On Friday the 28th of June 2019, Lloyd EI7HBB in the west of Ireland managed to complete a 40 MHz to 28 MHz cross band SSB contact with LA4UOA in Norway, a first for the new 8-metre band.
EI7HBB was running 4 watts on 40 MHz from one of the Ukrainian transverters into a home made 2 element Moxon in the loft space of his house. He was listening to the LA station on 28.400 MHz.
Lloyd reports that LA4UOA was 5/9 on 28.400 MHz while he received a 5/2 report on 40.250 MHz in Norway. The distance was 1108 kms.
EI7HBB 40250.0 LA4UOA 09:37 28 Jun IO53SQ - JO38QH cross band 28.4 Norway
What was interesting about this contact was that 50 MHz didn't seem to be open at the time. The maximum usable frequency (MUF) had reached as high as 40 MHz but not 50 MHz.
This shows the value of the new 40 MHz band. It's a long way from 28 MHz to 50 MHz and by having a band in between ten and six metres, it will give a better idea of where the maximum usable frequency is.
This news item appeared on the IRTS radio news on Sunday the 30th of June 2019...
EI 6m Beacon The EI 6m beacon has moved to 50.004 and now has an extended transmission time of three one minute sequences of PI4 and CW . The following two sequences will soon be taken up the the GI 6m beacon. The beacon hardware has been upgraded to an RFzero board and is GPS locked so it can be used to check the frequency calibration of your radio. Please spot the beacon if you hear it.
Traditionally, beacons on the 50 MHz band have been stand alone devices with mixed performance in terms of frequency accuracy. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Synchronised 50 MHz Beacon Project is a plan to make better use of the radio spectrum with beacons in the same geographical area sharing frequencies.
The SBP beacons are spaced 1 kHz apart and use a 5 minute repeat period. The chart above shows EI0SIX near Dublin using three time slots and share the frequency with GB3NGI near Belfast which uses the other two time slots.
In the future, there is the potential space for adding three more beacons to this particular frequency slot.
Frequency Accuracy.... One of the best features of this new generation of beacons is that they are frequency locked to GPS satellites. You should never assume your radio is showing the correct frequency especially if it's an older model.
If you can hear the EI0SIX beacon then you should tune your radio to 50.003.2 MHz on USB and by running the PI4 software, you should be able to see how close you radio is to the correct frequency.
You need to tune your radio so that the carrier shows exactly 800 Hz. If your frequency shows 50.003.20 MHz then you're spot on frequency. If not, you should make a note of difference.
If you have to tune say 100 Hz higher to get that 800 Hz tone then your radio is 100 Hz off frequency.
While this doesn't make much difference with say CW or SSB, it can be very important with digital modes.
By the way, make sure your radio is turned on for at least 30 minutes before you do this test as it needs time to warm up, stop drifting and to settle. This test should enable you to find out how accurate your radio is to within +/- 10 Hz.
Weak Signals..... The PI4 software will also allow you to hear the signal even if it is buried in the noise. At times, you won't be able to make out the CW signal yet it will still decode the PI4 signal.
Other beacons... The plan is for all other beacons that are not part of the Shared Beacon Project to move up to 50.400 MHz and above.
EI0NNMI is a special event station near Dublin for the National Maritime Museum of Ireland and it can often be heard on the CW portions of the HF bands, especially on 20 metres. I often see the call sign spotted on the DX Cluster but as it is only 200 kms or so away, it is usually way too close for me to work on 14 MHz. The signal if I can hear it at all is usually way down in the noise.
On Sunday the 30th of June 2019, there must have been some Sporadic-E over Ireland as I was finally able to work EI0NMMI on CW on 14 MHz. The station in question was operated by Dave, EI6AL.
When I hear EI stations like this, there is always some question as to whether it might be Sporadic-E backscatter. On this occasion however, the signals seemed to be strong enough that I was happy enough to conclude it must have been normal Sporadic-E.
On the 16th of June 2019, the Atlantic was spanned for the first time on 144 MHz when D41CV on Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa managed to work FG8OJ in Guadeloupe using the FT8 digital mode.
Amazingly, that particular opening lasted for the best part of five days.
After a respite of about a week, the trans-Atlantic path has opened up again on 144 MHz.
