The above chart shows the number of DMR(Digital Mobile Radio) registrations by EI stations for every quarter up to the end of Q3 2020. The first DMR numbers were issued in 2015 and this peaked with a surge of interest in 2017. After that, the number of registrations per year slowed and dropped by about 30% to a lower level.
It now looks as if 2020 has seen a rebound in the registration numbers with the numbers at the end of Q3 2020 already ahead of the total for 2019.
The first quarter of 2020 had 19 new registrations but 10 of these were for club call signs which will probably never be used. The second and third quarters were for individuals and show a renewed growth in interest and numbers. Even if the club calls are removed, it looks likely that 2020 will end up as the second highest year yet in terms of new DMR registrations.
As of the end of Q3 2020, a total of 229 DMR numbers were issued for EI calls. If the club calls and duplicates are removed then 192 individual EI stations have DMR numbers.
This might be of interest to anyone who monitors or listens to traffic on the Marine VHF band.
The channels / frequencies for the Irish Coast Guard in the locations shown above are changing during the period of the 6th of October to the 14th of December 2020.
EIRSAT-1 is Ireland’s first satellite and a team of students in University College Dublin (UCD) are designing, building, testing and will launch this satellite as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Fly Your Satellite! Programme.
EIRSAT-1 stands for the Educational Irish Research Satellite 1. It is a satellite about the size of a shoe box, called a CubeSat and will be controlled from a ground station on the roof of the UCD School of Physics and collect data from the three science experiments on-board.
The first experiment is a novel gamma-ray detector, GMOD, which is being developed in UCD. GMOD will detect gamma-rays from both cosmic and atmospheric phenomena.
The second experiment, EMOD, consists of a payload developed with Irish company, ENBIO Ltd., to monitor the in-flight performance of their thermal spacecraft treatments, SolarWhite and SolarBlack.
The third experiment, Wave Based Control (WBC), is a novel attitude control algorithm, developed in the UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, which will be tested for the first time in space on EIRSAT-1.
The satellite was due o be delivered to the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2020 but this will probably be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once launched, it is expected to last 6 to 12 months.
The video below gives a good overview of the project...
Some RF info...
On-board Communications: The on-board CMC (Common Mode Current) transceiver is the space-qualified CPUT VUTRX transceiver supplied by ClydeSpace. The communications system uses UHF downlink (430-440 MHz) and VHF uplink (140-150 MHz) bands. The transceiver provides 9600 baud downlink and 1200 baud uplink, and implements a GMSK downlink and AFSK uplink configuration. The AX.25 protocol is used for uplink packets, while a CCSDS convolutional encoder may be used for downlink.
ADM (Antenna Deployment Module): EIRSAT-1 will use a custom ADM designed and built at UCD which will be mounted on the -Z end of the satellite deploys two dipole antennas, one for UHF downlink and one for VHF uplink. Both dipoles are composed of two tape spring antenna elements, deployed from opposite sides of the module, as seen in many previous and COTS antenna designs. The elements are 5 mm wide, made from a Copper Beryllium alloy and attached to spring loaded doors at each side of the module. They are coiled inside the ADM before deployment, within the 7 x 100 x 100 mm overall dimensions of the module. When EIRSAT-1 is clear of the CubeSat deployer the ADM will activate a burn wire release mechanism allowing the module doors to open and the elements to uncoil into their operational positions and stay in that configuration for the remainder of the mission.
In a ruling issued on the 2nd of October 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the USA announced that the amateur radio service is going to lose access to the 3.4 GHz microwave band. It is proposed that the spectrum from 3.3 to 3.55 GHz be cleared for 5G networks.
Up to now, radio amateurs in the US had a secondary allocation from 3.3 to 3.5 GHz based on a non-interference basis to primary users. The FCC have now proposed clearing 3.4 to 3.5 GHz in the short term and 3.3 to 3.4 GHz at a later date.
Excerpt from the ruling regarding the amateur allocation...
