Good opening on 50 MHz as propagation modes overlap - 20th Apr 2021

Tuesday 20th April 2021: This was a really good day for DX on the 6-metre band with distances of 9000 to 12000 kms being worked on North-South paths.

The map above shows the FT8 reports for Diego, LW2DAF in Buenos Aires, Argentina in South America. As can be seen, there were a substantial number of 50 MHz signals reaching way up into the eastern half of the USA as well as some really interesting paths to the SW of Europe and the Middle East.

There has been numerous reports on social media of people reporting TEP openings on 6m. While this was true, it doesn't fully explain what might have been going on.

Analysis... On the map above, I have shown where the Geomagnetic Equator is. For TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation), the normal range for LW2DAF might be from say his location to the Caribbean. You can see a line of stations above going from the Dominican Republic to Mexico. These were likely to be 100% TEP.

Radio amateurs in the northern US states are well outside the range for TEP just like stations in northern Europe are. It's likely there was a Sporadic-E (Sp-E) opening on 50 MHz at the same time as the TEP opening and this resulted in a signal from Argentina reaching well into the USA.

What we are likely seeing is an overlap of the TEP and Sp-E seasons. The TEP season is around the equinox and is still going in April. The Sporadic-E season kicks off properly at the end of April with openings on 28 MHz and 50 MHz.

Now, it's possible that the openings were due to just multi-hop Sp-E but considering the season is is just starting, a combination of TEP + Sp-E is the more likely scenario.

What to do???.... This overlap of propagation modes won't last much longer so stations should be beaming North and South now to make the most of it. For example, someone in the NE of the USA should beam south and listen for a Sp-E opening to the Caribbean area. If that path is open then there is a chance it might link to some TEP to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Good luck!

Opening to Indonesia & USA on 28 MHz - Tues 20th Apr 2021

Tuesday 20th April 2021: This was an unusual day on the 28 MHz band in that it opened up to Indonesia and the USA. I haven't heard signals that far east and west in quite a while.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

YB2TS 10m FT8 12575 km 13:33:14
KW4SP 10m FT8 6319 km 13:26:29

As can be seen from the FT8 log above, both signals were logged at about 13:30 UTC.

YB2TS from Indonesia was heard all over Europe. KW4SP in Alabama was unusual in that he was only heard in Europe by a station in Spain and myself.

I also heard one station from Brazil but that didn't appear on the PSK Reporter website.

As for Sporadic-E, there was a weak opening to Europe as shown above. I had the radio on for the whole day and I can't really remember hearing anything loud enough to catch my attention.

In total, I heard 53 stations from 12 countries which is reasonably low. The solar flux today was at 86 which was a jump of 8 on the previous day so perhaps that was the main reason for the DX stations.

South African 8-metre beacon on 40.675 MHz heard in Greece - 19th April 2021

Following on from the report last month of the ZS6WAB 8-metre beacon being heard in Portugal, we now have news that the beacon on 40.675 MHz has been heard in the north of Greece by SV2DCD!

In a report by email, Leonidas SV2DCD informs me that he first heard the beacon on the 19th of April 2021 at 14:00 UTC and it peaked around 15:40 UTC. Leonidas was using an 8-element Yagi for 50 MHz to listen to the beacon on 8m.

You can see a video of the reception below...

As outlined in the video title, Leonidas feels that the propagation mode was TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). I have shown the Geomagnetic Equator in the map above and it seems to be roughly equidistant from both stations.

The distance was approximately 7,220 kms.

Now that we have concrete evidence of the 8m South African beacon being heard in Europe, hopefully others will try to have a listen and report it.

Analysis... This new 40 MHz beacon could prove very useful for serious 6-metre operators in Europe checking to see if there is a propagation path to South Africa. There is quite a jump from say 28 MHz to 50 MHz where as if the band is open at 40 MHz then 50 MHz may not be far behind.

Links...

