Successful low power tests on the 40 MHz band in Australia - 29th Jan 2023

In Australia and New Zealand, anyone can use up to 1-watt ERP on a non-interference basis without a license on the 40 MHz ISM band. Hilary, VK2AZ has taken advantage of this and has been experimenting with a WSPR beacon on 40.680 MHz since the end of December 2022. 

On the 29th of January 2023, several stations heard the WSPR beacon from X/VK2AZ on 40.680 MHz. What's really amazing is that the power output was just 0.005 watts or 5-milliwatts!

VK2AZ writes... "At the end of December 2022 I decided to place a WSPR beacon on 40.680 MHz.
My beacon is an RFZero loaded with the WSPR transmitter code and a LPF (low pass filter) for 40MHz on its output. Currently it puts out about 5 milliwatts WSPR every 10 mins on 40.680 MHz using the call X/VK2AZ.

A local friend and Amateur, Michael, VK2TMC who is 8 km from me in the Blue Mountains, set up a Flex SDR and WSJT-X on 40.680 which allowed me to tune and test my setup.

The RFZero is also GPS locked. https://rfzero.net/examples/wspr-transmitter/

To my surprise, my 5 milliwatt beacon has been spotted at considerable distance. On 29 Jan 2023 my beacon was spotted by Peter, VK5PJ in South Australia at a distance of 1076 km and Warwick, E51WL in the North Cook Islands at a distance of 5902 km.

Just goes to show that you don't need a lot of power on these "Magic Bands". In an email to Bob, ZL1RS, Warwick, E51WL described it as "nice wspr frames from that VK with his flea"

***

For his 40 MHz propagation tests, VK2AZ is using a horizontal dipole for 40 MHz and it's broadside to Central America.

WSPR Spots from E51WL in the Cook Islands (5902kms) and VK5PJ near Adelaide...

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-29 00:30 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.663511 0.005 -26 1 5902
2023-01-29 00:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.681511 0.005 -26 0 5902
2023-01-29 00:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if E51WL BI01xa 40.681513 0.005 -24 1 5902

2023-01-29 10:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681565 0.005 -20 0 1084
2023-01-29 10:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681559 0.005 -18 1 1084
2023-01-29 10:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681539 0.005 -20 4 1084
2023-01-29 09:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if X/VK5PJ PF95 40.681514 0.005 -15 4 1084
2023-01-29 10:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -22 1 1076
2023-01-29 10:20 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -20 0 1076
2023-01-29 10:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -25 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:50 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681514 0.005 -24 1 1076
2023-01-29 09:40 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -24 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:30 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -33 0 1076
2023-01-29 09:10 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -25 1 1076
2023-01-29 09:00 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681513 0.005 -23 1 1076
2023-01-29 03:10 X/VK2AZ QF56if VK5PJ PF95mk 40.681515 0.005 -26 0 1076

RF Zero board

VK2AZ has been monitoring 40MHz for about a year and a half now, hoping to see some activity from around the world using an ICOM IC-7100 and a horizontal dipole for 40MHz.

As reported in this previous post, VK2AZ managed to receive the WSPR signals from WM2XCC in California on the 28th of December 2022.

Analysis... First of all... WOW! What amazing reception reports for just 5-milliwatts and at 40 MHz as well! But what about the propagation mode?

VK5PJ at 1076 kms was probably via Sporadic-E and the strongest report was -15dB which is buried in the noise. As it's the Summer Sporadic-E season in the Southern Hemisphere then that's easy to explain.

As for E51WL at 5902 kms??? If it was Sporadic-E then we have to believe that it was something like 3 x 2000km hops. I suspect F2 propagation was involved and it was something like 2 x 3000km hops.

Whichever one you want to believe, it's still amazing for just 0.005 watts.

The way forward... I have no doubt that we need more people using the WSPR beacon mode on 40.680 MHz. A lot of countries seem to allow people to transmit very low power on the 40 MHz ISM band without any special sort of licence or permit.

Wouldn't it be great to have a load of low power WSPR stations all over Europe for the Sporadic-E season? Check your local regulations.

Links... As always, there is loads of 8m information on my 40 MHz page.

3385km opening on the 144 MHz band from Adelaide to New Zealand - 25th Dec 2022

Following on from the 3051km opening on 144 MHz across Australia on the 24th of December 2022, there was also a 3385 km opening on the Christmas Day, the 25th of December 2022 from Adelaide to New Zealand.

There is an active group of radio amateurs in Australia and New Zealand using the WSPR mode on the 144 MHz band to investigate propagation paths. On Christmas Day, VK5PJ in Adelaide managed to get just one WSPR decode from ZL2GT on the North Island in New Zealand.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-12-25 09:12 ZL2GT RF80 VK5PJ PF95mk 144.490498 10 -18 0 3385

Leigh VK2KRR reports... "144 MHz antics for some operators yesterday. Peter Sumner VK5PJ and ZL2GT topping the maximum distance at 3385 km via Sporadic E.

There was a number of other E paths and tropo as well. Another path of note is Nigel VK6CPU at Perth on a path with Phil VK5AKK tropo path at 2140 km. Its rare to get paths into and out of Perth on tropo, but it does happen on rare occasions.

