Reception of the World Music Radio station on the 11m Short Wave Band - June 2021

16th June 2021: I noticed a post on my Facebook feed yesterday about a Danish station transmitting on 25800 kHz on the 11m broadcast band. I really don't have much interest in short wave stations but this one caught my attention as it is reasonably close to the 28 MHz band.

The post from the 14th of June 2021 read... "WMR (World Music Radio) is now on the air on 25800 kHz - locally audible in Aarhus, Denmark -  and sometimes by eskip og F2 propagation."

Today, I noticed I was hearing OZ7IT in Denmark on WSPR on 28 MHz via Sporadic-E propagation with a good 0dB signal. I then checked for the OZ7IGY beacon on 28.271 MHz and sure enough, it was there.

When I checked 25.800 MHz, the World Music Radio station was there on AM with a signal strength of about S '5' to '8' with a lot of fading. The distance was in the region of 1300 kms to my location.

In response to a question, they said that they were running 100-watts into a vertical antenna on top of a tall tower. Photo at the end of this post.

100w sounds like a lot but in terms of short wave broadcasting, it's very low power.

Sporadic-E propagation: If anyone wants to have a listen during the Summer Sporadic-E season (May to July), I have put together a map showing the likely range.

The signal is likely to be heard in the range of 500 kms to 2000 kms. Anything under 500 kms is in the skip zone. anything over 2000 kms is likely to be too weak.

The best spot is roughly between the two, say 900 to 1600 kms.

In conclusion: Putting a short wave transmitter on 25800 kHz near the bottom of the sunspot cycle seems like a strange choice. It will probably be a few years before there will be consistent F2 propagation at that frequency and even then, 100-watts on AM will only go so far.

The 11-metre broadcast band is an unusual band with very few stations on it and many of the typical small portable radios don't cover it.

I checked my own TecSun PL-380 and it tops out around 22 MHz.

Yet for all that, it's interesting to see if it can be heard. I'm thinking already if that nice 100-watt carrier could be used for meteor scatter tests! 😂

If you hear Danish stations on 28 MHz then have a listen and you should be able to hear it.

Links...

1) World Music Radio website

2) Their Facebook page

Newfoundland 144 MHz monitoring station VO1FN hears US station at 1760kms - 13th June 2021

Normally, a reception report of a station at 1700km on the 144 MHz band isn't all that special as we're in the middle of the Summer Sporadic-E season but I found this one of interest.

13th June 2021: The VO1FN station at St.John's, Newfoundland was set up to monitor the 144 MHz for Trans-Atlantic signals. On the 13th of June, it heard a FT8 signal from K1TEO in Connecticut in the USA.

The distance was just over 1760 kms which is pretty typical for Sporadic-E or meteor scatter at 144 MHz.

This is the tropo prediction map for the day from Pascal, F5LEN...

It shows some enhancement on the 1760 km path but probably not enough to explain the propagation mode.

Propagation Mode: Frank, VO1HP outlined in the update at the end of this post how the signal was heard off the back of the beam. As there was just one decode, I don't think it was tropo. If it was meteor scatter then it required a burst that was at least 15 seconds long. The other option was a very short Sporadic-E opening. 

My interest in this reception report is how it compares to the distance from Newfoundland to the Azores Islands.

The beam heading from VO1FN to K1TEO is 254 degrees which is 16 degrees south of West. I calculated what the equivalent point is at 16 degrees south of East and it is shown above.

As you can see, the distance to the Azores is just a few hundred kms.

It's my opinion that proof of a 144 MHz path between Newfoundland and the Azores would be a valuable first step in the eventual goal of a Trans-Atlantic 144 MHz contact on 2-metres. I think this is most likely to happen between the north-west of Spain / Portugal and either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia in Canada.

Update 15th June: From Frank, VO1HP... "The antennas were pointing at Ireland. I regularly monitor 144.174 even though EI2DKH is opearting on 144.488Mhz Q65 every time there is an opening on 6M.  The actual decode took place on Jun 13 2021 not Jun 14.  Jun 14 was the date displayed by WSJT-X on Monday when I logged on to the PC using Anydesk.  The time stamp of the recording is 20210613_101845"

Update 16th June: VO1HO informs me that K1TEO was using 1 kilowatt to a 4 x 9-element Yagi array at 25 metres above ground level.

