144 MHz beacon on St Helena heard in Namibia over 2250km sea path

Back in February of 2021, I had a post up about the new 144 MHz on St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. On the 3rd of March, I reported that the beacon had been heard over 3000kms away in South Africa.

On the 9th of March 2021, the 144 MHz beacon was heard by David, V51DK on the west coast of Namibia over a 2253 km sea path.

V51DK who is located in the city of Swakopund has a very modest station and was just using a Diamond X200 vertical antenna at just 6-metres above ground level. 

As the tropo forecast from F5LEN shows below, there were excellent conditions between St Helena and Namibia.

This form of maritime ducting is a regular occurrence is this part of the South Atlantic Ocean.

New 144 MHz beacon on St Helena Island heard over 3000kms away in South Africa - 1st March 2021

Back in February of 2021, I had a post up about the new 144 MHz on St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. Now we have the first reception report!

On the 1st of March 2021, Charles ZS1CF in Cape Town heard the ZD7GWM beacon on St Helena Island over a distance of approximately 3145 kms. The beacon operates on 144.475 MHz with 25 watts on CW into a vertical antenna.

The tropo prediction map above from Pascal, F5LEN shows path and it is believed that the propagation mode was via a maritime duct just above the ocean.

This marine path from South Africa to St Helena is a relatively common occurrence and successful contacts have been made on 2m and 70cms in the last few years. It is hoped that the new beacon will give a better picture of just how often this 3000km+ path opens and encourage others to have a listen as well.

As outlined in the original beacon post, there may be a possibility of a 144 MHz trans-Atlantic path to Brazil or via TEP to Europe.

Link...

1) Update on the new 144 MHz beacon on St Helena Island (ZD7) - Feb 16th 2021

South African ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz

While most of the activity and interest in the new 8-metre amateur radio band is in Europe, it's worth remembering that since 2015, there has been a small 10 kHz allocation in South Africa which goes from 40.675 to 40.685 MHz.

Willem, ZS6WAB in South Africa operates a number of beacons on several VHF bands including one on 40.675 MHz. An old ICOM IC-706 is used for the CW beacon and the antenna is a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi.

The 8m antenna is at the top of this stack

The map below shows the location of ZS6WAB in the NE corner of South Africa in the locator square KG46RB.

Considering that the ZS6WAB beacon in located in the NE of South Africa, it should easily be heard in the SW of the country via Sporadic-E propagation.

Outside of South Africa, it's a long way to any other potential activity area. The best path is probably via Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) to Europe. Even though it's in the region of 8000 kms, the beacon will almost certainly be heard in Europe and it's just a case of getting people to listen and report it.

There is also potential multi-hop Sporadic-E paths to Western Australia and South America but again, it's a case of someone being interested enough to listen.

At the peak of the upcoming sunspot cycle, the 40 MHz beacon may well be heard quite easily on multiple continents including North America.

Even though this beacon has been operational for some time, there have been no reports of it on the DX Cluster outside of South Africa as of February 2021. Hopefully this post might encourage a few more people to have a listen.

***

The ZS6WAB beacon is also operational on 28.205 MHz, 50.025 MHz, 70.025 MHz, 144.400 MHz and 432.446 MHz.

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

2020 Report for the 60-MHz EI1KNH beacon

The EI1KNH beacon on 60.013 MHz is currently the only operational 5-metre beacon in the world and has been on air since December of 2019. In this post, we'll look at how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 6 stations spotted the EI1KNH beacon on 60 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual were... EA3ERE (3), EI7BMB (3), F6HTJ (1), GW0GEI (1), NL8992 (2), SP7VVB (1).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 1800kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

Note the reception report by GW0GEI in West Wales at a distance of 175 kms by tropo.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 60 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the EI1KNH beacon can be found here... https://www.qrz.com/db/EI1KNH/

For more information on the 60 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/60-mhz.html