See updates below...
D41CV was also heard in Venezuela on 144 MHz FT8...
SSB contact between FG8OJ and D4Z...
Update Mon 1st July 2019 : Map of stations in the Caribbean that heard or were heard by D41CV in the last 24 hours. Taken at 08:00 UTC.
Update Sun 30th June 2019 : Map of stations in the Caribbean that heard or were heard by D41CV in the last 24 hours. Taken at 09:00 UTC.
Update Tues 2nd July 2019 @ 08:00 UTC : There have been no trans-Atlantic FT8 spots on 144 MHz in the last 24 hours. The last spot on the DX Cluster was at 12:15 UTC on the 30th of June. The last FT8 spot on PSK Reporter seems to have been at 20:56 UTC on the 30th of June. This second trans-Atlantic opening seems to have lasted around 36 hours.
Friday 28th June 2019 : There was an interesting opening to Eastern Asia on Friday the 28th of June with several stations heard on FT8 on 28 MHz.
These included JG5RVQ and JI4JKO in Japan, HL4CJG in South Korea and HS0ZIV in Thailand.
What was interesting with the opening to Japan was that I also heard two stations in the far north of Russia at roughly the same time. This suggests that it was multi-hop Sporadic-E and it was not some sort of skewed path from a more southerly direction.
On the previous night, I thought I could make out some noctilucent clouds to the north-east which is in the direction of Japan. Connection or coincidence?
The 2nd European Games for Youth is currently being held in Belarus and there are special stations on the air as a result. They are mostly using special EV19 calls and have been very active for the last few days.
The activity period runs from the 21st to the 30th of June 2019 and there are three levels of awards for working a certain number of stations and on different modes.
Info..."The European Games is an international sports event for the youth, similar to the Olympic Games. Republic of Belarus hosts the 2nd European Games from June 21 to June 30, 2019. Radio Amateurs of Belarus decided to support the European Games by a Special Activity Party taking place from 00.00 UTC June 21, 2019 to 23.59 UTC June 30, 2019. Radio Amateurs from all over the World are welcomed to participate in the Activity Party. The Belarusian amateurs will activate several Special Event stations and issue a Diploma."
Monday 24th June 2019 : There were plenty of FT8 signals from Europe on 28 MHz on the 24th of June 2019 but the opening of interest to me was the one to North America.
While I wasn't listening all of the time to the 10 metre FT8 frequency, I think I got a good sample of what the band was like. The map above shows what was heard over a 24 hour period with openings at roughly 16:00 UTC, 21:00 UTC and 23:30 UTC.
The one way off to the west is N6SS in Arizona who according to his QRZ page seems to have a very good station with a big beam and tower. The distance was 7901 kms which is most likely four hop Sporadic-E.
The other one of interest was WW5G in Louisana.
The station marked in Texas was KI5BLU who based on previous experience was probably using a remote station from somewhere else but giving out his locator in Texas.
On WSPR, I heard W8AC near Cleveland Ohio running 5 watts although I only listened for limited periods earlier in the day.
The Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) have just released the PDF version of the Summer 2019 edition of Echo Ireland to members.
The electronic version is sent out to members before the printed copy and is of course much cheaper to distribute. These savings help to keep the society in the Black as costs are increasing all the time.
One of the most remarkable weather phenomenon of recent times has been the appearance of Noctilucent clouds during June and July.
The 2019 season appears to be exceptional as a record amount of moisture has entered the upper atmosphere and allowed water vapor to condense onto particles of meteor dust at 80 kms or so above the earths surface.
These two photos were taken from Cork on the south coast of Ireland on Monday night the 17th of June 2019.
Both photos were taken well after sunset and it shows the Noctilucent clouds being illuminated by sunlight coming over the North Pole.
Radio wise, there is some question as to whether these clouds at 80 kms have any impact on signals? In recent times, there have been some extraordinary openings from Europe to Japan on 50 MHz. Is there a connection?
A historic contact was made on Sunday the 16th June 2019 when the Atlantic was spanned for the first time on 144 MHz.
D41CV on Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa managed to work FG8OJ in Guadeloupe on 144.174 MHz using the FT8 digital mode. The distance was an incredible 3,867 kms.
