FM radio stations in the Azores heard in Newfoundland - 14th May 2024

Now that we're well into the Summer Sporadic-E season, there have been plenty of reports of openings on the FM band going from 88 to 108 MHz. Most reports seem to be single hop Sporadic-E for now but this one caught my attention.

On the 14th of May 2024, Larry Horlicks (VO1FOG) recorded an opening from the Azore Islands to Newfoundland. As can be seen from the image above, the distances were in the region of 1894 to 2259 kms.

While the propagation mode was still one-hop Sporadic-E, any openings on the FM band across the North Atlantic are always of special interest. As we move into June and July, there should hopefully be some double hop Sporadic-E openings and reports of radio stations on the 88-108 MHz band being heard across the Atlantic.

Some examples of previous trans-Atlantic openings can be seen on my 88-108 MHz page.

Trans-Atlantic opening at 34 MHz - 16th Jan 2023

Radio amateurs in Ireland have permission to use large portions of the low-VHF spectrum for experiments and Phil, EI9KP has been carrying out tests at 34 MHz which is the 9-metre band.

Phil conducted some tests during the Quadrantids meteor shower at the start of January 2023 and the results can be seen HERE.

With the rise in solar flux to over 230 and the rise in the maximum usable frequency (MUF) into the low-VHF spectrum, Phil conducted some tests on the 16th of January 2023 and his 1-watt beacon was heard across the North Atlantic in Newfoundland!

EI9KP writes... " I am delighted that the 1W beacon was received at 13:27UTC by VO1FOG in Newfoundland, Canada, a distance of 3145km/1995mi.  A first report from across the Atlantic, likely F2 propagation.  Thank you Larry for the report and sound clip.

Given high SFI next few days and possibility of F2 type propagation I will turn on the beacon again tomorrow Tuesday 17/01/2023 from 11:00 till 17:00 UTC. "

EI9KP's 1-watt beacon on 34.013 MHz is based on a RF Zero board with GPS stabilisation. The beacon is self contained in a die cast aluminium box with a 2x16 char. LCD display and a few status LEDs. The sequence was 3 x FT8 transmissions, then a CW ID and then a carrier.

The beacon antenna is also an experiment in that it is a shortened (capacitive hat) dipole with sliding end tubes that can adjust for frequencies from 32MHz to 60MHz.

More info in this previous post.

Update 17th Jan: VO1FOG also heard the test signal from EI9KP on the 17th of January 2023. The audio recording below shows the CW and FT8 signal.

EI9KP/b on 34.013 received today and yesterday. Tx pwr is 1 watt. pic.twitter.com/Wc1FWw1qn5

— VO1FOG (@VO1FOG) January 17, 2023

Long Path Propagation on the 17m HF band - Dec 2022

Larry, VO1FOG in Newfoundland, Canada has been carrying out a number of long path propagation experiments on the HF bands recently and I found this one especially interesting. For the purpose of clarity, I'll try to give an overview of what happened so people will understand what is in the video clip further down this post.

VO1FOG is located at the eastern side of Newfoundland, Canada and on Wednesday the 21st of December 2022, he was listening to the daily morse code practice transmissions on 18.0975 MHz from W1AW in Newington, Connecticut. 

The distance from VO1FOG to W1AW at the ARRL headquarters is about 1,660kms and the direct short path signal was quite strong. However, VO1FOG was also hearing W1AW via the long path which means it nearly has to go completely around the globe. The long path is around 38,420kms.

VO1FOG was using a 3-element SteppIR antenna at 23-metres above ground level. 

The advantage of this type of antenna is that the lengths of the elements can be lengthened and shortened by motors rather than having to rotate the whole beam. This means that VO1FOG can switch from short path to long path in about six seconds.

The image below shows some morse code signals from W1AW via short path.

The dots and dashes are nice and clean and the word 'SAID' can be clearly seen.

The image below shows some morse received via the long path.

It's not the same word but you can see that it's a lot more messy with the dots and dashes coming from the short path signal mixing in with the dots and dashes coming from the long path.

