40 MHz signals from South Africa heard in Europe - 5th Nov 2021

Friday 5th November 2021: This was an interesting day for the 40 MHz band with signals from South Africa reaching Europe and a big Sporadic-E opening in Europe.

The map above shows the reports from the PSK Reporter website...

 Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
SV1DH 8m FT8 6898 km 15:02:56
9H1TX 8m FT8 6828 km 15:02:29
G7PUV 8m FT8 8798 km 15:01:30

TEP Reports: Paul, G7PUV on the SE coast of England (JO00AU) writes... "Willem ZS6WAB has been on 40.675MHz today using FT8 but I was surprised to get some decodes from him around 1500UTC. The path length is around 8800KM and his peak signal was -10dB although I've listened back to my IQ recording and it was strong enough to hear quite clearly.

I think it's the first FT8 reception from South Africa in the UK on 40MHz, and presumably all TEP as I had no reception towards EA/CT/I on 10 or 6 to suggest mixed mode."

Reception of ZS6WAB by G7PUV

Thomas, DF6HT in the NE of Germany (JO63BT) writes... "Hi all, today received for the first time a signal on 40.675, around 8minutes long was the call from ZS6WAB who called there CQ, received here on a 15m sw vertical For me a sign to check sometimes this qrg for some action, and also a sign that North DL also have a chance to work on that interesting band! 73s from Thomas, DF6HT"

TEP Analysis: Paul is using a log periodic antenna for the low VHF bands. I suspect that there may have been one Sporadic-E hop from G7PUV to the north of Africa where the signals were coupled into the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) path to ZS6WAB.

It was probably the same for Thomas in Germany with one Sporadic-E opening to the south.

The problem in Europe is that there can be an excellent Sporadic-E opening to the south but as there are no stations in the north of Africa ,we hear nothing and think the band is closed.

Sporadic-E in Europe: There was also a very good Sporadic-E opening in Europe on the day as can be seen from the report below and the report from 

Report from Borut, S50B... "Very good prop on 8m today in EU. As far, EI1KNH have the strongest signal....599+++ on CW ever on my side. Hrd EI7HBB on SSB too.
Hrd also EI1CAH/b and OZ7IGY/b. I forgot to monitor ZS beacon. Tomorrow....
I was also on 40662, but every time I was on this freq I have strong qrm from some device only in dir of EI and US. I hope that till next year, qrm will be lower/disappeared.
 IC-7100...80W.....4 EL YAGI (YU7EF) 10m high."

DX-Cluster Spots for the day...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
G7PUV 40675.0 ZS6WAB 15:08 05 Nov JO00AU<TEP>KG46RB CQ FT8 -10dB South Africa 
EA3ERE 40016.0 EI1CAH 13:44 05 Nov JN11CX<ES>IO53CK cw 419 Ireland
EA3ERE 40013.0 EI1KNH 13:42 05 Nov JN11CX<ES>IO63VE cw 559 Ireland
EI7GL-@ 40016.0 EI1CAH 13:29 05 Nov PI4 -25 dB Q=50 Ireland
S50B-@ 40670.0 S55ZMS/B 13:07 05 Nov PI4 -20 dB Q=48 Slovenia
F4CXO 40013.0 EI1KNH/B 13:03 05 Nov JN26PP<ES>IO63VE 519 Ireland
F4CXO 40016.0 EI1CAH/B 13:01 05 Nov JN26PP<ES>IO51CK 519 in CW Ireland
S50B 40070.2 OZ7IGY/B 12:50 05 Nov Denmark 
F4FRQ 40016.0 EI1CAH 12:44 05 Nov JN37KQ<>IO53XK CW 559 Ireland
F4FRQ 40013.0 EI1KNH 12:40 05 Nov JN37KQ<>IO63VE CW 559 Ireland
S50B 40680.0 EI7HBB 11:38 05 Nov Ireland
S50B 40013.0 EI1KNH/B 11:32 05 Nov Ireland
EI7HBB 40670.0 S55ZMS 11:18 05 Nov 529 Slovenia

Link....
1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE

Danish OZ7IGY 40 MHz beacon now back on air - Nov 2021

5th Nov 2021: Back at the end of August 2021, the OZ7IGY 8m beacon on 40.071 MHz had to be turned off due to a faulty trimmer in the power amplifier stage.