18,970km Opening on 50 MHz between the Canary Islands and the east of Australia - 13th June 2021

13th June 2021: Over Back on the 2nd of June, there was a 16,200km opening on the 50 MHz band between the Canary Islands and the north of Australia. On the 13th of June, the opening was to the east coast of Australia, a distance of just under 19,000kms.

These are the FT8 report for VK4HJ from the PSK Reporter website...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
EA8DBM VK4HJ 6m FT8 18971 km 06:31:14
VK4HJ EA8DBM 6m FT8 18971 km 06:25:59
9H1TX VK4HJ 6m FT8 15950 km 05:56:44
Z37CXY VK4HJ 6m FT8 15268 km 06:09:14
SV2JAO VK4HJ 6m FT8 15235 km 05:14:14
SV9CVY VK4HJ 6m FT8 15006 km 07:01:44
VK4HJ SV9CVY 6m FT8 15006 km 06:26:59

What's amazing about this is that the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000kms and this is almost half the circumference.

If this happened at the peak of the solar cycle then it might be understandable but we are just after the sunspot minimum. 

If it was multi-hop Sporadic-E then we have to believe that there were at least nine Sporadic-E clouds all lined up neatly in a row which I don't believe is feasible. I suspect that the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) region centred around the Geomagnetic Equator was partially involved.

Here are some of the DX spots from the cluster.

VK4MA 50313 EA8DBM 06:31 13 Jun 21 strong -4 Canary Islands
SV9CVY 50313 VK4HJ 06:43 13 Jun 21 still -12 cqing Australia
SV9CVY 50313 VK4HJ 06:28 13 Jun 21 539 ~ CQ DX VK4HJ QG63 Australia
EA8DBM-@ 50313.5 VK4HJ 06:28 13 Jun 21 FT8 -18dB Australia
9H1TX 50313.5 VK4HJ 06:10 13 Jun 21 JM75FU<ES>QG63 Australia 

SV9CVY 50313 VK4HJ 06:09 13 Jun 21 -2 working EU Australia
SV9CVY 50313 VK4HJ 05:58 13 Jun 21 ur best +1 amazing 73 tnx Australia

New Zealand: This is the first time this Summer that I've seen a signal from New Zealand reach Europe on 50 MHz...

This time, the distance was 17,170kms. Again, there is a path open to Japan, there's a path open to Europe.

PSK Reporter spots.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL1SG SV9CVY 6m FT8 17173 km 06:29:59
SV9CVY ZL1SG 6m FT8 17173 km 06:28:41

DX-Cluster spots
SV9CVY 50313 ZL1SG 06:30 13 Jun 21 2210 ~ CQ ZL1SG RF64 New Zealand
SV9CVY 50313 ZL1RQ 06:25 13 Jun 21 tnx 73 ur best -13 New Zealand
ZL1SG-@ 50313 SV9CVY 06:30 13 Jun 21 -18 TKS QSO Crete

As can be seen from the cluster spots, the FT8 signals at -13dB and -18dB were buried in the noise and a CW/SSB contact would not have been possible.

Another 3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between the Canary & Madeira Islands to Italy - 11th June 2021

Friday 11th June 2021: Another day and another list of 3000km plus contacts on the 144 MHz band.

First, we'll look at the reports and then the propagation mode at the end of the post.

* * *

This is the FT8 map for EA8AIN and it shows the 3000km+ path to the south of Italy.

These are the paths over 3000kms...

4000km opening on 144 MHz between the Azore Islands and Greece - 10th June 2021

10th June 2021: When the events on a day have to be broken up into three posts then you know something special must have happened! 😄

This is part 3 of 3.

* * *

This post looks at the 144 MHz opening from CU3EQ on the Azore Islands in the North Atlantic.

There were at least eight paths on FT8 on 144 MHz that exceeded 3000kms and one was over 4000kms!

