Thursday 17th June 2021: Another day, another opening on 50 MHz between Australia and Europe. This one however was different as several stations from the Adelaide area (VK5) in the south of Australia were involved.
It also seems as if a small number of stations in New Zealand and the Australian states of Victoria & Western Australia managed to work Europe as well. Info further down post.
All the areas of Australia are not the same in terms of propagation, Stations on the north coast have a pipeline into Japan & China via TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) whereas stations in the south of the continent are a bit too far south.
That's why openings on 50 MHz between the south of Australia and Europe are always of interest. It raises the very real question of just how exactly does a signal at 50 MHz travel so far near the bottom of the sunspot cycle.
The maps and station list below are derived from FT8 reports on the PSK Reporter website and it may well not include everyone. I couldn't find any information on SSB or CW contacts being made but that doesn't mean they weren't.
Wednesday 16th June 2021: There was another opening on the 50 MHz band between Australia and Europe on the 16th. This one was slightly different in that it went from the west coast of Australia to the UK & Ireland.
The distances to Western Europe are in the region of 14,000 to 15,000 kms. If we subscribe to the idea that it was via multi-hop Sporadic-E all the way then at least 7 hops are required. I suspect though that the large TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) zone centred either side of the geomagnetic equator may have been a factor.
It would be interested to hear if anyone experienced skewed paths.
I have included a list of stations heard on FT8 below.
Wednesday 16th June 2021: There were extensive Sporadic-E openings on 144 MHz on the 16th with many parts of Europe working other regions. The FT8 map above shows what looks like a double hop Sporadic-E opening from the south of Russia to the east coast of Spain, a distance well over 3000 kms.
The map below for EA5WU in the east of Spain shows the extent of the openings and again, it shows the double hop Sporadic-E to Russia and the Ukraine.
You'll notice that the Russian and Spanish stations were both hearing plenty of stations at the mid-point suggesting that it was double hop Sporadic-E in this instance.
Just for the record, I have put some of the logs from the PSK Report website below and there are some DX-Cluster spots at the end of the post.
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! š
If you hear Danish stations on 28 MHz then have a listen and you should be able to hear it.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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).
Log extract from the 7th with the TR+ES opening... 07/06/21IV3GTHFT8+13-122mItalyEA8CXN (~3255kms) 07/06/21S52LMFT8+13-122mSloveniaEA8CXN (~3255kms) 07/06/21IV3/HB9CATFT8+07-052mItalyEA8CXN (3264kms) 07/06/21IU4FNOFT8-14-172mItalyEA8CXN (~2997kms) 07/06/21S59FFT8-11-212mSloveniaEA8CXN (3273kms)
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.
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.
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.
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...
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?
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.
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.
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?
