21,000km long path opening on 50 MHz between Australia & the Canary Islands - 15th March 2022

At the start of March 2022, I reported on how there was some 18,000km plus openings on the 50 MHz band between New Zealand and the Canary Islands. See previous post HERE.

About a week later on the 15th of March 2022, this distance was exceeded when there was a long path opening on 50 MHz between the east coast of Australia and the Canary Islands. The distance on this occasion was an amazing 21,100 kms!

I'm a little bit late with the post as I've been busy but it's worth highlighting that it happened. There is no shortage of long distance openings on the 50 MHz band at the moment but these tend to be mostly North-South and TEP related.

It's easy to just look at the map and so what? But remember this was at 50 MHz, a VHF band and not down on the HF bands where long path openings are pretty common.

It looks as if FT8 was used by most stations for the opening. The partial screen grab above shows the contact between EA8TL on Tenerife and VK4MA near Brisbane.

Amazingly, Jorge EA8TL was using just a Hexbeam for the contact and he was beaming towards the Caribbean.

The opening wasn't confined to just VK4MA and EA8TL. These are some of the spots from the DX-Cluster.

EA8DO 50313 VK4HJ 21:55 14 Mar 22 ft8 Australia
EA8DO 50313 VK4MA 21:43 14 Mar 22 ft8 Australia
EA8DO 50313 VK4QG 21:43 14 Mar 22 ft8 Australia
EA8TL 50313 VK4MA 21:42 14 Mar 22 ft8 Australia

Propagation Mode??? ...It's probably no accident that all stations involved in the opening were no more than 25 degrees or so from the equator. Radio propagation at these latitudes reaches much higher frequencies than for those located much further north or south.

It's highly likely that a large part of the path was due to chordal mode without the signal hitting the ground.

As for how much of the signal was due to F2? Sp-E? TEP?

Just for the record, the solar flux on the day was 110.

Opening on 50 MHz from Australia & New Zealand to Europe - Sat 19th June 2021

Saturday 19th June 2021: Yet another day of openings on the 50 MHz band between Australia and Europe and there doesn't seem to be a clear answer as to why this is happening. We have just moved past the bottom of the sunspot cycle and yet we are seeing almost daily 15,000km+ openings on a VHF band.

I'll outline what I have found on the 19th of June so that there is a record of it.

* * *

The 19th was different from previous days in that some VK3 stations in the SE corner of Australia managed to get in on the action.

This is the maps for VK3OT...

FT8 paths for VK3OT...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
IW5DHN VK3OT 6m FT8 15925 km 05:55:14
IK0FTA VK3OT 6m FT8 15737 km 05:48:44
S57RR VK3OT 6m FT8 15708 km 04:56:14
VK3OT S57RR 6m FT8 15708 km 04:54:29
I6WJB VK3OT 6m FT8 15612 km 05:18:14
VK3OT IZ8VYU 6m FT8 15568 km 05:33:29
S59A VK3OT 6m FT8 15552 km 05:00:44
VK3OT OG3G 6m FT8 15199 km 04:25:29
VK3OT SV1DH 6m FT8 14675 km 05:17:30

* * * 

This is the FT8 map for VK3DUT...

The paths for VK3DUT seem to be somewhat earlier than for VK3OT for whatever reason.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
S59A VK3DUT 6m FT8 15993 km 04:30:11
SP4K VK3DUT 6m FT8 15675 km 04:31:14
HG2DX VK3DUT 6m FT8 15670 km 04:32:11
YL2GD VK3DUT 6m FT8 15256 km 04:24:56
UR3EO VK3DUT 6m FT8 14617 km 04:34:11

* * * 

Paths for VK3BD, VK2WTF & VK5PJ

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
S59A VK3BD 6m FT8 15828 km 04:30:14
HG2DX VK3BD 6m FT8 15505 km 04:33:14

VK2WTF
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
S59A 6m FT8 15158 km 04:30:14

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK5PJ OH2BU 6m FT8 14623 km 04:08:31
UX1UA VK5PJ 6m FT8 14164 km 03:56:41
UT5UGR VK5PJ 6m FT8 14135 km 03:56:44