Amateur Data Interchange Format (ADIF) is an open standard for the exchange of data between various amateur radio software packages from different vendors. For example, it allows for the import and export of data between various logbook programmes.
In the most recent edition updated on the 2nd of September 2020, the new 5-metre (60 MHz) and 8-metre (40 MHz) bands were added.
I.C. Changes from Previous Version These changes from the previous version may necessitate application code or data changes: Addition of the FST4 submode to the MFSK mode in the Mode and Submode Enumerations. Addition of the 5m and 8m bands to the Band Enumeration. Addition of ARRL-10-GHZ and WW-DIGI to the Contest-ID Enumeration. (Released ADIF Version 3.1.1, updated 2020/09/02)
While this in itself is a small step, it is part of the process of having 5m & 8m accepted as new amateur radio bands.
(Thanks to Gintas, LY2YR for the heads up on this)
The amateur radio digital network of repeaters on the 2m & 70cms bands in Ireland is gradually changing and evolving and it is sometime hard to keep track of all the changes.
Steve Wright, EI5DD has very kindly put together an 'EI Digital Network Data Card' which makes things easier to follow.
The list of frequencies is shown below...
The one obvious gap in the EI Network is the lack of a digital repeater or gateway covering the Dublin area. It's an odd situation to be in as it might be expected that any new digital network would start in the capital Dublin and then spread out. It seems as if the opposite is happening.
For more information about amateur radio digital networks in Ireland, see this previous post.
As part of the ongoing Cork VHF Group nets on Tuesday evenings, we hold an experimental night whenever there is a fifth Tuesday in the month. On a previous evening, we experimented with sending and receiving Slow-Scan TV pictures on 2-metres FM using apps on Smartphones. For the fifth Tuesday of September 2020, the group experimented with Amateur TV signals at 5.6 GHz.
For the experiment, Jim, EI8GS went portable to the town of Cobh and set up his ATV gear to point at Don, EI8DJ in Crosshaven. After discovering that there was no reception through a glass patio window, Don took his gear outside and successfully received an ATV signal from Jim at 5.6 GHz. The distance of the path across Cork Harbour was 4.7 kms.
The photo above looks a bit crude but it's a screenshot from my PC from a Zoom meeting of a phone pointing at another screen! What it shows are the lights from the oil refinery at Whitegate in Cork Harbour and the small string of lights to the left is the village of Whitegate itself. The tests were done when it was dark so the picture would be more relevant and clearer if it was in daylight.
The lines in the foreground are in fact superimposed by the camera. The unit is supposed to be used as an aid for vehicles reversing and the lines show the 'safe' distance areas. In this case, it was used for sending an ATV signal across Cork Harbour!
The photo above shows what Jim, EI8GS was using in Cobh. He was located at a well known viewing point high above the town allowing a good line of sight path across to EI8DJ in Crosshaven.
Jim was using 0.6 watts output power into a 40cm dish with a dipole at the feed point.
Next it was Jim's turn to try and receive an ATV signal from Don. The receiver module is shown above and a photo of the signal received by Jim in Cobh is shown below.
Don sent a number of different test cards and this is another screen shot...
The photo below shows the set-up as used by EI8DJ...
The grey box (top left) contained a Raspberry Pi Zero which generated the sequence of test cards.
The module in the centre with the display is a portable screen that is used by drone pilots. It has its own 5.6 GHz receiver built in.
The top right box contains the 5.6 GHz transmitter module and the antenna mounted on the outside of the box is a 4 element Bi-Square with a reflective plate behind.
The photo above shows the box containing the transmitter module with a microwave relay on the left for switching from receive to transmit. The PCB in the background with the toroid is a voltage upconverter to generate 28 volts for the coil of the changeover relay.
The FM ATV signal from the transmitter has a measured output of 0.6 watts.
In conclusion... The purpose of this initial experiment was more of a proof of concept than anything else - i.e. could an ATV signal at 5.6 GHz be sent over a line of sight path and over a modest distance of about 5 kms. The answer was a conclusive yes!