1) My previous post about the ZS6WAB beacon

2) My 40 MHz page

Very weak Sp-E opening on 28 MHz - 19th April 2021

The Sporadic-E opening on the 19th of April 2021 was a pretty weak affair with just 22 stations in 8 countries heard on 28 MHz. It's hard to claim that the band was open for 5 days in a row as this one was so weak.

One interesting signal was R7AZ at 3660 kms. Double hop Sporadic-E or one hop F2? On 10-metres, it's sometimes impossible to tell.

BBC to close another batch of Medium Wave radio transmitters in 2021

In a posting on the 14th of April 2021, the BBC announced that they were going to close the medium wave service for ten regional stations in May & June of this year. With fewer and fewer people now listening to medium wave radio, the BBC felt that the transmitter didn't offer value for money.

"As I have written about in previous blog posts, we have been closing some Medium Wave (MW) transmitters across the UK which no longer offer sufficient value for money for licence fee payers."

"A large and increasing share of radio listening in the UK - including to the BBC - is digital, and the BBC is committed to a digital future for radio. In recent years we have made significant investment in local DAB expansion, all of our local radio stations are available on digital terrestrial TV (such as Freeview), and we have transformed our online and mobile offering with BBC Sounds."

A total of 14 medium wave transmitters will be closed down and these are shown below...

Most of them are reasonably low power with powers between 0.5 to 2 kW. The large one is the 160 kW Radio Ulster transmitter near Belfast which would have been heard all over Europe at night. 

They also announced that four regional transmitters will be reducing their output power.

The current power levels are shown above as it's not yet clear what the new power level will be.

"In addition, the following stations will have reduced MW coverage:

Radio Wales
Impacted areas including North of Snowdonia, Anglesey, Bangor, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Betws-y-Coed and Areas around Wrexham and east of Snowdonia. Still available on, FM, DAB, and online and on all TV platforms (Terrestrial, Satellite, and Cable)

Radio Gloucestershire
With areas around Stow-on-the-Wold being impacted DAB will likely be the best option for most listeners. Available on 104.7 FM around Gloucester, 95.0 FM around Stroud and 95.8 FM around Cirencester. Still available on Freeview/Youview and online (through a smart phone, computer, or smart speaker)"

The BBC announced its intention to close MW transmitters back in 2011. It's likely that more will close in the years ahead.

Link...

1) Next phase of changes to some local BBC radio Medium Wave services - Apr 2021

Another Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz for the 4th day in a row - 18th April 2021

Sunday 18th April 2021: The 28 MHz band opened for the 4th day in a row with a modest Sporadic-E opening to the south of Spain and Scandinavia. 

Most of the signals from Spain were slightly long at 1600-1700kms with nothing coming from the centre of the country.

The opening to Scandinavia was unusual in that it was the first Sporadic-E opening in that direction this year. The FT8 signals were strong enough that it prompted me to do a few scans and I heard two beacons.

EI7GL 28298.0 SK7GH/B 13:06 18 Apr IO51TU<ES>JO77BF Sweden
EI7GL 28237.4 LA5TEN/B 12:25 18 Apr IO51TU<ES>JO59JP Norway

The LA5TEN beacon near Oslo is also probably one of the most consistent signals that I hear from Scandinavia so it was no real suprise to hear it first.

As the map shows above, there was some weak F2 propagation to South Africa and Brazil. 

For some reason, some of the 10m spots showed up as Grey but they were all on 28 MHz as that was the only band I monitored. Overall, I heard 93 stations in 18 countries on FT8.

The Solar Flux was at 75.

Did a VHF APRS signal cross the North Atlantic on the 17th of Apr 2021? (Spoiler-Probably not)

The Ham Radio Concepts Facebook page put this image up on Saturday the 17th of April with the comment... 'Wow! Is this a computer glitch? A transcontinental band opening on VHF?'

I've edited the image to remove the parts of the map which aren't of interest and left the important parts.