To put that into context, the distance from the west coast of Ireland to Newfoundland is 3,000 kms.
See Updates Below
The map below shows the tropo prediction from F5LEN and it shows a path right across the Atlantic.
The mode of propagation was most likely marine ducting with the signal traveling in a layer near the ocean surface.
This is a screenshot from FG8OJ of the historic contact made on FT8...
D41CV was using 500 watts into stacked dipoles while FG8OJ was running 100 watts into a 14 element Yagi with a 3.7m boom.
This is the FT8 signal from D41CV as heard by FG8OJ in Guadeloupe...
D41CV later worked FG4ST who was slightly further away at 3,911 kms. This contact was even more amazing as this station in Guadeloupe was running just 50 watts into a simple vertical on FT8.
FT8 Screenshots from FG8OJ
Now that this historic contact has been made, more 144 MHz contacts across this part of the Atlantic are sure to follow.
Update : Sunday 23rd June 09:20 UTC... The 144 MHz trans-Atlantic opening seems to have come to an end although there is a hint it may open again for a day or two? The two metre opening lasted for the best part of five days, starting on Sunday the 16th of June 2019 and finally closing some time on the early hours of Friday the 22nd of June.
These are the trans-Atlantic spots on the DX cluster from the last few days...
Update : Saturday 22nd June 13:30 UTC... The number of spots have greatly reduced.
This is the log from the PSK Reporter website of the stations hearing and being heard by D41CV on FT8 on 144 MHz in the last 24 hours... one on the afternoon of the 21st and two in the early hours of the 22nd.
Update : Friday 21st June 08:30 UTC... It looks as if there has been a large cloud of dust from the Sahara blowing across the Atlantic for the last week. Is there a link?
This is the log from the PSK Reporter website of the stations hearing and being heard by D41CV on FT8 on 144 MHz in the last 12 hours...
Update : Thurs 20th June 23:20 UTC... Incredibly the path on 144 MHz from Cape Verde Islands to the Caribbean is still open. D41CV completed an FT8 contact with J69DS in St. Lucia during the day.
This is a screenshot from the PSK Reporter website of the stations hearing and being heard by D41CV on FT8 on 144 MHz in the last 12 hours...
This is a log of the stations in the last 12 hours...
Update : Thurs 20th June 2019 14:20 UTC... D41CV has now worked 9Y4D in Trinadad on 144 MHz with FT8...
9Y4D was running 100 watts and a 7 element.
The screenshot below from the PSKReporter website shows part of the send/receive map for D41CV on 144 MHz (12 hour window as of 10:00 UTC 20th June 2019). It clearly shows that the trans-Atlantic is still open after several days with 9Y4D in Trinidad being one of the latest contacts.
CW QSO.... The Cape Verde team now have a Yagi up and running and are using the call D4Z on CW. FG8OG managed to work them on CW for a trans-Atlantic first on that mode on 144 MHz...
QSO réalisé en CW avec @D4C_team, du coup premier qso transatlantique avec un cerveau, une oreille mais avec un transceiver SDR donc avec plein d'informatique quand même histoire de faire râler les puristes 😄🤪😁 pic.twitter.com/5bCZl70oyj
Update : Wed 19th June 2019 20:45 UTC... This map shows the stations that have seen or heard D41CV on 144 MHz FT8 in the last 24 hours...
The orange dots on the list indicate those that have heard D41CV. It looks as if this trans-Atlantic path has been there for the best part of 48 hours.
D41CV completes on FT8 with KP4EIT at 4.392 kms and NP4BM at 4,460 kms.
Update : Tues 18th June... D41CV has now worked WP4G in Puerto Rico on FT8. WP4G was using 4 x 12 el array. This is a distance of 4,358 kms!
D41CV working WP4G on FT8 on 2 metres
D41CV has also completed with FG4ST in Guadeloupe. Signal -20. 3,911 kms.
D41CV has completed with FM5AN in Martinique. Distance 3872 kms. FM5AN was using 50w into a 9 el DK7ZB yagi.
Brendan Trophies... Now that the Atlantic has been crossed on two metres, a question was asked if it qualifies for the Brendan Trophies from the IRTS.