At the end of October 2021, it was turned back on after the faulty part was replaced.

It has since been reported on the DX Cluster...

 Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country

OZ1BNN-@ 40071.0 OZ7IGY 15:51 02 Nov PI4 16 dB Q=100 37 km Denmark
EA3ERE 40070.2 OZ7IGY/B 11:37 31 Oct JN11CX<ES>JO55WM CW-PI4 Denmark
EA3ERE 40070.2 OZ7IGY 10:21 31 Oct JN11CX<ES>JO55WN cw pi4 -5db Denmark

As can be seen from the reports, EA3ERE near Barcelona heard the beacon via Sporadic-E propagation at a distance of about 1660 kms.

The website for the beacon is here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

6000km opening on 144 MHz between South America & the Caribbean - 3rd Nov 2021

Wednesday 3rd November 2021: The TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) season seems to be in full swing at the moment with stations in South America and the Caribbean making contacts on the 144 MHz band.

The map above for HI8DL in the Dominican Republic and WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico shows some of the contacts that were made.

Most of the contacts were made with the Q65 digital mode as opposed to the usual FT8. The spots below from the DX Cluster shows some activity on CW as well.

 Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
LU2DPW-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 00:45 03 Nov TKS Q65B QSO Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:20 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Puerto Rico
LU5CQC 144180.0 HI8DL 00:19 03 Nov Q65 15S SUB B TEP Dominican Republic
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:42 02 Nov Q65B -3 dB 1362 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
LW2DAF 144180.0 WP4KJJ 23:41 02 Nov CQ Q65B 15s Puerto Rico
LU7DW-@ 144300.0 HI8DL 23:36 02 Nov GF05sh<TEP>FK58al CW Dominican Republic

Diego, LW2DAF near Buenos Aires in Argentina reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz... "My first contact with Puerto Rico on 144MHz via TEP.......TEP doesn't cross between LU and KP4. Q65B 15s mode. LW2DAF<>WP4KJJ"

Diego writes to say that while there have been contacts between LU and KP4 in the past, there haven't been many in recent years.

Analysis... For TEP signals at 144 MHz, they need to cross the Geomagnetic Equator at or very close to 90 degrees.

What this usually means is that stations in the Dominican Republic (HI) normally work stations near Buenos Aires in Argentina while stations in Puerto Rico (WP4) normally work stations in the far south of Brazil.

It seems as if signals that were slightly further away from 90 degrees got through this time.

Reports... Christian, LU5CQC in Argentina also reports working Puerto Rico for the first time on 144 MHz.

Joe, WP4KJJ in Puerto Rico reports that a ZP station in Paraguay was active on SSB on 144.300 MHz during the opening and he was worked them many times.

These are some of the reports from the PSK Reporter website showing distances in the region of 5000-6000 kms.

LW2DAF
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
HI8DL 2m Q65B 6020 km 01:24:34
WP4KJJ 2m Q65B 5923 km 00:32:34
PJ2BR 2m Q65B 5306 km 00:30:25
PJ4GR 2m Q65B 5294 km 00:07:59

Openings on the 40 MHz band - 1st & 2nd Nov 2021

Monday 1st November 2021: The was a nice Sporadic-E opening on this day and extended in frequency at least as high as the 40 MHz band.

Christian, F4CXO in the east of France heard the two Irish 40 MHz beacons and managed to complete a 40 MHz to 50 MHz crossband contact on SSB with Lloyd, EI7HBB.

  Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
G7PUV 40670 S55ZMS/B 19:54 01 Nov 21 JO00AU<ES>JN86CR weak Es Slovenia
F4CXO 40016 EI1CAH/B 15:20 01 Nov 21 JN26PP<ES>IO53CK 529 QSB Ireland
F4CXO 40680 EI7HBB 15:14 01 Nov 21 JN26PP<ES>IO53SQ 50140 X Band Ireland
F4CXO 40680 EI7HBB 15:05 01 Nov 21 JN26PP<>IO53SQ 52 Ireland
F4CXO 40013 EI1KNH/B 14:47 01 Nov 21 JN26PP<ES>IO63VE 539 QSB Ireland

As the DX cluster spots above show, Paul G7PUV in the SE of England heard the 40 MHz beacon in Slovenia.