2020 Report for the 40-MHz EI1KNH beacon

Back at the start of January of this year, I had a post up about how often the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz was reported back in 2020. In this post, we'll look at the EI1KNH beacon in Ireland which transmits on 40.013 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 26 stations spotted the EI1KNH beacon on 40 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual were... 9A6W (13), CT1DDN (2), CT1HMN (1), CT2IWW (1), DG0JPM (1), DK7UK (6), DM2TT (1), DM6HK (1), EA1FBU (1), EA2US (1), EA3ERE (24), EI3GYB (6), EI7BMB (1), EI7GL (2), F1EIT (7), F4FRQ (2), F6HTJ (4), OE3EMC (6), OH3BCX (1), OH3NE (1), ON4TA (3), OZ1BNN (1), PE1ITR (2), S5/M0MPM (1), SP5XMU (1), SP7VVB (1).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 2000kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

The EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon which is just to the south of Dublin first became operational in May of 2020.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the EI1KNH beacon can be found here... https://www.qrz.com/db/EI1KNH/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Addendum...

Video clip from Tom, SP5XMU in Poland showing reception of the EI1KNH beacon...

Update on the 40 MHz OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark - Jan 2021

Thanks to Ivan OZ7IS for the following update on the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz (8m).

Since the start back in 2007 the OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon has been running on yearly experimental licenses based on reasoned applications. It has been increasingly difficult to come up with new good reasons every year. As a result it was off air in-between licenses. 

The last five months of 2020 it was off-air! As all 12 OZ7IGY beacons together represent an operating cost of approx. 2500 € every year the 40 MHz beacon was occasionally switched off for economic reasons. After all OZ7IGY beacons switched to the “Next Generation” platform a new problem arose: The 40 MHz beacon interfered with the microwave beacons and was therefore switched off for several periods. 

The good news is that due to changes in the regulations we have now been granted a permanent license until the end of 2035. On January 2, the beacon on 40,071 was back on air! In addition, we have solved our interference problems and found a sponsor to cover the license fee for the 40 MHz beacon. So if no other problems arise the 40 MHz beacon of OZ7IGY has now become reliable 24/7/365! 

On behalf of the OZ7IGY-team - Vy 73 de OZ7IS, Ivan.

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For more information on the OZ7IGY beacons or if you would make a financial donation to them then visit their website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

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

Various antennas for the suite of OZ7IGY beacons

WANTED: Circulator for 40 MHz OZ7IGY beacon

 

The team that maintain the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark are currently looking for a Circulator for their 40 MHz beacon.

The Circulator must be capable of operation at 40 MHz and it must be able to handle 25 watts.

If anyone has a spare one and would like to support this group, contact the beacon team via their website... http://www.oz7igy.dk/support/

2020 Report for the 40-MHz OZ7IGY beacon

In this post, we'll look at the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark which transmits on 40.071 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2020.

A total of 16 stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz during 2020 and the number of spots per individual was... 9A2SB (1), 9A6W (9), DK7UK (2), EA3ERE (13), EI3GYB (10), EI4GNB (1), EI4KP (13), EI7GL (44), EI7HBB (13), F1EIT (13), F6HTJ (4), G0LUJ (5), G7CNF (1), IK0OKY (7), ON4TA (1) & OZ1BNN (9).

As the map shows above, most were in the region of 800 to 1200kms from the beacon which is a typical distance for Sporadic-E signals at 40 MHz during the Summer season.

It's interesting to look back through the years and see just how stations spotted the OZ7IGY beacon each year.

The OZ7IGY beacon first became operational on 40 MHz back in 2007 and a total of 44 individual  stations spotted it on the DX cluster that year. It was probably widely reported in the amateur radio press at the time as it was a beacon for a new band and quite a few people would have been curious to see if they could hear it.

Over the next few years, the only other signal on the band was the GB3RAL beacon which was operational from 2007 to 2014. There were also times when OZ7IGY was non-operational. The lack of any other developments in countries in Europe in getting access to the band didn't help with the level of interest in the new 8-metre band. 

This finally changed in 2018 when radio amateurs in Ireland got access to the 8m band and that kicked off some renewed interest across Europe.

In 2020, 16 individual stations reported the OZ7IGY beacon on the DX Cluster, the same as 2019. The main difference was that only one OZ (Denmark) station was putting up spots in 2020 compared to six in 2019.