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
SV8PEX CU3EQ 2m FT8 4008 km 16:56:57
CU3EQ IK7XWJ 2m FT8 3879 km 16:57:42
CU3EQ IZ8GGE 2m FT8 3706 km 16:14:11
CU3EQ IK2MKS 2m FT8 3117 km 16:59:44
CU3EQ IW2EQR 2m FT8 3059 km 16:37:41
IK2JUG CU3EQ 2m FT8 3052 km 17:03:27
IK2OLD CU3EQ 2m FT8 3042 km 16:57:59
IK1MTZ CU3EQ 2m FT8 2950 km 17:01:59

As outlined in a previous post, it looks as if there was an intense Sporadic-E region over the Sardinia / Corsica area and this 2000km or so hop was responsible for the eastern half of the path. As for the western half from Portugal to the Azores? This was probably a tropo duct although a second Sporadic-E hop can't be ruled. out.

4000kms from the Azores: It's very easy to just look and say, just another 4000km path on 2-metres. To put this perspective, let's have a look at 4000kms west from the Azores...

Q. Is a 144 MHz signal can get from Greece to the Azores, then why can't one get from North America to the Azores?

Q. Is anyone in North America trying? Is anyone in North America listening? Has anyone in North America even tried to make a sked?

Other Possibilities??? This 4000km opening raises some other possibilities....

Q. Is a 144 MHz opening between the Azores and the Caribbean possible???

Q. On the 10th of June, 144 MHz signals from Lebanon and Israel reached the west coast of Portugal. Is a 5,400km opening between the Azores and Lebanon / Israel possible?

For more examples of 3000km+ openings, check out my 144 MHz page.

Opening on 28 MHz from Alaska to Europe - 11th June 2021

Friday 11th June 2021: There was an interesting opening on 28 MHz on the morning of the 11th of June between Europe and Alaska. This is pretty unusual at this point of the sunspot cycle and especially during the Summer months.

The map above shows the signal paths to KL2R in Alaska. As the signals between Europe and Alaska pass near the Geomagnetic North Pole, they are often distorted with an auroral tone to the signals. It's suprising to see FT8 digital signals get through.

I guess there's always a chance that the station is a pirate but it does seem to be hearing both Europe and Japan on 28 MHz and there is nothing from the USA.

I heard the German Icebreaker station DP0POL several times on WSPR today on 28 MHz and that ship is currently just west of Svalbard. The distance is about 3000kms so there is something going on to the north on 28 MHz.

I have included a list of the stations heard by KL2R in Alaska below. You can check the times and see if the path opens again. It would be really interesting to see more reports of Alaskan stations on 28 MHz.

3000km+ opening on 144 MHz from Israel & Lebanon to Europe - 10th June 2021

Thursday 10th June 2021: In this second of three posts, we will look at some of the extraordinary paths on 144 MHz that were in excess of 3000kms in length. In the previous post, I looked at the paths from the Canary and Madeira Islands to Europe, this time we'll look at the paths from Israel & Lebanon to western Europe.

This is another long post so scroll down. At the end, I'll have a look at some of the evidence for what type of propagation was responsible.

***

OD5KU in Lebanon had two paths on 144 MHz to Portugal which were over 4000kms in length.

This map are the FT8 paths that were open on 144 MHz and I'll note a few things.

1) Notice how there is no path from Lebanon to Greece. This suggests that the eastern half of the path was via a single Sporadic-E hop.

2) There are plenty of stations clustered around the south of Italy and Sicily showing where the first hop landed.

3) The western limit of the path was not on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula but at the far western side on the coast of Portugal. This suggests another Sporadic-E at the western half of the 4000km path.

4) Back on the 28th of June 1979, CT1WW in Portugal worked OD5MR in Lebanon on SSB on 144 MHz for what was claimed to be a double hop Sporadic-E contact. That was an IARU Region 1 record for many years. It looks as if the conditions on the 10th of June 2021 were similar.

To have a complete record, here are some of the long FT8 paths from OD5KU...

3000km+ opening on 144 MHz from the Canary & Maderia Islands into Europe - 10th June 2021

Thursday 10th June 2021: This was a pretty remarkable day in Europe for long distance 3000km plus openings on the 144 MHz band. There is a LOT of information so I will split it up into three posts. 

This post is the first one of three.

This is a long report so scroll down to see the individual stations from the Canary Islands and the Madeira Islands. I'll put a propagation analysis at the bottom but it seems that depending on where the European stations were located, it was a mixture of tropo only, Sporadic-E & tropo and probably double-hop Sporadic-E / chordal hop Sp-E.

* * *

I'll start with EA8JK as he had the most impressive map from the PSK Reporter website.

