Interesting opening to the USA on 10m - 27th June 2018

When I checked the PSK reporter this morning, I noticed that I had heard one lone signal on FT8 on 28 MHz from the USA overnight. It turned out to be NF3R in Pennsylvania who was heard at 2:54am local time here.

As can be seen from the chart above, NF3R was being heard all across the USA. The interesting thing is that I was the only station in Europe to hear NF3R in the early hours of the 27th.

At 5156 kms, it was probably three Sporadic-E hops across the Atlantic. I guess that's the thing with Sp-E, you can never tell when and where it will open to.

Illegal fishery buoy on the 28 MHz FT8 frequency

Anyone that uses 28 MHz on a regular basis will have heard illegal driftnet fishing buoys which give out a short carrier followed by an id in morse.

Over the last few days, I have heard one on the FT8 frequency of 28.074 MHz (USB). It is shown below in the waterfall plot as a short narrow carrier in amongst all the FT8 signals.

It is a solid carrier for about 10 seconds and is then followed by the letters E H in morse code. (Something like a 10 second dah followed by dit.....dit dit dit dit ). It transmits every 2m 30s.

I only noticed it in the last few days so I presume that it was only recently switched on.

As for the location, these are the FT8 signals I was hearing at the time....

I would guess either the western Med or out in the Atlantic but it's very difficult to know.

Links...
1) IARU Region 1 page on 28 MHz driftnet buoys

New page for 40 MHz...

At the moment, there is very little material or information on the web about any type of 40 MHz activity. As it is likely to become a new amateur band in Ireland, I have set up a page on this blog so that people can have a look at the information that I have already.

You can see it here... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Another big opening on 10m to North America... 20th June 2018

Wednesday the 20th June 2018 was another busy day of FT8 signals on 28 MHz with plenty of Sporadic-E signals being heard including China and Thailand.

Later in the day, it opened to North America. Florida with it's southerly path seems to be the location that I hear first or most often.

The real interesting ones this time though were the signals from Arizona and New Mexico.These are the first multi-hop Sporadic-E signals I have heard from that area this summer on 10m FT8.

I have also noticed that sometimes, I might be the only person hearing a station in my general area. For example, only a Spanish station and myself heard one of the Arizona stations on 10m.

I'm only using a vertical half-wave so it's not like I have any kind of huge antenna array, it's just that I am further west than the other UK and European stations.

The faded markers in the graphic above are I believe stations monitoring at the time I made the map. When the band was open, there were many others.

Opening on 28 MHz to North America... Sat 16th June 2018

There was another nice opening to North America on Saturday the 16th of June 2018 with quite a number of stations being heard on the FT8 digital mode. The signals seem to have been there at various times from about 13:00 to 23:00 UTC.

The signals were almost certainly via multi-hop Sporadic-E. If you listen to one particular station then it just looks as if the band is just open to the United States. However if you look at a plot of many stations received over time, patterns emerge.

The station in Newfoundland at about 3200 kms was probably double hop Sporadic-E... 2 x 1600 kms.

The bulk of the stations in the east of the USA at about 5,000 kms were probably triple hop... 3 x 1700 kms.

The stations in Texas, Arkanas, Louisana and Oklahoma at about 7,000kms were probably four hops... 4 x 1300 kms.

What is interesting is the skip zone going from Alabama to Missouri at about 6,500 kms. It was a bit too long for triple hop (3 x 2200) and too short for four hops (4 x 1600 kms) on this particular day.

CEPT not in favour of 50-54 MHz Primary allocation

CEPT...The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations is meeting in Estonia from the 12th to 15th of June 2018 to discuss a wide variety of radio and technical regulatory topics.

One of the items on the agenda was whether there should be a primary allocation for radio amateurs from 50 to 54 MHz in Region 1 which includes Europe.

Sylvain Azarian F4GKR who is a member of the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee is at the meeting and is Tweeting updates.

