Opening to Denmark on 40 MHz - May 2020

17th May 2020 - This was my first reception report of the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark on 40 MHz for May 2020. I first noticed the OZ7IGY beacon on 28 MHz and tuned to 40.071 MHz and heard nothing.

I left the room and about 30 seconds later, I could hear the unmistakable PI4 tones of the beacon as it just popped up out of the noise. 

 As the chart shows, the opening for me on 40 MHz lasted about 20 minutes.

It seems as if the Sporadic-E footprint was pretty localised as another EI station about 150 kms to the north of me couldn't hear the beacon at all.

Update: Later I noticed that my spot for the DX Cluster ended up on the PSKReporter website as well...

I'm not sure how that happened but it was interesting to see that the PSKReporter site reported it as a 40 MHz PI4 report even though there doesn't seem to be any provision to select 40 MHz as a band on the site.

First Crossband Contact between Ireland and Spain on 40 MHz - 15th May 2020

There was a good Sporadic-E opening on Friday 15th May 2020 from the UK and Ireland south to the Iberian Peninsula. Tim, EI4GNB reports that the MUF extended up as far as 70 MHz and he managed to work two Spanish stations crossband between the 40 MHz and 50 MHz bands. This was the first crossband contact on 40 MHz between Ireland and Spain.

This is a screen shot from Tim of the FT8 contact with EA1YV in IN52OC square...

As the screen shows above, the FT8 contact with EA1YV took place at about 16:56 UTC and was followed straight away by a 8m/6m FT contact with EA1HRR in IN83JJ.

Tim reports trying a 60 MHz to 70 MHz contact with EA1YV as well. Even though the Spanish was S9 on 70 MHz, the Sporadic-E footprint on 60 MHz wasn't in the right spot.

Links...

1) Lots of information about the new 40 MHz band can be found on my 40 MHz page.

Japan & USA heard on 28 MHz - Fri 15th May 2020

Friday 15th May 2020. As we reach the middle of May, the multi-hop Sporadic-E paths on 28 MHz are really starting to open up.

Japan... The big suprise for me was the reception of JJ1RDX in Japan. I checked the spot and it's genuine. At 9,767 kms, this probably required in the region of 5 or 6 Sp-E hops to reach here.

USA... K9RX in South Carolina was heard at a distance of just over 6,000 kms. 

What is significant here is not so much the distance but the fact the opening was East-West. North-South openings are not so special as one hop to the south from N Europe and you're into an area where F2 and TEP is possible. It's the East-West openings that are special.

Sp-E... From just a European perspective, the opening to Europe wasn't great. Even though there are lots of dots on the map, the band was open for hours to just Spain and Portugal and no where else. I did several scans and heard just three CW beacons all day.

These are the FT8 stations heard over 2,500 kms...

New home wanted for the GB3RAL suite of HF & VHF beacons

The RSGB have announced that the GB3RAL suite of HF and VHF beacons at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, England have been turned off due to developments on the site. 

They are now looking for a new home for the beacons somewhere in the UK. It is also hoped that the beacons will be upgraded so that they are all locked with a more modern GPS technology.

Interested parties or groups should contact the Propagation Studies Committee of the RSGB.

The GB3RAL beacon was originally intended to operate on six bands (60m, 10m, 8m, 6m, 5m and 4m) but most have been out of action for some time.

60m - The 60-metre beacon on  5.290 MHz was last spotted on the DX Cluster in December of 2016.

10m - The 10-metre beacon on 28.215 MHz was last spotted as recently as February of 2020 and it was last spotted consistently in July of 2019.

8m - The 8-metre beacon on 40.050 MHz was last spotted in June of 2014. Despite the beacon being listed on current beacon lists, it hasn't been on the air for the last six years.

6m - The 6-metre beacon on 50.050 MHz was last spotted in June 2018.

5m - There was supposed to have been a 5-metre beacon on 60.050 MHz but the DX Cluster has no record of it ever being spotted.

4m - The 4-metre beacon on 70.050 MHz was last spotted in July 2016.

The two beacons of particular interest to me are the ones for 40 MHz and 60 MHz. There are only two beacons in the world currently on air on the 40 MHz band which these are in Ireland and Denmark. On 60 MHz, there is just one beacon in Ireland. It would be great to see these 8m and 5m beacons up and running properly from the UK.