The next steps the group are looking at is maybe to look at increasing the distance and exploring more paths.
About 20 years ago, there was a small but active group on 23cms (1.2 GHz) using ATV in the Cork area. Hopefully these new experiments might reignite some interest in the mode.
As part of their ongoing lecture series during the COVID-19 pandemic, the RSGB had a presentation on Monday the 28th of September 2020 from Tim Kirby, GW4VXE titled 'My World of VHF'. Tim writes a popular VHF column in the Practical Wireless magazine as well as writing for other radio related publications.
In the presentation, Tim gives an overview of amateur radio operation on the various VHF and UHF bands and is a good introduction for anyone who is not aware of what these bands have to offer. The first 9-minutes of the video concern the upcoming online RSGB convention and Tim's presentation starts after that.
The IRTS recently had a news item about a 4-metre gateway in Galway in the west of Ireland.
Galway Analogue 4 Metre Gateway - Following the competition of phase one of the Galway Digital Repeater programme, attention now turns to analogue. The EI4GCG Analogue 4 metre Gateway operating on 70.425MHz, with CTCSS tones of 77Hz to access, is scheduled for bench testing in the next 2 weeks. The Echolink node number for this Gateway is 5422 and the Call sign is EI4GCG-L. The gateway will also be running Allstar and the Allstar node number is 52469. This project was sadly neglected over the years due to lack of interest. It is hoped that this might just put some activity on a band that sees little interest in the Galway area. This will not be linked into any digital system - analogue stays analogue and digital remains digital.
As the topographic map above shows, the city of Galway is screened to the south and south-west by various mountains. It's likely that coverage of the new 4-metre gateway will be mainly to Galway city and perhaps in as far as the midlands.
Steve Wright, EI5DD has now compiled a comprehensive manual for anyone in Ireland with an interest in the DMR, C4FM and D-Star digital modes. The 44-page document should be of interest to anyone starting off and even to established users who want to get a better understanding of the various digital systems.
While the guide is primarily aimed at radio amateurs in Ireland, a lot of the material covered should be of interest to interested parties in other countries as well.
At a press conference on Tuesday the 15th of September 2020, scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that Solar Cycle 25 has officially begun and the actual sunspot minimum between cycles 24 and 25 had occurred in December of 2019. In a previous press release in December of 2019, the panel of scientists had predicted that the minimum would occur during a period stretching from October 2019 to October 2020 i.e. April 2020 +/- 6 months.
As with all sunspot cycles, it's only several months after the minimum that scientists can look back and be sure of when it occurred. There was however some signs that we had passed the peak as there was an increase in the number of sunspots which had spotted recently with the correct polarity for cycle 25.
Ultra-violet image of the sun at the sunspot minimum
The next sunspot maximum is predicted to occur in the middle of 2025 and the peak is expected to be the same in intensity as Cycle 24.
What does all this mean??? ... In the short term, not a lot will change. For stations in northern latitudes, the upper HF bands of 15m, 12m and 10m will struggle to open and when they do, it will tend to be over North-South paths.
In the second half of 2021, things should start improving and by 2022, we should start seeing more openings on East-West paths.
By 2025, we should see worldwide openings on 28 MHz but the 50 MHz band is unlikely to be as spectacular as say Cycles 22 and 23 back in 1989 and 2001. At the sunspot peak, there will probably be plenty of North-South openings on the 6 metre band but the multi-hop openings East-West may be more of an issue.
Digital Modes ... It's very likely that Sunspot Cycle 25 will be the first one where digital modes like FT8 will dominate. This may well allow some propagation paths to appear that may not have been so obvious on SSB or CW. Interesting times ahead.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club are continuing with their successful Tuesday night lecture series. Recently, they had an interesting talk on VHF Propagation from meteorologist Jim Bacon, G3YLA.
Video...