On Thurs 14th June, he said..."CEPT countries not in favor of more than 2MHz secondary at this stage of the discussions on the 6m band. "

CEPT countries not in favor of more than 2MHz secondary at this stage of the discussions on the 6m band. #hamradio

— sylvain azarian (@sylvain_azarian) June 14, 2018

In a message yesterday, he said that the Swiss and French administrations had objected on the grounds of interference...

Switzerland and France presented the results of their simulation showing that #hamradio activity has a high level of probability to generate harmful interferences to other services in the 50 to 54 MHz band.

— sylvain azarian (@sylvain_azarian) June 13, 2018

CEPT meeting day 3 : we should now try to draft some common position on 6m while WPT discussion start in a different room#hamradio pic.twitter.com/Fx12P6SYPI

— sylvain azarian (@sylvain_azarian) June 14, 2018

SIRIO 5/8 ground plane antenna for 40 MHz

The Italian firm SIRIO manufacture vertical antennas that cover 36 to 60 MHz. The TORNADO 35-42 model covers 35 MHz to 42 MHz which would tune nicely to the new 40 MHz (8 metre) band.

Mount Snowdon worked on 145 MHz...

I made an interesting contact this morning when I worked Dave, GW8NZN/P on the summit of Mt.Snowdon on 145.400 MHz FM. The distance was 200 miles / 323 kms and it turned out that the mid point for the path was over the east coast of Ireland.

On my end, I was using 5w & 50w into a home made vertical antenna in the attic of my house. Dave was using 5w from a Yaesu FT60 handheld and a Moonraker MRW222 telescopic whip. Obviously being on the summit of the highest mountain of Wales at 1085m helps a lot but I thought it was an interesting contact on FM all the same.

After the contact, I came across the SOTAWATCH website which has lots of information about current and upcoming summit activations. It's worth keeping a watch on it if you want to try to make some distant contacts. The website is http://www.sotawatch.org/

Photos from Ham Radio 2018 in Friedrichshafen, Germany

Ham Radio is a 3 day event held from 1st to 3rd June 2018 in Friedrichshafen, Germany and showcases products for amateur radio enthusiasts. It is currently the largest one in Europe.

I came across this photo gallery which gives a flavour of what the 2018 event was like.

Multi-hop Sp-E opening to the United States on 10m...3rd/4th June 2018

At the moment, I have the HF rig tuned to the FT8 digital mode frequency of 28.074 MHz more or less all the time with the reception spots being uploaded to the PSK reporter website.

On Sunday the 3rd of June, there was a very strong Sporadic-E opening to Europe. Later in the day, there was an interesting multi-hop opening to the United States. What was unusual was just how late the opening was with many of the signals being heard at 2am local time on the 4th of June.

Looking at some plots for other local stations, it looks as if 50MHz was open as well so it must have been a pretty good opening.

As it turned out, I was too busy to get near the radio but it's interesting to see just how good FT8 performs. This digital mode seems to a critical mass of users on 28 MHz that makes the mode useful for monitoring propagation where as there is an obvious shortage of stations on modes like WSPR.

Big Sporadic-E opening on 28th May 2018

Monday the 28th of May 2018 was one of those days when there was plenty of Sporadic-E signals in Europe from 28 MHz to 144 MHz. This is what I heard on FT8 on 28 MHz...

What is of particular interest here is the sheer number of stations from the UK and the Netherlands that were heard... i.e. approx 500 to 1000 kms range.

This is where monitoring FT8 signals on 28 MHz can be very useful. If you are hearing 28 MHz signals that are 500-1000 kms distant then the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) is probably much higher.

This turned out to be the case as there were Sporadic-E signals all the way up to 144 MHz. Looking at the DX cluster, there was an opening from Ireland to the south of Italy in the evening. I also came across an Italian radio station on 104.9 MHz while I was checking to see if BBC Radio 4 was coming in from Wales.

The OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz from Denmark was also in for about an hour.

As a tool for checking propagation, FT8 is proving very useful.

Multiple DAB signals heard under lift conditions

About 10 years ago in 2008 when the first trials of DAB radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting) began in Ireland, I purchased a PURE EVOKE-2XT to listen to the transmissions. This radio had the added feature that it has an aerial socket on the back which allowed me to connect a 7 element log-periodic, an old TV aerial that covers 175 to 230 MHz.