* * *

VK4MA on the east coast of Australia had the advantage of being further north and had an opening to Europe as well...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
I6WJB VK4MA 6m FT8 15804 km 05:36:14
IZ7NLJ VK4MA 6m FT8 15617 km 05:03:14
IZ7DPB VK4MA 6m FT8 15553 km 05:01:14
VK4MA E72U 6m FT8 15386 km 04:53:59
E72U VK4MA 6m FT8 15386 km 04:42:44
Z37CXY VK4MA 6m FT8 15205 km 04:43:44
VK4MA UT4XU 6m FT8 14558 km 04:37:59
VK4MA UT2XQ 6m FT8 14524 km 04:49:29
UT7UJ VK4MA 6m FT8 14439 km 05:16:14
UX1UA VK4MA 6m FT8 14436 km 05:14:44
VK4MA UX1UA 6m FT8 14436 km 04:49:27
UY5ZZ VK4MA 6m FT8 14429 km 04:41:44
UX4UA VK4MA 6m FT8 14426 km 04:57:44
UT5UGR VK4MA 6m FT8 14415 km 05:10:14
VK4MA US5CCO 6m FT8 14328 km 04:50:11
US5CCO VK4MA 6m FT8 14328 km 04:43:14
UR3EO VK4MA 6m FT8 14115 km 04:42:14
UT7QF VK4MA 6m FT8 14112 km 05:01:44
UT9EZ VK4MA 6m FT8 14109 km 05:02:44
UR5LAK VK4MA 6m FT8 13972 km 04:41:14
UR0MC VK4MA 6m FT8 13870 km 04:21:44

* * *

The best distance for VK4HJ was slightly longer at 15,871 kms....

VK4HJ
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
I6WJB 6m FT8 15871 km 04:31:14
E72U 6m FT8 15457 km 05:04:14
UX1UA 6m FT8 14515 km 04:42:44
UY5ZZ 6m FT8 14508 km 04:43:14
UT5UGR 6m FT8 14494 km 04:29:14
US5CCO 6m FT8 14405 km 04:43:14
UR3EO 6m FT8 14190 km 05:02:14
UR7EU 6m FT8 14190 km 04:44:44
UT7QF 6m FT8 14186 km 04:14:44
UT9EZ 6m FT8 14184 km 04:39:44
R6KA 6m FT8 14127 km 04:50:14
UR5LAK 6m FT8 14049 km 04:41:14
UR0MC 6m FT8 13946 km 04:47:14

* * *

VK4WTN also was heard in Europe...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4WTN Z37CXY 6m FT8 15201 km 04:41:56
VK4WTN UX1UA 6m FT8 14431 km 04:41:57

* * *

To finish off the Australia tour, just one European station was heard by VK6KXW on the west coast...

VK6KXW
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

IW5DHN 6m FT8 13630 km 05:45:44

* * *

New Zealand: The longest path of the day was 18,144 kms from ZL3RC in New Zealand to S59A in Slovenia.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
S59A ZL3RC 6m FT8 18144 km 04:41:44

The map above also highlights one of the problems with FT8 and the PSK Reporter website. It might seem at first glance as if there is a multi-hop path from Slovenia to Australia with stations like T6AA and 9M2TO spaced at roughly 4500 km intervals.

The 'problem' with the PSK Reporter site is that it only shows the last reception report for an individual station, you can't see the earlier reports. This is especially true if you do searches covering several hours like I did. Paths to stations on a map can be at completely different times and you need to be careful not to make assumptions based on just an initial view.

I have included a long list of the FT8 reports for S59A at the end of the post if anyone wants to examine them.

* * *

DX-Cluster: The spots on the DX Cluster suggest that all of the activity was on FT8...

Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
S57RR 50313.0 VK3OT 04:58 19 Jun -16 into JN65>QF12 Tnx steve! Australia
UX1UA-@ 50313.0 VK4MA 04:53 19 Jun TNX Australia

Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country

VK6KXW-@ 50315.2 IW5DHN 06:36 19 Jun FT8 13622km OF87<>JN53 -18dB JTDX Italy
VK3OT-@ 50315.0 SV1DH 05:17 19 Jun km27<ft8>qf12 1ST vk3 sv1 Greece
VK3OT-@ 50313.0 S59A 05:02 19 Jun CQ JN76<>QF12 FT8 Slovenia
VK3OT-@ 50314.0 S57RR 05:01 19 Jun Tnx QSO FT8 Slovenia
VK3OT-@ 50313.0 E72U 05:00 19 Jun calling u Bosnia-Herzegovina
ZL3RC 50313.0 S59A 04:44 19 Jun -16 calling CQ Slovenia
VK3OT-@ 50314.0 OG3G 04:32 19 Jun KP00 callin you Finland
ZL3RC 50313.0 UR0MC 04:28 19 Jun -12 rx only Ukraine
VK3DUT-@ 50313.0 YL2GD 04:26 19 Jun -17 rx only Latvia
VK3OT-@ 50313.0 UT5UGR 04:24 19 Jun KO50 FT8 calling u Ukraine
VK3DUT-@ 50313.0 S59A 04:23 19 Jun -15 rx only Slovenia