Opening to the Caribbean on 28 MHz - Thurs 14th May 2020

Thurs 14th May 2020. While the Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz to Europe was modest enough, it was an interesting day in terms of DX. As the map shows above, there was an opening to the Caribbean with Cuba being heard.

The map really doesn't show the full extent of the opening as I was just using a half-wave vertical. I noticed that a station in Wales was hearing Florida and even a few stations in the New England area of the USA. There was also an opening in the morning from Europe to Japan.

I noticed also that there was an opening on 50 MHz from Europe to the Caribbean.

All of these East-West openings are probably due to multi-hop Sporadic-E and we should see many more openings like this for the next few weeks.

FT8 stations heard over 2,500kms...

Facebook Group for the 40 MHz & 60 MHz bands

There is now a new Facebook Group for those interested in the new 40 MHz & 60 MHz amateur radio bands... https://www.facebook.com/groups/2897330140356898/

The objective of the group is to allow those interested in the new 8-metre and 5-metre bands to share information about equipment, antennas, propagation and tests.

By having a dedicated Facebook group, there is now a place where people interested in the new bands can get to talk to each other.

Prior to this, a lot of the 40 MHz and 60 MHz information and posts was buried in the noise of other groups and forums.

The group is open to all those with or without amateur radio call signs. Any information about other Low Band VHF signals and propagation is also welcome. i.e. 30 to 49 MHz and 54 to 69 MHz.

Crossband activity on 40 MHz - Mon 11th May 2020

There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening on Monday the 11th of May 2020 with strong signals across Europe on the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands.

The new 40 MHz band was also open and the image above is a screenshot I took of the DXMaps 40 MHz page on the day.

Lloyd, EI7HBB ...Lloyd managed to work OE1HHB in Austria on SSB for a 40 MHz to 50 MHz crossband contact at 18:18 UTC. Lloyd comments that he received a signal report of 5/3 on 40 MHz with the Austrian station being 5/5 on 50 MHz. He also notes that that he received a 5/8 for their simplex contact on 50 MHz and speculates that the difference is due to resonant and non-resonant antennas for the respective bands.

Lloyd also worked the club station DL0AA in Germany for another 8m/6m SSB crossband contact at 18:35 UTC. For the simplex contact on 50 MHz, there was an exchange of 5/9 both ways. On 40 MHz, the German station gave Lloyd a reception report of 5/3.

Lloyd also reports nearly working a French station crossband but lost him in QSB.

DX-Cluster spots...

EI7HBB 40680.0 DL0AA 18:36 11 May cross band 50130 Fed. Rep. of Germany (Corrected from initial DL9AAA spot)

EI7HBB 40680.0 OE1HHB 18:18 11 May cross band 50152 Austria

Tim, EI4GNB ...Tim managed to complete an FT8 crossband contact with OE3EMC in Austria.

FT8 contact between EI4GNB on 40 MHz and OE3EMC on 28 MHz

FT8 contact between EI4GNB on 40 MHz and OE3EMC on 28 MHz

EI4GNB calling CQ crossband on 40 MHz

DX-Cluster spots...

OE3EMC 40220.0 EI4GNB 19:15 11 May JN78JO<ES>IO63 tnx Crossband 8 Ireland

OE3EMC 40220.0 EI4GNB 19:01 11 May JN78JO<ES>IO63 i call you 5031 Ireland

EA3ERE 40220.0 EI4GNB 19:00 11 May FT8 -23 dB cq XBAND 8m/6m Ireland

EA3ERE 40220.0 EI4GNB 18:49 11 May FT8 -23 dB 1786 Hz cq Ireland

OE3EMC 40220.0 EI4GNB 18:47 11 May JN78JO<ES>IO63 Ireland

9A5CW 40220.0 EI4GNB 18:37 11 May FT8 -5 dB 1532 Hz Ireland

Links...

1) Lots of info and links on my 40 MHz page

2) DXMaps website ... Look for the dedicated 40 MHz propagation map

Italian QRSS signals heard on 28 MHz - 11th May 2020

Conditions on 28 MHz on Monday the 11th of May 2020 were very good with some very strong FT8 and SSB signals heard on the band.