The audio of the W1AW signal can be heard below. Remember that there is nothing wrong with the signal, you're just listening to the same signal arriving in Newfoundland at different times.

This W1AW code practice...at time 0:31 my antenna is short path to W1AW; code is clean and clear. At time 0:42 my antenna is moved to LP. The code is virtually uncopiable when both sigs merge with a 127 ms delay. At 01:14 I am back at SP and the CW is clean again. pic.twitter.com/KPXsp6Xomj

— VO1FOG (@VO1FOG) December 21, 2022

VO1FOG reports that the test was done at 14:50 UTC. The approximate propagation conditions for W1AW's location on 17m is shown below.

It's interesting that the long path isn't too far from the Grey Line path which is near where the sun is setting or rising.

Larry has carried out several tests like this recently and he reports that he hears both long path and short path almost daily about an hour either side of his local solar noon.

He has seen this echo effect on the 20m, 17m, 15m and 12 m bands and to a lesser extent on 10m. He did tests with K5WLT in Texas who was using 400w into an 80m dipole and the echo was seen on multiple bands on multiple days.

Larry usually does his tests by getting the other station to send the letter 'E' i.e. one-dot with a space after it. The image below shows the test with G0OVK in England when a second dot can be clearly seen.

Analysis... With the rising solar flux, a lot of people are probably hearing strange echoes on SSB and CW signals and not realise what it is. It obviously helps if the transmitting station is running high power as the long path has to travel almost around the world.

When Larry sent me the information and as I was preparing this post, I couldn't help but wonder if the signal from W1AW went around the globe for a second time? If the path is open and the signal goes around the world, does it keep going round and round the globe getting weaker and weaker each time it passes?

Is it possible to hear the second echo as the signal passes for the second time? Is it strong enough?

What about the time signal WWV on 15.000 MHz and 20.000 MHz? That produces a tick once a second, it should be possible to hear the long path tick as well. Again, is it possible to hear more than one echo in the space between ticks?

It's intriguing to think that there may be signals from high power transmitters going around the globe multiple times before finally dying out when the propagation conditions change. Again, it raises more questions... how long? Up to a second? Several seconds? Minutes? That's leads then to the subject of 'Long Delayed Echoes' which is another topic in itself.

If you have a good beam or antenna for the HF bands then have a listen and see what you can hear.

Thanks to Larry, VO1FOG for all of the background information for this post.

Long path echoes on the 24 MHz band (VO1FOG) - Dec 2021

Larry, VO1FOG in Newfoundland, Canada has noticed a number of strong echoes on SSB signals on the higher HF bands recently and he has been able to confirm that this was due to long path echoes.

There is a nice audio sample below but first, let's set out what is happening.

The map above shows the location of VO1FOG in Newfoundland and VA2AM is 1560kms to the west near Montreal.

VA2AM is on 24.937 MHz and is beaming towards Europe. VO1FOG in Newfoundland is beaming east as well, listening to him for over an hour and the signal has a distinctive echo. The direct short path signal at 1500kms is below the F2 MUF for 24 MHz and is present but weak.

VO1FOG finally manages to catch the attention of VA2AM and VA2AM turns his antenna to the west to check the long path.

FINALLY! I can confirm that these #radioechoes that I have been hearing for the past several days is a TRUE long path/short path echo. Notice how strong VA2AM becomes when he turns LP.. His SP distance is 1500km vs LP distance of 38500km! Delay time is around 135ms. #12m #24mHz pic.twitter.com/VbVZx1XU2d

— VO1FOG (@VO1FOG) December 27, 2021

The signal with the echo is when VO1FOG is hearing both the short path and long path signals. You'll notice that when VA2AM turns his beam, the long path signal is much stronger and the echo disappears.

As VO1FOG points out, the long path signal has to travel almost right around the globe with a distance of about 38,500kms.

