Good opening to South Africa on the 40 MHz band - 21st Jan 2023

Saturday the 21st of January 2023 was another busy day on the 40 MHz (8m) band with plenty of activity. I picked out a few notable paths.

South Africa (ZS)... There were three ZS stations on the band... ZSWAB, ZS6OB & ZS4TX. They accounted for some of the longest paths seen on the day.

Here is a list of the longest FT8 paths as reported on the PSK Reporter website...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6OB K9MU 8m FT8 14292 km 15:04:29
ZS6WAB WB0DBQ 8m FT8 14273 km 15:24:59
ZS6WAB K9MU 8m FT8 14252 km 15:38:59
ZS6WAB KA9CFD 8m FT8 14215 km 15:13:29
ZS6WAB N8PUM 8m FT8 13959 km 15:42:28
ZS6WAB VE3DS 8m FT8 13308 km 15:04:43
ZS4TX OH7PS 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS4TX EI9KP 8m FT8 9834 km 11:11:26
ZS6OB GM0SXQ 8m FT8 9671 km 11:13:26
ZS4TX EI3KD 8m FT8 9604 km 15:26:44
ZS6OB OH7PS 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29
ZS6OB EI9KP 8m FT8 9573 km 11:48:11
ZS6WAB MM0AMW 8m FT8 9426 km 15:21:59

This is the FT8 map for ZS6WAB as a sample...

Besides the signals from South Africa reaching North America, they extended well into Northern Europe. It's not that unusual for stations in the south of Europe to hear South African signals on the 40 MHz band but this time, there were reports from stations in Scotland.

It was interesting to see that OH7PS in Finland (KP20AF) reporting reception of both ZS4TX and ZS6OB on FT8.

OH7PS
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS4TX 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS6OB 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29

LA9BN in Norway (JP40CN) reports reception of ZS6WAB on the DX Cluster.

I'm not sure if the ZS stations were reported this far north before on 8m? It feels like a new barrier has been breached when we start seeing reports from the JP/KP locator squares in the north of Europe.

Mexico... XE2OR in Mexico reports reception of the Irish 8m beacon EI1CAH/B and EI2IP. XE2OR is just across the border from Texas but it's further west than recent other reports from the USA.

Trans-Continental in North America... There was also an opening on the 40 MHz band across North America.

WM2XCC is one of the experimental US 8m stations located in California.

Analysis... With the solar flux up around 210, it's probably no great surprise that the F2 layer maximum usable frequency (MUF) is reaching as high as the 40 MHz band. Most of the signals reported are probably via the F2 layer in the ionosphere but for the South African stations then there was probably some TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) as well. As for how much is TEP and how much is F2 for those North-South paths???

I have included below the spots from the DX Cluster and the PSK Reporter spots.

Link... For more info on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Addendum... 1) Report from Vincent, F5OIH...

Additional info... DX-Cluster spots in order of callsign...

12,475km opening on the 40 MHz band from South Africa to the USA - Dec 2022

With the solar flux now reaching the 150 mark, the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) is now allowing more paths on the 40 MHz band to open up.

Tim, WW1L in the state of Maine in the USA reports reception of the FT8 signals from ZS6WAB in South Africa on Monday the 26th of December 2022. The distance was about 12,475 kms.

The Red lines on the map above are for the 50 MHz band and the Purple lines are for the 40 MHz band. On the 8m band, WW1L was hearing two of the US experimental stations as well as ZS1WAB in South Africa.

The main frequency for SSB and FT8 on the 8m band is 40.680 MHz, right in the middle of the ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

Wed 7th Dec 2022: This day seems to have been even better with WW1L hearing ZS6WAB & ZS6OB from South Africa and G9PUV from England.

A note of caution about the map above... there may be some mistaken reports from other bands but overall, it seems about right. ZS6WAB and ZS6OB can both be seen in South Africa and they had 8m paths to Europe and the USA.

PJ4MM in the Caribbean is hearing 8m signals from Europe. The station in the south of Portugal and in the Canary Islands are hearing 8m signals and reporting them.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of activity on the band.

