As we move further into April, the F2 layer propagation in the northern hemisphere is getting worse on the higher HF bands but in contrast, things are improving in the southern hemisphere.
On the 16th of April 2024, short-wave listener Tony Mann in Perth, Western Australia reports reception of the ZS6WAB/B in South Africa on 40.675 MHz. The distance was in the region of 8320kms.
Tony writes... "To my surprise the 40.675 MHz ZS6WAB beacon was received here in Perth, W. Australia again this autumn, on 16 April 2024, from 0630 to 0750 UTC. I guess his antenna must be beaming eastwards to be audible in CW mode. IC-R75, broadbanded horizontal 6m dipole (s) at 5m agl."
While this beacon in South Africa has been heard recently in Europe over similar distances, what makes this one of interest is that it's more of an east-west path and is a sure sign of improving F2 layer conditions in the southern hemisphere.
Link... 1) See my 40 MHz page for more information on the 8m amateur band.
Over the last few months, there have been plenty of long distance propagation paths reported on the 40 MHz band but nearly all involve at least one station in the northern hemisphere. In this post, we'll look at a recent East-West path in the southern hemisphere.
5th April 2023: Short wave listener Tony Mann in Perth, Australia reported reception of the ZS6WAB beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz. The distance was about 8320kms.
Tony Mann writes... "To my surprise the South African 8m beacon on 40.675 MHz, ZS6WAB, made an appearance here for over 2 hours after 0615 UTC. I am amazed it was detectable, and for so long here.
The receiver is an Icom IC-R75 with audio via usb mode. The beacon was first heard around 0615 UTC on a north facing 6m broadband dipole at 5m agl. When I rotated the dipole around to face east-west the signal was much stronger.
The signal was audible for over an hour, peaked again 0645-0655 UTC and was visible on Spectrum Lab past 0800 UTC. The decoded morse revealed the callsign ZS6WAB and grid locator KG46RB. The great circle distance is 8320 km (5200 miles)."
Tony posted this video on his YouTube channel...
In response to this reception report, Willem ZS6WAB reports... "All my beacons from 40.675mhz /50.025mhz /70.025mhz /144.400mhz is beaming to Australia for the last month now. Ure report is the very first report since my antenna are turned to VK land."
I think there was a report of a VK8 station in the north of Australia hearing this beacon in the last 12-months but it wasn't really documented or reported on.
Analysis... While this opening was ongoing, Tony Mann took a screenshot from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website which shows the predicted F2 layer critical frequency. This is the frequency that is returned from the F2 layer in the ionosphere when a signal is sent straight up.
The actual maximum usable frequency (MUF) is roughly three times the critical frequency i.e. a signal at perhaps an elevation of about 5 degrees above the horizon. The map suggests a MUF of maybe 3 x 11 MHz / 12 MHz = 33-36 MHz. It's not exact but it suggests that a path in the low VHF spectrum (30-40 MHz) might be possible.
The second thing to note from the graphic above is that conditions in the ionosphere are now better in the southern hemisphere now that we have passed the equinox.
If we consider how many good east-west paths there were in the northern hemisphere in January to March then there should be similar east-west paths on the 40 MHz over the next few months from South Africa to Australia and South America and from Australia to South America.
It really is just a case of getting more people transmitting and listening.
Link... For more information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page.
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.
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.
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.
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.
RcvrBandModeDistance Time (UTC) S58P8mFT87928 km14:59:11 TT8SN8mFT84300 km14:58:11 9A5CW8mFT87848 km14:37:28
ZS6OB was heard over a much wider area including Portugal (HC02), Slovenia, Croatia, England, Belgium, France and Hungary.
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
With the recent increase in sunspot numbers and the improvement on the HF bands, there has been a lot of interest in the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz. This beacon which usually sends a message in CW is now seen as a valuable early warning system for potential openings on the 50 MHz band between Europe and South Africa.
In the first quarter of 2022, a total of 52 stations uploaded reception reports to the DX Summit DX cluster and a map of these are shown above. Outside of Europe, there are two to note.
a) TT8SN in Chad at about 4,300kms was most likely one F2 layer hop.
b) There was a spot on the cluster from W3PQS in the USA but unless I hear otherwise, I think it's a mistake (not counted as part of the 52). I sent W3PQS an email but got no reply.
