident that the signal was heard in Florida as this is the most southerly of the great circle paths.

The solar flux was above 220 which suggests that the F2 maximum usable frequency (MUF) was well above 30 MHz and into the low VHF region.

The composite screenshot from N2OTO above shows some of the PI4 decodes. The opening seems to have lasted about 16 minutes and possibly coincided with a sunset in Denmark.

The peak signal had a signal to noise ratio of +1dB which would have meant that the CW ID would have been quite easy to hear.

As the OZ7IGY beacon is frequency stabilised by GPS, you can see that the receiver used by N2OTO is about 20 Hz off frequency which is pretty normal for most radios. It's a neat test and result for a VHF beacon that is on the other side of the Atlantic.

If anyone else wants to listen for the OZ7IGY beacon then try first on 28.271 MHz and get used to using the PI4 software. Once you get it working, try listening then on 40.0702 MHz USB.

Links...
1) OZ7IGY beacon website
2) My 40 MHz page

Addendum... Report for the 18th of Jan 2023

Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean reports reception of the Danish 8m beacon... "Copied the OZ7IGY beacon very well for about 15min. Was to late to install the PI4 software to get a dB report, in cw beacon was around 559"

Rupert, N2OTO reports reception of the beacon again on the 18th. Note the earlier time.

Band -----UTC------ ----Message----- ---------PI4--------- -Carrier-- --Decoder--

  YYYYMMDD HH:MM Decoded        T S/N Qua Time  Freq M  Freq   C/N

OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon in Denmark is transmitting again - Dec 2022

In a previous post on the 30th of November 2022, I wrote about how the OZ7IGY team in Denmark had  announced that their 8m beacon on 40.071 MHz has been turned off due to increased electricity costs.

The good news is that a few days later on the 5th of December 2022, they announced the following... "The 40 MHz beacon is back on the air. The 10 GHz beacon is now off the air.... OZ7IS"

This is good news as it would be nice to have the 8m beacon operational for the peak of the sunspot cycle.

Annual sponsorship of one individual beacon for one year costs 1400 Danish Krone which is about €190.

OZ7IGY website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

2022 Reports... Looking at the DX Cluster, there are plenty of reports for the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz but they are all from Europe. I'm open to correction on this but I have seen no reports from South Africa, South America or North America.

There are plenty of reports of Trans-Atlantic paths on 40 MHz from the USA to Ireland and UK but what about Denmark?

It's further east and the path would be more northerly. Can it be heard outside of Europe?

A plan of action... The OZ7IGY beacon is on both 28.271 MHz and 40.071 MHz. A good place is start is on 10m. Put your receiver on 28.2702 MHz USB and listen for the CW beacon. Try to use the PI4 software and get experience with it to decode the PI4 signals.

If the 10m beacon is a reasonable signal strength then repeat the experiment on 40.0702 MHz USB.

The key point here is that if you are interested in the 40 MHz band then don't spend all your time on 40.680 MHz. Try the other beacon frequencies and report what you hear.

Link...
a) My 40 MHz page

40 MHz beacon in Denmark off air due to electricity costs

The OZ7IGY team in Denmark have announced that their 8m beacon on 40.071 MHz has been turned off due to increased electricity costs.

They write... "The 40 MHz, 2,4 GHz, 3,4 GHz, 5,7 GHz and 24 GHz beacons are all off air due to the increased price of electricity. It is currently impossible to say when they will be back on the air. 

OZ7IGY has an annual electricity bill of more than 20 000 DKK, equivalent to about 2800 EUR given normal electricity prices. Unfortunately Denmark is among the most expensive countries when it comes to the cost of electricity. But we are also looking for equipment support in our continuous strive to make OZ7IGY the best beacon in the world.

As of October 2022 the annual electricity cost will exceed 7000 EUR.  – 2022-10-17"

The beacons at 28 MHz, 50 MHz, 70 MHz, 144 MHz, 432 MHz, 1296 MHz & 10 GHz remain operational.

Annual sponsorship of one individual beacon for one year costs 1400 Danish Krone which is about €190.

