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...

16,000km+ opening on 50 MHz from Australia to the Canary Islands - 2nd June 2021

Wednesday 2nd June 2021: Another day and yet another opening on 50 MHz between Europe and Australia. 

The longest path on the day however seems to have been between VK4ABW in Darwin on the north coast of Australia and EA8DBM on the island of Tenerife in the Canaries. The 50 MHz path which was on the FT8 mode works out to be around 16,220kms.

Just to put that in perspective, that's the same distance from Darwin to the Great Lakes in North America.

As the map shows above, the 50 MHz was also open to Europe and it managed to open up to G7RAU in the far south-west of England as well.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4ABW EA8DBM 6m FT8 16221 km 08:04:59
VK4ABW G7RAU 6m FT8 14234 km 07:09:27
VK4ABW OG2A 6m FT8 12147 km 07:56:45
VK4ABW LY2BAW 6m FT8 12144 km 08:47:42
VK4ABW LY2IJ 6m FT8 12094 km 07:32:29
VK4ABW YL2CP 6m FT8 12090 km 07:03:29
VK4ABW ES6RQ 6m FT8 12047 km 07:02:59
YL2GD VK4ABW 6m FT8 11984 km 06:59:44
UR5LAK VK4ABW 6m FT8 11332 km 08:59:44
VK4ABW UR0MC 6m FT8 11224 km 08:13:59
UT4MF VK4ABW 6m FT8 11166 km 08:38:14

* * * 

VK8MS in Darwin also heard EA8DBM but nothing from Europe.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
EA8DBM 6m FT8 16234 km 08:03:44

* * *

VK6KXW on the west coast of Australia managed to hear three stations in Europe.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
IK0AGU VK6KXW 6m FT8 13357 km 05:26:29
YL2GD VK6KXW 6m FT8 12968 km 07:29:14
UT8IO VK6KXW 6m FT8 11840 km 05:57:44

* * *

There was also a path from VK4WTN on the east coast of Australia to two stations in eastern Europe.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4WTN UA4CC 6m FT8 13307 km 05:09:59

UR5LAK VK4WTN 6m FT8 13967 km 05:37:44

* * *

Mode of Propagation: The 50 MHz band has been open between Europe and Australia for four of the last fives days. Whatever the mode of propagation is, the simple 'it must be multi-hop Sporadic-E' is probably not the full explanation. 

It would be interesting to know if European stations working Japan, China and Australia are experiencing any skewed paths or is everything on the correct beam heading?