The Facebook post was put up around 17:00 UTC on Saturday the 17th of April. Other than that, we don't have any other info to go on.

Who? What? Where? When?... Other than the time stamp on the image which may not be UTC, we have no other info. Was it a 144 MHz FM APRS signal? What was heard? Who heard it? When was it heard? Is it even real?

I looked at the mennolink website but couldn't really get any further. I'm posting it here so that others can investigate if they want to.

I looked at the F5LEN tropo forecast website and it does show some enhancement in the Atlantic for large parts of the path but that in itself proves nothing.

Until such time as there is some actual real data, I'd be inclined to write it off as a non-event.

Links...

1) http://aprs.mennolink.org/

2) https://aprs.fi

Modest Sporadic-E on 28 MHz for the 3rd day in a row - 17th April 2021

 

Saturday the 17th of April 2021 was the third day in a row where there was a modest Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz. The main Sp-E opening was again to the Iberian Peninsula with some F2 propagation as well to South Africa, St Helena and South America.

According to the PSK Reporter website, I heard 108 stations in 20 countries.

I think it's safe to say that the Summer Sporadic-E season for the Northern Hemisphere has started.

That 3000km opening to the Azores on 144 MHz that didn't happen

This is a story about why you should be very careful taking unusual VHF propagation reports at face value. Someone sent me an email to say that the PSK Reporter website had shown the reception report of CU3HN in the Azore Islands by a Dutch radio amateur on 144 MHz.

At first glance, this looked like an incredible 2m reception report with a distance of just under 3000 kms. I checked the PSK Reporter website myself this morning and it said that four stations had heard CU3HN on 144 MHz!

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
G8ECI 2m FT8 2635 km 22:21:44
PA3GNZ 2m FT8 2898 km 22:21:30
PA2CV 2m FT8 2969 km 22:09:15
DF8JO 2m FT8 3016 km 22:21:44

I then checked the tropo forecast from the website of Pascal, F5LEN. While there was a sign of some conditions near the Azores, it looked poor at the eastern end of the path near the Netherlands and Germany.

I then checked the PSK Reporter website to see what bands CU3HN was on by using 'All' instead of '2m' and it shows a lot of reports for 14 MHz (20m) late last night.

I sent Fábio, CU3HN an email this morning and he confirmed that he was NOT on 144 MHz last night.

So what was going on??? ...I can think of two possible reasons.

1) Someone near the Netherlands was pirating CU3HN's callsign and locator and transmitting on FT8 on 144 MHz. Maybe it's possible but I would have expected more stations to hear and report the bogus signal if that was the case.

2) Some sort of glitch in the PSK Reporter website where CU3HN was reported on the wrong band? The thing here is that some of the receive stations listed above were not reporting 20m at any stage.

I'm not 100% sure how it happened but it goes to show that you always need to be careful and question any reception report that looks out of the ordinary.

Update: See suggestion below from Kees, PA3GHQ which might be the best explanation.

"I had the same problem 2 months ago. I saw calls from Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and later from Canada on 2 mtr. After some investigation the issue was on the same time when an amateur from my region calls on 2 mtr in FT8. I’ve called him by phone and we did some tests. The issue was the audio from his 40 mtr transceiver was receiving FT8 and the audio mixed with his FT8 modulation signal when his 2 mtr transceiver was transmitting. Both radio’s worked via 1 computer and when he turned the HF radio off the problem was solved. ...Best regards/ 73 Kees PA3GHQ "

Another opening on 28 MHz - Fri 16th April 2021

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.

EI7GL 28167.4 ZB2TEN/B 14:03 16 Apr IO51TU<ES>IM76HD Gibraltar
EI7GL 28251.0 ED4YAK/B 13:58 16 Apr IO51TU<ES>IN80FK

That was my first time hearing those two beacons this year. I also heard EA8DHV on CW who was a reasonably strong signal ~559.

EI7GL 28016.0 EA8DHV 17:22 16 Apr IO51TU<>IL18UL Canary Islands

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.