While the skip distance didn't get short enough for me to hear some of the UK QRSS stations (<600kms), I did hear two Italian QRSS beacons on 28.3216 MHz CW at about 22:00 UTC. See photo.

From the information that I have, I3GNQ/B runs 200mW into a vertical and uses the QRSS code 'GB'. IZ1KXQ/B runs 100mW into an inverted-V and uses the QRSS code 'SP'. As the image shows, there are about 143 Hz apart.

From what I can tell, these are the only two Italian QRSS signals on the 10m band.

I3GNQ beacon - 200 milliwatts (2N1711 transistor) into a 5/8 vertical antenna

Close up of the I3GNQ beacon

Thanks to Jack I3GNQ for the photo.

I3GNQ also mentions that this low power beacon will be turned off in July of 2020 as the property where the beacon is located has been sold.

Links...

1) QRSS Knights on Groups dot io

New Irish 40 MHz beacon now operational - May 2020

Back in early 2018, the 40 MHz (8-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 40 MHz in Ireland is operational!

The new beacon is operational since the 9th of May 2020 and has the call EI1KNH. It is on 40.013 MHz and runs 20 watts into a vertical half-wave antenna.

The new 8-metre beacon is co-sited with some of the existing Irish beacons - EI0SIX on 50 MHz, EI1KNH on 60 MHz and EI4RF on 70 MHz. The elevated site has a locator of IO63VE and is located about 20 kms to the south of Dublin.

The photo above shows the vertical folded dipole for the 60 MHz beacon and the vertical half-wave for the 40 MHz beacon. This is a converted CB antenna which was reduced in length to a half-wave for the 8-metre band.

The 40 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).

The output of the RFZero is then fed into a Chinese 'mini PA' unit. This boosts the power from 2 milliwatts to 500 milliwatts.

Chinese 'mini PA'

Inside the 'mini PA'

The 0.5 watt signal from the mini-PA is then fed into the main power amplifier...

The main amp is a MRF101AN which is fed from a 42 volt switch mode power supply. While the 101 NXP chip is meant to run at 50v by design, they are running it at 42v as the available PSU offers that at  50 amps.  Tim comments that running it at 42v should extend its life and ensure that it can run almost undamaged into any load should the antenna break or the filter fail etc.

Close up of the PA module

This is then fed into a homebrew band pass filter for 40 MHz...

40 MHz Band Pass Filter under test

The 20 watt output then goes to a vertical half wave about 5 metres above ground level.

Expected Range???..... What range might be expected from a beacon on 40 MHz? Considering it a weak signal mode, a tropo range of somewhere in the range of 200 kms might be expected. Perhaps up to 300 kms during times of high pressure.

It's important to note however that the Dublin and Wicklow mountains which are just to the west will attenuate the signals in that direction. Even though the beacon site is roughly 300 metres above sea level, the mountains to the west are at least 300 meres higher.

The path across to the west coast of Wales and the UK 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 40 MHz beacon.

Sporadic-E Range... It's certain that the 40 MHz beacon will be heard in Europe during the Sporadic-E season from late April to mid-August. The beacon has a very good view to the east with no obstructions on the horizon so it should be very strong in Europe.

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 east coast of the UK.

North America???.... There is a possibility that the beacon could be heard in North America via multi-hop Sporadic-E. It just needs someone over there to make the effort. The beacon however has some 600m high mountains just to the west which may well cut off any signals in that direction.

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

Thanks to the hard work of Tim EI4GNB and Tony EI7BMB, there is now a second beacon on 40 MHz operational in Europe.

Thanks to Tim EI4GNB for all of the information and photos about the beacon.

Links...

1) EI1KNH 40 MHz beacon page on QRZ.COM

2) My 40 MHz page with lots of info and links

Modest opening on 28 MHz to the South

Sunday 10th May 2020. Another day on 28 MHz with a modest Sporadic-E opening to the south. Most of the Sporadic-E signals were from Spain and Portugal with a weaker opening to Italy.

In terms of DX, FT8 signals from Brazil, the Canary Islands and ZD7JC on St.Helena were heard. 296 stations in 22 countries were heard on FT8.