It looks as if one of the US experimental stations WM2XAN in Michigan exchanged a signal report with ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz...

160015 -20 0.3 1399 ~ WM2XAN ZS6WAB R-02

Link...
1) For more info on the 8m band, visit my 40 MHz page. 

First contact on the 40 MHz band between Ireland and South Africa - 21st April 2022

A little bit of radio history was made on the 21st of April 2022 with the very first contact ever between Ireland (EI) and South Africa (ZS) on the 40 MHz band.

Phil, EI9KP in the west of Ireland managed to complete two way contacts with Jan, ZS6OB in South Africa on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 and FT4 modes, a distance of about 9,570 kms.

EI9KP writes... "For me a first band "opening" to South Africa, logged ZS6OB from 1044z till 1420z.  To my delight we managed a 2-way contact on 40.680MHz using FT8 and FT4 modes."

EI9KP was using 25-watts from an ICOM IC-7300 to a home brew 2-element Yagi for the 8m band. ZS6OB was using in the region of 30-50 watts.

2-el Yagi for the 40 MHz band used by EI9KP

Phil continues..."I could see ZS6OB making many a contact to S5 Slovenia.  At a certain moment the PSKReporter 8m map was lit up by 20 monitoring stations. For the first time I logged ZS6WAB/B on 40.675MHz CW."

This is the map showing the stations in Europe that heard ZS6OB...

It's worth noting that the 40 MHz band can act as an early warning for potential openings on the higher 50 MHz and is being used by serious 6m operators for that purpose.

Here are the FT8 reports for ZS6OB from the PSK Reporter site...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6OB S58P 8m FT8 8116 km 14:48:56
ZS6OB EA3ERE 8m FT8 8000 km 14:47:44
ZS6OB S59F 8m FT8 8104 km 14:47:44
S57A ZS6OB 8m FT8 8115 km 14:43:26
ZS6OB G7PUV/A 8m FT8 8956 km 14:42:45
ZS6OB S50B 8m FT8 8098 km 14:41:43
S50B ZS6OB 8m FT8 8098 km 14:41:26
S52O ZS6OB 8m FT8 8123 km 14:33:27
ZS6OB S57TW 8m FT8 8106 km 14:27:11
ZS6OB S52O 8m FT8 8123 km 14:25:14
ZS6OB ON5QRP 8m FT8 8687 km 14:19:42
ZS6OB HC02 8m FT8 7949 km 14:14:44
ZS6OB EI9KP 8m FT8 9573 km 14:04:44
ZS6OB G0CHE 8m FT4 8979 km 13:29:28
ZS6OB G4FTC 8m FT4 9037 km 13:28:43
G9PUV ZS6OB 8m FT4 8964 km 13:23:06
ZS6OB G9PUV 8m FT4 8964 km 13:22:59
ZS6OB G4IFX 8m FT8 9019 km 13:20:58
ZS6OB PA11605 8m FT8 9030 km 13:17:27
S58P ZS6OB 8m FT8 8116 km 13:06:44
S59F ZS6OB 8m FT8 8104 km 12:26:41
ZS6OB OK1NP 8m FT8 8534 km 12:19:59
9A2Y ZS6OB 8m FT8 7767 km 12:16:12
ZS6OB NL8992 8m FT8 8960 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB G7PUV 8m FT8 8964 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB IW4EGP 8m FT8 7933 km 12:15:29
ZS6OB DK2EA 8m FT8 8613 km 12:15:26
EI9KP ZS6OB 8m FT8 9573 km 12:13:12
F4FRQ ZS6OB 8m FT4 8451 km 12:07:06
ZS6OB F4FRQ 8m FT4 8451 km 12:01:44
ZS6OB PA5M 8m FT8 8940 km 11:59:26
ON5QRP ZS6OB 8m FT8 8687 km 11:55:12
ZS6OB G0LFF 8m FT8 8981 km 11:42:29
ZS6OB G4APB 8m FT8 9022 km 11:40:27
ZS6OB M0NYW 8m FT8 9427 km 11:37:57
ZS6OB G0DJA 8m FT8 9241 km 11:33:26
ZS6OB SM7FJE 8m FT8 9184 km 11:24:29
ZS6OB ON4IQ 8m FT8 8838 km 11:19:29

Just to note that Paul, G7PUV in the SE of England also heard ZS6OB. ZS6OB also heard the FT8 transmissions from G9PUV which is the call used by G7PUV for his experimental transmissions under his 40 MHz Innovation and Trial license.