As for the number of individual spots for OZ7IGY on the DX cluster, this is the distribution since it started...

The number of spots for 2019 and 2020 suggests that the few who are listening on the band now are more active in contrast to 2007.

Curious Fact... As of the end of 2020, there are a total of about 500 spots for the OZ7IGY beacon since it first became operational on 40 MHz in 2007. Out of all of the spots, there isn't one from outside Europe. There are no double hop Sporadic-E reports. There must have been plenty of times when the 40 MHz signal was audible in North America and South Africa.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

EI1KNH - Update on the new Irish beacon on 60 MHz

Back in early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Now we have news that the very first beacon on 60 MHz is operational! See updates below...

The new beacon is operational since the 16th of December 2019 and has the call EI1KNH.

It is on 60.013 MHz and runs 25 watts into a vertical folded dipole. This is currently the only 5-metre beacon operational in the world.

The new 5-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons - EI0SIX on 50 MHz, EI4RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO63VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin.

An 8-metre beacon operating on 40.013 MHz from the same site became operational in May of 2020 with an output power of 40 watts.

The photo above shows the vertical folded dipole for the 60 MHz beacon and the 40 MHz vertical for the 8-metre beacon.

* * *

Update : 20th June 2020 - FT8 replaces PI4 -  Tim, EI4GNB reports that the new configuration for the EI1KNH 5-metre beacon in FT8 - CW - Carrier, with FT8 being in the first period of every minute. There are no breaks, just 60 phases an hour non-stop. This should make it easier for people to listen for it as there is a huge user base running the FT8 and WSJT-X software.

Previously it was running PI4 which is a specialised digital mode for beacons.

If anyone hearing the beacon tunes to 60.012 MHz USB, they should see FT8 decode at 1240 Hz.

Tim writes..."It is hoped that the FT8 addition will encourage more people to check for the beacon, it being a simple task of adding the 60.012 frequency to their software's FREQUENCIES list, as ALL REGIONS and ALL MODES, then they can just quickly flip over when working ft8 on 6m to see if the MUF is rising to at least 60 MHz."

* * *

The 60 MHz beacon transmits on the digital PI4 mode and CW. Details below...

PI4 + CW + Carrier 00111 (1st, 2nd & 3rd Minute of every 5 minutes) Synchronised Beacon Project (SBP)

The RF for the beacon is generated by an RFZero module running about 20 milliwatts (+13dBm).

This is then fed into a homebrew amplifier with an RA30H0608 PA stage generating 25 watts of RF.

This is then fed into a homebrew band pass filter before going to the vertical folded dipole.

Expected Range???..... What range might be expected from a beacon on 60 MHz? Considering it a weak signal mode, a tropo range of somewhere in the range of 200 kms might be expected. Perhaps up to 400 kms during times of high pressure.

It's important to note however that the Dublin and Wicklow mountains which are just to the west attenuate the signals in that direction. The path across to the west coast of Wales is much better.

A good guide would be the other beacons on 50 MHz and 70 MHz. If you can hear those then there is a reasonable chance of hearing the 60 MHz beacon.

Sporadic-E Range... It's certain that the 60 MHz beacon will be heard in Europe during the Sporadic-E season from late April to mid-August.

The map below shows the approximate limit of one hop Sporadic-E. It's likely that stations in the Baltic states, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy and the south of Spain should be able to hear it on a regular basis.

When conditions are really good, stations in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway should be able to hear it.

Shorter skip than that might be a problem though. If it's is exceptional then the skip might shorten to say the Netherlands. I suspect that most of the UK will be in the skip zone for Sporadic-E.

North America???.... There is every chance that the beacon could be heard in North America via multi-hop Sporadic-E. It just needs someone over there to make the effort.

Reports... Reception reports should be sent to Tim EI4GNB. Look up EI1KNH on https://www.qrz.com/

Mystery carrier on 28.223 MHz - Update: Resolved

Original post: There was a Sporadic-E opening today and I noted a constant carrier on 28.223 MHz. I noted this the previous day as well but it was stronger today. Just a constant carrier with no identification.