OZ7IGY website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

2021 Report for the 40-MHz OZ7IGY beacon

In this post, we'll look at the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark which transmits on 40.071 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2021.

Looking through the DX Summit DX-Cluster, I could only find 12 spots for the beacon on 40 MHz in 2021 and that was from just 9 stations. This is in marked contrast to the 146 spots from 16 stations in 2020.

(The 21M085 is I presume a CB station in Sweden who spotted it on the DX cluster. He was supposed to be 116km from the beacon so I made a rough assumption about his location.)

I was wondering initially if there was something wrong with the cluster as there seems to have been a large drop in DX spots in 2021.

There were no spots during the months of June, July or August which suggests to me that the beacon was off air during the Sporadic-E season. Considering I can see plenty of spots for the Irish 40 MHz beacons during the same time period, it would certainly suggest that the Danish 40 MHz was not transmitting.

The beacon itself was certainly off air while a fault in the PA stage was being repaired in September & October so perhaps it was operating with no RF output from late May 2021 until the end of August 2021??

Here are the top spotters for 2021...

# of spots for OZ7IGY/B on the DX Cluster

Curious Fact... As of the end of 2021, there are a total of about 500 spots for the OZ7IGY beacon since it first became operational on 40 MHz in 2007. Out of all of the spots, there isn't one from outside Europe. There are no double hop Sporadic-E reports. There must have been plenty of times when the 40 MHz signal was audible in North America and South Africa.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Danish OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon now back on air - Nov 2021

5th Nov 2021: Back at the end of August 2021, the OZ7IGY 8m beacon on 40.071 MHz had to be turned off due to a faulty trimmer in the power amplifier stage.

At the end of October 2021, it was turned back on after the faulty part was replaced.

It has since been reported on the DX Cluster...

 Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country

OZ1BNN-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 15:51 02 Nov PI4 16 dB Q=100 37 km Denmark
EA3ERE 40070.2 OZ7IGY/B 11:37 31 Oct JN11CX<ES>JO55WM CW-PI4 Denmark
EA3ERE 40070.2 OZ7IGY 10:21 31 Oct JN11CX<ES>JO55WN cw pi4 -5db Denmark

As can be seen from the reports, EA3ERE near Barcelona heard the beacon via Sporadic-E propagation at a distance of about 1660 kms.

The website for the beacon is here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Guest Post: Experimental reception of the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon via meteor scatter ...by S57RW

Andrej, S57RW in Slovenia left the following comment on the blog today under an old post. Rather than leaving it there largely unnoticed, I am putting it up as a short guest post.

* * *

Wednesday 5th May 2021:  Today I tried to listen to beacons on the 8m band and around 09:30 UTC, I got two bursts from OZ7IGY in Denmark. 

Both had a duration of about 10-seconds. First, I got a part of the PI4 transmission but that was not long enough to decode. After 2-3 minutes, I got a second burst and copied part of locator and final carrier.

This one was quite strong about S5 to S7 and had a typical burst and after burst. Don't know if that is the right term but it sounded like typical strong MS burst. 

It may be worth listening in the morning when there are more meteors around :) 

RIG was IC-7300 and a dipole for 8m abt. 4m high N/S direction. 73 Andrej - S57RW!

* * *

As the map shows above, S57RW is about 1200kms from the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark, an ideal distance for meteor scatter on the 40 MHz band.

Note that the Eta Aquariids meteor shower peaks on the 6th of May.

Update on the 40 MHz OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark - Jan 2021

Thanks to Ivan OZ7IS for the following update on the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz (8m).

Since the start back in 2007 the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon has been running on yearly experimental licenses based on reasoned applications. It has been increasingly difficult to come up with new good reasons every year. As a result it was off air in-between licenses. 

The last five months of 2020 it was off-air! As all 12 OZ7IGY beacons together represent an operating cost of approx. 2500 € every year the 40 MHz beacon was occasionally switched off for economic reasons. After all OZ7IGY beacons switched to the “Next Generation” platform a new problem arose: The 40 MHz beacon interfered with the microwave beacons and was therefore switched off for several periods. 

