Recent 5000km+ TEP contacts made on 144 MHz by LU1DL in Buenos Aires

Recently on the blog, I had several posts about some remarkable Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) contacts made on 144 MHz between stations in the Caribbean and South America. Most of these were in the region of 5000 to 6000 kms. See my 144 MHz page for a list of posts. 

Gabriel, LU1DL in Buenos Aires has kindly sent on some information about his 144 MHz TEP contacts during the months of November & December 2020 and it's interesting to see what can be worked from someone on the southern end of the TEP path.

You'll notice that all of the TEP contacts that LU1DL made were at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator.

Here is the log from Gabriel...

What's interesting is that while stations in Argentina were able to work the Dominican Republic (HI8), Curacao (PJ2) and Aruba (P4) on 144 MHz, stations in the south of Brazil were working the likes of Martinique (FM) and Guadeloupe (FG) in the western Caribbean. The paths were parallel to the paths from Argentina as they were also perpendicular to the Geomagnetic Equator.

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.

Equipment... For these 5000-6000km contacts on 144 MHz, LU1DL was running 180 watts into a single 10-element Yagi with a 5m boom.

This is the antenna system for P41E in Aruba...

HI8DL in the Dominican Republic...

Video... Have a listen to this TEP contact on 144 MHz and note the distortion on the audio...

Links...
1) A list of long distance contacts made on 2-metres can be seen on my 144 MHz page.