George, PU7MAN on his FM DX Brasil Twitter account reports a 4,200km opening recently on the FM Band 2 between Africa and Brazil.
The station in question was the 8-Kilowatt transmitter of Radio Cote D'Ivoire near the capital Abidijan on 88.0 MHz. According to the FM DX Brasil account, the signal was heard at a remote receiving station at Nova Russas in the state of Ceará in the NE of Brazil.
The equipment used for the reception was an Airspy Mini SDR receiver with a 3-element Yagi for the FM band.
The signal was heard at 23:30 UTC. The Twitter post was on the 15th of November 2023 so it was perhaps at the same time as the reception?
Propagation Mode???... Nova Russas is located about 200kms or so from the Atlantic Ocean and isn't on the coast. I suspect it wasn't a form of tropo ducting as this is an area of low pressure systems at the equator and the distance was over 4000kms.
The propagation mode wasn't TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) as the path ran almost parallel to the Geomagnetic Equator (E-W) and not across it (N-S).
There are some remarkable reception reports across South America on the FM band and some people attribute these to Spread-F. Was it that?
There is an audio clip embedded in this Twitter post...
RTI - 88.0 - Abidjan /COTE D'IVOIRE AFRICA
— FM DX Brasil (@FMDXBrasil) November 15, 2023
Airspy Mini
Yagi 3 elems / Remote Location / Nova Russas/Ce/ Brazil
23:30 UTC pic.twitter.com/flPUtKLHmc
At his home location in Sorbal, PU7MAN recorded this audio clip on the 14th of November 2023 after 23:00 UTC using a Kenwood BT3012u radio withe a Triax FM8s antenna...
Link...
1) For more examples of long range reception reports on the FM band, see my 88-108 MHz page.