The good news is that due to changes in the regulations we have now been granted a permanent license until the end of 2035. On January 2, the beacon on 40,071 was back on air! In addition, we have solved our interference problems and found a sponsor to cover the license fee for the 40 MHz beacon. So if no other problems arise the 40 MHz beacon of OZ7IGY has now become reliable 24/7/365! 

On behalf of the OZ7IGY-team - Vy 73 de OZ7IS, Ivan.

* * *

For more information on the OZ7IGY beacons or if you would make a financial donation to them then visit their website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 8m band, see the 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Various antennas for the suite of OZ7IGY beacons

WANTED: Circulator for 40 MHz OZ7IGY beacon

 

The team that maintain the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark are currently looking for a Circulator for their 40 MHz beacon.

The Circulator must be capable of operation at 40 MHz and it must be able to handle 25 watts.

If anyone has a spare one and would like to support this group, contact the beacon team via their website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/support/

2020 Report for the 40-MHz OZ7IGY beacon

In this post, we'll look at the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark which transmits on 40.071 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 16 stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual was... 9A2SB (1), 9A6W (9), DK7UK (2), EA3ERE (13), EI3GYB (10), EI4GNB (1), EI4KP (13), EI7GL (44), EI7HBB (13), F1EIT (13), F6HTJ (4), G0LUJ (5), G7CNF (1), IK0OKY (7), ON4TA (1) & OZ1BNN (9).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 1200kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

It's interesting to look back through the years and see just how stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon each year.

The OZ7IGY beacon first became operational on 40 MHz back in 2007 and a total of 44 individual  stations spotted it on the DX cluster that year. It was probably widely reported in the amateur radio press at the time as it was a beacon for a new band and quite a few people would have been curious to see if they could hear it.

Over the next few years, the only other signal on the band was the GB3RAL beacon which was operational from 2007 to 2014. There were also times when OZ7IGY was non-operational. The lack of any other developments in countries in Europe in getting access to the band didn't help with the level of interest in the new 8-metre band. 

This finally changed in 2018 when radio amateurs in Ireland got access to the 8m band and that kicked off some renewed interest across Europe.

In 2020, 16 individual stations reported the OZ7IGY beacon on the DX Cluster, the same as 2019. The main difference was that only one OZ (Denmark) station was putting up spots in 2020 compared to six in 2019.

As for the number of individual spots for OZ7IGY on the DX cluster, this is the distribution since it started...

The number of spots for 2019 and 2020 suggests that the few who are listening on the band now are more active in contrast to 2007.

Curious Fact... As of the end of 2020, there are a total of about 500 spots for the OZ7IGY beacon since it first became operational on 40 MHz in 2007. Out of all of the spots, there isn't one from outside Europe. There are no double hop Sporadic-E reports. There must have been plenty of times when the 40 MHz signal was audible in North America and South Africa.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Report on 40 MHz activity for Mon 18th May 2020

There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening across Europe on Monday the 18th of May 2020 with strong signals being reported on all the VHF bands from 28 MHz to 70 MHz. This is a report on some of the activity on the new 40 MHz band.

1) 40 MHz Crossband contacts - Tim EI4GNB reports working crossband from 40 MHz to 28 MHz with DJ3AK (JO52GJ) at 11:22 UTC and OE3FVU (JN78VE) at 11:28 UTC. All contacts were on FT8.

The distances were roughly 1200 kms and 1700 kms respectively. Tim was also busy making more crossband contacts from the 60 MHz band, I'll put that in a separate report.

***

2) Irish 40 MHz EI1KNH Beacon - At least three stations reported reception of the Irish EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz.

a) Gintas LY2YR (KO24OS) managed to get four successful decodes of the beacon using the PI4 software.

