Opening on the 40 MHz band from Ireland to Australia - Oct 2023

I noticed in the last few days that there has been a path open on the 40 MHz (8m) band from Europe to Western Australia in the morning hours.

Here are the WSPR spots from the Irish beacon EI1KNH which is just south of Dublin.

 y-m-d txCall txGrid rxCall rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-10-18 09:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014505 20 -29 0 14969

2023-10-16 09:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014511 20 -21 0 14969
2023-10-16 09:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -21 0 14969
2023-10-16 09:14 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -20 0 14969
2023-10-16 08:54 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.01451 20 -26 0 14969

2023-10-15 10:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014509 20 -33 0 14969

2023-10-09 11:34 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014499 20 -29 0 14969
2023-10-09 11:14 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -22 0 14969
2023-10-09 10:54 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -23 0 14969
2023-10-09 10:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014499 20 -25 0 14969

2023-10-08 10:44 EI1KNH IO63ve VK6JR OF76mi 40.014498 20 -24 0 14969

EI1KNH transmits four times every hour using the WSPR mode and the power is about 20-watts into a vertical half-wave antenna. The receiving station was Wayne, VK6JR to the south of Perth in Western Australia. The distance was 14,969kms.

The signals are very weak and they are in the range of -20dB to -33dB. This would mean that they are inaudible to the human ear.

The path seems to have been open on five days from the 8th to the 18th of October 2023. The times range from 08:54 to 11:34 UTC.

Sunset in Perth is about 10:30UTC so it's likely there was some enhancement due to some tilting of the ionosphere. With the solar flux at about 140, the propagation mode may have been multi-hop F2 layer with perhaps some chordal hop as well.

Greece to Australia on 40 MHz... VK6JR also heard the WSPR beacon of Costas, SV1DH in Greece.

y-m-d txCall txGrid rxCall rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-10-09 08:02 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681494 10 -24 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:38 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -28 -1 12412
2023-10-09 07:30 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -25 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:26 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681492 0.01 -23 -2 12412
2023-10-09 07:16 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.68149 0.01 -21 -1 12412
2023-10-09 07:10 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681491 0.01 -19 -3 12412
2023-10-09 06:58 SV1DH KM18 VK6JR OF76mi 40.681491 0.01 -22 -1 12412

According to the data above, SV1DH was using around 0.01 watts or 10-milliwatts for the majority of his transmissions! The last one was at 10-watts. The distance was 12,412kms. 

In general, the path from the south-east of Europe to Australia is easier as the path is shorter and the signals stay closer to the equator.

In summary... We have seen plenty of other openings on the 40 MHz band between Europe and Australia over the last 12-months. I have details of these in previous posts which are linked from my 40 MHz page.

It's very likely that we will see more openings like this over the next few months. Serious 50 MHz operators should take note of these 40 MHz openings as they suggest that an opening on the 6m band may be possible.

2900km+ opening on 144 MHz across the south of Australia - Dec 2021

The southern hemisphere is currently in the middle of their summer and there is plenty of activity  on the 144 MHZ band with lots of stations testing out propagation paths with the WSPR beacon mode.

In the last few days, signals in the region of  2930kms have been heard across the south of Australia on 144 MHz. 

The map above shows the stations that VK6JR has heard.

Stations heard by VK6JR (2000kms+)

 UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid                                 MHz W SNR drift     km
2021-12-25 19:28 VK2KRR QF34mr VK6JR OF76mi 144.490461 20 -17 0 2927
2021-12-29 20:34 VK7DC QE28ww VK6JR OF76mi 144.490484 10 -25 -1 2831
2021-12-29 14:38 VK3OE QF22qc VK6JR OF76mi 144.490395 20 -14 0 2765
2021-12-29 14:48 VK3DXE QF21nv VK6JR OF76mi 144.490395 20 -29 0 2743
2021-12-27 17:22 VK3ZAZ QF12ag VK6JR OF76mi 144.490448 100 -24 0 2471
2021-12-29 20:26 VK3HJV QF01tp VK6JR OF76mi 144.490408 20 -18 -4 2439
2021-12-04 22:22 VK5AKK PF94ix VK6JR OF76mi 144.490504 50 -22 0 2173

Stations hearing VK6JR (2000kms+)

UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid                                 MHz W SNR drift km
2021-12-25 19:26 VK6JR OF76mi VK2KRR QF34mr 144.490577 10 -19 1 2927
2021-12-29 21:08 VK6JR OF76mi VK7CMV QE29od 144.490482 10 -26 0 2772
2021-12-29 20:44 VK6JR OF76mi VK3DXE QF21nv 144.490422 10 -22 0 2743
2021-12-27 18:22 VK6JR OF76mi VK3ZAZ QF12ag 144.490491 10 -29 0 2471
2021-12-29 18:22 VK6JR OF76mi VK3HJV QF01tp 144.490595 10 -27 1 2439
2021-12-23 22:38 VK6JR OF76mi VK5AKK PF94ix 144.490486 10 -28 3 2173

Propagation Mode: It's likely that marine ducting across the Great Australian Bight played a large part in these openings which were just under 3000kms. Considering it's in the middle of the southern hemisphere Sporadic-E season, that mode could have played a partial role as well for some signals.

Links...

1) For more examples of long distance paths, see my 144 MHz page.