The two Irish beacons were also heard by a listener in Belgium.

Tuesday 2nd November 2021: There are reports that the ZS6WAB beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz was heard by 9H1TX in Malta and SV8CS in Greece. The propagation mode is believed to have been TEP.

G7PUV also reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon a week earlier when there was a Sporadic-E extension allowing the TEP signals to reach that far north.

Joan, EA3ERE near Barcelona (JN11CX) reports hearing the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark on 40.071 MHz on the 31st of October at 09:20 UTC. Joan also reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on the 30th of October using just a dipole for the HF bands and an ICOM IC7300.

Links...

1) Lots of info about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE

Mystery signal heard on 28.124 MHz - 2nd Nov 2021 - RESOLVED

I got tired of monitoring FT8 signals on the 28 MHz band so I switched over to WSPR for a change. While I was listening during the morning, I heard an unusual signal on SSB.

It sounds like a slightly rough tone that lasts for about 7 seconds, stops for 1 second and then restarts as a different tone for another 10 seconds.

It then turns off for a second and the cycle starts again. The whole process seems to last for about 2-3 minutes.

The waterfall display above from the WSJT-X programme shows that the tones are in fact composed of several distinct frequencies.

It is not an amateur radio signal and I am assuming that it might be some sort of military OTHR (Over The Horizon Radar) signal but I have no idea about it's source?

Others must have heard this signal, anyone have any idea about its source???

Update: It looks as if this is Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR) from Iran.

"Ghadir, is an Iranian over the horizon radar Ghadir is a 360°, 3D-radar, with a ceiling of 300 km, and a maximum range of 1,100 km. You can hear a high and a low tone, corresponding to the sweep rates of 870 and 307 sweeps/sec. sent in two separated bursts."

Info... https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/%27Ghadir%27_OTH_Radar

This video from YouTube from IZ0KBA shows what it sounds like...

From the URE, the national body for radio amateurs in Spain..."New Radar OTH (Over The Horizon) in the 10-meter #radioamateur band. Received since the last week of October 2021. QRG: 28,000 kHz CF. AMOP. BW ca 45 kHz. 307 and 870 sps, alternately. IRN

This radar comes in addition to the Iranian one that broadcasts daily on 28,860 kHz CF, with the same bandwidth, but with a scan rate of 150 and 313 sps, alternatively.

The RADAR Over The Horizon Radar (OTH Radar, Radar beyond the horizon), is a type of radar system with the ability to detect targets at very long distances, typically hundreds to thousands of kilometers, beyond the radar horizon, which is the range limit for ordinary radar. Various OTH radar systems were deployed beginning in the 1950s and 1960s as part of early warning radar systems, but these have generally been replaced by airborne early warning systems.

The use of OTH Radars has receded nowadays, as the need for accurate long-term monitoring becomes less important with the end of the Cold War, and less expensive ground-based radars are once again being considered for functions such as maritime reconnaissance and surveillance of drug trafficking. However, old facilities are still in use and we are witnessing the creation of new ones.

Signal captured by the URE listening service, IARUMS URE (IARU Monitoring System, URE)."

Another big opening on 28 MHz - 1st Nov 2021

Monday 1st Nov 2021: It was a case of Deja Vu as conditions on the 28 MHz band were almost identical to the previous day. A total of 981 stations in 65 DXCC countries were heard on FT8.

Beacons: During a short break, I had a listen around the beacon portion of the band and there was a Sporadic-E opening in full swing. The familiar beacons from Belgium and the Netherlands were coming through which meant the skip distance went as short as 1000kms.