There are an amazing eight paths that were in excess of 4000kms! This is well beyond the normal 2300km or so one-hop Sporadic-E limit.

Here are the FT8 paths for EA8JK and just look at how many stations that were in excess of 3000kms.

Video on the limitations of the VOACAP HF Propagation Software ...by KC0DN

What is VOACAP?: VOACAP (Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program) is a popular and free professional high-frequency (HF) propagation prediction software tool originally developed for the Voice of America (VOA).

Video Introduction: As part of the 2021 virtual Four Days in May (FDIM) event, Tim Snodgrass KC0DN made a presentation about the accuracy and limitations of the VOACAP programme. KC0DN along with Charley, KC0CD and Mike, AC0HB set up an extensive listening station to monitor the signals from the time standard stations WWV, WWVH and CHU.

The experiment which ran from November 2020 to February 2021 monitored all three time standard stations on a wide range of frequencies from 2.5 MHz to 25 MHz and compared the reception results against what was predicted by VOACAP.

The receive station was set up in Cedar Falls, Iowa while the time standard stations are in Fort Collins, Colorado / Ottawa, Canada & Kauai, Hawaii.

WWV Ft. Collins Colorado: Transmitting 10KW on 5, 10, 15MHz; 2.5KW on 2.5, 20 & 25MHz
WWVH Kekaha, Kauai (Hawaii): Transmitting 5KW on 2.5MHz & 10KW on 5, 10, 15MHz
CHU Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: 3 kW on 3.33MHz, 5KW on 14.67 MHz, & 7.85 MHz

The presentation is aimed at a US audience as it uses it uses outdated MILES for distances which mean very little for an international audience.

I have prepared a map shown below which shows the distances in kms which makes things clearer as you watch the video.

The presentation which is 45 minutes long can be seen below…

Presentation notes in PDF format can be found HERE

Findings: My own summary of the findings...

1) Like any propagation software tool, VOACAP suggests what the conditions might be like and what paths might be possible. It shouldn't be taken as fact.

2) VOACAP predictions can be too pessimistic.

3) Openings on the higher HF bands (14 MHz and above) happen more often than VOACAP predicts.

4) Lower frequencies like say 80m & 60m are underrated. They can be used 24 hours a day with modern digital techniques.

5) The 30m band is often open at night when VOACAP says it should be closed.

6) The 5 MHz band (60m) was nearly always open 24 hours a day over a 1600km path.

7) By using two bands e.g. 3.5 OR 5 MHz AND the 10 MHz band, a reliable link can be maintained over a 1600km path.

8) KC0DN advocates the use of two bands for the use of 'Store & Forward' digital traffic.

9) Circular polarization on HF can result in a significant advantage.

In Conclusion: This video by KC0DN is the summary of a significant amount of work and should be of interest to anyone with an interest in propagation on the HF bands. It's a bit unfortunate that it uses the title "Breaking Free of the Solar Cycle" on YouTube as that really doesn't describe to the casual observer what the video is about. 

It should be remembered that the results are for someone in the United States and at a particular latitude. The results may not apply so readily to say someone at a more northerly latitude. 

However, there is still plenty of material in the video of interest and it's worth watching.

Links...
1) VOACAP online tool

3000km+ opening on 144Mhz from the Canary Islands to Italy - 7th June 2021

7th June 2021: There was another example of a 3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between the Canary Islands and Italy.

Here are a few spots from the DX-Cluster with the distances in brackets...

EA8AVI 144185 I3MEK 13:05 07 Jun 21 IL28FC<>JN55SJ 55 Italy (3063kms)

EA8AIN 144175.5 IZ5EME 12:34 07 Jun 21 FT8 JN52ns< > IL18cq 73 Italy (3024kms)

IV3/HB9CAT 144174 EA8CXN 13:04 07 Jun 21 JN65UQ<ES>IL81SK TNX Canary Islands (3264kms)

IU4FNO 144174 EA8CXN 13:00 07 Jun 21 Jn54in<ES>il18sk FT8 Canary Islands (2997kms)

IZ5EME 144174 EA8AR 12:32 07 Jun 21 jn52-il18 ES Canary Islands (2947kms)

IK8BIZ 144174 EA8EY 11:52 07 Jun 21 HRD -19 FT8 Canary Islands (3214kms)

There may have been more paths open but I only have the spots on the cluster to go off. Unfortunately the data on the PSK Reporter website disappears after 24 hours.