VO1FN 144 MHz Trans-Atlantic Project mentioned on Radio DARC broadcast on the Short Wave Band

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.

You can find out more about Radio DARC and their transmission times here... https://www.darc.de/nachrichten/radio-darc/

More information about the VO1FN Trans-Atlantic Project can be found in this previous blog post.

Thanks to Joerg, DM4DL for the above information.

Reasonable Sporadic-E opening on 28 MHz - 15th April 2021

 

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.

New Android App for decoding DRM digital radio broadcasts

 

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.

Links...

1) StarWave news release - 13th April 2021

2) Google Play Store

3) Official DRM website

Opening to the South Atlantic on 28 MHz - 14th Apr 2021

The last two days have been pretty quiet on the 10-metre band with no real sign of the Summer Sporadic-E season starting.

Tues 13th Apr 2021: This was a really quiet day with just two European stations heard on the band using FT8.

Wed 14th Apr 2021: This day was a little bit better with a few more European signals heard as well as ZD7JC on St.Helena Island and PY1VOY in Brazil.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

PY1VOY 10m FT8 8976 km 18:05:59
ZD7JC 10m FT8 7542 km 18:31:14
IK7FPV 10m FT8 2323 km 17:51:59
IZ0GIY 10m FT8 1979 km 17:52:59
IK5BSC 10m FT8 1681 km 16:38:59
IU5LQC 10m FT8 1642 km 18:22:27
DF8XC 10m FT8 1154 km 11:43:05
MM0ABM 10m FT8 482 km 15:44:29
EI4GEB 10m FT8 79 km 19:13:14
EI8GS 10m FT8 7 km 11:47:45

144 MHz beacon on the US Virgin Islands to investigate 6000km TEP path to South America

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

Grid / Locator: FK77pr

QRZ page: https://www.qrz.com/db/NP2X

Analysis...

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.

Thanks to Fred, NP2X for the above information.

Link...

1) DX Maps TEP Propagation page

Addendum:

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."

Weak opening to South America - 12th Apr 2021

The 28 MHz band was pretty quiet for most of the day and only really came to live around 20:00 UTC when there was an opening to South America.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

CE3BT 10m FT8 11247 km 19:34:29

LU1COP 10m FT8 10776 km 20:22:29

LU9HPO 10m FT8 10676 km 20:16:14

CT2HMR 10m FT8 1176 km 14:47:45

DK3EE 10m FT8 1160 km 16:48:11

G4FKA 10m FT8 408 km 14:14:02

EI4GEB 10m FT8 79 km 21:05:44

F2 propagation or Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP)???

South America is a poor direction for me and I was only hearing the signals coming in at a high enough angle to clear my local hill.

New National Shortwave Listeners Club in Ireland

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/

Weak opening to South America on 28 MHz - 11th Apr 2021

 

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.

Overall though a day of slim pickings.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PU2TXZ 10m FT8 9153 km 14:34:15
PY2ADX 10m FT8 8985 km 14:46:59
EA3RKD 10m FT8 1403 km 08:43:46
DO7RU 10m FT8 1046 km 10:10:59
ON4LDU 10m FT8 1023 km 11:48:44
G0LRD 10m FT8 576 km 11:32:59
M0KYB 10m FT8 448 km 11:28:30

The solar flux on the 11th of April was just 73 which was down from the value of 78 on the 10th.

Meteor Shower Calendar - April 2021 to January 2022

 

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.

Meagre pickings on 28 MHz - 9th Apr 2021

 

The pickings on 28 MHz on the 9th of April 2021 were pretty meagre with just a handful of stations being heard.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PU2TXZ 10m FT8 9153 km 17:20:59
DK3EE 10m FT8 1160 km 16:15:31
G0CLH 10m FT8 611 km 10:45:29
GW4MVA 10m FT8 391 km 10:45:44

The solar flux was just 74.