Beacons... Just 3 beacons were logged which kind of reflects the modest conditions...

EI7GL IQ5MS/B 28218 IO51TU<ES>JN54AB 0805z 10 May (Italy) 

EI7GL IW3FZQ/B 28227.2 IO51TU<ES>JN55VF 0753z 10 May (Italy) 

EI7GL ED4YAK/B 28251.4 IO51TU<ES>IN80FK 0752z 10 May (Spain)

Award: 5 Ocean Immortal Aviation Regiment 75

For the last week, I have been working the RP75* stations on CW on the HF bands from 17m to 80m for the various awards on offer to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2. While I was checking the numbers that I needed, I noticed that there was an associated aviation award for several of the stations worked.

The award issued by the Fifth Ocean Club is for the 'Immortal Aviation Regiment 75'.

The Fifth Ocean Club have an extensive list of free amateur radio awards and their website is here.. https://aviaham.hamlog.ru/diplom/

Although the website is in Russian, Google Translate does a pretty good job of changing the text into English.

Weak Opening to South America - Sat 9th May 2020

Saturday 9th May 2020. The 28 MHz seemed very quiet for most of the day with hardly any real Sporadic-E propagation. Late in the evening, there was an opening to Brazil as can be seen from the FT8 spots on the map.

Stations heard over 2,500kms...

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

PU5AGM 10m FT8 9542 km 21:14:59

PY2MIG 10m FT8 9183 km 21:16:29

PY2EPL 10m FT8 9183 km 21:07:14

PU2KKV 10m FT8 9182 km 21:17:29

PY2AE 10m FT8 9128 km 21:06:44

PU2PPP 10m FT8 9073 km 21:12:44

PU1JDX 10m FT8 8992 km 21:08:14

PU2RGN 10m FT8 8985 km 21:14:59

PU2VDV 10m FT8 8977 km 21:18:59

PY4GSS 10m FT8 8810 km 21:11:44

PT2VHF 10m FT8 8436 km 21:24:29

4Z5AV 10m FT8 4170 km 18:28:29

4X4DK 10m FT8 4120 km 18:29:44

5T5PA 10m FT8 3518 km 21:29:29

EA8AOC 10m FT8 2748 km 21:06:14

Opening on 28 MHz - Fri 8th May 2020

Friday 8th May 2020. Another modest day on 28 MHz. The FT8 signals heard are shown above and the opening was mainly to the Iberian Peninsula.

Beacons... These were the beacons heard...

EI7GL F1VJT/B 28322.6 IO51TU<ES>JN33CI 1854z 08 May (France)

EI7GL ED4YAK/B 28251.4 IO51TU<ES>IN80FK 1844z 08 May (Madrid, Spain)

EI7GL C30P/B 28255.8 IO51TU<ES>JN02SM 1756z 08 May (Andorra)

EI7GL ZB2TEN/B 28167.1 IO51TU<ES>IM76HD 1713z 08 May (Gibraltar)

EI7GL OE3XAC/B 28188 IO51TU<ES>JN78SB 1434z 08 May (Austria)

EI7GL DL0IGI/B 28205 IO51TU<ES>JN57MT 1432z 08 May (Germany)

These are the stations heard on FT8 over 2,500 kms....

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

PY2KNK 10m FT8 9306 km 17:26:14

PY2MIG 10m FT8 9183 km 18:11:29

PY2ANY 10m FT8 9160 km 17:46:14

PU2RGN 10m FT8 8985 km 16:37:14

HZ1SK 10m FT8 5273 km 17:01:44

EA8OM 10m FT8 2695 km 17:02:44

Brief opening on 28 MHz - Thurs 7th May 2020

Thursday the 7th of May 2020 was a good example of how unexpected Sporadic-E propagation can be on the 28 MHz band and above.

The FT8 frequency on 28 MHz was pretty quiet for most of the day with only weak signals heard. In the evening however, the band opened up with some very strong signals.

The map above shows the beacons heard and as you can see, the footprint is long in the East-West direction and narrow North-South.

These are the beacons heard...