At the time, this allowed me not only to hear the local Irish DAB signal but also signals from North West Wales under very good lift conditions. From what I remember, DAB hadn't rolled out to the South of Wales or Cornwall yet in 2008.

Considering that most of the local Irish DAB signals can be heard already on Band 2 FM band, I didn't really bother with DAB for years.

I tried it out again over the last few days and the DAB signals from the UK have been really strong. Most of the signals I have heard were around 230-350 kms distant in West Wales, South Wales, Devon and Cornwall.

In total, I managed to pick up 11 different DAB muxes...

MUX Mux ID
10B 211.64 MHz Somerset
10C 214.36 MHz Devon
10D 215.07 MHz ????
11A 216.92 MHz SDL National
11B 218.64 MHz Cornwall
11D 222.06 MHz D1 National
12A 223.93 MHz Swansea SW Wales
12B 225.64 MHz BBC National DAB
12C 227.36 MHz DAB Ireland Mux1
12D 229.97 MHz Mid & West Wales
12D 229.97 MHz Plymouth

I counted at least 60 radio stations that I could listen to when conditions allowed. In contrast to FM signals from the UK which have to compete with strong local signals, the DAB signals are completely clear and the quality is excellent when the signals are strong.

With the signals up around 220 MHz, it also seems to be a good way to keep an eye on how good tropo conditions are.

The list of radio stations received via DAB is shown below...

IRTS release proposed band plans for 40MHz and 60MHz

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society have just released their proposed band plans for the new VHF bands around 40 and 60 MHz. The following item was in the IRTS news on Sunday the 20th of May 2018....

*****

Spectrum News
Following a spectrum award by ComReg the entire 4m band (69.9 - 70.5 MHz) is now available to Irish licensees.

At the last IRTS Committee Meeting a sub-committee was convened to develop band plans and propagation beacons for additional spectrum included in the spectrum award.

IRTS is now consulting amateur licensees on two band plans covering 40 - 44 MHz and 54 - 69.9 MHz. More details including draft band plans can be downloaded from the IRTS website, www.irts.ie/downloads

Please send any comments as soon as possible to “newspectrum /at/ irts /dot/ ie” to arrive not later than 30th June 2018.

*****

At present, there is a Danish beacon on 40 MHz while the UK one is non-operational. Slovenia has an allocation for a beacon band at 40 MHz but have no beacon on this band. South Africa is the only country outside of Ireland to have a allocation for users at 40 MHz.

There is currently no active beacon on 60 MHz as the UK one is non-operational.

A copy of the proposed band plan is shown below...

FT8 on 28 MHz... Tues 15th May 2018

There were plenty of FT8 signals on the 10 metre band on Tuesday the 15th of May 2018 although noticeably fewer than previous days.

This is what was heard from about 8am till about 7pm....

That pretty much represents what could have been heard anyway as the band was hardly open at 8am and it closed in the late afternoon. Other than some signals from South America, the only DX as such was a station in Western Sahara.

I think the spot from Liberia was bogus one as the callsign looked wrong. Almost as if something wasn't decoded properly.

There were fewer European stations as well with nothing coming from Scandinavia.

Overall, I heard 187 stations in 28 countries on Tues 15th of May.

I'll continue until I have a weeks worth of data and review it then.

FT8 on 28 MHz... Mon 14th May 2018

Another day full of FT8 signals on the 10 metre band. As such, it was pretty similar to previous days with some slight differences.

It opened to South America again but only to Brazil this time. A cluster of stations from the centre of Asiatic Russia came through.

Lots of signals from Europe again via Sporadic-E...

There was an opening on 50 MHz as well and I heard the beacon in Denmark. I also heard the Danish beacon on 40 MHz which was interesting considering that this is in the new Irish allocation of 30 to 49 MHz.

Over the 24 hours, I heard 583 separate stations in 52 countries.