Europe... This is the map for Europe in more detail...
As might be expected, the majority of the stations that heard the 40 MHz signal of ZS6WAB are located in the southern half of Europe.
As for propagation modes, it's likely TEP was involved with some F2 layer reaching as high as 40 MHz as well on this North-South path.
It was interesting to see that the signal from South Africa managed to reach OH5ZA in Finland as well, a distance of almost 9,500kms.
Top Spotters... This is a list of the top spotters on the DX cluster broken down into the number of days they heard and reported the ZS6WAB beacon on 40 MHz.
It's interesting to note that both DK2EA and F4CXO reported hearing the 40 MHz ZS6WAB beacon on 22 days in Q1 of 2022.
Caveat... I used the DX spots from the DX Summit cluster to compile the data for this post. It's possible there were other spots which were not on this platform but other sources of information are incomplete. I do think however it gives a reasonably accurate picture of who heard the South African beacon on the 40 MHz band.
In Conclusion... First off, it's great to see so many stations in Europe active and listening on the 40 MHz band!
I think the reception reports of this 40 MHz beacon shows just how valuable an allocation between 28 MHz and 50 MHz can be, especially for beacons.
It would be nice if more countries allowed one off experimental 40 MHz beacons as advocated by the IARU even if an amateur radio allocation is unlikely.
Back in October of 2021, I reported on the first ever contact between South Africa and Slovenia on the 40 MHz band. See post HERE.
On the 13th of March 2022, there was another 'first' 40 MHz contact when when Milan, 9A2Y in Croatia managed to complete a successful FT8 contact with Willem, ZS6WAB in South Africa.
The distance was in the region of 7,585kms and it took place at around 12:36 UTC. This would have been an hour or so after local noon and the F2 layer was likely at it's highest ionization.
Considering it was a North-South path, I suspect that F2 and TEP propagation was involved without any need for a Sporadic-E extension at either end.
The solar flux on the 13th of March was at 123 which is a lot higher than last October when it was just 78 when the first ZS-S5 contact took place.
The screenshot above from 9A2Y shows the FT8 contact. As can be seen, the signal from ZS6WAB was -5dB in Croatia which suggests that a contact on CW would have been possible but unlikely on SSB.
Equipment: I'm not sure what 9A2Y was using but ZS6WAB uses an old ICOM IC-706 for the 8m CW beacon with a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi so I presume that is what was used.
Antenna stack at ZS6WAB with the 40 MHz Yagi at the top
Quite a number of European stations have reported hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.475 MHz over the last week or two. Considering it's located halfway between the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands, it is now hopefully giving early warning of potential 6m openings between South Africa and Europe.
As always, if you want more information on the new 8m band then check out the links on my 40 MHz page.
During the period of the 4th to the 11th of February 2022, quite a number of stations have reported hearing the ZS6WAB 8m beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz.
These are the 8m spots from the DX Maps website...
Date & timeSpotterQRGModeDX Prop.CommentsSFIAK 2022-02-11 11:40:46 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RB 539 coming up 2022-02-11 11:00:40 TT8SN (JK72MC) 40.675 CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JK72MC<>KG46RB Wow, gd signal
It's worth noting the times of these reports. The earliest is around 10:30 UTC and the latest is around 15:00 UTC.
That is roughly a 4-5 hour window centred on local noon when the sun is at its highest.
It was also interesting to see a report from Nicolas, TT8SN in Chad at 4,300kms. This was likely to have been one hop F2 propagation.
This is the map of the stations in Europe in more detail...
Notes...
1) It's very encouraging to see so many stations listening for and reporting a beacon on the 40 MHz band!
2) Any serious 6m operator on the 50 MHz band will be always looking for sources of information be it on air or online with DX clusters or chat forums. Even if someone on 6m in Europe has no real interest in the 40 MHz band, the 8m beacon can be used to indicate that an opening to South Africa on 50 MHz may be imminent.