Propagation Mode: The tropo prediction map below from F5LEN shows the suggested conditions at the time...

It seems likely that it was a combined Sporadic-E / Tropo ducting path. There was a Sporadic-E opening at the time between Italy and Spain so that confirms the north-eastern 1500-2000kms of the path. The south-western part of the path was probably via a marine tropo duct to the Canary Islands.

There were reports of 2700km tropo openings from the Canary Islands up to the south coast of Ireland & England on that morning and the previous morning so those conditions were very good.

There is always the possibility that the path from the Canary Islands to Italy was via double hop / chordal hop Sporadic-E but the probably of that is much lower than a combined Sp-E / tropo path.

D4 Cape Verde: Unfortunately the D4VHF station on 144 MHz is off air at present. If they had been on the air then there would be a possibility of paths well in excess of 4000kms.

More examples of 3000km plus paths on 2-metres can be found on my 144 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/144-mhz.html

Addendum:

1) Thanks to Zvonko, 9A2AE for the following information. At 12:55UTC, there was a 3567 km path open from 9A2AE in Croatia to EA8AIN in the Canary Islands (IL18CQ).

2) Thanks to Davor, 9A5BWW for the following info. At 12:49 UTC, there was a 3468 km path open from 9A5BWW to EA8CSB (IL18TL).

3) Thanks to César, EA8CXN for the following info. He writes..."It was a mix between tropo and ES. Due to mountains on my direct path, I beam my antennas to the opposite direction, bouncing my signal off the 'El Teide volcano".

Log extract from the 7th with the TR+ES opening...
07/06/21 IV3GTH FT8 +13 -12 2m Italy EA8CXN (~3255kms)
07/06/21 S52LM FT8 +13 -12 2m Slovenia EA8CXN (~3255kms)
07/06/21 IV3/HB9CAT FT8 +07 -05 2m Italy EA8CXN (3264kms)
07/06/21 IU4FNO FT8 -14 -17 2m Italy EA8CXN (~2997kms)
07/06/21 S59F FT8 -11 -21 2m Slovenia EA8CXN (3273kms)

Website... https://ea8cxn.es/

Noise from Lightning Strikes detected on the 40 MHz band

On the 3rd of June, I was on the 40 MHz band listening for the new EI1CAH beacon in the west of Ireland when I noticed some very distinctive static crashes. When I checked the rainfall radar map, sure enough there were plenty of lightning strikes just over 100kms from my location.

I was surprised just how strong they were considering they were so far away.

It's worth getting to know that these sound like as they give you plenty of time to unplug your antennas before the lightning reaches your location.

Example of a 8300km contact on 50 MHz between Newfoundland & Kuwait - 5th June 2021

 

5th June 2021: Just as European stations are currently experiencing multi-hop openings on 50 MHz to Japan & China, stations in North America are experiencing similar openings to the Middle East.

Chris, VO1CH in Newfoundland sent on an interesting example of this with his 50 MHz FT8 contact to 9K2OW in Kuwait, a distance of approximately 8376kms.

Chris reports other contacts with OD5ET in Lebanon and 4Z1UF in Israel at around the same time... i.e. 13:00 UTC.

As the screen shot below shows, the contact with 9K2OW was down around -20dB which is well below what is audible to the human ear. It's a nice example of how the digital FT8 mode opens up paths which would be impossible on SSB or CW.

3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between the United Arab Emirates and Europe - 5th June 2021

Almost but not quite:  On the 5th of June 2021, Stamen LZ1KU in Bulgaria and Oleg A65BR in the United Arab Emirates almost managed to complete a FT8 contact on 144 MHz over a distance of 3,280kms.

While both stations managed to get some successful decodes, they were unable to complete a contact on this occasion.

The composite screen above from LZ1KU shows a decoded FT8 signal from A65BR at -20dB. An earlier decode at 14:48 UTC was at -16dB. The exchange shows A65BR giving a signal of -13dB for LZ1KU.

2021-06-05 14:48:58Z   LZ1KU Stamen FT8 144445 -16 dB 0.3 s Freq 1369 Hz > CQ A65BR LL75

In the examples above, the FT8 signal would have been below what is really audible to the human ear so a contact on CW would have been very unlikely.