Reception of OZ7IGY beacon on 40 MHz - Mon 14th May 2018

At about 09:00 UTC this morning, I noticed that I was hearing FT8 signals on 28 MHz from Denmark. Later, I heard the OZ7IGY beacon on 50.470 MHz so I knew that the Sporadic-E conditions were well above 40 MHz.

I listened on 40.071 MHz and eventually heard the OZ7IGY beacon down in the noise. The distance was 1390 kms.

In terms of equipment, I was using a Yaesu FT-817 and a simple indoor 2 element beam in the attic for 50 MHz. The beam is pointing roughly 120 deg where as the OZ beacon is at 65 degrees so it is some bit off. I suspect on 40 MHz, it may be behaving as a shortened dipole so it certainly wasn't optimal.

I also noticed that the noise level on the FT817 seemed to drop off as I tuned below 45 MHz so I suspect it might not be the most sensitive on 40 MHz. Still though, the signal was heard which was a positive step.

The signal itself alternates between a morse code ID and a digital PI4 signal which almost sounds like someone playing a bugle! :o)

The beacon has an erp of 10 watts on 40 MHz and the website is http://www.oz7igy.dk/

Now that there is an allocation in Ireland, hopefully we might hear a few more signals on the 8 metre band.

Presentation on the DMR network in Ireland... by EI7IG & EI8JA

At the recent AGM of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society, John Ronan EI7IG and John McCarthy EI8JA made a presentation on the current state of the DMR digital radio network in Ireland and its brief history to date.

The slide show can be seen HERE. Use the Up & Down arrows to change the page and the Left & Right arrows to change the chapter.

FT8 on 28 MHz... Sun 13th May 2018

Another day with loads of activity on FT8 on 28 MHz. The map below shows what was heard in the 24 hours of the 13th of May 2018...

The 10 metre band opened in the morning and closed around 22:00 UTC. There was one short spell in the early afternoon where the band closed completely when there was no Sporadic-E propagation.

As can be seen from the map, there was plenty of signals from South America but not a whole lot going East-West. I suspect there would be a lot more spots from Africa if only there were stations active there.

The map below shows the activity from Europe. The most consistent signals all day were from the south to Spain and Portugal.

The Solar Flux was 69 today which is pretty low. Overall, I heard 445 different stations in 49 countries over the last 24 hours.

Presentation on the FT8 digital mode by EI5KO

At the recent IRTS AGM in Galway, Keith Wallace EI5KO made a presentation on the new FT8 digital mode which seems to be hugely popular at the moment. Following the AGM, Keith uploaded the slides to the IRTS Facebook page.

The problem with Facebook though is that anything more than a few days old is usually not seen anymore and of course, not everyone uses that platform.

I recently downloaded the Powerpoint slides and I found them to be a useful introduction to the mode. With Keith's permission, I have now put these up on Google Docs so that anyone can view them.

The link is HERE

FT8 on 28 MHz... Sat 12th May 2018

Another day listening to FT8 signals on 28 MHz and it was another busy one. Although it was similar to the previous days, it was different. The chart below shows what was heard during the 24 hours of Saturday the 12th of May 2018...

Nothing exotic from the east this time but it did open to North America! These signals from the south-east of the USA and one from Canada were heard around 14:00 to 15:00 UTC and were most likely multi-hop Sporadic-E. The ones from the USA were around the 6000km mark... three x 2,000km hops. The Canadian one was around 4,000kms... two 2,000 hops.

The South American signals were interesting. The ones from Brazil and Argentina were from the afternoon while the three signals from Chile were in the late evening.

The map below shows the signals here a bit closer to home...

Interesting signals from Mauritania and Western Sahara, both possibly double hop sporadic-e.

Sometimes it's the signals that are missing are the interesting one. No signals from Denmark or the south of Sweden today although I know there were stations active there.

Even though the maps might suggest that the band was wide open all day, it really wasn't. This is what was heard during the 17 hours or so that the band was open. At any one instant, the band was often open to just a small area but over the day, different signals appeared as the conditions changed.

Overall, I heard 519 stations today in 61 countries.