3) Dave, G0DJA in IO93 square in England reports hearing the beacon with a simple dipole. That is also I believe the most northerly reception report of the ZS6WAB 8m beacon to date.
It also reminded me of the perils of using the Mercator projection flat map. When Dave sent me a report, I thought that his location in IO93IF would be a good bit further away from the beacon than my location on the south coast of Ireland which is IO51TU. However in reality as can be seen from the map above which is a great circle projection, I am a little further away.
4) From the 4th to the 11th of February, the solar flux was in the range of 118 to 127.
5) It's worth remembering that all of these reports were heard by a person listening on CW. That is probably 10-15dB above what might be possible with a digital mode like FT8, Q65, WSPR or PI4.
6) This nice video shows reception of the South African beacon by Paul, G7PUV in the south-east of England on the 4th of February 2022....
Propagation Mode??... At the moment, the conditions on the 28 MHz band are reasonably good with plenty of East-West F2 layer propagation. This suggests the the F2 MUF (maximum usable frequency) on North-South paths is up above 30 MHz and into the low VHF spectrum.
Does it reach 40 MHz at the moment? I suspect it does from the south of Europe.
On some bands, you can be reasonably sure what the propagation mode is. On the 40 MHz band at the moment, can we be sure that it's all F2 layer? Is it partially or all TEP related? Is there a Sporadic-E extension at either end of the path?
It would be interesting to see if anyone could hear the beacon at around 20:00-21:00 UTC when there might be evening type TEP. If they could then that might suggest openings on the higher bands like 50 MHz and above.
It would be also interesting to see if stations in the SE of the USA could hear this 8m beacon?
Link...
1) Check out my 40 MHz page for more information about the 8m band.
16th January 2022: Emilio, IK0OKY reports that there was a nice opening on the 40 MHz band on the 16th of January when several amateur radio stations in & near Rome reported reception of the ZS6WAB/B beacon in South Africa.
Emilio writes..." Today, there was a 40 MHz opening from Rome area towards South Africa ZS. The ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz was heard in JN61 square from 11.15 UTC until 12.30 UTC.
The beacon was heard first from IK0FTA Sergio and then also from some other locals (IW0FFK Marco , IK0SMG Pino and myself).
I received it up to 559 on a cubical quad fractal antenna for 6m. Unfortunately no 6m QSO took place during the period that the beacon was in."
Grazie Emilio.
DX-Cluster spots...
Date & timeSpotterQRGModeDXkmProp.Comments 2022-01-16 12:28:24 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RC)7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 319 now 2022-01-16 12:06:59IK0OKY (JN61ES)40.675CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RC)7508JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC still in 2022-01-16 11:48:38 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RC)7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 2022-01-16 11:16:44 IK0FTA (JN61GV) 40.675CWZS6WAB/B (KG46RB)7522 599 in jn61
Propagation: The solar flux on the day was 116 with an A index of 22 and a K index of 2-3. Considering that the beacon and the stations in Rome are equidistant from the geomagnetic equator, I presume the primary mode of propagation was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. It's probably no accident that the opening was just after local noon.
Early warming... This report I think shows the real value of the 40 MHz band as an early warning system. There is a huge gap between 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands and the 10m band will be open many many times without the propagation ever reaching 6m.
The 40 MHz band helps bridge this gap and this will become even more important as the solar flux begins to rise and the MUF goes above the 28 MHz band and into the low-VHF spectrum.
On this occasion, there was no opening on the 50 MHz band but that won't always be the case. In the future, there will be times when the reception of a 40 MHz beacon will alert VHF operators to get ready on 50 MHz and to have their beams pointing in the right direction.
Links... 1) As always, I have plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.
Back on the 30th of October 2021, there was a nice TEP opening on the new 40 MHz band between South Africa and Spain.
Joan, EA3ERE reports that he heard the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz using an ICOM IC-7300 and a dipole for the HF bands. The distance was almost 8000kms.
Joan kindly sent on a video of the reception and it's shown below...
Friday 5th November 2021: This was an interesting day for the 40 MHz band with signals from South Africa reaching Europe and a big Sporadic-E opening in Europe.