ZS6WAB was also operating his beacon on 40.675 MHz and was reported in Europe.

Here are the 40 MHz DX-Cluster spots from the day...

EI9KP 40013.0 EI1KNH 15:46 21 Apr IO54MB<>IO63VE WSPR -24dB Ireland
EA3ERE 40680.0 ZS6OB 14:27 21 Apr <TEP> FT8 cq usa South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 48600.0 ZS6OB 14:23 21 Apr -21 db - RX South Africa
S50B 40680.0 ZS6OB 14:16 21 Apr CQ USA South Africa
EA3ERE 40680.0 ZS6OB 13:23 21 Apr <TEP> FT8 -7 South Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 13:22 21 Apr JN11CX<>KG46 CW 539 South Africa
ON4PS-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:23 21 Apr -06 from KG44 (ft8) South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 EI9JA 12:20 21 Apr -17db - RX Ireland
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:17 21 Apr RX -07db -FT8 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 EI9KP 12:14 21 Apr RX +10db Ireland
F4FRQ 40680.0 ZS6OB 12:13 21 Apr JN37KQ<>KG44DE ft4 +02 South Africa
F4CXO 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:11 21 Apr JN26PP<>KG46RB CW 579 in FT 81 South Africa
F4FRQ 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:04 21 Apr JN37KQ<>KG46RB CW 529 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:03 21 Apr 55 - RX South Africa
F4CXO 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 11:51 21 Apr JN26PP<>KG46RB 539 QSB South Africa
EI9KP 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 11:50 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>KG46RB CW 539 South Africa
ON5QRP-@ 40680.0 ZS6OB 11:36 21 Apr RX +13db South Africa
IW4EGP 40680.0 ZS6OB 11:32 21 Apr FT8 -10 CCC ZS6* South Africa
EI9KP 40680.0 ZS6OB 10:48 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>KG44DE FT8 -6dB South Africa

EI9KP 40680.0 G3XBM 10:33 21 Apr IO54MB<>JO02DG FT8 -18dB England
EI9KP 40680.0 S59F 09:28 21 Apr IO54MB<ES>JN65UU FT8 -16dB Slovenia

Propagation Mode: With the increasing solar activity, I suspect a combination of TEP and F2 layer propagation was responsible for these 40 MHz openings.

Link...

1) As always, plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.

Big opening on 40 MHz between Europe and South Africa - Thurs 7th Apr 2022

Thursday 7th April 2022: There was an extensive opening on the 40 MHz band and it was great to see so many stations active. The map above shows the FT8 activity on the band.

Up to now, the only station active from South Africa seemed to be ZS6WAB so it was a pleasant surprise to see two more ZS stations operating on the 8m band.

Borut, S50B in Slovenia reports working both ZS6OB and ZS4TX bringing his total now to three South African stations worked. 

G9PUV on the south-east coast of England managed to exchange signal reports with two stations in South Africa. Even though the signals at 40 MHz were quite strong, no successful contacts were made at 50 MHz when Paul was using his amateur radio callsign G7PUV.

ZS6WAB was heard in Slovenia, Chad and Croatia.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
S58P 8m FT8 7928 km 14:59:11
TT8SN 8m FT8 4300 km 14:58:11
9A5CW 8m FT8 7848 km 14:37:28

ZS6OB was heard over a much wider area including Portugal (HC02), Slovenia, Croatia, England, Belgium, France and Hungary.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HC02 8m FT8 7949 km 14:42:59
9A3TN 8m FT8 7983 km 14:42:59
S50B 8m FT8 8098 km 14:42:58
9A5CW 8m FT8 8033 km 14:42:58
S59F 8m FT8 8104 km 14:26:29
G0CHE 8m FT8 8979 km 14:17:14
G4EFE 8m FT8 9060 km 14:17:12
G7PUV/A 8m FT8 8956 km 14:16:45
G9PUV 8m FT8 8964 km 14:16:43
ON5CD 8m FT8 8849 km 14:07:14
G4FTC 8m FT8 9037 km 14:06:44
F5BZB 8m FT8 8196 km 14:05:44
HA2NP 8m FT8 8173 km 13:55:44