Analysis... The solar flux is currently around the 120-130 mark and the higher HF bands are now beginning to open. It's likely that a large part of the long path was probably due to chordal hop propagation with the signal going between different parts of the ionosphere and not touching the ground.

It's also worth pointing out that as far as I know, both VO1FOG and VA2AM are using directional beams up on towers and as such, both would have a low angle of radiation. These type of signals may not be so obvious on simple antennas like dipoles at a low height.

Questions... As is often the case, this example of long path echoes raises more questions..

1) Is this happening on the 28 MHz band at the moment? Is anyone hearing strange echoes?

2) What about FT8 signals? Does the echo destroy their ability to decode? With FT8 signals, it's all or nothing. It either decodes or it doesn't. With CW or SSB, the human brain can piece together what was being sent but what happens with a digital mode? Will the long path echo mess up the signal?

3) Is the 'long path' really a simple long path? For example, let's say someone with a transmitter sent a series of pulses like say a train of CW pulses with maybe a second or two in between each one.

The receiving station could then look at the received audio with an oscilloscope. In theory, the scope would trigger on the first short path signal and the long path signal would be seen as an individual peak in between the short path peaks.

But would it? Would there be more than one 'long path' peak? Would there be a chance of seeing secondary peaks if the signal went twice around the world? How would the peaks change as the antenna is turned?

The beauty of an oscilloscope it that it would show things that you can't hear and it would also show the delay of the signal in milliseconds allowing you to calculate the distance traveled. 

Wouldn't it be nice if there were CW beacons like this to allow people to carry out experiments?

There are probably many more questions and experiments but these are the ones that I thought of while I was listening to the recordings.

***

Here are a few more examples from Larry, VO1FOG...

FM radio stations from the Azores (87-93 MHz) are heard in Newfoundland - 23rd July 2021

Friday 23rd July 2021: Larry Horlick, VO1FOG in Newfoundland reports that he heard FM radio stations from the Azores on frequencies ranging from 87 to 93 MHz. The opening lasted one hour.

* * *

UTC QRG ITU Station, location Details, remarks Distance km Received by/in kW ERP Pol

22:30 UTC 90.50 MHZ AZR RTP Antena 1, Serra de Santa Bárbara (tce) Live Stream, 2309kms 35 h

21:51 UTC 92.70 MHz AZR RTP Antena 1, Pico Bartolomeu (smg) Presumed, reference to Ponta Degada, 2524kms 0.5 m

21:14 UTC 87.70 MHz AZR RTP Antena 3, Pico da Barrosa (RDP) (smg) Live stream, 2501kms 40 v

* * *

It's interesting to see that Larry also heard the Azores two days earlier on the 21st of July.

Propagation Mode: It's almost certainly single hop Sporadic-E with a possible small tropo extension near the Azores. 

In a message, Larry VO1FOG notes that during this reception of Band 2 signals up around 88 MHz, the 6-metre band at 50 MHz appeared closed. It's very likely that there was a good single hop Sporadic-E opening from Newfoundland to the East but there is nothing out there in the mid-Atlantic.

As Larry notes, it's wrong to assume that just because there is nothing on 50 MHz, the higher bands will be closed. 

Analysis: Even though reports of FM radio stations from the Azores being heard in Newfoundland were only documented for the first time in 2021, it's likely that this 2300-2500km path is open every year. What is different this year is that there is someone activity logging these stations from the Newfoundland end.

While single hop Sporadic-E openings on Band 2 are nothing special, I would suggest that the ones between the Azores and Newfoundland are. Not in terms that they actually happen but in terms of what times they happen.

The more Newfoundland to Azores reception reports that are logged then we might be able to see a pattern of what is the most likely time of day that these openings happen. 

If the maximum usable frequency gets up to 88-108 MHz on a regular basis then there may be times that it goes up as far as 144 MHz. Add in a tropo duct at the eastern end and a trans-Atlantic path from Newfoundland to Spain or Portugal might be possible.