40M 11:45 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=46 T=0,40 s F=50 Hz Carrier: F=851,6 Hz C/N=-17 dB
40M 11:46 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=60 T=0,35 s F=50 Hz Carrier: F=851,6 Hz C/N=-23 dB
40M 11:50 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-20 dB Q=36 T=0,37 s F=55 Hz Carrier: F=852,4 Hz C/N=-19 dB
40M 11:52 UTC EI1KNH PI4: S/N=-19 dB Q=20 T=0,40 s F=55 Hz Carrier: F=852,5 Hz C/N=-31 dB

The signal was quite weak at -19dB to -20dB which is understandable considering the distance is over 2,000kms.

b) Andreas DJ5AR in Germany got six successful PI4 decodes  with the signal going from =1dB to -12 dB.

c) Tom SP5MXU in Poland also reports reception of the beacon with an ICOM IC7300 and a 5 element beam for 50 MHz...

This short video clip shows reception of the EI1KNH beacon in Poland...



* * * *

3) Danish 40 MHz OZ7IGY Beacon - There were two reports of the beacon on the DX Cluster.

a) Michael EI3GYB reported reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz at 12:19 UTC.

b) And finally EI7GL! I managed to hear the Danish beacon in two separate openings. The first one I caught was roughly from 13:03 UTC to 13:54 UTC with the second shorter opening from 17:42 to 17:51 UTC.

There may have been more openings of course but this is what I heard.

Links...
1) For more information on the 40 MHz band, visit this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - May 2020

17th May 2020 - This was my first reception report of the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark on 40 MHz for May 2020. I first noticed the OZ7IGY beacon on 28 MHz and tuned to 40.071 MHz and heard nothing.

I left the room and about 30 seconds later, I could hear the unmistakable PI4 tones of the beacon as it just popped up out of the noise. 

 As the chart shows, the opening for me on 40 MHz lasted about 20 minutes.

It seems as if the Sporadic-E footprint was pretty localised as another EI station about 150 kms to the north of me couldn't hear the beacon at all.

Update: Later I noticed that my spot for the DX Cluster ended up on the PSKReporter website as well...

I'm not sure how that happened but it was interesting to see that the PSKReporter site reported it as a 40 MHz PI4 report even though there doesn't seem to be any provision to select 40 MHz as a band on the site.

Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - Wed 29th April 2020

Wednesday 29th April 2020. There was another opening on the 40 MHz band to Denmark and this was probably the best opening so far for 2020.

There was Sporadic-E on 28 MHz during the late morning to central Europe. In the early afternoon, the propagation moved north and the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz appeared.

Not long after that, the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz came up out of the noise. The PI4 decodes are shown below...

Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Sat 25th April 2020

There was a pretty intensive opening on 28 MHz on Saturday 25th of April 2020 with the MUF going up as high as 50 MHz.

After hearing the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz, I had a listen for the beacon on 40.071 MHz and it eventually came out of the noise.

These were the decodes with the PI4 programme...

40M 13:30 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-22 dB Q=64 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:31 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-1 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:32 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-12 dB Q=98 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:34 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-21 dB Q=38 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:38 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-11 dB Q=100 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:39 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-15 dB Q=78 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:40 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=0 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:41 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=6 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:16 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-16 dB Q=82 T=-0.16 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:17 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-20 dB Q=62 T=-0.15 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB

The strongest signal had a signal to noise (S/N) ratio of +6dB, the weakest -22dB.

Updated version of PI4 reception software... After a successful decode of the PI4 signal, there is the option to right click on it and spot it on the DX Cluster.

OZ7IGY Beacon website... These spots also appear on the OZ7IGY website. When I tried this a few days ago with an older version of PI4 (Ver 0.9.7.0), the spots didn't on the site. With the newer version (Ver 0.9.8.0), they do.

This is screen shot of the site showing the 28 MHz and 40 MHz spots from the 25th...

It worth noting that the various DX Clusters seem to handle the PI4 and 40 MHz spots differently.

DXWATCH DX Cluster... On the DXWATCH site, the PI4 spots sent from within the programme don't appear. The site also seems to filter out 40 MHz as it assumes it's a mistake as it isn't one of the usual bands. The spot above for 28 MHz from me was sent via the DXMaps website.

DXSUMMIT DX Cluster... On the DXSummit site, the PI4 spots appear successfully.

These are the spots on the DXSUMMIT site for OZ7IGY on the 25th of April 2020...