ZS4TX was heard in Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia, England, France and Hungary.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
SV1DH 8m FT8 7458 km 14:48:44
S50B 8m FT8 8415 km 14:48:43
HC02 8m FT8 8158 km 14:45:45
S59F 8m FT8 8419 km 14:45:14
9A3TN 8m FT8 8311 km 14:08:56
G9PUV 8m FT8 9243 km 14:00:13
F5BZB 8m FT8 8466 km 13:58:14
HA2NP 8m FT8 8509 km 13:57:44
9A5CW 8m FT8 8349 km 13:53:43

As can be seen from the reports about, the best conditions seemed to have been around 14:00 UTC. I suspect the opening was due to afternoon TEP with some F2 layer propagation.

Radio amateurs in South Africa first got an allocation at 40 MHz back in 2015. After some initial interest, interest seemed to fizzle out due to the small numbers and a lack of activity.

Now with the increased level of activity and interest in the 40 MHz band in Europe, some long range paths are beginning to open up.

As more stations get active on the 40 MHz band, it's likely that more people will put up dedicated antennas tuned for the 8m band resulting in better signal reports. Up to now, most were pressing their 28 MHz or 50 MHz antennas in service with limited results.

Spots from the DX-Cluster...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country

TT8SN 40675 ZS6WAB 14:59 07 Apr 22 JK72MC<>KG46 CQ ... +32 dB South Africa

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS6WAB 14:47 07 Apr 22 +06 QSB South Africa

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS6OB 14:42 07 Apr 22 +6db South Africa

S50B 40680 ZS6OB 14:32 07 Apr 22 ssb 8m South Africa

F4CXO 40680 ZS6OB 14:32 07 Apr 22 JN26PP<>KG44DE 53 in JN26 South Africa

F4CXO 40675 ZS6WAB/B 14:14 07 Apr 22 JN26PP<>KG46RB 559 South Africa

F4DNP 40675 ZS6WAB/B 14:11 07 Apr 22 Good conditions in JN38. South Africa

EA3ERE 40675 ZS6WAB/B 14:11 07 Apr 22 JN11CX<>KG46 CW 559+ South Africa

EA3ERE 40680 ZS6OB 14:05 07 Apr 22 <ES> FT8 +24 dB cq South Africa

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS6OB 14:03 07 Apr 22 +30db South Africa

HA2NP 40680 ZS4TX 14:03 07 Apr 22 JN97SG<TEP>KG30BX 0dB HRD South Africa

HA2NP 40680 ZS6OB 14:02 07 Apr 22 JN97SG<TEP>KG44DE -10 HRD South Africa

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS4TX 14:01 07 Apr 22 QSO G9PUV South Africa

G7PUV 40675 ZS6WAB/B 13:54 07 Apr 22 JO00AU<TEP>KG46RB 599! South Africa

TT8SN 40680 S59F 13:48 07 Apr 22 JK72MC<>JN65UU +30 dB Slovenia

TT8SN 40680 ON5QRP 13:47 07 Apr 22 JK72MC<>JN29UQ +12 dB Belgium

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS6OB 13:47 07 Apr 22 QSO G9PUV South Africa

EA3ERE 40680 ZS6OB 13:44 07 Apr 22 <ES> FT8 cq South Africa

EA3ERE 40675 ZS6WAB/B 13:33 07 Apr 22 JN11CX<>KG46 CW 549 South Africa

ON5QRP-@ 40680 ZS6OB 13:11 07 Apr 22 -6 ft8 South Africa

F4CXO 40675 ZS6WAB/B 13:09 07 Apr 22 JN26PP<>KG46RB 519 South Africa

Big opening on 50 MHz between South Africa & Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

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...