The map above shows the reports from the PSK Reporter website...
TEP Reports:Paul, G7PUV on the SE coast of England (JO00AU) writes... "Willem ZS6WAB has been on 40.675MHz today using FT8 but I was surprised to get some decodes from him around 1500UTC. The path length is around 8800KM and his peak signal was -10dB although I've listened back to my IQ recording and it was strong enough to hear quite clearly.
I think it's the first FT8 reception from South Africa in the UK on 40MHz, and presumably all TEP as I had no reception towards EA/CT/I on 10 or 6 to suggest mixed mode."
Reception of ZS6WAB by G7PUV
Thomas, DF6HT in the NE of Germany (JO63BT) writes... "Hi all, today received for the first time a signal on 40.675, around 8minutes long was the call from ZS6WAB who called there CQ, received here on a 15m sw vertical For me a sign to check sometimes this qrg for some action, and also a sign that North DL also have a chance to work on that interesting band! 73s from Thomas, DF6HT"
TEP Analysis: Paul is using a log periodic antenna for the low VHF bands. I suspect that there may have been one Sporadic-E hop from G7PUV to the north of Africa where the signals were coupled into the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) path to ZS6WAB.
It was probably the same for Thomas in Germany with one Sporadic-E opening to the south.
The problem in Europe is that there can be an excellent Sporadic-E opening to the south but as there are no stations in the north of Africa ,we hear nothing and think the band is closed.
Sporadic-E in Europe: There was also a very good Sporadic-E opening in Europe on the day as can be seen from the report below and the report from
Report from Borut, S50B... "Very good prop on 8m today in EU. As far, EI1KNH have the strongest signal....599+++ on CW ever on my side. Hrd EI7HBB on SSB too. Hrd also EI1CAH/b and OZ7IGY/b. I forgot to monitor ZS beacon. Tomorrow.... I was also on 40662, but every time I was on this freq I have strong qrm from some device only in dir of EI and US. I hope that till next year, qrm will be lower/disappeared. IC-7100...80W.....4 EL YAGI (YU7EF) 10m high."
DX-Cluster Spots for the day...
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country G7PUV 40675.0 ZS6WAB 15:08 05 Nov JO00AU<TEP>KG46RB CQ FT8 -10dB South Africa EA3ERE 40016.0 EI1CAH 13:44 05 Nov JN11CX<ES>IO53CK cw 419 Ireland EA3ERE 40013.0 EI1KNH 13:42 05 Nov JN11CX<ES>IO63VE cw 559 Ireland EI7GL-@ 40016.0 EI1CAH 13:29 05 Nov PI4 -25 dB Q=50 Ireland S50B-@ 40670.0 S55ZMS/B 13:07 05 Nov PI4 -20 dB Q=48 Slovenia F4CXO 40013.0 EI1KNH/B 13:03 05 Nov JN26PP<ES>IO63VE 519 Ireland F4CXO 40016.0 EI1CAH/B 13:01 05 Nov JN26PP<ES>IO51CK 519 in CW Ireland S50B 40070.2 OZ7IGY/B 12:50 05 Nov Denmark F4FRQ 40016.0 EI1CAH 12:44 05 Nov JN37KQ<>IO53XK CW 559 Ireland F4FRQ 40013.0 EI1KNH 12:40 05 Nov JN37KQ<>IO63VE CW 559 Ireland S50B 40680.0 EI7HBB 11:38 05 Nov Ireland S50B 40013.0 EI1KNH/B 11:32 05 Nov Ireland EI7HBB 40670.0 S55ZMS 11:18 05 Nov 529 Slovenia
Link.... 1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE
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...
TxmtrRcvrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
ZS6NKG0BNR6mFT88965 km14:45:26
ZS6NKDK8NE6mFT88489 km15:34:59
ZS6NKDL1YM6mFT88370 km15:34:59
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...
Saturday 23rd October 2021: This seemed like a particularly good day for TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) with signals on the 40 MHz (8m) and 50 MHz (6m) from South Africa reaching Europe. In this post, we'll just look at the 40 MHz opening.