A65BR also spotted LZ1KU on the DX-Cluster...

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
A65BR 144174 LZ1KU 14:37 05 Jun 21 LL75SL<ES>KN32AH CQ HRD Bulgaria

LZ1KU was reported to be using 'full power' to 4 x 12-element Yagi array while A65BR was using 50-watts to a 7-element.

Amazingly, IZ7AUH in the south of Italy also managed to get a decode from A65BR over a distance of almost 3,900kms.

Propagation Mode: Both paths were well in excess of the 2300kms or so we might expect from one hop Sporadic-E so how can we explain it?

The tropo prediction map from Pascal, F5LEN shows some excellent conditions in the Arabian Gulf so it is probably no great suprise that the 3000km+ paths were in that direction.

One scenario is that there was a tropo duct over the Arabian Sea and this then coupled into a single hop Sporadic-E opening to Bulgaria. For the Italian station, it would require another few hundred kms of tropo at the western end of the circuit to complete the path.

Another scenario was that it was Chordal Hop Sporadic-E with the 144 MHz signal bouncing off two Sp-E clouds that were in just the right location. There was an extensive Sporadic-E opening from Israel into Europe so the MUF was high in the region.

And just to add another variable into the mix, the International Space Station was around at the same time (or at least I think it was based on an observer in Ankara).

It's hard to know for sure what the exact propagation mode was. It's a bit like a science experiment and we have just two data points. It's easy to make assumptions but we just don't know. 

For me, the main thing is that it is yet another example of a 3000km+ path on the 144 MHz band.

15,000km opening on 50 MHz between Australia & Europe - 4th June 2021

This will probably be my last post about the openings on 50 MHz between the north of Australia and Europe. Even though 15,000kms is a remarkable distance for 50 MHz near the bottom of the sunspot cycle and it may be a big deal for individual stations in Europe to work Australia, my interest is in the mode of propagation.

For the last few days, I've collected as much data as I could about these 6m Australia to Europe openings so that there is some sort of record online about them. Considering that they are now happening almost daily at present, I think the chances of them being solely due to multi-hop Spoardic-E is near zero. I don't believe it's possible to get 7-8 Sporadic-E hops at 50 MHz in the same direction day after day after day.

I'll keep a watch out for 50 MHz openings from Europe to the VK2/VK3 region which is the south-east of Australia as these are the exceptional openings at this stage.

Friday 4th June 2021: The map above shows the paths from VK4ABW in Darwin to Europe.

A list of the paths from European stations to Australia is shown below...

3000km Sporadic-E opening on 144 MHz from the Azores to Germany - 3rd June 2021

Thursday 3rd June 2021: There was a remarkable opening on the 3rd of June from the Azores in the North Atlantic to Europe with paths in excess of 3,000kms being recorded.

The FT8 map above from the PSK Reporter website for CU3EQ in the Azores with a cluster of reports out around the 3000km mark in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. A full list of stations is shown at the bottom of this post.

This is the map for CU3AA which has a similar pattern...

And this is the map for CU1AL...

For all three CU stations, paths in excess of 3000kms were open to Germany on 144 MHz.

Propagation Mode: As reported by stations on the DX Cluster, the primary propagation mode was Sporadic-E. However as the maximum range for one hop is in the region of 2300kms, something else had to make up the additional 700 or so kms.

There are two possibilities. 

One was Chordal Hop Sp-E with a bounce going from Sp-E to Sp-E cloud. This would however require two intense areas of Sporadic-E at just the right spot to support 144 MHz propagation.

The more likely scenario was that it was one Sporadic-E with a tropo extension. The weather charts show high pressure over the Azores...

The tropo forecast from the website of Pascal, F5LEN suggests that a few hundred kms of tropo around the Azores might be possible.

The Sporadic-E prediction map from Jim, G3YLA shows a kink in the Jet Stream to the south of Ireland which may have been a trigger mechanism for the Sporadic-E.

In his daily E's prediction on the PropQuest website, G3YLA wrote... "The sharp upper trough west of the UK is also a good source of atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) and the southerly jet stream from Portugal to Ireland could look good for paths to EA and CT with a possible extension by second hop to EA8/D4."

This region is shown in Purple above and is very close to where the 144 MHz Sporadic-E cloud was located.