EI7GL DK0TEN/B 28257.8 IO51TU<ES>JN47NT 1924z 07 May (Germany)

EI7GL OE3XAC/B 28188 IO51TU<ES>JN78SB 1922z 07 May (Austria)

EI7GL DB0ANN/B 28265 IO51TU<ES>JN59PL 1919z 07 May (Germany)

EI7GL DB0FKS/B 28210.7 IO51TU<ES>JN49IT 1915z 07 May (Germany)

EI7GL ON0RY/B 28207.1 IO51TU<ES>JO20CK 1914z 07 May (Belgium)

EI7GL DL0IGI/B 28205 IO51TU<ES>JN57MT 1913z 07 May (Germany)

The unusual ones were ON0RY/B (5-watts) in Begium because at 900kms, it's a sign of short skip and a high MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency). This was indeed the case as 50 MHz was also open and the MUF reached as high as 88 MHz as well.

DB0FKS/B runs just 1-watt into a DV27 vertical (mobile whip) so conditions need to be really good for it to be heard.

Opening to Indonesia on 28 MHz - Wed 6th May 2020

Wednesday 6th May 2020. This was one of those days where most of the FT8 signals heard on 28 MHz were weak and buried in the noise. Yet when I looked at the PSKReporter website at the end of the day, I had heard Indonesia, Brazil and Puerto Rico.

The 4th & 5th of May have been pretty quite in terms of Sporadic-E from here and there seems to be a slight lull in the openings.

FT8 stations heard over 4,000kms on the 6th of May...

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

YC1JGE 10m FT8 12431 km 10:22:59

YB1BML 10m FT8 12281 km 10:28:44

PP5JR 10m FT8 9663 km 16:36:44

PY2RPM 10m FT8 9229 km 16:41:14

PU1KAQ 10m FT8 8928 km 16:25:14

PY1SX 10m FT8 8915 km 16:29:59

PP2RON 10m FT8 8586 km 16:36:29

PT2AP 10m FT8 8462 km 16:42:14

WP3R 10m FT8 6261 km 21:29:59

HZ1SK 10m FT8 5273 km 15:23:59

4Z1DZ 10m FT8 4103 km 15:12:14

VHF & UHF Trans-Atlantic path between Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean opens up - May 2020

Back in early April of 2020, there was an amazing opening on the 144 MHz and 432 MHz bands across the Atlantic from Cape Verde Islands to the Caribbean.

144 MHz report here ... 432 MHz report here

............

On the 5th of May 2020, the trans-Atlantic path opened again...

These are some of the FT8 reports for D4VHF on the PSKReporter website...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

FM5CS D4VHF 2m FT8 3861 km 22:40:26 (Martinique)

KP4EIT D4VHF 2m FT8 4393 km 22:28:58 (Puerto Rico)

D4VHF FG8OJ 2m FT8 3867 km 13:00:44 (Guadeloupe)

D4VHF J69DS 2m FT8 3865 km 12:30:14 (St.Lucia)

FM5CS D4VHF 2m FT8 3861 km 11:56:26 (Martinique)

D4VHF 9Y4D 2m FT8 4006 km 04:34:14 (Trinidad)

9Y4D D4VHF 2m FT8 4006 km 04:12:56

D4VHF FM0LU 2m FT8 3867 km 02:28:14 (Martinique)

FM0LU D4VHF 2m FT8 3864 km 01:35:56 (Martinique)

QSO between D4VHF and J69DS...

Russian 'Victory-75' Award... May 2020

There are a large number of Russian RP75* stations active on the HF bands at present to mark the 75th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

I worked RP75AO on CW on 3-bands so far. More info below...

To commemorate 75th anniversary of the Victory in WW II, the Union of Russian Radio Amateurs (SRR), is conducting "Victory-75" special on-the-air event in May 2020. Special memorial stations with number "75" in their callsigns will be active.

Dates May 2 (starts at 00.00 UTC) - May 9 (ends at 11.59 UTC)

The award website is https://pobeda.srr.ru/

Although the website is in Russian, they have a PDF there with the rules in English.