The map above shows the reports from the DX-Cluster with several stations across the south of Europe hearing Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz.
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country SV8CS 40675.0 ZS6WAB 14:04 23 Oct FT8 Beacon South Africa I0YLI 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:28 23 Oct JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB Calling CQ . South Africa EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:18 23 Oct JN11CX<ES>KG46 +2db cq South Africa IZ0CBD 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:00 23 Oct JN61FP<TEP>KG46RB Rx 589 South Africa IK0OKY 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:52 23 Oct JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 South Africa
Most of the distances seem to be in the region of 7000-8000kms.
SV2DCD in Greece and 9H1TX on Malta also report hearing ZS6WAB.
Report 1: Francesco, IZ0CBD in JN61FP near Rome reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz with a Kenwood TS2000 transceiver and a 6-element Yagi for the 50 MHz band.
Here is a nice video from Francesco showing his reception of the 8m beacon...
Report 2: Emilio, IK0OKY writes to say that he and Pino, IK0SMG both heard ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz from JN61 Square. IK0OKY writes... "Signals were very good with peaks up to 559 on a FT 847 and 2 element quad fractal antenna for the 6 meter band. Pino uses an IC7300 plus a 2 el HB9CV for 6m as well. After a nice 50 Mhz opening to South Africa and Namibia took place as well with ZS6 and V51 stations coming in."
Video 1 from IK0SMG shows how strong the signal was...
Video 2 from IK0OKY shows reception of the 8m beacon on a Yaesu FT-847...
Propagation Mode: It seems to be assumed that the propagation mode for these low band VHF signals near the bottom of the sunspot cycle are TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). However as the solar flux rises, there will be a stage where North-South paths on the low VHF bands are possible via F2 layer propagation.
Considering this opening reached 50 MHz as well, I suspect it was due to TEP but as the solar flux rises, I don't think we can always assume it is. It could well be that paths that cross the equator like this will be a mixture of both.
Links...
1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE
Sunday 17th October 2021: A little bit of radio history was made today when there was a successful two way contact between S50B in Slovenia and ZS6WAB in South Africa on the new 40 MHz band.
Not only was this the first contact between Slovenia and South Africa but it was also the first contact between Europe and Africa on the new 8-metre band.
Borut, S50B reports that he worked Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 digital mode...
As can be seen, the signal was quite weak at -8dB and -10dB which suggests that a contact on CW might have been possible but unlikely on SSB.
S50B writes... "I'd like to announce the first 8m, 40mhz, FT8 qso between AF-EU and South Africa and Slovenia. Mny tnx to ZS6WAB.....Juupii 🙂 73 de Borut s50b"
The key point about this contact is that it shows the 40 MHz path between Europe and South Africa is possible and in future, CW and SSB contacts may follow.
Distance: The contact was in the region of 7925kms which means by default, it also sets a new distance record for the new 40 MHz band.
Propagation Mode: If this contact was on 50 MHz, I'd probably be saying it was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. At the moment, we're getting modest East-West openings at 28 MHz further north in Europe. It stands to reason that openings from the south of Europe on paths to the South must extend well up into the low VHF region above 30 MHz.
Does the F2 MUF to the south extend up as far as 40 MHz? I really don't believe anyone can say with 100% certainty that this opening was only F2 layer or it was only TEP. The solar flux today was just 78 which isn't all that high.
Equipment: Subject to confirmation, I think S50B was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-7100 into a 4-element Yagi as shown above.
ZS6WAB uses an old ICOM IC-706 for the 8m CW beacon with a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi so I presume that is what was used.
Antenna stack at ZS6WAB with the 40 MHz Yagi at the top
Hopefully, this contact will encourage more experiments on the 40 MHz band. There is a number of new 40 MHz experimental stations in the USA and an 8m contact contact between South Africa and North America would be really interesting.
As always, if you want more information on the new 8m band then check out the links in my 40 MHz page.
In a report by email, Leonidas SV2DCD in Greece informs me that he heard the ZS6WAB 8-metre beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz.
