The 16th of April 2021 was another reasonable day on 28 MHz with 86 FT8 reports from 20 countries. There was a bit more Sporadic-E compared to the 15th with stations from plenty of German stations making an appearance in contrast to yesterday.
I also managed to hear two beacons on the band... one from Madrid and one from Gibraltar.
I'm not sure what the propagation mode was for the EA8 station. It's too far for one hop Sporadic-E so it either involved more than one hop OR it was from the F2 layer. That's the thing about 10-metres, sometimes you can never be 100% sure what the mode of propagation is.
Radio DARC is a short program broadcast on 6.070 KHz with 100 KW on Sundays at 09:00 UTC (11:00 CEST) about amateur radio with a lot of music.
On Sunday the 18th of April 2021, the VO1FN Trans-Atlantic project on 144 MHz gets a mention in their news items at about 10 minutes in.
While the program is broadcast in German, it does raise awareness about the 'VO1FN Trans-Atlantik Projekt' among a much wider community.
Radio DARC broadcast locally via FM and DAB in Germany, Austria and Italy. It is also broadcast on 3955 kHz and 9670 kHz for an audience outside of Germany. If you hear the broadcast then you can send them a reception report.
The 15th of April 2021 was a reasonably modest day on 28 MHz with a Sporadic-E opening to the Iberian peninsula, some F2 propagation to Greece, Turkey & Israel and some F2 propagation to South Africa and South America.
In truth, the signals were never that strong with me. At one stage while the signals to the east of Spain were clearly audible to my ear, I did a scan of the band and heard nothing else. I did one careful scan of the beacon band and there wasn't a hint of a signal.
If we were relying on CW beacons to tell us the band was open then we would miss most of the weak openings. Whatever some people think about the FT8 digital mode, it is a fantastic propagation tool.
The Solar Flux on the 15th was down at 74 which is very low for F2 propagation on 10-metres.
The opening to Spain and Portugal is a sure sign that we are approaching the Summer Sporadic-E season which usually starts near the end of April every year. The openings will come in fits and starts but they will get more numerous and stronger as the weeks pass.
On the 13th of April 2021, a company named StarWaves announced the release of a new Android app called DRM SoftRadio. The app allows a user of a Software Defined Radio (SDR) to listen to any DRM digital broadcasts on an Android smartphone or tablet.
DRM or Digital Radio Mondiale is the global digital radio standard used for digital transmissions on medium wave and short wave in several countries.
Some of the features...
Languages: English, German, Simplified Chinese
Convenient frequency tuning and DRM Service selection
Journaline, DRM’s advanced text application, allows to interactively browse through latest news, sports and weather updates, programme background information and schedules, distance learning/RadioSchooling text books, travel information, and much more
Free tuning to any DRM broadcast frequency
Supports all DRM frequency bands – from the former AM bands (LW/MW/SW) to the VHF bands (including the FM band), depending only on RF dongle functionality
Graphical spectrum view to check the signal on the tuned frequency
For live reception, an SDR RF dongle must be connected to the device’s USB port (with USB host functionality). The following SDR RF dongle families are currently supported, along with a range of specifically tested models:
Supported SDR receivers...
Airspy HF+ family: Airspy HF Discovery, Airspy HF+ (Dual Port). (Note: Airspy Mini and R2 are NOT supported.)
SDRplay family: SDRPlay RSP1A, SDRPlay RSPdx, SDRPlay RSPduo, SDRPlay RSP1, SDRPlay RSP2, SDRPlay RSP2pro, MSI.SDR Panadapter (Note: SDRPlay family support on Android is currently limited to the 32-bit version of this app.)
RTL-SDR family: The experimental support for RTL-SDR based RF dongles requires that you manually start the following separate tool before opening this app (on standard port ‘14423’): The app ‘SDR driver’ can be installed from the Google Play Store and other Android app stores.
Analysis... While DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) has been around as a digital radio standard since 2003, it has proved difficult to get accepted by broadcasters and the general public. Broadcasters were unwilling to use DRM due to a lack of suitable receivers and the public weren't interested because there were a lack of DRM transmissions.
That has changed of late with the introduction of DRM transmissions in the medium wave band in India. Considering its population, it is assumed that this will kick off the development of cheaper DRM receivers.
While SDR receivers are probably used more by those interested in technology and radio rather than the general public, this new app does open up DRM transmissions to a whole new audience.
The app costs in the region of €5/$5 which is very modest for most SDR users.
It is my understanding that a Windows version is being developed by the company and this should be of interest to an even wider audience.