As can be seen from the rules, they are for contacts from Europe.
"The Brendan Trophies and Brendan Shields will be presented to each of the operators of the two amateur radio stations which first establish two-way communication in the relevant category between the continents of Europe and America (North or South) within the Two Metre Amateur Band. "
Sporadic-E conditions were really good on Wednesday the 19th of June 2019 with some very strong signals on 28 MHz. Propagation extended up into the VHF bands as well with the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark being heard in Ireland on 28 MHz, 40 MHz and 50 MHz.
The beacon on 40.071 MHz was audible in Ireland for several hours during the morning and was very strong at times.
40 MHz Crossband Contacts... Lloyd EI7HBB in the west of Ireland made the best of conditions to make a 8m/6m crossband SSB contact with SM6BCD in Sweden. This is probably a first EI/SM crossband contact for 8 metres.
EI7HBB was running 4 watts on 40.250 MHz from one of the Ukrainian transverters into a home made 2 element Moxon in the loft space of his house. He was listening to the Swedish station using a 4 element Moxon on 50.150 MHz.
OZ7IGY Beacon... The OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz was logged by both Don EI8DJ and myself.
EI8DJ was using a Yaesu FT817 with a ground mounted HF vertical antenna to receive the beacon.
I found that I was getting some really strong signals with my 28 MHz vertical half-wave. I also found out by accident that I could actually hear it with a 2m Slim Jim!
It's probably fair to say that any sort of wire antenna would have heard the signal as long as the local interference was low.
Both EI8DJ and myself used the PI4 software to decode the beacon and to upload the spots to the cluster with Don doing it on three bands.
QRSS is morse code sent at very slow speeds with users decoding signals by looking at the waterfall display on a screen. A dot is normally about 3 seconds long.
Update 20th June 2019
Just one lone 28 MHz QRSS signal at 28.0008 MHz from the island of Jersey.
Update 19th June 2019
Rather than putting up a new post, I have updated this one from a few days previous. There was some very good short skip to the UK on 28 Mhz on Wednesday the 19th of June 2019 and the QRSS signals were much stronger...
Most of these stations are using less than a watt into very basic aerials.
16th June 2019...
Conditions today on 28 MHz were very good and I noticed that I was hearing English stations to the east of London on WSPR. At roughly 600kms, this is a pretty short skip distance on 28 MHz and not that usual.
I listened on the QRSS frequency of 28.0008 MHz and recorded the following...
I think the bottom trace is from G0PKT. Above that is G6NHU. Above that I think is G0FTD. And at the top is GJ7RWT.
The audio frequency is shown at the side.
This is a map showing the locations...
The opening didn't last long before the skip went long again back to about 1000 kms and over.
Interesting to see QRSS signals via short skip. I suspect that if I hadn't been using WSPR and seen the callsign of G6NHU, I probably would have never thought to check for these signals.
Just a note of interest. When I heard G6NHU on WSPR, he had a SNR of -17dB and -20 dBd. I have no idea what the SNR of G6NHU was on QRSS but I'd guess it was about the same.
Tuesday the 18th of June 2019 was a reasonable day for Sporadic-E on 28 MHz although the skip distance did seem a bit longer than normal.
As can be seen from the map above, there is hardly anything under 1000 kms.
These are the stations heard on WSPR and nothing really special in there...
The red dots show two German stations running 50 and 10 milliwatts respectively. The orange dots are double hop Sporadic-E.
Beacons... These are the beacons heard although I only had time to do about two scans...
EI7GLC30P/B28255.8 IO51TU ES JN02SM1443z 18 Jun
EI7GLOZ7IGY/B28271 IO51TU ES JO55WM1441z 18 Jun
EI7GLF1VJT/B28322.7 IO51TU ES JN33BC1440z 18 Jun
EI7GLSK7GH/B28298.1 IO51TU ES JO77BF1438z 18 Jun
EI7GLIZ0CWW/B28295 IO51TU ES JN61VL1438z 18 Jun
EI7GLSK5AE/B28290.1 IO51TU ES JO89KK1435z 18 Jun
EI7GLOZ7IGY28271 PI4 6 dB Q=100 1393 km 1417z 18 Jun
IZ0CWW/B near Rome was a new one I think for me and kind of ties in with the skip being long. The OZ7IGY beacon was decoded using the PI4 software programme.