The video above can be broken down as follows...
00:00 to 07:00... Introduction
07:00 to 10:25... GB2RS VHF Propagation Report - A brief outline of how the weekly bulletin is put together for the RSGB news.
10:25 to 28:30... Tropospheric Propagation - In this section, Jim covers elevated and surface ducts as well as the best time to watch any high pressure weather systems.
28:30 to 1:12:30... Sporadic-E - This section covers meteors which are the fuel for Sporadic-E and the various trigger mechanisms like atmospheric gravity waves due to mountains, thunderstorms and changes in the Jet Stream.
1:12:30 to 1:13:50... Rainscatter - This mode of propagation at microwave frequencies is briefly covered.
1:13:50 to 1:21:20... Propquest - Sporadic-E prediction website
1:21:20 to 1:23:30... Pulling it all together - GB2RS VHF Propagation Report
I recently got a small batch of QSL cards from the bureau and one was from a short wave listener in Germany.
The only problem is that this person claimed that they heard me having a contact on CW with a beacon! I even got a 599 signal report.
A quick look at the DX Cluster shows the source of the 'reception report'. On the 29th of April 2019, I heard the German beacon DL0IGI on 28.205 MHz and I put the spot up on the cluster.
EI7GL 28205 DL0IGI/B 11:29 29 Apr 19 IO51TU ES JN57MT Fed. Rep. of Germany
A short wave listener in Germany was just looking at spots on the DX Cluster instead of listening on the radio. What's the point in sending off cards for something you didn't hear? Why bother?
As outlined in a previous post, a new DMR repeater on 70 cms should be on air near Cork City in the next few week. It will be co-sited with the existing EI7FXR analogue FM repeater at Farmers Cross near Cork Airport.
COMREG has issued a licence call EI7FXD for the new DMR repeater with an output frequency on 430.250 MHz The input is 9 MHz higher on 439.250 MHz. This configuration is usually designated as DVU-R20.
The colour code will be 1.
The Brandmeister ID of the repeater will be 272015 should anyone wish to monitor the Brandmeister dashboard and hoseline, when it becomes active.
EI7FXD Coverage... The map below shows the approximate coverage out to about 60 kms.
A lot of the more distant coverage in Green is just the tops of hills so it's probably more appropriate to look at the close in coverage.
Some points...
The Farmers Cross site overlooks Cork City so there should be saturation coverage there. Anyone with a DMR handheld should be able to access it.
Anywhere in the shadow of hills is likely to have problems on 70cms. e.g Blarney, Inishannon, Bandon, Mallow, Fermoy, Glanmire & Passage West.
The coverage on the N25 to the east should be good as far as the Youghal by-pass. After that, there is coverage from the Clashmore repeater EI7CDD.
Coverage on the M8 motorway to Dublin is good until Watergrasshill. Once you crest the hill, coverage may be a problem.
The same applies on the N20 north to Mallow. Coverage ends just north of Rathduff.
On the N22 to the west, there should be good coverage until Lissarda. After that, screening from hills will be an issue.
It is expected that the new repeater will be on air before the end of 2020.
Bit by bit, the DMR amateur radio digital network around Ireland is gradually improving. The digital EI7WCD repeater in the east of Waterford county started off in Tramore on the coast, then moved into Waterford city and was recently moved to a high site in the city.
The coverage of the digital repeater should now be similar to the FM repeater EI7WCD which is shown above. The improved coverage should fill in the gaps between Mt.Leinster to the north and Clashmore to the west and provide saturation coverage of Waterford city.
Report below from the Southern Ireland Repeater Group....
Major upgrade work was carried out to the Southern Ireland Repeater Group's 70cm repeater EI7WDR on 433.275 MHz at Carrickphierish in Waterford city on Saturday August 29th. All equipment including antennas and cables were replaced. The Motorola MC Compact repeater which had been in service on the site since 2004 was replaced with a Motorola MTR2000 which has a higher power output than the previous unit.