The spots from me shown as just 'EI7GL' are from DXMaps where I am a registered user.

The spots with 'EI7GL-@' were sent from within the PI4 programme.

Also note that EI3GYB also heard the beacon an hour later later at a location further north.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon and the PI4 can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - Tues 21st April 2020

There was a good Sporadic-E opening on Tuesday the 21st of April 2020 with three stations reporting reception of the  OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark on 40.071 MHz.

The screenshot above is from the DXMaps website which has a special page for 40 MHz reports.

Considering the low level of activity on the 40 MHz band, this page is normally blank so it was unusual today to see three traces on it!

These are some of the 40 MHz spots from the DX-Cluster...

EI7GL-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 13:12 21 Apr PI4 -6 dB Q=98 (es) Denmark
G7CNF 40071.0 OZ7IGY/B 12:39 21 Apr 559 Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40070.0 OZ7IGY 12:20 21 Apr PI4 -4 dB Q=100 (es) Denmark
EI7GL 40070.0 OZ7IGY/B 12:19 21 Apr IO51TUJO55WM Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40070.0 OZ7IGY 12:15 21 Apr PI4 -3 dB Q=100 Denmark
EI7HBB 40071.0 OZ7IGY 11:43 21 Apr Denmark
EI7HBB 40071.0 OZ7IGY/B 11:36 21 Apr 539 Denmark

Lloyd, EI7HBB was the first to spot the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz at 11:36 UTC.

I came across the 28 MHZ version of the beacon at 12:01 UTC during a scan of the band. As the 10-metre signal was strong, I then had a listen on 40 MHz and sure enough, the 8-metre beacon was audible. I spotted it on the cluster at 12:15 UTC.

The distance from the beacon is about 1350 kms for Lloyd and 1390 kms for me.

At 12:39 UTC, G7CNF spotted the  beacon from the south-west of England.

The PI4 in the cluster spot refers to the PI4 software which decodes the OZ7IGY signal which alternates between giving out its ID in morse and in PI4.

The amazing thing about the PI4 software is that it can hear the signal buried in the noise. At one stage, it decoded a -18dB signal and I could hear nothing.

More information about this beacon and the PI4 software can be found on the OZ7IGY website.

This is a screen shot of the PI4 software...

Reception reports for the Danish 40 MHz beacon OZ7IGY - 2017, 2018 & 2019

The Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz is at the time of writing (April 2020) the only operational beacon on the amateur 8-metre band.

While there have been some gaps in its operation over the last three years, this blog post is a record of who posted reception reports on the DX Cluster.

2017... The OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz was only spotted by these stations in Denmark... OZ2M, OZ5XN, OZ8ZS, OZ2PBS, OZ1QX, OZ1BNN & OZ1DJJ

2018... In 2018, some stations outside of Denmark posted reception reports on the DX Cluster...

Call < > Locator
EI3GYB < > IO53OT
EI7GL < > IO51TU
F5DQK < > JN18GR
F6HTJ < > JN12KQ
OZ1BNN < > JO55PM
OZ5XN < > JO65GQ

2019... In 2019, there was an increase in the number of reception reports...

Call < > Locator

EI3GYB < > IO53OT

EI7GL < > IO51TU
EI7HBB < > IO53SQ
EI8DJ < > IO51UT
EI9KP < > IO54MB
F6ACU < > JN38FC
IK7LMX < > JN80XP
LY2YR < > KO24OS
OE3EMC < > JN78JO
OH5IY < > KP31JK
OZ1BNN < > JO55PM
OZ1DJJ < > JO55HP
OZ1MFP < > JO55SK
OZ1QX < > JO65FQ
OZ5XN < > JO65GQ
OZ7AMG < > JO55KR

As the map shows, there was a marked increase in the number of reports from Ireland which is obviously due to the fact that there is now an allocation there for the new 40 MHz band.

Propagation... All of the reception reports outside of Denmark for 2018 and 2019 are in the range of 800 kms to 1800 kms. This is pretty typical of a Sporadic-E opening on the band.