Monday the 17th of June 2019 was a bit of a lopsided day on 28 MHz. The band opened early in the morning with some strong signals but it fizzled out in the afternoon.
These are the FT8 stations heard...
It was one of those days that might be considered good for late April but only fair for mid June.
Sunday the 16th of June 2019 was one of those typical mid-Summer Sporadic-E days on 28 MHz when the band opened at about 04:00 UTC and didn't close until about 22:00 UTC.
There were plenty of strong signals on the band especially from central Europe.
The signal way off to the east was BD0AAI in China. I think when people in Europe talk about China, they think about Beijing and Shanghai in the east of the country. The thing is that China is a huge country and someone in the far west of China is closer to Poland than Shanghai, hard to believe but true. Perhaps it shouldn't be such a suprise to hear it on 28 MHz.
The one bogus spot from the USA was that of KI5BLU in Texas. He was operating a remote station in the Caribbean again and using his US call and Texas locator on FT8. I guess if he had to actually use the correct call of the country where the remote station was, all of those European contacts wouldn't count for his award hunting. See previous post.
WSPR... It's interesting monitoring the WSPR frequency on 28 MHz during the day as it gives a slightly different perspective on the band. The level of WSPR activity is way way less than FT8 so short samples of the band every so often is probably the best thing to do.
It seems as if most of the WSPR activity in Europe is from England, Netherlands and Germany. As conditions were good to Germany, I spent a good bit of time monitoring to get as many reports as possible.
This is what I heard during the day...
The red dots are some very low power stations in Germany running 50 milliwatts. DJ7PRM was running just 10 milliwatts which is pretty incredible.
The orange dots show the short skip opening to an area east of London. It was the spots on WSPR that alerted me to the short skip and got me looking for QRSS signals. See this post.
Beacons.... These were the beacons spotted...
EI7GLGB3RAL/B28215.1 IO51TU ES IO91IN2004z 16 Jun
EI7GLGW7HDS/B28221.5 IO51TU ES IO81IP1955z 16 Jun
EI7GLSR5TDM/B28215.8 IO51TU ES KO01KX1054z 16 Jun
EI7GLON0RY/B28207.1 IO51TU ES JO20CK1052z 16 Jun
EI7GLSK7GH/B28298.1 IO51TU ES JO77BF1015z 16 Jun
EI7GLDB0MFI/B28285 IO51TU ES JN58KR1014z 16 Jun
EI7GLDF0ANN/B28265.1 IO51TU ES JN59PL1013z 16 Jun
EI7GLDK0TEN/B28257.7 IO51TU ES JN47NT1010z 16 Jun
EI7GLIW3FZQ/B28227.2 IO51TU ES JN55VF1008z 16 Jun
EI7GLYM7TEN/B28225 IO51TU ES KN91RB1007z 16 Jun
EI7GL5B4CY/B28220.1 IO51TU ES KM64PR1004z 16 Jun
EI7GLIQ5MS/B28218 IO51TU ES JN54AB1003z 16 Jun
EI7GLDL0IGI/B28205 IO51TU ES JN57MT0956z 16 Jun
EI7GLOE3XAC/B28188 IO51TU ES JN78SB0955z 16 Jun
A few interesting ones in there.
5B4CY/B in Cyprus was double hop Sporadic-E.
YM7TEN/B in Turkey was double hop also. This is a beacon that used to be a regular via F2 propagations when we were at a higher part of the sunspot cycle. I don't remember hearing it by multi-hop Sp-E before.
GW7HDS/B at 350kms in Wales and GB3RAL/B at 490 kms in England were really short skip. I was only alerted to this opening when I saw a little cluster of stations in the SE of Wales spotted on FT8 on the PSK Reporter site. I had a quick search for the beacons and sure enough, they were there.
HF... This short skip also impacted on the lower HF bands. I worked GB19CWC and GB19ENG on 30m cw and both were 599++. On the days where there is no Sp-E, it's difficult to work into the UK from here on any band above 7 MHz.
Saturday the 15th of June 2019 was a reasonable day on 28 MHz with no shortage of Sporadic-E signals on the band. Lots of signals but many were weak.