Conclusion: It seems likely that the first few hundred kms were via tropo from the Azores and then coupled into a single Sporadic-E hop onwards to Europe.

Trans-Atlantic on 144 MHz??? The map below shows a 3000km circle centred on the Azores...

Considering there was a 3000km opening on 144 MHz between the Azores and Germany on the 3rd of June, sure a 3000km path on 144 MHz from the Azores to North America is possible?

Stations in St.John's, Newfoundland are close to the one hop Sporadic-E range. Stations in Nova Scotia would need a tropo extension.

If the North Atlantic is going to be bridged on 144 MHz then surely Canada to the Azores would be a first step in the process?

Reports from the PSK Reporter website...

15,000km opening on 50 MHz between the Canary Islands & Guam in the Pacific - 3rd June 2021

Thursday 3rd June 2021: Another day, another 15,000km opening on the 50 MHz band.... well almost. This time the longest opening seen on the PSK Reporter website was the 14,966km path between KG6DX on the island of Guam in the Pacific and EA8DBM on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

EA8/DF4UE on the neighbouring island of Lanzarote was just 150kms behind.

I checked the PSK Reporter site and there were paths open for both to multiple stations in Japan as well. IF the signals took the direct path then they crossed over the north of Russia.

16,000km+ opening on 50 MHz from Australia to the Canary Islands - 2nd June 2021

Wednesday 2nd June 2021: Another day and yet another opening on 50 MHz between Europe and Australia. 

The longest path on the day however seems to have been between VK4ABW in Darwin on the north coast of Australia and EA8DBM on the island of Tenerife in the Canaries. The 50 MHz path which was on the FT8 mode works out to be around 16,220kms.

Just to put that in perspective, that's the same distance from Darwin to the Great Lakes in North America.

As the map shows above, the 50 MHz was also open to Europe and it managed to open up to G7RAU in the far south-west of England as well.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4ABW EA8DBM 6m FT8 16221 km 08:04:59
VK4ABW G7RAU 6m FT8 14234 km 07:09:27
VK4ABW OG2A 6m FT8 12147 km 07:56:45
VK4ABW LY2BAW 6m FT8 12144 km 08:47:42
VK4ABW LY2IJ 6m FT8 12094 km 07:32:29
VK4ABW YL2CP 6m FT8 12090 km 07:03:29
VK4ABW ES6RQ 6m FT8 12047 km 07:02:59
YL2GD VK4ABW 6m FT8 11984 km 06:59:44
UR5LAK VK4ABW 6m FT8 11332 km 08:59:44
VK4ABW UR0MC 6m FT8 11224 km 08:13:59
UT4MF VK4ABW 6m FT8 11166 km 08:38:14

* * * 

VK8MS in Darwin also heard EA8DBM but nothing from Europe.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
EA8DBM 6m FT8 16234 km 08:03:44

* * *

VK6KXW on the west coast of Australia managed to hear three stations in Europe.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
IK0AGU VK6KXW 6m FT8 13357 km 05:26:29
YL2GD VK6KXW 6m FT8 12968 km 07:29:14
UT8IO VK6KXW 6m FT8 11840 km 05:57:44

* * *

There was also a path from VK4WTN on the east coast of Australia to two stations in eastern Europe.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4WTN UA4CC 6m FT8 13307 km 05:09:59

UR5LAK VK4WTN 6m FT8 13967 km 05:37:44

* * *

Mode of Propagation: The 50 MHz band has been open between Europe and Australia for four of the last fives days. Whatever the mode of propagation is, the simple 'it must be multi-hop Sporadic-E' is probably not the full explanation. 

It would be interesting to know if European stations working Japan, China and Australia are experiencing any skewed paths or is everything on the correct beam heading?

50 MHz opening between Guam and Europe - 1st June 2021

Tuesday 1st June 2021: Over the last week or more, there have been openings from Europe to Japan on 50 MHz with distances in the region of 9,000kms. There was an interesting opening on the 1st of June however from Europe to the island of Guam in the Pacific.

The map above from the PSK Reporter website shows the paths that were open for KG6DX on Guam with maximum distances in the region of 12,000kms.

From a European perspective, a contact with a station out in the Pacific would be considered really good for say down on the HF bands but it's pretty amazing for 50 MHz, a VHF band.