"Hi there John. TEP is back again on 8m band. Today me and SV8CS had copy from ZS6WAB/B 40.675mhz with peak around 16:50z best copy 539 qsb
Here is a video of my copy ZS6WAB/B @ SV2DCD via TEP 6/10/2021 16:40z 40.675mhz "
You can see a video of the reception below...
As outlined in the video title, Leonidas feels that the propagation mode was TEP(Trans-Equatorial Propagation). I have shown the Geomagnetic Equator in the map above and it seems to be roughly equidistant from both stations.
The distance was approximately 7,220 kms. Leonidas was using an 8-element Yagi for 50 MHz to listen to the beacon on 8m.
I also understand that the South African 40 MHz beacon has been heard in the south of Portugal in the last few days as well.
SV2DCD also reported hearing the same 40 MHz beacon in April of 2021. See previous post HERE
Now that we have concrete evidence of the 8m South African beacon being heard in Europe, hopefully others will try to have a listen and report it.
Analysis... This new 40 MHz beacon could prove very useful for serious 6-metre operators in Europe checking to see if there is a propagation path to South Africa. There is quite a jump from say 28 MHz to 50 MHz where as if the band is open at 40 MHz then 50 MHz may not be far behind.
On the 13th of July, there was a good opening on the 50 MHz band from Europe to South Africa. During this opening at about 13:50 UTC, Paul G7PUV in the south-east of England managed to hear the South African 8m beacon ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz.
This beacon was heard in the Mediterranean area several times during the month of April 2021 and this is the first time that it has been heard so far north. The distance is around 8,800kms.
For the reception, Paul was using a custom made W4KMA Log-Periodic antenna covering 26-100 MHz at 15-metres above ground level.
Paul reports that the beacon which transmits only on CW peaked at S2.
Propagation Mode: It's probably one of two options.
a) Multi-hop Sporadic-E which would require 4-5 hops and crossing the equator to the southern hemisphere where it's their winter season.
b) A combined TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) and Sporadic-E opening. TEP from South Africa to the Mediterranean area and then via a Sporadic-E hop from there to England.
I suspect it may have been TEP + Sp-E even though we are not near the Equinox and the peak of the TEP season.
Info: For more information of the ZS6WAB beacon and previous reception reports, see my 40 MHz page.
Following on from my previous post about the South African 8-metre ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz being heard by SV2DCD in Greece, there are now three more reports!
IZ0BCD: Francesco, IZ0CBD in Rome, Italy report reception of the 8m ZS6WAB beacon on the 20th of April 2021.
Video...
Francesco was using a Kenwood TS2000 and a 6-element Yagi for 50 MHz and the distance was around 7500kms.
9H1TX: David, 9H1TX on the island of Malta heard the 8m beacon on the 19th of April using a 7-element Yagi for 50 MHz.
Video...
SV8CS: Spiros, SV8CS heard the South African 8m beacon also on the 19th of April 2021 using a 7-element Yagi by I0JXX.
Propagation Mode: As outlined in a previous post, the mode of propagation was TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). As shown in the map above, both the beacon and the receiving stations are equidistant from the Geomagnetic Equator.
Links...
1) For more information on the 8-metre band, visit my 40 MHz page.
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Addendum:
1st Update - 22nd Apr 2021: Info from Paulo, CT2IWW
CT7ASY: Eduardo, CT7ASY near Lisbon heard the ZS6WAB 8m beacon on the 20th of April.
CT7ASY... " My name is Eduardo Arraia and I´m an amateur radio operator licensed as CT7ASY, in Portugal, locator IM58gv.
Whilst monitoring the 8 meter band this afternoon, I came across the ZS6WAB beacon. As you can see by the attached image, I received the following message, decoded on CWSkimmer, at about 15:41 UTC, this afternoon, on 40.674MHz: TAR de ZS6WAB DE ZS6WAB DE ZS6WAB BCN LOC K R4
I am monitoring the band with an Icom IC7300 and a Sirio GPA 40-70 ground plane vertical antenna.
Until a couple of years ago, the 40MHz band was used, in Portugal, by the fire services in a country wide repeater network.