The 2m NP2X beacon is now operational from St.Croix in the US Virgin Islands and its primary purpose is to investigate the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) path to South America.
The beacon is on 144.291 MHz and sends its ID in CW. It runs 100-watts into a 15-element Yagi antenna. The beam heading is 170 degrees as the primary target area is Uruguay (CX), the south of Brazil (PY) and Argentina (LU).
The beam width of a 15-element is about 30 degrees i.e. +/-15 deg. The map above shows the direction for the main beam heading as well as the -3dB points. The photo below shows the antenna and the sea path to the coast of South America.
Details... Location: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands Elevation: 91 metres above sea level Transceiver: Kenwood TR-751A Amplifier: RF Concepts 160 watt, reduced to 100 watts for beacon operation Antenna: 15 element Yagi @ beam heading (QTH) of 170 degrees (Uruguay) Frequency: 144.291 MHz
This 144 MHz beacon is well placed to investigate the 6000km TEP path to Uruguay and Argentina considering its power, antenna and location. It's likely that the possible paths at 144 MHz will be perpendicular to the Geomagnetic Equator (Uruguay & Buenos Aires) and the paths at say the -3dB points of the beam width are less likely on 2m.
It's really important that stations in South America monitor the SSB and CW part of the 2m band for possible openings. If everyone sits on the FT8 frequency then many TEP openings may go unreported as digital signals like FT8 are often distorted by TEP.
If you are in South America and you do hear the beacon, please report it on the DX Cluster.
Additional report from Colossi, PY3DU in Brazil.... "My 144 MHz TEP VHF in October 2011, with NP2X, happened exactly after my old friend @Rafael_Haag , PY3FF,listened to NP2X/B and warned me over the phone, to be listening to USA in two meters. I was having dinner, which I didn't finish.. KKKK..., there were several days of openings."
A new National Shortwave Listeners Club has been established in Ireland to help those interested in going for their amateur radio licence.
The Irish Radio Transmitter Society (IRTS) is the national society representing radio amateurs in Ireland and they are currently running very successful online courses which have generated a lot of interest.
The IRTS carried this news item last Sunday the 11th of April 2021..
National Shortwave Listeners Club.
The inaugural weekly meeting of the newly formed National Shortwave Listeners Club was held on the Zoom platform last Sunday evening and attracted 60 attendees. Online classes continue on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings with over 100 students hoping to get licensed in the coming months. Club meetings are held on the Zoom platform every Sunday evening at 2000. Information about the new club is available on swl.ie.
There are currently about 2000 EI callsigns so having an additional 100 waiting to take the exam is very encouraging.
Like many other countries, the old model of holding physical exam classes is largely broken. By having classes online, most of the costs like room rental, insurance, printouts and traveling expenses disappear and the catchment area also changes from say a large city to the size of a country.
It's probably something that should have happened 20 years ago but the widespread acceptance of platforms like ZOOM now make it more feasible.
For more information on the new National Shortwave Listeners Club, go to https://swl.ie/
It's been a pretty dismal two days for propagation on the 28 MHz band.
Sat 10th Apr 2021 - This was one of those rare days where I didn't hear one single FT8 signal on the band. I nearly always hear something as I listen to the band from about 8am to 11pm every day.
The result is always the same... I check the VSWR on the antenna to make sure it's working ok! All was good so it was just one of those days.
Sun 11th Apr 2021 - This day wasn't much better but there were a few signals including two from Brazil.
I did hear 9J2BS in Zambia and ZD7JC on St.Helena Island in the South Atlantic but those reports didn't appear on the PSK Reporter website.
While the Spring months tend to be the quietest in terms of meteor showers, things start to pick up at towards the end of April every year. The peaks of the various meteor showers are good times to check for bursts and pings of radio signals on the VHF bands.
I have put together a calendar which contains a list of most of the current meteor showers. The list below covers from April 2021 to January 2022.
There was a weak Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz on Thursday the 8th of April 2021 with a total of 20 stations heard on FT8.
Some of the Spanish signals were actually audible and weren't just buried in the noise. I tried two scans of band when the FT8 signals were audible but I failed to hear any of the beacons.
In another two weeks time around the 23rd of April, there should be some decent openings on 10m.