It should be possible for anyone in Europe in that range to hear this beacon during Sporadic-E openings in May, June and July.

Dx Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Danish 40 MHz beacon heard in Ireland - Sun 9th June 2019

There was a good Sporadic-E opening on Sunday the 9th of June 2019 with both Phil EI9KP and myself managing to hear the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon in Denmark.

The distance from the beacon is about 1345 kms for Phil and 1390 kms for me.

The screenshot above is from the DXMaps website which has a special page for 40 MHz reports.

Considering the low level of activity on the 40 MHz band, this page is normally blank so it was unusual today to see two traces on it!

These are some of the spots from the DX-Cluster...

EI7GL-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 11:37 09 Jun PI4 -19 dB Q=44 es Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 11:26 09 Jun PI4 -14 dB Q=64 es Denmark
EI9KP 40071.0 OZ7IGY 10:53 09 Jun IO54MB ES JO55WM S9 PI4 +20dB Denmark
EI7GL-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 10:31 09 Jun PI4 -8 dB Q=100 (es) Denmark
EI7GL 40071.0 OZ7IGY/B 10:21 09 Jun IO51TU ES JO55WM 8m bcn Denmark
EI9KP-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 10:08 09 Jun PI4 20 dB Q=100 1345 km es Denmark

The PI4 in the cluster spot refers to the PI4 software which decodes the OZ7IGY signal which alternates between giving out its ID in morse and in PI4.

The amazing thing about the PI4 software is that it can hear the signal buried in the noise. When I uploaded my last spot, it was -19dB and I couldn't actually hear the signal but the PI4 software was able to dig it out of the noise.

More information about this beacon and the PI4 software can be found on the OZ7IGY website.

Danish OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon back on air... May 2019

Back in March of 2019, I had a post up about how OZ7IGY in Denmark was off-air for the foreseeable future.

Well now it is back on again!

On the 26th of May 2019, the keepers of the beacon network released the following...

"40 MHz on air and intermittent NMEA loss solved – 2019-05-26

The 40 MHz beacon is back into service.

OZ1BNN, OZ2M and OZ7IS"

The OZ7IGY beacon operates on 40.071 MHz.

Tip! The 10-metre version of the beacon operates on 28.271 MHz. If you can hear that at a good signal strength then there is a chance you might hear the 40 MHz one as well.

If you hear it then be sure to put it up on the DX Cluster to raise the profile and awareness of the new 8-metre band.

OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon off air for foreseeable future

On the 1st of January 2019, it was announced that the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz was off air while it was awaiting a renewal of its licence.

On the 15th of March 2019, it was announced that the beacon was going to remain off for the foreseeable future.

From the OZ7IGY website.....
"40 MHz operation suspended – 2019-03-15. The operation has been suspended due to operating and licensing costs. The future of the beacon is unknown at least for the time being....OZ2M."

This is significant as it was actually the only beacon in the world that was operational on the 40 MHz band.

With the Sporadic-E season only weeks away and the increasing interest in the band, it would have been great to have something on the band for propagation tests.

Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Fri 6th July 2018

Both 28 MHz and 50 MHz were wide open on Friday the 6th of July 2018 with plenty of strong Sporadic-E signals on the bands. One of the best things about monitoring FT8 signals on 28 MHz is that I can get a very good idea of where the band is open to.

Since I started listening in mid-May, the 28 MHz band has been open every day but openings from Ireland to Denmark are the exception rather than the norm. Openings from Ireland to the South to Spain / Portugal or the South-East to Italy/Germany seem a lot more common.

Today was an exception and as soon as I saw FT8 spots from near Copenhagen on 28 MHz, I listened on 40.071 MHz for the OZ7IGY beacon.  As can be see from the decoded PI4 spots below, I was hearing the 40 MHz beacon from about 13:20 UTC till 21:00 UTC with some gaps.

The 40 MHz signal was never that strong although my use of an indoor 50 MHz antenna probably has a lot to do with that.

This is currently the only signal in Europe on the 40 MHz band.

OZ7IGY beacon decodes below... (Signals stronger than -10dB sigal to noise ratio in bold)