The antennas were replaced with two Diamond SE-50s and the feeder cable upgraded to Andrews Heliax LDF4-50. A Sinclair Q3220E duplexer replaced the old one which allowed the repeater use one antenna for TX and RX freeing up the second antenna for use with the EI7WCDdigital repeater which was also installed on the site as part of the upgrade work.
On site were Francis EI9KT, Gareth EI7FZB, Nicky EI3JB, Neil EI3JE and John EI8JA.
The work carried out should greatly improve the repeater's coverage and users should note that the EI7WDR repeater on 433.275 MHz now requires a CTCSS tone of 103.5 Hz to access it.
Signal reports would be appreciated and can be emailed to: sirnrepeaters AT gmail DOT com.
In a previous post, I reported on the first ever trans-Atlantic contact between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean on 144 MHz. As with many other posts, this generated some discussion online and I was interested to read that the first 144 MHz trans-Atlantic report to the Caribbean was back in 2015 by PJ4VHF.
To be honest, I can't remember seeing this before and it's possible that I did read it but forgot about it. As I keep a record of the 2m trans-Atlantic openings on my 144 MHz page, I thought it only right that I should do up a post about it and have a record of it here on the site.
Dave Pederson, N7BHC operated from the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean as PJ4VHF from February 2012 to June 2019. While there, he operated on the 50 MHz, 144 MHz and 432 MHz bands.
The above photo shows the antennas used by PJ4VHF at about 12 metres above ground level...a 5 element Yagi on 50 MHz (M2 6M5X), a pair of stacked 13-element Yagis on 144 MHz (Cushcraft 13B2) and a 43 element Yagi on 432 MHz (M2 43-9WL).
On the evening of the 6th of May 2015, PJ4VHF heard the Cape Verde D4C beacon on CW on 144.436 MHz for about 90 minutes (01:00 to 02:30 UTC). The distance across the Atlantic was 4,694 kms (2,917 miles).
The D4C beacon was running 20 watts into a 5-element Yagi and the CW signal was reported as being 10dB out of the noise.
The video above shows the reception of the D4C beacon on the 6th of May 2015. The morse code message reads... D4C/B HK76MV DE D4C/B HK76MV
The reception report was subsequently confirmed by QSL card...
From the ARRL News..... Pedersen, PJ4VHF/N7BHC, on Bonaire copied a 2 meter CW signal from the D4C/B beacon on 144.436 MHz at Cape Verde via tropospheric ducting on May 6 (0100-0230 UTC). Bonaire is in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela, while Cape Verde is off the coast of Africa, west of Senegal — a distance of nearly 3000 miles.
The D4C beacon runs 20 W and is about 750 meters above sea level. Pederson was able to confirm the transmission with the beacon operator, HB9DUR. He was using a Kenwood TS-2000 and two 13 element Yagis.
“I had parked my VHF array pointing west for minimum wind resistance,” Pederson told ARRL Propagation Contributing Editor Tad Cook, K7RA. “Tuesday evening [May 5] I was doing some paperwork in the shack and rotated the beams back east at 0100 UTC to prepare for listening all night. To my amazement, I started copying CW while the beam was still 30° off the D4C bearing.”
D4C contest site on top of a mountain on the Cape Verde Islands
Later in June of 2015, NP2X received signals from a German ham visiting Cape Verde one night, and a couple of nights later he was heard by the German visitor on D4, but unfortunately no two-way contact was made.
At the time in 2015, the D4C contest site was unmanned for most of the time but in later years remote operation become possible. The reception report by PJ4VHF showed that a trans-Atlantic sea path by tropo on 144 MHz was possible and this encouraged others to make the effort.
It looks as if there is a remarkable tropo opening in progress at the moment with EA8CXN on the Canary Islands making contact with several stations in the Caribbean on FT8 & SSB on 144 MHz!
These are some of the stations listed on the PSK Reporter website for the 27th of August 2020...
TxmtrRcvrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
NP4BMEA8CXN2mFT85236 km19:26:26
EA8CXNKP4EIT2mFT85189 km18:00:44
WP3DNEA8CXN2mFT85158 km20:18:59
WP4GEA8CXN2mFT85153 km20:25:11
J69DSEA8CXN2mFT84850 km22:04:14
FM5CSEA8CXN2mFT84836 km17:49:26
FG8OJEA8CXN2mFT84775 km19:25:26
Note that EA8DEC was also heard across the Atlantic...
TxmtrRcvrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
EA8DECNP4BM2mFT85236 km23:30:14
Updates further down the post...
Note the distance! Several are in excess of 5000 kms which would be a new distance record for a 144 MHz contact across the Atlantic.
Back on the 8th of April 2020, D4VHF on Cape Verde worked PJ2BR on Curacao and the distance on that occasion was about 4759 kms. It looks as if the new contact by EA8CXN to NP4BM in Puerto Rico has extended that record by roughly 500 kms.
This is the tropo map from F5LEN which shows a marine duct across the Atlantic...
Note that this opening in still in progress and there does seem to be a remote possibility of an opening from the west coast of Spain & Portugal to the Caribbean!
Here are some of the screenshots of the FT8 contacts with EA8CXN...
EA8CXN and FG8OJ...
EA8CXN and WP3DN...
* * * * *
Update - 28th of August - 13:17 UTC: The trans-Atlantic path is still open on the 28th...
This is heard/sent log for EA8CXN on the PSK reporter website...
TxmtrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
NP4BM2mFT85236 km12:45:26
KP4EIT2mFT85189 km12:42:26
WP4JCF2mFT85170 km21:46:26
WP3DN2mFT85158 km10:53:29
WP4G2mFT85153 km11:15:26
FG5GH2mFT84809 km12:09:44
FG8OJ2mFT84775 km12:47:26
Reports for EA8DEC...
TxmtrRcvrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
KP4EITEA8DEC2mFT85189 km12:32:59
FG8OJEA8DEC2mFT84775 km12:06:14
Reports for EA8TX...
RcvrBandModeDistanceTime (UTC)
NP4BM2mFT85219 km12:54:44
KP4EIT2mFT85173 km12:57:44
WP3DN2mFT85141 km09:46:41
WP4G2mFT85136 km09:48:44
DX-Cluster spots for the 27th of August...
EA8DEC 144174.0 KP4EIT 23:56 27 Aug IL18SK TR FK68 FT8 Puerto Rico
EA8DEC 144174.0 NP4BM 23:39 27 Aug IL18SK - FK68 FT8 Puerto Rico
KP4EIT-@ 144174.0 EA8DEC 23:52 27 Aug -13 TNX Canary Islands
NP4BM-@ 144174.0 EA8CXN 19:07 27 Aug still strong Canary Islands
EB1DJ 144174.0 KP4EIT 23:57 27 Aug TR FT8 -22 dB 1092 Hz Puerto Rico
Update - 28th August 2020 - 15:21 UTC: Alex, EB1DJ in the north-west of Spain reports that he got one single decode of the FT8 signal from KP4EIT in Puerto Rico.
EB1DJ 144174.0 KP4EIT 23:57 27 Aug TR FT8 -22dB
As you can see from the report above, the signal was pretty weak at -22dB so it was buried in the noise. It does however show the potential of the path and if the conditions are right, it may happen again.
To put this in context, the distance from NW Spain to Puerto Rico is just over 6000 kms!
Update - 28th August 2020 - 17:10 UTC:Video of the SSB contact on 144 MHz between EA8CXN on Tenerife on the Canary Islands and FM5CS in Martinque. Just remember, this is just a 4800 kms contact on 144 MHz across the Atlantic! ...
In this second video, EA8CXN completes another SSB contact with FG8OJ in Guadeloupe...
DX-Cluster spots for the 28th of August...