The map shows the FT8 signals heard...
One unusual signal was the one from UA1PBD in the far north of Russia. The distance was 3961 kms which is double hop Sporadic-E. It looks further because of the distortions on the map the further north you go. It was also interesting because it shows a path was open to the Russian Arctic. Some Europeans worked Japan on 50 MHz so this would tie in with that.
Another 'unusual' signal was that of KI5BLU from Texas but operating remotely from a station in Maine. At least this time he was using the correct locator for Maine instead of previous times when he was operating remotely from the Caribbean and pretending to be in Texas.
PSK Reporter map showing spots for KI5BLU from at home in Texas and remotely in Maine
Beacons......These were the beacons hear, not a great haul... EI7GL SK0CT/B28292.2 IO51tu es JO89xk 1242z 15 Jun EI7GL ED4YAK/B28251.2 IO51tu es IN80fk 1234z 15 Jun EI7GL DB0TEN/B28245.2 IO51TU es JO42uv 1232z 15 Jun EI7GL OY6BEC/B28235 IO51TU ES IP62MB 1209z 15 Jun EI7GL OZ7IGY/B28271 IO51TU ES JO55WM 0801z 15 Jun EI7GL SK7GH/B28298.1 IO51TU ES JO77BF 0800z 15 Jun
WSPR...... I spent a small amount of time listening on the WSPR frequency of 28.1264 MHz.
Two interesting ones in there with ZB2TEN in Gibraltar and OZ8PZ in Denmark on 100 milliwatts.
Just two observations.
a) Even though WSPR is more sensitive than FT8, they are both weak signal modes. I tried listening a few times when the signals were low on FT8 and I heard nothing on WSPR.
b) The number of people using WSPR on 28 MHz is about one third to one quarter that of the numbers on bands like 20m, 30m and 40m.
FT8 List... These were the FT8 stations heard on 28 MHz...
Friday the 14th of June 2019 started off with a weak opening into Europe on 28 MHz in the morning before going quiet in the afternoon. The best conditions were in the evening when it opened to Europe again as well as the eastern side of the United States...
Note the one signal to the east to China.
FY5KE in French Guyana was heard on WSPR.
The opening to the west seemed to be limited to the three hop limit of about 6000 kms. Note how most of the furthest signals are in a straight line.
There were the beacons heard.... EI7GLDL0IGI/B28205 IO51TU ES JN57MT1918z 14 Jun EI7GLIW3FZQ/B28227.1 IO51TU ES JN55VF1917z 14 Jun EI7GLDB0TEN/B28245.3 IO51TU ES JO42UV1916z 14 Jun EI7GLDF0ANN/B28265.1 IO51TU ES JN59PL1915z 14 Jun EI7GLOZ7IGY/B28271 IO51TU ES JO55WM1914z 14 Jun EI7GLDM0AAB/B28277.4 IO51TU ES JO54GH1913z 14 Jun EI7GLDB0UM/B28279 IO51TU ES JO73CE1912z 14 Jun EI7GLDB0MFI/B28285 IO51TU ES JN58KR1911z 14 Jun
The beacon list kind of sums up the day... some of the usual ones were heard but nothing special.
WSPR is a great digital mode for digging signals out of the noise but the problem on 28 MHz is that the number of users on the band is low. FT8 has that critical mass where as WSPR doesn't.
I had thought about setting up a separate receiver and decoder for WSPR on 28 MHz but it didn't seem to be worth the effort.
One of the best things about this blog here and the blogs that I follow is the interaction between readers. People leave comments and put up posts that can spark your interest in something new or unusual.
One of the blogs that I follow is that of Jim, GM4FVM in Scotland. He mentioned in a recent post that he was using WSPR on 28 MHz. That got me thinking about WSPR again! :o)
I dug out the old manual for my radio and rediscovered how to set up the memory channels. I now have the 28 MHz FT8 frequency with all the suitable filters in memory slot '00' and the 28 MHz WSPR frequency in memory slot '01'. There is no more tuning around, I can hop between the two modes by just turning a knob.
The WSJT-X programme allows for easy switching between the two modes as well as shown below...
