TEP opening on 40 MHz between South Africa and Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: This seemed like a particularly good day for TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) with signals on the 40 MHz (8m) and 50 MHz (6m) from South Africa reaching Europe. In this post, we'll just look at the 40 MHz opening.

The map above shows the reports from the DX-Cluster with several stations across the south of Europe hearing Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz.

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
SV8CS 40675.0 ZS6WAB 14:04 23 Oct FT8 Beacon South Africa
I0YLI 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:28 23 Oct JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB Calling CQ . South Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:18 23 Oct JN11CX<ES>KG46 +2db cq South Africa
IZ0CBD 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:00 23 Oct JN61FP<TEP>KG46RB Rx 589 South Africa
IK0OKY 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:52 23 Oct JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 South Africa

Most of the distances seem to be in the region of 7000-8000kms.

SV2DCD in Greece and 9H1TX on Malta also report hearing ZS6WAB.

Report 1: Francesco, IZ0CBD in JN61FP near Rome reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz with a Kenwood TS2000 transceiver and a 6-element Yagi for the 50 MHz band.

Here is a nice video from Francesco showing his reception of the 8m beacon...

Report 2: Emilio, IK0OKY writes to say that he and Pino, IK0SMG both heard ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz from JN61 Square. IK0OKY writes... "Signals were very good with peaks up to 559 on a FT 847 and 2 element quad fractal antenna for the 6 meter band. Pino uses an IC7300 plus a 2 el HB9CV for 6m as well. After a nice 50 Mhz opening to South Africa and Namibia took place as well with ZS6 and V51 stations coming in."

Video 1 from IK0SMG shows how strong the signal was...

Video 2 from IK0OKY shows reception of the 8m beacon on a Yaesu FT-847...

Propagation Mode: It seems to be assumed that the propagation mode for these low band VHF signals near the bottom of the sunspot cycle are TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). However as the solar flux rises, there will be a stage where North-South paths on the low VHF bands are possible via F2 layer propagation.

Considering this opening reached 50 MHz as well, I suspect it was due to TEP but as the solar flux rises, I don't think we can always assume it is. It could well be that paths that cross the equator like this will be a mixture of both.

Links...

1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE

First contact between Slovenia and South Africa on the new 40 MHz band - 17th Oct 2021

Sunday 17th October 2021: A little bit of radio history was made today when there was a successful two way contact between S50B in Slovenia and ZS6WAB in South Africa on the new 40 MHz band.

Not only was this the first contact between Slovenia and South Africa but it was also the first contact between Europe and Africa on the new 8-metre band.

Borut, S50B reports that he worked Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 digital mode...

As can be seen, the signal was quite weak at -8dB and -10dB which suggests that a contact on CW might have been possible but unlikely on SSB.

S50B writes... "I'd like to announce the first 8m, 40mhz, FT8 qso between AF-EU and South Africa and Slovenia. Mny tnx to ZS6WAB.....Juupii 🙂 73 de Borut s50b"

The key point about this contact is that it shows the 40 MHz path between Europe and South Africa is possible and in future, CW and SSB contacts may follow.

Distance: The contact was in the region of 7925kms which means by default, it also sets a new distance record for the new 40 MHz band.

Propagation Mode: If this contact was on 50 MHz, I'd probably be saying it was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. At the moment, we're getting modest East-West openings at 28 MHz further north in Europe. It stands to reason that openings from the south of Europe on paths to the South must extend well up into the low VHF region above 30 MHz.

Does the F2 MUF to the south extend up as far as 40 MHz? I really don't believe anyone can say with 100% certainty that this opening was only F2 layer or it was only TEP. The solar flux today was just 78 which isn't all that high.

Equipment: Subject to confirmation, I think S50B was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-7100 into a 4-element Yagi as shown above. 

ZS6WAB uses an old ICOM IC-706 for the 8m CW beacon with a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi so I presume that is what was used.

Antenna stack at ZS6WAB with the 40 MHz Yagi at the top

Hopefully, this contact will encourage more experiments on the 40 MHz band. There is a number of new 40 MHz experimental stations in the USA and an 8m contact contact between South Africa and North America would be really interesting.

As always, if you want more information on the new 8m band then check out the links in my 40 MHz page.

South African activity on the 40 MHz (8m) band in 2015

In April of 2015, radio amateurs in South Africa were allocated a 10 kHz wide sliver of spectrum in the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band. The allocation goes from 40.475 MHz to 40.685 MHz which is in the middle of the 40 MHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific & Medical) band. They were also allowed a very generous output power level of 26dBW or 400 watts.

Tropo... On the 16th of August 2015, Ian Roberts, ZS6BTE, and Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB made the first ZS to ZS contact on the 40 MHz band over a distance of around 285 kms. 

FIRST ZS TO ZS CONTACT ON 8 Meters ( 40 MHz )

“In his telephone conversation Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, informed us about the first-ever ZS to ZS contact on 40,675 MHz. It was made on Sunday 16 August 2015 between Ian Roberts, ZS6BTE, at Johannesburg and Willem at Polokwame using FSK441 and covering 288 km. ZS6WAB is equipped with a 3 element Yagi and 100 Watts. They are both looking for other ZS contacts.“

ZS6BTE was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-746 into a 3-element Yagi on a 6m pole. It is believed that the propagation mode was troposcatter.