Since all emergency and police services moved to the new TETRA UHF network, this portion of spectrum was freed up and we can monitor some beacons, from Europe. South Africa is a first, though.
Following on from the report last month of the ZS6WAB 8-metre beacon being heard in Portugal, we now have news that the beacon on 40.675 MHz has been heard in the north of Greece by SV2DCD!
In a report by email, Leonidas SV2DCD informs me that he first heard the beacon on the 19th of April 2021 at 14:00 UTC and it peaked around 15:40 UTC. Leonidas was using an 8-element Yagi for 50 MHz to listen to the beacon on 8m.
You can see a video of the reception below...
As outlined in the video title, Leonidas feels that the propagation mode was TEP(Trans-Equatorial Propagation). I have shown the Geomagnetic Equator in the map above and it seems to be roughly equidistant from both stations.
The distance was approximately 7,220 kms.
Now that we have concrete evidence of the 8m South African beacon being heard in Europe, hopefully others will try to have a listen and report it.
Analysis... This new 40 MHz beacon could prove very useful for serious 6-metre operators in Europe checking to see if there is a propagation path to South Africa. There is quite a jump from say 28 MHz to 50 MHz where as if the band is open at 40 MHz then 50 MHz may not be far behind.
On the 14th of March 2021, someone in the Algarve in the south of Portugal claims to have heard it.
The 48-second recording which is in WMA format can be downloaded HERE
I fed the audio into the Spectrum Lab software programme and a screen grab of part of the signal is shown above.
The full morse signal reads... DE ZS6WAB DE ZS6WAB DE ZS6WAB BCN LOC KG46RB ...followed by a steady carrier.
The signal was heard by an experienced TV-DXer in the south of Portugal.
The distance works out as approximately 7,800kms.
As of the propagation mode??? ....F2? Multi-hop Sporadic-E? Trans-Equatorial propagation (TEP)?
There are spots on the DX-Cluster for ZS stations on 28 MHz being heard in southern European countries.
"I started to received this in March during the afternoon.. At times it can be very strong, enough to copy the signal using a 20cm piece of wire as an aerial. There's often not much other activity in the 30-40MHz range when it's being received. Never heard it before 12.30 or after 16.30 gmt. On some days it can briefly appear just for a few minutes only. Hugh. "
In April of 2015, radio amateurs in South Africa were allocated a 10 kHz wide sliver of spectrum in the new 40 MHz (8-metre) band. The allocation goes from 40.475 MHz to 40.685 MHz which is in the middle of the 40 MHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific & Medical) band. They were also allowed a very generous output power level of 26dBW or 400 watts.
Tropo... On the 16th of August 2015, Ian Roberts, ZS6BTE, and Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB made the first ZS to ZS contact on the 40 MHz band over a distance of around 285 kms.
FIRST ZS TO ZS CONTACT ON 8 Meters ( 40 MHz )
“In his telephone conversation Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, informed us about the first-ever ZS to ZS contact on 40,675 MHz. It was made on Sunday 16 August 2015 between Ian Roberts, ZS6BTE, at Johannesburg and Willem at Polokwame using FSK441 and covering 288 km. ZS6WAB is equipped with a 3 element Yagi and 100 Watts. They are both looking for other ZS contacts.“
ZS6BTE was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-746 into a 3-element Yagi on a 6m pole. It is believed that the propagation mode was troposcatter.
An attempt was made to make a contact on SSB but this was unsuccessful.
*****
Meteor Scatter... On the 6th of September 2015, Andre Botes, ZS2ACP, in Port Elizabeth worked Willem Badenhorst, ZS6WAB, at Polokwane on 40.682 MHz FSK441 via meteor scatter.
The distance for the meteor scatter contact was 1184 kms.
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Back in 2015, South Africa was the first country to allow radio amateurs to communicate on the 40 MHz band. While there was permission for beacons in the UK, Denmark and Slovenia, there was no permission for individuals to transmit.
In 2018, radio amateurs in Ireland were given permission to transmit on 40 MHz and this has sparked a lot of new interest in the band in Europe.
Hopefully in the years ahead as the sunspot numbers improve, successful contacts will be made between Europe and South Africa.
