Saturday 23rd October 2021: I was first alerted to this big opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and South Africa when Tom, SP5XMU posted the map on the left on Twitter and tagged me.
This is a snapshot of FT8 signals on the 50 MHz over a short period but it clearly shows an opening in progress.
As well as posting the photo, Tom writes... "First solid Trans-Equatorial Propagation #TEP on 50 MHz in Solar Cycle 25 from south Europe to South Africa"
In this post, we'll look at the opening and keep a record of how extensive the opening was.
FT8: As per usual, FT8 was the dominant mode for the opening and the list below shows how many European stations were heard by each of the African stations.
Call - # of stns heard
ZS6NJ - 86 (10 DXCC)
ZS6NK - 79
ZS6WAB - 53
ZS6AF - 44
ZS6OB - 23
ZS6JGL - 18
V51WC - 16
ZS6BOS - 15
ZS4TX - 6
ZS6AYE - 5
ZS6NK: While ZS6NK was the second highest in terms of stations heard, it was interesting to see that the path for him extended beyond the usual TEP zone.
You can see the line of stations in the south of Europe that ZS6NK heard but it goes up to the UK and Germany as well.
Here is the map of Europe in more detail...
FT8 reports from Germany & England...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6NK G0BNR 6m FT8 8965 km 14:45:26
ZS6NK DK8NE 6m FT8 8489 km 15:34:59
ZS6NK DL1YM 6m FT8 8370 km 15:34:59
It's likely that there was some Sporadic-E which allowed the TEP signals from Africa reach further north into Europe.
Sometimes, the locations where there are no signals can be interesting as well. For example, there was no path for ZS6NK to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Likewise in South Africa, it was the stations in the north of the country that were enjoying the TEP opening and there was no sign of the stations further south near Cape Town.
Namibia: V51WC in Namibia was also active and his FT8 is shown below...
Like the stations near in the north of South Africa, he is far enough north to avail of the TEP opening.
SSB & CW: Looking at the DX Cluster, there was some activity on SSB and CW as well. See below...
The DX cluster spots for V51 & ZS on the day are shown below. Non-FT8 are in bold...