Foreword... AIS (Automatic Identification System) is used by ships to identify their location by sending out a signal at 162 MHz which is pocked up by other ships and shore stations. There is a growing community of enthusiasts near coasts around the world who monitor these signals and feed the decoded signals into websites that then display the positions. AIS signals which are a few watts in power act like beacons and can be used by radio amateurs to show if there is any tropospheric enhancement on the VHF bands... de John, EI7GL
Propagation Monitoring 2m Band with AIS Data from Vesseltracker.com ...by Jörg, DM4DL
I'm trying to use the ships' transponders on 162 MHz +/-25 kHz as beacons for the 144 MHz 2m band. My first AIS receiving antenna is on the island of Neuwerk, 15 km from Cuxhaven.
For 5 years I was able to inspire some HAM radio operators and meanwhile a partnership between the company Vesseltracker and Gabriel, EA6VQ, the operator of DXMaps is planned.
As a test, the Vesseltracker data of some AIS-RX are already being forwarded to DXMaps.
Please check whether you would like to participate in the community with your location?
Example of enhanced VHF conditions in the eastern Mediterranean
The last few days have been very poor on 28 MHz with hardly any signals heard on the band. There is no real sign of the Summer Sporadic-E season kicking off although that should all change towards the end of April.
On Wednesday the 7th of April 2021, I heard ZD7JC on St.Helena Island in the South Atlantic as well as a handful around Europe.
I suspect there may have been a weak area of Sporadic-E to the south of me and then onto to St.Helena via either F2 propagation or TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation).
I saw TEP mentioned in the GB2RS news last weekend as part of the propagation forecast... "There have been some North-South paths worked on 10 metres via Trans-Equatorial Propagation or TEP, but these have mainly favoured stations located south of the UK."
This raises an interesting question... how can you tell the difference between F2 and TEP on 28 MHz? If it was 50 MHz then it's very likely to be TEP. But on 28 MHz? I'm not so sure anyone be 100% sure.
I have now updated my old DMR page to a new 'Digital' radio page.
Previously I used the page for DMR information in Ireland. The new 'Digital' page has links to all of my previous posts that contained any sort of radio related digital information.
Some of the areas covered are...
Digital modes for broadcasting like DAB, DAB+ and DRM
Frank, VO1HP reports that the VO1FN 144 MHz Trans-Atlantic monitoring station will be reactivated by the end of May 2021!
This SDR receiver will be using SDR Console V3 and WSJT-x and will report to the PSK Reporter website as VO1FN.
The station will be located in St.John's, Newfoundland and will use two stacked 5-element 144 MHz LFA-Q quad style Yagis from Innovantennas.
The antennas will be pointing at western Europe and the receiver will be listening on 144.174 MHz which is the FT8 frequency.
Trans-Atlantic on 144 MHz: Is it possible??? ...As can be seen from the map above, the distance across the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and Ireland is just over 3000kms. This is well beyond the normal 2300km or so range for normal Sporadic-E or meteor scatter and it seems unlikely that it would be spanned a marine tropo duct going all of the ways across.
I emphasize the work unlikely but it's not impossible. The North Atlantic is not noted for its fine calm weather and there is nearly always some low pressure system in there stirring things up.
What is likely to happen a lot more often are shorter ducts that are in the region of 1000kms in length and these could happen at either end although the eastern end seems more likely. If there is a Sporadic-E opening or a major meteor shower at the same time as a good 1000km marine duct then it may well be possible.
It seems to me that the path from Newfoundland to the north-west coast of Spain as the most likely one even if it is a bit further away. The number of stable marine ducts in that part of the Atlantic are higher than further north closer to Ireland.
According to the tropo forecast website of F5LEN, there is a chance of enhanced tropo conditions across the North Atlantic on the weekend of Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th of April 2021.
While contacts at 144 MHz are probably unlikely, any suitably equipped stations in Ireland, the UK, France, Spain & Portugal might be interested in trying.
Frank, VO1HP reports that the following stations will be monitoring from Newfoundland mainly on the FT8 frequency of 144.174 MHz...
The distance across the North Atlantic is in excess of 3000kms and has yet to be bridged on 144 MHz.
* * *
Frank also reports that they plan to get their SDR Transatlantic Beacon Receiver site operational in May of 2021 when the antennas are taken out of storage.
In this three part series of posts, I am going to look at the 2020 logs of a very active Band 2 DXer and what they might suggest about propagation on the 88 to 108 MHz FM band. The posts are broken up into three parts... 1) Tropospheric Propagation, 2) Sporadic-E & 3) Meteor Scatter.
First off, a big thank you to Paul Logan who very kindly shared his 2020 Band 2 logbook with me and answered numerous questions that I had. Outside of his usual 'local' FM radio stations which he can hear under flat conditions, he logged and identified roughly 5,500 long distance signals on Band 2 in the year 2020.