A few days back i missed reporting on a tropo path from Alan Johnson VK3DXE to VK6CPU/P  of 2442 km. Alan was the only station in VK3 who made it on this path on 23.12.22."

Analysis... The extreme distance of this opening i.e. 3385 kms, cannot be explained by a single Sporadic-E hop which tends to max out around 2300 kms.

This is the tropo forecast for the 25th of December 2022 from F5LEN...

It does suggest that there were some tropo conditions in the Tasman Sea but it's not conclusive. It's probable that the western path of the path was certainly due to Sporadic-E but as for the eastern half, it may have been due to a tropo extension over the Tasman Sea or it may have been a second Sporadic-E hop i.e. possibly chordal hop Sporadic-E.

People may have different opinions on which it is but it's almost impossible to tell.

Links...
1) Examples of more long distance contacts on 2m can be found on my 144 MHz page HERE

3155 km opening on 144 MHz between Australia & New Zealand - 28th Jan 2022

28th January 2021: There was another 3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between Australia and New Zealand when Peter, VK5PJ in Adelaide received the WSPR signal from Bob, ZL1SIX.

The two WSPR decodes are shown below and the signals were pretty weak at -19 and -20dB.

 UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-01-28 01:06 ZL1SIX RF64vt VK5PJ PF95mk 144.490537 10 -21 0 3155
2022-01-28 01:12 ZL1SIX RF64vt VK5PJ PF95mk 144.490537 10 -19 0 3155

The map above shows the WSPR signals heard on 144 MHz by VK5PJ over a 24 hour period. Most of the Australian signals are tropo but the 3155km distance was really something else.

Remember, 3155kms is the distance between Ireland and Newfoundland across the North Atlantic.

Propagation??... It's important to note that VK5PJ was the only station in Australia to hear ZL1SIX on 144 MHz that that. i.e. none of the closer stations near the south-east coast heard him. This does suggest that Sporadic-E was the main propagation mechanism.

One single Sporadic-E hop might account for a maximum of say 2300kms but not 3155kms. What makes up the difference?

The map above shows the tropo prediction from Pascal, F5LEN and it suggests that there might have been some tropo ducting over the Tasman Sea.

It's possible that the western path of the 3155km path was due to Sporadic-E and that coupled into a maritime duct for the remainder of the circuit to New Zealand.

A second option was that it was due to chordal hop Sporadic-E with the signal going between two Sporadic-E 'clouds'. This does happen at 144 MHz but it is relatively rare.

It's impossible to know for sure what the propagation mechanism was but the probability of a combined Sp-E / tropo duct opening is higher.

Link...
1) More examples of long distance paths can be found on my 144 MHz page.

18,000km opening on 50 MHz between Europe and Australia - 7th July 2021

Wed 7th July 2021: There was yet another opening on the 50 MHz band between Australia and Europe on the 7th of July except this one seemed a bit more extensive. Looking at the PSK Reporter website, I found at least 15 Australian stations active for the opening.

These are the spots from the DX Cluster and they seem to indicate that as per usual, all of the activity was on the FT8 digital mode.

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country

VK3OT-@ 50315.0 G3NSM 06:30 07 Jul decoded on ft8n England
VK3OT-@ 50314.0 UR0MC 06:13 07 Jul CQ VK FT8 Ukraine
VK3OT-@ 50313.0 UT7QF 06:11 07 Jul TNX QSO 73 Ukraine

SP6NVN 50313.0 VK5PJ 07:17 07 Jul -23 db hrd Australia
S57RR-@ 50323.5 VK3ZL 06:47 07 Jul FT8 -19dB JN65um<>QF22 TU! Australia
OH7KM 50313.0 VK2OO 05:57 07 Jul cq -20 Australia 

DG1VL 50313.0 VK4HJ 05:22 07 Jul FT8 -13dB 469Hz Australia
S57RR-@ 50315.3 VK2EFM 05:20 07 Jul FT8 -14dB JN65um<>QF56 CQ Australia

The longest path I could find was 18,009kms between VK2EFM near Sydney and EA1YV in the NW of Spain. That is only 2000kms short of the maximum distance without going to the long path (20,000kms+).

Q. Are there more 50 MHz openings to Australia from Europe??? ...There does seem to be an extraordinary number of openings from Australia to Europe at the moment on the 50 MHz band. This is after all a VHF band, it's not HF.

Is this year exceptional? 

Are there a lot more openings than usual?

Were these 50MHz openings happening in 2020 and I just didn't notice them?

I reported on one opening in July of 2019 and that seemed to me at the time to be very unusual. I think if I had noticed all of these openings in 2020, I would have written about it. If it was say from the SE of Australia to the Ukraine then I may not have said anything but any opening on 50 MHz from Australia to Western Europe is always special.

* * * 

FT8 reports on 50 MHz between Australia and Europe from the PSK Reporter website from the 7th of July 2021 are shown below...

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 & New Zealand to Europe - 17th June 2021

Thursday 17th June 2021: Another day, another opening on 50 MHz between Australia and Europe. This one however was different as several stations from the Adelaide area (VK5) in the south of Australia were involved.