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
KP4EIT-@ 144174.0 EA8CXN 19:34 28 Aug -14 thanks Cesar Canary Islands
WP4JCF 144174.0 EA8CXN 19:06 28 Aug rx -20 in kp4... Canary Islands
KP4EIT-@ 144174.0 EA8DEC 12:38 28 Aug -20 GRACIAS Canary Islands
KP4EIT-@ 144174.0 EA8TX 09:07 28 Aug SWL -12 INTO FK68 Canary Islands
KP4EIT-@ 144174.0 EA8TX 00:01 28 Aug -12 TNX Canary Islands
EA8CXN 144175.0 KP4EIT 19:33 28 Aug FK68 TR IL18 -12DB. Thanks QSO Puerto Rico
EA8TX 144174.0 KP4EIT 12:24 28 Aug hrd -2db Pse 144.260ssb Puerto Rico
EA8DEC 144174.0 KP4EIT 09:35 28 Aug IL18SK TR FK68 FT8 CQ Puerto Rico
EA8DEC 144174.0 WP4G 00:52 28 Aug IL18SK TR FK68 FT8 Puerto Rico
Update - 30th Aug 2020 - 09:00 UTC: EA8CXN has now put details of the opening in a post on his blog... see HERE
Summary....
EA8CXN works 7 stations in the Caribbean on FT8 and 2 on SSB.
EA8DEC works 3 on FT8.
This is the sequence of events on 144 MHz....
27th Aug 2020 - 17:08 UTC:EA8CXN completes a contact on FT8 with NP4BM in Puerto Rico. Signal reports of -9dB and -13dB are exchanged. The distance was about 5243 kms which is a new record for a trans-Atlantic contact on 144 MHz.
27th Aug - 17:15 UTC: EA8CXN complete a FT8 contact with FG8OJ in Guadeloupe (~4780 kms). Reports of +25dB and -2dB are exchanged.
27th Aug - 17:20 UTC: EA8CXN and FG8OJ complete a contact on SSB.
27th Aug - 17:51 UTC: EA8 CXN completes a contact on FT8 with FM5CS in Martinique (~4842 kms). Reports of -11dB and -18dB are exchanged.
27th Aug - 17:55 UTC: EA8CXN and FM5CS complete a contact on SSB.
27th Aug - 18:20 UTC: EA8CXN completes a contact on FT8 with WP3DN (5165 kms). Reports of -12dB and -17dB are exchanged.
27th Aug - 19:24 UTC: EA8CXN completes a contact on FT8 with J69DS on St.Lucia (-4856 kms). Reports of -5dB and -6dB are exchanged.
27th Aug - 23:44 UTC:EA8DEC completes a contact on FT8 with NP4BM on Puerto Rico. Reports of -11dB and -14dB are exchanged.
28th Aug - 00:08 UTC: EA8DEC completes a contact on FT8 with KP4EIT (5193 kms). Reports of -13dB and -13dB are exchanged.
28th Aug - 00:46 UTC: EA8DEC completes a contact on FT8 with WP4G (5156 kms). Reports of -14dB and -15dB are exchanged.
28th Aug - 19:33 UTC:EA8CXN completes a contact on FT8 with KP4EIT (5196 kms). Reports of -14dB and -19dB are exchanged.
28th Aug - 21:49 UTC: EA8CXN completes a contact on FT8 with WP4JCF (5176 kms). Reports of -12dB and -9dB are exchanged.
Working conditions for EA8CXN...
Antenna: 6el BigSignal Quad
FT8 transceiver: Yaesu FT-991
SSB transceiver: Icom IC-970H
Amplifier: 500W Telecom 2m HK
Update 2nd Sept 2020: Thanks to Fernando, EA8TX for supplying the following info.
EA8TX was the third station in the Canary Islands to make contacts on 144 MHz to the Caribbean. Located on the island of Tenerife, Fernando managed to complete two FT8 contacts with KP4EIT and WP4G on Puerto Rico.