While I was waiting for it to ID, I thought I heard a very slight change in tone.

When I looked at the audio, sure enough it was changing frequency by about 4 Hz as can be seen above. This happened about 5 times a minute.

At the time, I was hearing lots of FT8 stations from France so I presume it was the F5SN beacon listed as 28.223 MHz? I sent an email to inquire but the question and answer got lost somewhere in Google Translate.

I did hear F5SN giving out its ID on the 29th of April so I'm not sure what happened to it.

Not exactly a QRSS (slow morse) signal but unusual all the same.

Update: 18th May 2020. I finally managed to discover thee identity of the mystery carrier on 28.223 MHz.

On the 18th of May, conditions on 28 MHz were really good and the mystery carrier on 28.223 MHz was nice and strong. This time however when I tuned around, I heard the F5BN/B beacon on CW just above the carrier. Not only that but I found an identical CW signal just below the carrier! One beacon, two signals.

Two CW signals with a big carrier in between.... I knew straight away that it had to be an AM signal!

Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - Wed 29th April 2020

Wednesday 29th April 2020. There was another opening on the 40 MHz band to Denmark and this was probably the best opening so far for 2020.

There was Sporadic-E on 28 MHz during the late morning to central Europe. In the early afternoon, the propagation moved north and the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz appeared.

Not long after that, the OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz came up out of the noise. The PI4 decodes are shown below...

Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Sat 25th April 2020

There was a pretty intensive opening on 28 MHz on Saturday 25th of April 2020 with the MUF going up as high as 50 MHz.

After hearing the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz, I had a listen for the beacon on 40.071 MHz and it eventually came out of the noise.

These were the decodes with the PI4 programme...

40M 13:30 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-22 dB Q=64 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:31 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-1 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:32 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-12 dB Q=98 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:34 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-21 dB Q=38 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:38 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-11 dB Q=100 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:39 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-15 dB Q=78 T=-0.08 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:40 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=0 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 13:41 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=6 dB Q=100 T=-0.06 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:16 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-16 dB Q=82 T=-0.16 s F=3 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB
40M 14:17 UTC OZ7IGY PI4: S/N=-20 dB Q=62 T=-0.15 s F=9 Hz Carrier: F= Hz C/N= dB

The strongest signal had a signal to noise (S/N) ratio of +6dB, the weakest -22dB.

Updated version of PI4 reception software... After a successful decode of the PI4 signal, there is the option to right click on it and spot it on the DX Cluster.

OZ7IGY Beacon website... These spots also appear on the OZ7IGY website. When I tried this a few days ago with an older version of PI4 (Ver 0.9.7.0), the spots didn't on the site. With the newer version (Ver 0.9.8.0), they do.

This is screen shot of the site showing the 28 MHz and 40 MHz spots from the 25th...

It worth noting that the various DX Clusters seem to handle the PI4 and 40 MHz spots differently.

DXWATCH DX Cluster... On the DXWATCH site, the PI4 spots sent from within the programme don't appear. The site also seems to filter out 40 MHz as it assumes it's a mistake as it isn't one of the usual bands. The spot above for 28 MHz from me was sent via the DXMaps website.

DXSUMMIT DX Cluster... On the DXSummit site, the PI4 spots appear successfully.

These are the spots on the DXSUMMIT site for OZ7IGY on the 25th of April 2020...

The spots from me shown as just 'EI7GL' are from DXMaps where I am a registered user.

The spots with 'EI7GL-@' were sent from within the PI4 programme.

Also note that EI3GYB also heard the beacon an hour later later at a location further north.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon and the PI4 can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Danish OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon back on air... May 2019

Back in March of 2019, I had a post up about how OZ7IGY in Denmark was off-air for the foreseeable future.

Well now it is back on again!

On the 26th of May 2019, the keepers of the beacon network released the following...

"40 MHz on air and intermittent NMEA loss solved – 2019-05-26

The 40 MHz beacon is back into service.

OZ1BNN, OZ2M and OZ7IS"

The OZ7IGY beacon operates on 40.071 MHz.