It also seems as if a small number of stations in New Zealand and the Australian states of Victoria & Western Australia managed to work Europe as well. Info further down post.

All the areas of Australia are not the same in terms of propagation, Stations on the north coast have a pipeline into Japan & China via TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) whereas stations in the south of the continent are a bit too far south.

That's why openings on 50 MHz between the south of Australia and Europe are always of interest. It raises the very real question of just how exactly does a signal at 50 MHz travel so far near the bottom of the sunspot cycle.

The maps and station list below are derived from FT8 reports on the PSK Reporter website and it may well not include everyone. I couldn't find any information on SSB or CW contacts being made but that doesn't mean they weren't.

Remarkable 13,000 km opening on 6-metres between Australia and South America - 12th Dec 2020

At the moment, our colleagues in the southern hemisphere are in the middle of their summer Sporadic-E season and there are of course plenty of openings on the VHF bands.

On the 12th of December 2020, there was a remarkable opening on 6-metres between Australia and South America. For example, the map below from the PSK Reporter website shows the sent/received reports for VK3BD in the SE of Australia.

What is truly remarkable about this is the sheer distance and the path of the signals.

For many, the distance between the stations in Australia and the stations in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay was in excess of 13,000 kms! 

To put that into perspective for European readers, the distance from say the UK to Japan is about 9500 kms. Every year, there seems to be multi-hop Sporadic-E openings from Europe to Japan on 50 MHz which cause a lot of excitement. This opening from Australia to South America was significantly further.

The second interesting point was the path. In some instances, the Great Circle path crossed part of Antarctica with the most southerly path going as far as 78 degrees south. Again to put that into perspective for European readers, 78 degrees is about as far north as say the island of Svalbard to the north of Norway.

Far northern or far southern latitudes are not areas normally associated with Sporadic-E.

To get a view from the South American side, I took a screenshot of the map for CP6UA in Bolivia.

As the map shows, the stations in New Zealand (ZL) were also getting in on the action and the distance to them was an impressive 11,000 kms or so.

Mode of propagation???... The million dollar question. I presume it was multi-hop Sporadic-E but it was a lot of hops! One of the longest paths that I saw was between VK5BC and PT9FD, a distance of 13,530 kms.

VK5BC PT9FD 6m JT65 13530 km 22:17:50

The maximum distance for one Sporadic-E hop is about 2300 kms. Was it six hops of 2255 kms? Seven hops of 1933 kms? If it was multi-hop Sporadic-E then a lot of patches of Sporadic-E had to line up in a row and at the correct distance for it to work.

Addendum... Someone suggested that Polar Mesospheric Summer Echos (PMSE) with electrons gathering around ice crystals may have been responsible for this opening. I include it here for reference reference.

Contacts... I'm sure many contacts were made but the purpose of this post is just to highlight the fact that the opening occurred.

Looking at the PSK Reporter website, these were the stations that I saw listed...

Australia...

VK1JA

VK2ZQ

VK3OT, VK3BD, VK3DUT, VK3OER, VK3WE, VK3KU

VK5PW, VK5BC, VK5PJ, VK5RM

Brazil - PY5HOT, PT9FT, PY5KD, PY5EK

Paraguay - ZP5DPC, ZP4KFZ

Bolivia - CP6UA

Argentina - LW2DAF, LU3CQ, LU9DO

Chile - CE3SX, CA3SOC, XQ3MCC

Uruguay - CX6DRA

DX-Cluster... Here are a selection of spots from the DX-Cluster...

PT9FD 50276.0 VK3OT 22:19 12 Dec JT65A GG27OR <> QF12ag TU 73 Australia

PT9FD 50276.0 VK5BC 22:00 12 Dec JT65A gg27or PF95jj tks 73 Australia

CE3SX 50276.0 VK5PJ 22:00 12 Dec FF46<>PF95MK TU Peter Australia

CP6UA 50276.0 VK3DUT 21:35 12 Dec Thanks New One Norm. 73 Australia

PY4AQA 50276.0 VK4QG 22:18 10 Dec JT65A -24 dB Australia

VK3OER 50276 PT9FD 23:24 12 Dec 20 JT65 -25 CQ Brazil

VK3OT-@ 50277.3 PT9FD 22:18 12 Dec 20 QF12ag GG27 jt65 qso 73 Brazil

VK3OT-@ 50277 PT9FD 22:14 12 Dec 20 cq pt9fd gg27 jt65a -19 Brazil

VK3OT-@ 50277 PY5HOT 21:42 12 Dec 20 cq gg46 jt65a Brazil

VK3OT-@ 50279 PT9FD 21:34 12 Dec 20 jt65 cq -23 Brazil

VK3OT-@ 50277 ZP4KFX 20:55 12 Dec 20 wow thanks JT65A Paraguay

VK3OT-@ 50277 ZP5DBC 20:50 12 Dec 20 JT65A thanks -19 Paraguay

I also kept a record for some of the Australian stations logs of the signals that they heard from South America for this opening. PSK Reporter normally wipes all records after 24 hours so it's nice to have some record of the opening. See below...