Victory-75 Award - 75 pts (38 contacts required)

Hero Cities Award - 7 cities required

Peaceful Skies Award - 150 pts (75 contacts) required

Cities of Military Glory - 12 cities required

FT8 signals heard in local EI 144 MHz contest

Monday 4th May 2020. There was a EI local contest on the 144 MHz band which lasted for a total of two hours. For the first hour on 145 MHz FM, I worked just one station outside of my own IO51 square.

For the second hour, I left the radio listening on the FT8 frequency. There was very little activity locally but I heard 10 stations in total.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

M0BKV 2m FT8 294 km 14:06:14

EI9KF 2m FT8 279 km 14:48:29

EI4GGB 2m FT8 205 km 14:46:29

EI9GO 2m FT8 95 km 14:12:14

EI3ENB 2m FT8 94 km 14:49:44

EI2HIB 2m FT8 91 km 14:53:14

EI8KN 2m FT8 90 km 14:55:59

EI4KP 2m FT8 89 km 15:00:14

EI4GEB 2m FT8 79 km 15:00:59

EI6FM 2m FT8 14 km 14:49:14

The antenna in use was a home made Slim Jim half-wave in the attic of my house so it's still suprising just how far you can get with FT8 on 144 MHz.

Opening to India & Indonesia on 28 MHz - Sun 3rd May 2020

Sunday 3rd May 2020. A slightly unusual day on 28 MHz...

1) There was a Sporadic-E opening to Europe but it has a distinctive 'long' feel to it. Most of the signals seemed to be 1200kms or further away. You can see on the map where the one hop Sp-E stops in a line from about the south of Italy up to the Slovak Republic at about the 2,300km limit. Anything beyond that is probably double hop.

2) Indonesia and India made it through, always unusual on 10m at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.

3) Nothing from South Africa or South America which seemed a bit unusual. This was possibly due to the fact the the Sporadic-E was very much to the east and not to the south.

4) In total, I heard 37- stations in 41 countries.

Beacons... Despite the strong FT8 signals, I only heard 5 beacons and this was despite doing quite a number of scans...

EI7GL 28188.0 OE3XAC/B 12:12 03 May IO51TUJN78SB Austria
EI7GL 28257.8 DK0TEN/B 12:10 03 May IO51TUJN47NT Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28241.6 F5ZUU/B 12:07 03 May IO51TUJN24IL France
EI7GL 28205.0 DL0IGI/B 12:05 03 May IO51TUJN57MT Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28194.0 IW4EIR/B 12:04 03 May IO51TUJN54AS Italy

There seems to be a distinct lack of beacons in the eastern part of Europe so perhaps that accounts for the low number heard.

These are the signals over 2,400kms away...

Comparison of EI & GI stations for the Spanish IARU-95 award

The Spanish IARU 95th Anniversary award scheme was held in April of 2020 and they made a huge number of contacts across the world. The top 42 countries are shown below....

The Republic of Ireland (EI) was in 36th place with 279 stations making at least one contact with one of the AM*WARD special event stations. If we assume perhaps 30 or so busted calls due to the fact they were heard incorrectly on say CW or to a lesser extent SSB, then that brings the total down to about 250. That would probably be a significant proportion of the number of active EI call signs.

Northern Ireland (GI & MI) finished slightly ahead but the difference is only about 2%.

It seemed a bit strange that Scotland (GM & MM) would finish behind the Rep of Ireland (EI) considering the higher amateur radio population. As the chart shows, there were more amateurs active in Scotland (335) but they made fewer contacts overall. Perhaps the more northerly location made contacts harder?

Comparison of EI & GI/MI contacts... To compare the number and type of contacts made by the Irish stations, I did up a chart showing those those managed at least two contacts. This eliminates most if not all of the busted call signs.

The chart shows that the those making two contacts were identical except that more EI stations were using CW.

If we look at the number of EI & GI/MI stations that work at least 5 of the 10 special event stations then an interesting pattern develops...

On SSB, slightly more GI/MI stations worked half of the special event calls (41 Vs 38).

On CW, there were clearly more EI calls (20 Vs 11)

On the digital modes (which was most likely FT8), there were clearly more GI/MI stations (22 Vs 13).

Why the difference? Perhaps it's due to the numbers of novice and intermediate licence holders in Northern Ireland whereas there are no such licence classes in the Republic of Ireland. Maybe just a statistical fluke?