Links...
1) VO1FOG's reception log on the FMLIST website
2) More examples of Band 2 reception reports on my 88-108 MHz page

FM radio stations on the Azores are heard again in N America - 21st July 2021

 

Wednesday 21st July 2021: At the start of July, FM radio stations on the Azores were heard in the USA. On the 21st, the North Atlantic path opened again with FM stations being heard in Newfoundland and Cape Cod, MA.

This is a log of what was heard by Larry Horlick (VO1FOG) in Newfoundland and Bryce Foster in the US...

* * *

UTC QRG ITU Station, location Details, remarks Distance km Received by/in kW ERP Pol

19:32 88.90 MHz AZR RTP Antena 1, Horta/Cabeço Gordo (fai) Recording verified by Paul Logan,  2218kms by Larry Horlick, Coley's Point (CAN) 9.1 c

19:36 90.50 MHz AZR RTP Antena 1, Serra de Santa Bárbara (tce) Recording verified by Paul Logan 2309kms by Larry Horlick, Coley's Point (CAN) 35 h

19:44 87.70 MHz AZR RTP Antena 3, Pico da Barrosa (RDP) (smg) Antena tres, Recording verified by Paul Logan  2501kms by Larry Horlick, Coley's Point (CAN) 40 v

21:33 88.50 MHz AZR Rádio Atlântida, Pico da Barrosa (smg) // webstream,  3830kms  in Mashpee, MA (USA) 3 m

21:33 87.70 MHz AZR RTP Antena 3, Pico da Barrosa (RDP) (smg) Antena 3 ID, // stream,  3830kms in Mashpee, MA (USA) 40 v

* * *

Propagation Mode: It looks very likely that this was a case of single and double hop Sporadic-E again.

The distance from the Azores to Newfoundland is in the region of 2200-2500kms and this was most likely one hop Sporadic-E with a small tropo extension.

The distance from the Azores to Cape Cod in the US is 3830kms and this was very likely to be double hop Sporadic-E.

It's interesting to see that the path from Newfoundland to Bermuda was open at 21:00 UTC which suggests the location of one of the Sporadic-E clouds.

For earlier trans-Atlantic reception reports, see my 88-108 MHz page.

Links...

1) FMLIST website log for the 21st of July 2021

FM radio stations from Spain & Portugal heard in Canada again - 7th July 2021

Back on the 21st of June 2021, there was a remarkable opening across the North Atlantic when a FM radio station in Spain was heard by Larry Horlick, VO1FOG in Canada for the first time. Post HERE

On the 7th of July 2021, there was another trans-Atlantic opening when Larry Horlick heard five FM radio stations in Spain & Portugal on frequencies ranging from 88 to 93 MHz.

UTC MHz Station, location (Distance km) kW ERP 

13:18 87.90 RTP Antena 1, Serra da Lousã/Trevim, Portugal, (3,657 kms) 34 kW

13:52 89.90 Los 40 Classic, Segovia, Spain, (3,916 kms) 2 kW

13:53 90.00 Cadena 100, Salamanca, Spain, (3,799 kms) 6 kW

14:08 93.10 RNE Radio Clásica, Valladolid/Cerro de San Cristóbal, Spain, (3,838 kms) 30 kW

14:15 88.20 Los 40, León/Las Lomas (CAL-LE), Spain, (3,728 kms)  4 kW

Larry reports that the opening started at 12:54 UTC and lasted until about 14:27 UTC (~90 mins). Some of the Spanish stations were really strong and nothing was heard above 93.1 MHz.

During the opening, Larry tried three different antenna types on receive.... a half-wave dipole (retuned from lo Band TV to  FM BC), a new 10 el K6STI Yagi, and  a discone. 

The Yagi was superior all the time even though it had to be pointed to a beam heading of 45 degrees to prevent overload and intermod from the local FM radio stations in St.Johns. (Spain is 084 deg)

Even being outside the 3 dB beam width, Larry reports that signals were MUCH stronger on the Yagi than on the dipole. The discone antenna was useless.