Tip! The 10-metre version of the beacon operates on 28.271 MHz. If you can hear that at a good signal strength then there is a chance you might hear the 40 MHz one as well.

If you hear it then be sure to put it up on the DX Cluster to raise the profile and awareness of the new 8-metre band.

Frequency for new Irish beacon on 40 MHz announced...

In the September 2018 issue of Echo Ireland which is sent out to members of the IRTS, it was announced that the proposed frequency for the new Irish beacon on the 8 metre band will be 40.013 MHz.

The only amateur beacon currently on the band is OZ7IGY from Denmark on 40.071 MHz. The one on 40.050 MHz from central England seems to be off the air and was last spotted several years back.

The proposed frequency for the Irish beacon on 60 MHz will be 60.013 MHz.

70 MHz beacon from the USA heard in Portugal... 23rd July 2018

There was an interesting spot on the DX-Cluster on the 23rd of July 2018 stating that the US beacon WG2XPN/B had been heard in Portugal.

CT1HZE 70005.0 WG2XPN/B 20:16 23 Jul 519 3xEs! United States

The US beacon on 70.005 MHz is located in Virginia which is quite some distance to the south.

Freq.  Call QTH Locator Contact Antenna Watt mASL Notes
70.005 WG2XPN  Bedford, VA FM07FM WA1ZMS 3 el. 60° CW, 3 kW ERP, 15 m AGL 

At a distance of some 6088 kms, the propagation mode was probably triple hop Sporadic-E as CT1HZE suggested... i.e. 3 x 2030 kms.

This isn't the first time that the WG2XPN/2 has been heard in Europe but it's pretty remarkable all the same. Since this American 70 MHz beacon started in 2013, it has been spotted roughly 130 times on the DX Summit cluster. These are the Trans-Atlantic spots...

CT1HZE WG2XPN/B 519 3xEs!  70005 2018-07-23T20:16:18
CT1HZE WG2XPN/B 559 3x Es  70005 2015-06-27T23:25:55
CT1HZE WG2XPN/B 539 3xEs FB  70005 2014-07-05T21:34:08
CT1HZE WG2XPN/B 419 3xEs 6081km  70005 2013-07-03T20:26:02

DI2MN WG2XPN/B JN58WHFM07FM 559 QSB!!  70005 2013-07-07T17:19:56
DI2MN WG2XPN/B JN58WHFM07FM 3x / 4x Es ??  70005 2013-07-07T16:49:43

EA8/DL3GCS WG2XPN/B IL17FM07  70005 2013-07-04T12:47:33
EA8/DL3GCS WG2XPN/B IL17ATFM07FM max 529 70005 2013-07-03T19:47:42
EA8/DL3GCS WG2XPN/B IL17AT<>FM07FM max 419 70005 2013-06-30T16:24:32

IS0AWZ WG2XPN/B 419-429 in JM49NG  70005 2013-07-07T17:10:58

Only five North American stations have bothered to spot it even though it could have been heard widely across the continent over the last few years... K1SIX, N2OTO, VE1PZ, VE9AA, W5LUA, WA1ZMS

Reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Fri 6th July 2018

Both 28 MHz and 50 MHz were wide open on Friday the 6th of July 2018 with plenty of strong Sporadic-E signals on the bands. One of the best things about monitoring FT8 signals on 28 MHz is that I can get a very good idea of where the band is open to.

Since I started listening in mid-May, the 28 MHz band has been open every day but openings from Ireland to Denmark are the exception rather than the norm. Openings from Ireland to the South to Spain / Portugal or the South-East to Italy/Germany seem a lot more common.

Today was an exception and as soon as I saw FT8 spots from near Copenhagen on 28 MHz, I listened on 40.071 MHz for the OZ7IGY beacon.  As can be see from the decoded PI4 spots below, I was hearing the 40 MHz beacon from about 13:20 UTC till 21:00 UTC with some gaps.

The 40 MHz signal was never that strong although my use of an indoor 50 MHz antenna probably has a lot to do with that.

This is currently the only signal in Europe on the 40 MHz band.

OZ7IGY beacon decodes below... (Signals stronger than -10dB sigal to noise ratio in bold)