FT8 reports for S59A which shows the times of the openings to Japan and Australia / New Zealand. All single hop stations of under 2,300 kms have been omitted...

50 MHz opening from Australia to Europe - 1st June 2021

 

Tuesday 1st June 2021: Yet another opening on 50 MHz from Australia to Europe but this one was perhaps not as good as previous days.

Update: Roger, VK3FZ reports that he made a successful contact with OZ3K in Denmark.
VK3FZ to OZ3K on 50.315283 in FT8 at 2021-06-01 05:42:00Z (OZ: Denmark)
Sent -21, Received -15
Antenna: 6-element LFA Yagi

A list of paths to Europe is shown below...

Another 50 MHz opening between Australia & Europe - Mon 31st May 2021

Following on from the weak opening on the 29th of May, there was another 50 MHz opening between Europe and Australia on Monday the 31st of May 2021.

The above map from the PSK Reporter website shows the almost 15,000km path that was open for VK4MA on the east coast of Australia.

SP4K 6m FT8 14993 km 07:43:30
LY2BAW 6m FT8 14683 km 07:46:59

***

There was a much bigger opening from VK4ABW on the north coast but he is also quite a bit closer with distances just over 12,000kms.

VK4ABW SM7CAD 6m FT8 12650 km 09:11:56
VK4ABW YL2CZ 6m FT8 12300 km 09:11:59
VK4ABW OG3G 6m FT8 12228 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW OH1MN 6m FT8 12199 km 08:44:29
VK4ABW OG2A 6m FT8 12147 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW LY2BAW 6m FT8 12144 km 08:46:57
VK4ABW OH7KM 6m FT8 12113 km 08:22:30
VK4ABW YL2II 6m FT8 12104 km 09:12:59
VK4ABW OH3SR 6m FT8 12091 km 08:22:26
VK4ABW YL2CP 6m FT8 12090 km 09:11:59
OH3JR VK4ABW 6m FT8 12081 km 08:36:44
VK4ABW ES5PC 6m FT8 11999 km 08:44:59

***

The longest paths came from the south-east of Australia. VK3OT was hearing the Ukraine.

UR5LAK VK3OT 6m FT8 14102 km 05:57:11
UR0MC VK3OT 6m FT8 13989 km 06:02:11

***

The longest path seems to have been between VK3ZL and SP4K in Poland at 15,459kms

SP4K VK3ZL 6m FT8 15459 km 05:20:44
UR0MC VK3ZL 6m FT8 14163 km 06:41:44

***

Propagation Mode: We're back to the same question again... How do 50 MHz signals from Europe reach Australia near the bottom of the sunspot cycle?

The easy 'go to' answer was that it was multi-hop Sporadic-E, case closed. 

The problem I'm starting to have with this is down to probabilities. 

Take SP4K in Poland. What are the chances of one hop Sp-E in the direction of Australia capable of supporting a 50 MHz signal? It's late May, it's the Summer Sp-E season so it's pretty high. 

Two hops?... What is the probability of getting two Sp-E regions spaced at just the right distance to allow a double hop at 50MHz? The probability is obviously lower.

Follow that same logic and apply it to 3 hops, 4 hops and so on. By the time we get to 15,459kms, we're probably looking at 8 hops. 

What is the probability of getting eight Sporadic-E clouds capable of supporting 50 MHz spaced at just the right distance from each other... all the way from Europe to Australia?

And if that probability wasn't low enough, what then is the probability of 8 hop Sp-E on 50 MHz from Europe to Australia on two out of three days?

I think the probability is now so low that there must be some other answer. Perhaps TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) from Australia to China accounts for a large part of it? Some other propagation mode?

I'm not sure the simple 'It must be multi-hop Sporadic-E' adds up anymore.