Credits: I must thank Paul Logan in Ireland and Jorge Garzon in Spain for confirming that these recordings. Both are very experienced FMDXers and it's great to have their expertise to call on to make sure there was no mistake.

Propagation Mode: It looks likely that it's a case of double hop Sporadic-E again with perhaps two 1900km hops.

The weather map for the day shows an interesting kink in the Jet Stream in the middle of the North Atlantic and these features have been associated with Sproadic-E regions overhead.

Questions...

Considering that this is the second time a Spanish FM radio station has been heard in Newfoundland in 3 weeks, it raises some questions...

I really wonder if this opening is exceptional or does this trans-Atlantic path on the 88-108 MHz band open a lot of the time? Do FM radio stations in Spain & Portugal cross the Atlantic on a regular basis?

And if FM radio stations from Spain are reaching Newfoundland then FM radio stations in Canada must be reaching Spain. Is anyone listening? Who will be the first person on the Iberian Peninsula to hear a FM radio station from North America?

Links...

1) Larry's log on FM list for the 7th of July 2021

Second Spanish station identified on 95.8 MHz in Trans-Atlantic opening on the 21st of June 2021

As outlined in a previous post, Larry Horlick VO1FOG in Newfoundland heard a trans-Atlantic Spanish radio station on 88.8 MHz on the 21st of June 2021. Thanks to recordings that Larry has sent on to me, another Spanish radio station has now been identified.

This one was RNE Radio 3 on 95.8 MHz from the 100 kW transmitter at Navacerrada near Madrid.

The distance to Newfoundland is in the region of 3940 kms and it was very likely to have been due to double hop Sporadic-E as outlined in the previous post.

As well as the distance being 200 kms or so longer, it's interesting to note that the maximum usable frequency (MUF) for this double hop trans-Atlantic path was 7 MHz higher and well into the Band 2 broadcast band.

This is a recording of the signal on 95.8 MHz as it was heard in Newfoundland...

John, EI7GL · 2021 - Jun - 21 12 03 43 95point8

This matches the podcast for the RNE Radio 3 programme on the day. Link HERE

Credit: Thanks to FM DXer Paul Logan in the north of Ireland who helped identify this station and who also heard a FM radio station in Quebec during the same opening.

Sporadic-E footprint: It's interesting to see how the path from Madrid to Newfoundland is almost exactly in line with the other reception of the RNE R5 station on 88.8 MHz near Zamora. 

Sporadic-E openings on the 88-108 MHz band are often like this with the stations heard stretched out in a straight line.

In Conclusion: I have covered the likely propagation mode in the earlier post which is HERE. As well as the distance and frequency of this second report, I am also struck by it's symbolism. 

If a FM transmitter on 95.8 MHz serving Madrid, the capital of Spain can be heard across the North Atlantic in Newfoundland then what can FM Dxers and other radio enthusiasts in the Iberian Peninsula hear from North America?

And on a final note. Larry observes that there were MANY other radio stations in Spanish during this opening. We were able to identify just two from the audio recordings.

Mystery Station: There is a third and final recording but it's just a song. 

It is the song 'Black Velvet' from Alannah Myles and it was heard from 11:55 UTC to 11:59 UTC on 89.9 MHz. Station? Location?

* * *

Update - 27th June 2021: The mystery third station has now been identified as Los 40 Classic. A visitor to the blog (FinnDX) saw the comment above about the mystery station and then used this website to check back through the playlist of stations for the last week... https://onlineradiobox.com/

This is a composite of a screen capture that I took before it disappeared. The website seems to be showing what the time was in my location which is an hour ahead of UTC during the Summer months.

12:54 Irish time = 11:54 UTC.

This is a 2kW transmitter located at Segovia which is just to the north-west of Madrid.

Spanish radio station on 88.8 MHz heard across the Atlantic in Newfoundland, Canada - 21st June 2021

Back on the 21st of June 2021, Paul Logan in the north of Ireland confirmed that he had heard a FM radio station across the Atlantic near Quebec City in Canada on 90.7 MHz.

