First contact between Croatia (9A) and Slovenia (S5) on 40 MHz - 26th Jan 2021

The very first contact between Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia on the new 40 MHz (8m) amateur band took place on the 26th of January 2021. This comes just two weeks after the very first 40 MHz contact between Croatia (9A) and Ireland (EI).

Using the FT8 digital mode, Patrik 9A5CW completed a successful QSO with Ivo, S59F over an hilly 70km path.

The screenshot above from S59F shows the FT8 contact with the signal from 9A5CW being in the region of -7dB to -8dB. This suggests that while the signal levels were too weak for say a SSB voice contact, a marginal CW or a solid FT8 contact was possible.

The contact took place on 40.680 MHz which is in the centre of the 40 MHz ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

Patrik 9A5CW said that he was using an ICOM IC-706 Mk2 running 10 watts into an inverted L vertical antenna for the 60 metre band (5 MHz). S59F was using an ICOM IC-7300 and a HF vertical with very good vswr on 40MHz.

9A5CW also conducted tests over a 70km path with S50B using the JT9 digital mode. While S50B heard a -22dB signal, there was no contact in this case.

Links...

1) 40 MHz page on this blog

40 MHz signals from Slovenia heard in Croatia - 20th Dec 2020

 

Back the start of December 2020, I had a post up about how radio amateurs in Croatia were now able to get permission to use the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band.... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2020/12/new-activity-from-croatia-on-40-mhz-dec.html

Interest continues to grow and tests have been done with stations in neighbouring Slovenia.

On the 20th of December 2020, Toni 9A2WB successfully received FT8 signals from Ivo S59F on 40.680 MHz.

This frequency is in the centre of the 40 kHz wide Industrial, Scientific & Medical (ISM) band at 40 MHz.

The signal between the two stations was in the region of 243kms over a very obstructed path. While the signals were weak and buried in the noise, they did seem to be consistent at about -16 to -19dB.

While this was a one way reception report on this occasion, it does bode well for a successful two way contact between the two countries in the near future.

More information about the new 8-metre band can be seen on my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

First Slovenia to Slovenia contact on 40 MHz - 9th Aug 2020

On the 9th of August 2020 at 10:14 UTC, Borut S50B and Ivo S59F managed to complete a contact on 40.680 MHz for the first contact on the new 8-metre band between two Slovenian stations.

Even though the distance between each of the stations was only about 20 kms, this was over a very poor path with a lot of high ground in the way. Signal reports of 5/3 and 5/5 were exchanged on SSB.

For this first S5 to S5 contact on 40 MHz, S59F was using an ICOM IC-7300 with 100 watts into a dual band 50 MHz / 70 MHz Yagi. It's probably safe to assume that this antenna had no gain on 40 MHz so would be no better than a dipole for the band.

S50B was also running 100 watts from an ICOM IC-7100 but into a dedicated SIRIO vertical for 8-metres.

Even though the Slovenian licencing authorities allocated a slice of spectrum at 8-metres back in 1998, it's only in 2020 that S5 stations have started up on the band. This is largely in response to the new 8-metre allocations in Ireland and Lithuania.

S50B had already worked EI4GNB and LY2YR for S5 firsts at 40 MHz so the contact with S59F was his third first for the band.

As can be seen below, the 8-metre allocation in Slovenia is from 40.660 to 40.700 MHz, the exact same as the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) band.