Fernando also reports that KP4EIT peaked at -1dB on FT8 but soon faded down to -12dB to -20dB where the signal remained for a long time. Fernando speculates that a SSB contact might have been possible but it would have required trying just at the peak of the strongest signal where as the signals were well into the noise for most of the time.
Fernando also decoded NP4BM but was unable to hear the more southerly stations in Guadeloupe and Mantinue due to high ground in the way.
That pretty much closes off the post for this opening as I think that gives a good idea of what happened and who worked who. If anyone has any additional information then please let me know.
Long distance contacts on 144 MHz that are in the region of 3000kms are always of interest as that is the distance across the North Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland. In this series of blog posts, I will look back at some of the 3000km plus contacts on 144 MHz during the Summer of 2020 that I haven't reported on yet.
Back on the 12th of July 2020, there was a remarkable contact made on FT8 on 144 MHz between EA8CXN in the Canary Islands and OV3T in Denmark at about 19:55 UTC.
OV3T in Denmark was using 400 watts into a 10-element Yagi for the contact. I'm not sure what EA8CXN was using.
EA8CXN gave OV3T a report of +8dB while OV3T gave EA8CXN a report of -10dB. This probably meant that CW or FT8 were the only viable modes for making a contact.
Mode of Propagation... The distance was in the region of 3710 kms which is well in excess of the usual 2300km limit for one hop Sporadic-E. So what is the likely explanation?
First off, we can look at the Hepburn prediction map for tropo for the day...
If you examine the right hand side of the map, it shows an enhanced maritime duct from the Canary Islands (EA8) to Spain and Portugal. This tropo path was confirmed earlier on the 12th when EB1DJ spotted EA8CXN on the DX Cluster.
While OV3T was working EA8CXN at 19:55 UTC, another Danish station OZ1CCM worked EA1YV at about the same time which suggests a short Sporadic-E opening from Denmark to NW Spain & N Portugal.
While we can never be 100% sure of what exactly happened, this is the likely scenario....
There was an marine duct from the Canary Islands to the west coast of Spain and Portugal for most of the day. This maritime duct probably didn't get more than 100kms inland and probably didn't cross over the mountains on the Iberian peninsula.
At about 19:50 UTC, there was a short Sporadic-E opening from Denmark to NW Spain & N Portugal. The Sporadic-E signals from Denmark got coupled into the marine duct and on to the Canary Islands.
The tropo part of the path probably accounted for 1500kms of the total while the remaining 2200kms was Sporadic-E.
In conclusion... This contact yet again shows the value of the FT8 digital mode in exposing propagation paths that we didn't know were possible.
It also shows the paradox of FT8... i.e. The problem with FT8 is that it is overcrowded because there are too many on the one frequency but it's because there are so many on the same frequency that there is a better chance of catching unusual openings.
The opening from Denmark to the Canary Islands also raises the possibility of a further extension further south to the Cape Verde Islands. The maritime duct off the west coast of Africa often extends from Cape Verde to Spain and Portugal and if that coincided with a similar Sporadic-E opening again then perhaps contacts in the region of 5,200kms might be possible.
The above map shows the digital DMR repeaters across the south of Ireland. The cluster in the west gives coverage across large parts of Galway and the surrounding counties.
The main one in the south east is located on Mount Leinster, a 794-metre mountain on the border of counties Carlow & Wexford. The repeater near Clashmore in West Waterford provides coverage to parts of East Cork. It is however largely screened from Cork City.
There are now plans to get a new DMR repeater up and running near Cork City before the end of 2020.
Outline...
An elevated site near Cork City has been identified for the repeater.
It will operate on the 70cms band.
It will be DMR only, no other modes like FM or C4FM.
Equipment for the project has been sourced.
A licence has been applied for.
The repeater should have very good coverage in Cork City and surrounding areas. It is hoped that the establishment of a new DMR repeater will encourage the adoption of this new digital mode in the area.
