As an experiment, I made a recording of the activity levels for each of the HF bands on the WSPRnet website on Sunday the 7th of July 2019. I took two measurements to get a better sample... one at 09:00 UTC and one at 19:00 UTC.
160m, 80m & 60m... Even though the levels on 160m and 60m are reasonably low, the wide coverage area for these bands would probably make up for this somewhat. Even on 160m, someone running 5 watts into a decent antenna may cover half of Euope.
40m, 30m, & 20m... This seems to be where most of the WSPR activity is concentrated. Lots of people transmitting and lots of people listening.
17m, 15m, 12m & 10m... On these bands, the propagation skip zones become increasingly larger especially at the higher frequencies. My own opinion is that the activity level needs to be somewhere close to 100 to make WSPR useful.
Going on this basis, the activity levels on 17m and 10m are marginal. From a European perspective, there are two issues...
a) Many of the other stations are in other continents may be well out of range.
b) A high percentage of the users are receive only.
This leaves relatively few stations to listen to.
And if 17m and 10m are marginal then 15m and 12m are very poor indeed. The number of users on 12m was 13 and 18 and again, these are spread out over different continents and some are receive only. If there are so few stations on 15m and 12m then it begs the question if WSPR on those bands is useful at all?
VHF... On the VHF bands, the number of WSPR users recorded was very low.... an average of 26 on 6m, 3 on 4m, 18 on 2m, 4 on 70 cms and 5 on 23 cms. Those activity levels are so low that it makes WSPR pretty useless unless someone is interested in monitoring the path to a particular individual.
Summary via Google Translate : 2 METRE PROPAGATION EXPERIMENT ON JULY 20, 2019 WITH PI40FL. A41 Flevoland calls on all radio amateurs to make radio connections on the 2 metre band on 20 July. Read on how you can make a positive contribution to this 2 metre propagation experiment. On Saturday, July 20, 2019 at 17:00 to 19:00 UTC A41 Flevoland is organizing a 2-metre propagation experiment. Help with this 2 metre propagation experiment A41 Flevoland wants to collect as much data as possible and calls on all radio amateurs in the Netherlands to participate in this 2-metre propagation experiment. You can easily participate by making connections on the 2 meter band. Clublog has offered to collect the data. For this a41 Flevoland asks you to upload the log with the connections made to Clublog . Purpose of this 2 metre propagation experiment The aim is to collect as much data as possible about connections made on the 2 metre band in a short period of time. It does not matter in which mode you will work and with whom you connect. Whether this is in CW, FM, SSB, DV or digimode, all connections made help in data collection. No contest, share information and real receipt reports This experiment is not a competition and, on the contrary, benefits from real receipt reports. So only give 59 if this is also the actual receipt report. Above all, make nice connections and share some more information than 59. This experiment is about collecting as much data as possible and not who can make the most connections or bridge the largest distance. Of course it is important that you enjoy doing this and you may rediscover VHF. Other countries are also requested to participate VERON invites all countries to participate in this experiment and to give it an international character. By getting all up in the air at the same time, this also increases the chance of international connections.
Regular users of the WSPR system may have noticed the call sign EI3RCW pops up on a lot of coverage maps. Located in the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) campus, the station uses a Funcube dongle and a Wimo 40m long wire antenna to monitor the various HF bands.
When the call sign was allocated a few years back, WIT was known as the Regional College Waterford, hence the EI3RCW call.
Funcube dongle monitoring WSPR transmissions from 80m to 10m
Long wire antenna installed at the college campus
The EI3RCW WSPR station was set up by Eoghan EI5HBB and he has it configured to hop between the various bands on a schedule throughout the day. The software used to monitor the WSPR transmissions is WSJT-X.
The screen shot below some of the WSPR stations heard on 7 MHz including the Swedish Polar Research Vessel ODEN which EI3RCW is helping to track as it makes its way from Sweden to Greenland.
I came across an interesting blog post recently by Harry SM7PNV about the Swedish Polar Research vessel Oden. It is currently on its way from Sweden to Greenland and is sending out its location on WSPR by band hopping between the four bands... 40m, 30m, 20m and 17m.
As you can see from the map above, I heard them on 14 MHz.
The WSPR transmitter on the ship is one of Harry's commercial Zachtek products running 300 milliwatts to an end feed wire antenna.
Update : By the way, if you are tracking the ship then be sure to use the map on M0XDK's website. The map on the wsprnet website shows the ship in the wrong location.
I came across this PDF presentation while I was browsing about propagation at 144 MHz. It was put together by Stefan LA0BY and I think anyone with an interest in two metres should find it of interest.
The D41CV station on Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa continues to show new paths on 144 MHz that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
On Tuesday the 2nd of July 2019, a Sporadic-E opening from Germany to the south of Spain coincided with a marine ducting event from the coast of Spain down to Cape Verde Islands.
As the map clearly shows, D41CV was hearing and was being heard by stations in the Canary Islands, Portugal and Spain. This is as a result of a marine duct which can stay established for days at a time and the distance from Cape Verde to the south-west of the Iberian peninsula is in the region of 2,800 to 2,900 kms, an impressive distance for 144 MHz in its own right.
What was exceptional on the afternoon of the 2nd of July 2019 was that there was also a Sporadic-E opening from Spain to Germany allowing stations from there to access the marine duct.
As this screenshot from D41CV shows, he was hearing Spanish stations who were working German stations on 144 MHz FT8.
The three German stations hearing and were being heard by D41CV were DL8SCV (JN48RV - 4725kms), DL1NEO (JN59KV - 4870 kms) and DK1FG (JN59OP - 4875 kms).
The map below shows who was hearing and was being heard by each of the three German stations over a 12 hour period on the 2nd of July.
It clearly shows the Sporadic-E path that was open to Spain as well as the continuation by marine ducting to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands.
The distance from the German stations to the Canary Islands is about 3320 kms which is an incredible distance in itself.
It's the distance from the German stations to Cape Verde Islands that it truly amazing... an incredible 4,870 kms. To put that in context, that's the distance from the west coast of Ireland to New York City!
This is the tropo map from F5LEN showing the marine ducting path off the coast of Africa...
While on this occasion, it looks as if no actual contacts were made, it does show the potential of what might be achieved.
For example, if we put the put the opening of the marine duct off the south coast of Portugal then this shows the approximate limit for Sporadic-E from there...
If the marine duct were to extend up further then places like Scotland would come into range.
The big unknown in all of this is of course the requirement for a Sporadic-E opening at 144 MHz.
Part of the FT8 log for D41CV on the 2nd of July 2019...
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.