When I checked the PSK Reporter website, I had a quick look at the last FT8 signal reports for the stations in Europe and they were generally down in the -10 to -20dB region. It looks as if maybe one or two might have possibly made a very weak CW contact while SSB would have been impossible. 

That assumption is based on the available data which is limited but it does suggest that the opening was marginal.

The opening to Europe seems to have been from roughly 05:40 to 07:00 UTC.

Propagation Mode: The interesting thing about this 12,000km opening is that because everything is north of the equator, we can rule out TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). If it was multi-hop Sporadic-E then it may have been 6 hops or so. 

For something so 'sporadic', these multi-hop openings seem to be happening a lot.

The paths from stations in Europe to Guam are shown below...

50 MHz opening from Australia to Europe - 1st June 2021

 

Tuesday 1st June 2021: Yet another opening on 50 MHz from Australia to Europe but this one was perhaps not as good as previous days.

Update: Roger, VK3FZ reports that he made a successful contact with OZ3K in Denmark.
VK3FZ to OZ3K on 50.315283 in FT8 at 2021-06-01 05:42:00Z (OZ: Denmark)
Sent -21, Received -15
Antenna: 6-element LFA Yagi

A list of paths to Europe is shown below...

Another 50 MHz opening between Australia & Europe - Mon 31st May 2021

Following on from the weak opening on the 29th of May, there was another 50 MHz opening between Europe and Australia on Monday the 31st of May 2021.

The above map from the PSK Reporter website shows the almost 15,000km path that was open for VK4MA on the east coast of Australia.

SP4K 6m FT8 14993 km 07:43:30
LY2BAW 6m FT8 14683 km 07:46:59

***

There was a much bigger opening from VK4ABW on the north coast but he is also quite a bit closer with distances just over 12,000kms.

VK4ABW SM7CAD 6m FT8 12650 km 09:11:56
VK4ABW YL2CZ 6m FT8 12300 km 09:11:59
VK4ABW OG3G 6m FT8 12228 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW OH1MN 6m FT8 12199 km 08:44:29
VK4ABW OG2A 6m FT8 12147 km 08:43:59
VK4ABW LY2BAW 6m FT8 12144 km 08:46:57
VK4ABW OH7KM 6m FT8 12113 km 08:22:30
VK4ABW YL2II 6m FT8 12104 km 09:12:59
VK4ABW OH3SR 6m FT8 12091 km 08:22:26
VK4ABW YL2CP 6m FT8 12090 km 09:11:59
OH3JR VK4ABW 6m FT8 12081 km 08:36:44
VK4ABW ES5PC 6m FT8 11999 km 08:44:59

***

The longest paths came from the south-east of Australia. VK3OT was hearing the Ukraine.

UR5LAK VK3OT 6m FT8 14102 km 05:57:11
UR0MC VK3OT 6m FT8 13989 km 06:02:11

***

The longest path seems to have been between VK3ZL and SP4K in Poland at 15,459kms

SP4K VK3ZL 6m FT8 15459 km 05:20:44
UR0MC VK3ZL 6m FT8 14163 km 06:41:44

***

Propagation Mode: We're back to the same question again... How do 50 MHz signals from Europe reach Australia near the bottom of the sunspot cycle?

The easy 'go to' answer was that it was multi-hop Sporadic-E, case closed. 

The problem I'm starting to have with this is down to probabilities. 

Take SP4K in Poland. What are the chances of one hop Sp-E in the direction of Australia capable of supporting a 50 MHz signal? It's late May, it's the Summer Sp-E season so it's pretty high. 

Two hops?... What is the probability of getting two Sp-E regions spaced at just the right distance to allow a double hop at 50MHz? The probability is obviously lower.

Follow that same logic and apply it to 3 hops, 4 hops and so on. By the time we get to 15,459kms, we're probably looking at 8 hops. 

What is the probability of getting eight Sporadic-E clouds capable of supporting 50 MHz spaced at just the right distance from each other... all the way from Europe to Australia?

And if that probability wasn't low enough, what then is the probability of 8 hop Sp-E on 50 MHz from Europe to Australia on two out of three days?

I think the probability is now so low that there must be some other answer. Perhaps TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) from Australia to China accounts for a large part of it? Some other propagation mode?

I'm not sure the simple 'It must be multi-hop Sporadic-E' adds up anymore.