I can now confirm that Larry Horlick, VO1FOG in Newfoundland, Canada managed to hear RNE-R5 Todo Noticias in the north-west of Spain on 88.8 MHz on the same day!

This is I believe the very first reception of a European FM station station on the 88-108 MHz band in North America.

It looks as if the signal came from the 80 kW transmitter near Zamora in Spain and the distance was in the region of 3780 kms.

I have two recordings which Larry very kindly sent on. The first one is at 11:46 UTC...

John, EI7GL · 2021 - Jun - 21 11 46 12 88point8

In the above recording, the cities of Zamora, Segovia and Burgos are mentioned. It would seem as if this is from the Castilla y Léon regional news bulletin which runs from 13:10 to 14:00 Spanish time.

This is the second audio recording at 11:50 UTC...

John, EI7GL · 2021 - Jun - 21 11 50 26 88point8

This one is a bit more noisy but the distinctive little 'jingle' between the news items can be heard.

Credits: I must thank Paul Logan in Ireland and Jorge Garzon in Spain for confirming that these were  indeed recordings of the RNE-R5 Todo Noticias radio station and that the transmitter site was near Zamora. Both are very experienced FMDXers and it's great to have their expertise to call on to make sure there was no mistake.

Newfoundland: On the receive side, Larry Horlick was using an ICOM IC-R8500 receiver with a centre-fed vertical dipole at 18m above ground level, cut for the lower end of the VHF LO TV band (essentially, non-resonant on Band 2).

Larry has only been listening seriously on the 88-108 MHz bands for a few weeks and he has already managed an incredible reception report. As well as being in a relatively quiet location (FM wise), he does have the advantage of being at the most eastern pat of Canada. 

It also helps that anything that Larry hears on the 88-108 MHz band is likely to be in English or French so any other language really stands out.

Propagation Mode: It seems very likely that this was a case of double hop Sporadic-E at 88.8 MHz.

The above diagram shows the signals 'bouncing' off Sporadic-E clouds at about 110kms above ground level and being reflected off the ocean at the mid way point. It's possible that this was also chordal hop with the signal going directly between the two Sporadic-E clouds without hitting off the Earth.

Note that the angles and height of the Sp-E cloud in the above diagram are greatly exaggerated. In reality, the angles are very shallow and are probably just a few degrees above the horizon.

This is another diagram showing the suggested path and the two Sporadic-E regions.

Paul Logan in the north of Ireland reports that he was hearing FM radio station from the Azores Islands for about five hours that day which he says was highly unusual. The MUF went up as high as 104 MHz.

It's likely that the Sporadic-E region responsible for the Azores to Ireland path was also responsible for the eastern first hop of the trans-Atlantic path between Spain and Newfoundland.

It's seems as if this eastern Sp-E region was present for several hours and it just required one Sp-E path at the right spot on the western part of the path to complete the 2 x 1890 km circuit.

In Conclusion: This really is an amazing reception report and is part of radio history in that it is the first proven reception of a European FM station on Band 2 in North America.

It also raises some interesting questions...

1) If someone in Newfoundland can hear a FM radio station in Spain then why can't FM radio stations in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Maine be heard in Spain and Partugal?

2) If a Sporadic-E cloud in the western part of Atlantic can support a signal at 88.8 MHz then can it reach 144 MHz at times? And if so, could it couple into a tropo duct of say 1500 kms to complete the path to Spain or Portugal?

A double hop Sporadic-E trans-Atlantic path at 144 MHz is highly unlikely but a mixed Sp-E / Tropo propagation mode is much more likely.

The best thing about this trans-Atlantic reception report is that it now 'opens the door' on what might be possible. My hope is that it now raises awareness and more people will now listen for trans-Atlantic signals on the 88-108 MHz and 144 MHz bands.

Larry, VO1FOG informs me that he is building a 10 el K6STI Yagi for 88-108 MHz so hopefully we will get to hear of some more trans-Atlantic signals.

Addendum: This is a photo of the vertical Band 1 dipole that was used for the reception.