The upshot of all this is that I can now change from FT8 to WSPR or vice versa in less than 10 seconds.
My primary use of FT8 is to gauge what propagation conditions are like on 28 MHz and to feed those spots up to the PSK Reporter website. To do this, I don't have to have the radio parked on the FT8 frequency all of the time, just most of the time.
I already take short breaks from monitoring the 28 MHz FT8 frequency to work individual stations I see spotted on the cluster on 10m and other bands. What I am going to do now as well is to monitor the 28 MHz WSPR frequency for 10-20 minute periods when the band is open.
It's obviously not as good as listening to WSPR all of the time but at least it allows me to feed some reception reports to the WSPRnet site to let others know that they have been heard.
My first test of this was on Thursday the 13th of June 2019 when I listened for short periods...
The map shows two things...
1) The number of people using WSPR on 28 MHz is low.
2) Note the signal from Vernon VE1VDM in Canada. He was using just 375 milliwatts to a dipole!
Because of my westerly location in Europe, I was the only person to hear his signal on this side of the Atlantic. The distance was about 4,000 kms which is equivalent to two 2,000 km Sporadic-E hops. This isn't far from the maximum distance of about 4,500 kms for two hops.
These are the WSPR stations that I heard in chart form...
Time to consider 28 MHz WSPR??? .....Considering how easy it is, I would suggest that any readers of the blog considering monitoring the 28 MHz WSPR frequency as well. The more people that provide reception reports, the more useful the resource becomes.
In a comment on a recent post, Bas PE4BAS in the Netherlands suggested I try increasing the bandwidth on FT8 to see if I could hear more signals.
For FT8, I normally have the IF bandwidth set at 2.4 kHz which is pretty standard on most rigs for SSB.
I waited until 28 MHz was wide open and I increased the bandwidth to 6 kHz. The results are shown below...
For anyone not familiar with the WSJT-X programme, this is the waterfall display.
The green horizontal lines are the 15 second time stamps. The numbers at the top show the audio frequency in Hz going from 200 Hz to 3000 Hz. The oldest signals are at the bottom and the newest are at the top.
The signals to examine here are those at about 2300 Hz and above.
From from the bottom up, you can see how I was listening with the 6 kHz filter and hearing signals from 2400 to 2600 Hz. As soon as I put in the 2.4 kHz filter, those signals pretty much disappeared. Once I opened up the filter again, they reappeared.
Some thoughts....
1) Increase your bandwidth...... It would seem to be worth using wider filters if possible. By using a 'normal' 2.4 kHz filter on SSB, you may be missing out on some signals.
2) Beware the edges..... If the band is quiet then it seems that the obvious place to be in somewhere in the middle of the audio pass band. If however the band is really busy like above then it may be worth spreading out and getting away from the crowd. However it's worth remembering that going on the example above, some people may not hear you.
3) Correct Frequency..... If you're using an older rig then make sure you are on the correct frequency. Just because your radio say 28.174.00 MHz, it's doesn't mean it's right. If you're using a 2.4 kHz filter and are slightly off frequency by 200-300 Hz then you could be missing out on even more signals.
Addendum :
I found this guideline on the WSJT-X Help page...
Bandwidth and Frequency Setting If your transceiver offers more than one bandwidth setting in USB mode, it may be advantageous to choose the widest one possible, up to about 5 kHz. This choice has the desirable effect of allowing the Wide Graph (waterfall and 2D spectrum) to display the conventional JT65 and JT9 sub-bands simultaneously on most HF bands. Further details are provided in the Basic Operating Tutorial. A wider displayed bandwidth may also be helpful at VHF and above, where FT8, JT4, JT65, and QRA64 signals may be found over much wider ranges of frequencies.
If you have only a standard SSB filter you won’t be able to display more than about 2.7 kHz bandwidth. Depending on the exact dial frequency setting, on HF bands you can display the full sub-band generally used for one mode.
Of course, you might prefer to concentrate on one mode at a time, setting your dial frequency to (say) 14.074 for FT8, 14.076 for JT65, or 14.078 for JT9. Present conventions have the nominal JT9 dial frequency 2 kHz higher than the JT65 dial frequency on most bands, and the FT8 frequency 2 kHz lower.