An attempt was made to make a contact on SSB but this was unsuccessful.

 *****

Meteor Scatter... On the 6th of September 2015, Andre Botes, ZS2ACP, in Port Elizabeth worked Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, at Polokwane on 40.682 MHz FSK441 via meteor scatter.

The distance for the meteor scatter contact was 1184 kms.

* * *

Back in 2015, South Africa was the first country to allow radio amateurs to communicate on the 40 MHz band. While there was permission for beacons in the UK, Denmark and Slovenia, there was no permission for individuals to transmit.

In 2018, radio amateurs in Ireland were given permission to transmit on 40 MHz and this has sparked a lot of new interest in the band in Europe.

Hopefully in the years ahead as the sunspot numbers improve, successful contacts will be made between Europe and South Africa.

Links...
1) ZS6BTE website

South African ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz

While most of the activity and interest in the new 8-metre amateur radio band is in Europe, it's worth remembering that since 2015, there has been a small 10 kHz allocation in South Africa which goes from 40.675 to 40.685 MHz.

Willem, ZS6WAB in South Africa operates a number of beacons on several VHF bands including one on 40.675 MHz. An old ICOM IC-706 is used for the CW beacon and the antenna is a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi.

The 8m antenna is at the top of this stack

The map below shows the location of ZS6WAB in the NE corner of South Africa in the locator square KG46RB.

Considering that the ZS6WAB beacon in located in the NE of South Africa, it should easily be heard in the SW of the country via Sporadic-E propagation.

Outside of South Africa, it's a long way to any other potential activity area. The best path is probably via Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) to Europe. Even though it's in the region of 8000 kms, the beacon will almost certainly be heard in Europe and it's just a case of getting people to listen and report it.

There is also potential multi-hop Sporadic-E paths to Western Australia and South America but again, it's a case of someone being interested enough to listen.

At the peak of the upcoming sunspot cycle, the 40 MHz beacon may well be heard quite easily on multiple continents including North America.

Even though this beacon has been operational for some time, there have been no reports of it on the DX Cluster outside of South Africa as of February 2021. Hopefully this post might encourage a few more people to have a listen.

***

The ZS6WAB beacon is also operational on 28.205 MHz, 50.025 MHz, 70.025 MHz, 144.400 MHz and 432.446 MHz.

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

3000km plus contact made on 433 MHz from St.Helena to South Africa - 16th Oct 2020

On the 16th of October 2020, there was a remarkable 3000+ km contact made on the 70cms band between South Africa and St.Helena in the South Atlantic.

The contact at 433 MHz was made between Garry, ZD7GWM on St.Helena Island and Tom, ZS1TA in South Africa. The distance was approximately 3136 kms and what was even more amazing was that the contact was made on FM!

The power used for the contact was a modest 35 watts into a vertical antenna. This was a new distance record for a contact between South Africa and St.Helena on the 70cms band.

The mode of propagation was probably a marine duct as shown by this tropo forecast map from Pascal, F5LEN.

This 3000km+ tropo path between South Africa and St.Helena opens up on a reasonably regular basis. Back in November of 2018, there was an opening on 144 MHz as outlined in this previous post.

In June of 2020, the 2m path opened up again and the most recent opening on 2-metres was on the 23rd of September 2020 when ZD7GWM was worked by no fewer than five ZS stations... ZS1TA, ZS3CVB, ZS1CF, ZS3JPY and ZS1FC.

To put these remarkable contacts on 144 MHz and 433 MHz into context, the 3136 km distance is equivalent to the path across the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and Ireland.

Link...

1) Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre: ZS1TA & ZD7GWM Set New 70cm Distance Record - 16 Oct '20

Example of BBC TV signal at 45 MHz being heard in South Africa

The BBC recently released this old television clip from 1949 explaining how an amateur radio station in Cape Town, South Africa had received TV signals from the UK.

#OnThisDay 1949: England and South Africa were linked through the magic of radio. pic.twitter.com/BpTODBlaRZ

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) October 6, 2019

The map below shows the path which is about 9,700kms or 6,000 miles...

The TV transmitter mentioned in the video was a 405 line transmission from Alexandra Palace in North London. This was vertically polarised with a power of 500 kilowatts (ERP?).

This TV signal had a video carrier on 45.0 MHz and a sound carrier down at 41.5 MHz.

The reception report in 1949 was near the peak of solar cycle 18. As can be seen from the chart below, that was a really good sunspot cycle and conditions were probably excellent on all the HF bands and well up into the low VHF region.

The most likely mode of propagation at 45 MHz was probably multi-hop from the F2 layer in the ionosphere. The maximum usable frequency was probably above 50 MHz so the signals on 45 MHz should have been very good.

It's likely however that with a video signal spread out over three and a half megahertz, the picture was probably very distorted and constantly changing. It should have been possible however to have very good reception of the sound on AM on 41.5 MHz with a dedicated radio receiver.

The radio contact shown in the clip between G8IG in England and ZS1PK in Cape Town, South Africa was probably on 28 MHz AM (note the beam at the start of the clip).

The South African station mentioned that signal were better when things were calm which might infer some sort of tropo ducting. That is unlikely to have been the case as it was very probable that all propagation was via the ionosphere and the weather conditions would have no impact.

All the same, it's an interesting example of early low band VHF TV reception.