Profile of Paul Logan... Paul is a very active listener of Band 2 radio (88-108 MHz) signals and has been logging stations that he has heard for about 30 years. He lives in Lisnaskea in Co.Fermanagh in Ireland and his location is shown in the map below.
Paul's location is far from ideal for listening to distant VHF signals. He has some local hills to the east as well as the hills and mountains in Scotland, England and Wales as a further obstruction.
Equipment... For the 2020 logs, Paul used an SDRPlay RSP1 & RSP1A.
In recent years, software defined receivers have transformed FMDX listening as signals can now be seen on a computer screen as well as being heard. This allows a user to visually check for any unusual signals and can then go investigate it. One of the most impressive features is the ability to record sections of the spectrum and a user can then go back later to listen for anything unusual.
For an antenna, Paul is using a Korner FM9 from Antennenland in Germany.
This antenna which is mounted 8 metres above ground level is highly regarded by many FMDXers in Europe.
2020 Tropo Log... During the year 2020, Paul heard and identified around 86 signals that were heard via tropospheric propagation. This mode of propagation occurs when signals are bent over the horizon by sharp changes between air layers with different temperatures and moisture content.
I have picked out 5 groups of signals of note which I have marked from A to E. Refer to the map below and then the horizon profile further down.
A - This group of signals from the north-west corner of Spain are in the region of 1200 to 1300 kms. The sea path from the south coast of Ireland to the north coast of Spain is very good for VHF propagation with marine ducting happening several times a year. These sea paths are usually the best for very long paths in excess of 500kms and sometimes the signals can be amazingly strong.
In the video below, Paul shows how he was able to hear a Spanish radio station on a small portable radio when the opening was at its strongest. With his main directional antenna, he was able to hear the Spanish signals for most of the day.
In the horizon plot below, you can see that the path to NW Spain at Paul's location is largely unobstructed with only a 1 degree elevation. This allows very low angle signals to arrive at his location.
B - This path to Brittany and Cornwall is similar in that the sea path helps and the hills on the horizon are quite low at about 1 degree elevation.
C - This interesting batch of signals came from Norfolk in the east of England, a distance of 600kms. These signals had a few obstacles to overcome including Paul's local hills as well as the Pennines running down the centre of England.
With the signals arriving at least 3.5 degrees above the horizon, the means of propagation may have been via an elevated duct in the region of 500m to 2000m above the earth's surface. While higher frequency VHF & UHF signals tend to propagate better inside of ducts, it went as low as 89.7 MHz in this example.
D - This cluster of signals from the Netherlands and Germany were interesting for a number of reasons. First off is the sheer distance... about 1000kms which is unusual for Band 2 tropo. I suspect that the sea path over the North Sea may have helped for a large part of the journey.
If you examine the horizon plot below, you'll notice that there is a gap in the hills due east (90 degrees) where the horizon has an elevation of about 2.5 degrees.
What's really interesting is that the paths from the four transmission sites fit exactly in the gap. The signal from the most northerly German transmitter is exactly at the left hand side of the gap. The signal from the most southerly Dutch transmitter is exactly at the right hand side of the gap. The four signals fit exactly like a glove which suggests that they are coming in just barely above 2.5 degrees above the horizon.
E - These signals from the Newcastle area were at a distance of about 370kms and again are coming in from an obstructed path. This one has the highest angle as it had to clear a local hill that was 4 degrees on the horizon.
Outside of the five examples shown above, most of the other signals were in the region of 150 to 300kms which is pretty typical for tropospheric propagation on Band 2.
What's also interesting are the signals that weren't heard. For example, there was no tropo from Scotland which Paul confirms is a very difficult direction for him. As can be seen from the horizon plot above, the local hill in that direction is 5 degrees and that has the effect of blocking tropo signals.
In conclusion... I hope this short analysis highlights the importance of having a low unobstructed horizon for hearing signals on Band 2 (88-108 MHz).
Having obstructions under 1 degree is best, under 2 degrees is acceptable but beyond that, the signals and paths get rarer.
Any local hill that is at 5 degrees or above is a show stopper for VHF tropo propagation.
The examples above would also apply to say the VHF aircraft band (118-136 MHz), the 2-metre amateur band (144 MHz) and the VHF marine band (156 MHz).
Normally the best advice is to have your antenna mounted as high as possible on the VHF bands so that the amount of obstruction on your horizon is reduced to a minimum.
Band 2 is a bit of an paradox in that the higher you put your antenna, the 'local' signals get stronger which in turn can mask the DX signals. It's really a case of finding out what height works best for your location.