EI7GL 28188.0 OE3XAC/B 13:04 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN78SB Austria
EI7GL 28207.1 ON0RY/B 13:03 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO20CK Belgium
EI7GL 28210.7 DB0FKS/B 13:02 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN49IT Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28214.5 FR1GZ/B 13:00 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>LG79RC Reunion Island
EI7GL 28270.4 PY4MAB/B 12:59 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>GG68RE Brazil
EI7GL 28273.0 DB0BER/B 12:55 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO62QL Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28301.8 PI7ETE/B 12:53 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO22QD Netherlands
EI7GL 28279.0 DB0UM/B 12:51 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO73CE Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28265.0 DB0ANN/B 12:50 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JN59PL Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28245.2 DB0TEN/B 12:49 01 Nov IO51TU<ES>JO42UV Fed. Rep. of Germany
EI7GL 28225.0 YM7TEN/B 12:48 01 Nov IO51TU<F2>KN91RB Asiatic Turkey

It was nice to see some F2 signals (in bold) in there as well from Brazil and Turkey. The pick of the lot though was the FR1GZ/B beacon on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

It's fine for my PC to decode a FT8 signal that may be buried in the noise but it's nice to actually listen to a CW signal coming though from an exotic location so far away.

The solar flux on the day was down to 98.

78 DXCC countries heard on 28 MHz - Sun 31st Oct 2021

Sunday 31st October 2021: I have no idea what is was like on the lower HF bands but conditions were really good on the 28 MHz band on Sunday. 

I recorded a total of 1164 stations in 78 DXCC countries on FT8 which is really good. It seems to have been mainly due to a very good Sporadic-E opening to Western Europe as well as a very good F2 layer opening to the eastern half of the USA, South America and the eastern part of Europe. It probably helped that it was a Sunday and many people were off.

I had a quick listen to the SSB portion of the band and there were plenty of signals. It was nice to hear some CW beacons just below 28.3 MHz coming in from the USA for a change. 

The solar flux was 103.

Big opening on 28 MHz - 30th Oct 2021

Saturday 30th October 2021: As can be seen from the map above, this was a really good day on the 28 MHz band with  total of 634 stations in 59 DXCC countries heard on FT8.

The signals ranged from Australia to the East to California to the West. The solar flux was at 107.

A total of 7 stations from Australia were heard.

 Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK3GA 10m FT8 17435 km 09:40:59
VK3AXI 10m FT8 17299 km 09:22:59
VK4CAG 10m FT8 16889 km 09:41:59
VK6RK 10m FT8 15064 km 12:17:59
VK6XN 10m FT8 15056 km 12:24:44
VK6AS 10m FT8 15053 km 12:19:29
VK6MIT 10m FT8 15043 km 07:18:29

It's worth pointing out that these signals were heard with just a vertical CB type half-wave antenna and not a beam on a tower.

Notes...

1) No sign of Japan or the NW coast of the USA. Conditions were good but not that good.

2) 634 stations heard on FT8 despite the fact that one of the largest SSB contests was going on at the same time. A lot of people don't like contests and in the past, they might have avoided using the radio this weekend because it would appear as if there was nothing but contest stations running kilowatts on the band. 

Now with FT8, they can get on the air and make contacts. Not everyone likes FT8 either but at least it's a real option for a contest weekend.

3) Big gap again down the middle of Europe showing where the shorter range Sporadic-E signals end and the longer range F2 signals start. At about 12:00 UTC, I looked at the map of what was heard in the last 6 six hours and nearly all of the Sporadic-E signals from Western Europe were missing i.e. proving that the signals from Eastern Europe are via F2 layer propagation and not some sort of double hop Sporidic-E.

Opening to Australia & China on 28 MHz - 29th Oct 2021

Friday 29th October 2021: I switched back to FT8 for this day to check for the aftereffects of the solar flare of Thursday on the HF bands. It looks as if the 28 MHz band has fully recovered although that might change on Sunday once the material from the flare hits the earth.

On the 29th of Oct, there was a nice opening to China and Australia. A total of 8 stations from Australia were heard on FT8 which is always nice on the 28 MHz band. I wouldn't be too bothered if this was on the lower HF bands.

 Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK1MA 10m FT8 17437 km 08:13:59
VK2LAW 10m FT8 17434 km 08:01:59
VK2AHE 10m FT8 17368 km 08:16:14
VK2MBK 10m FT8 17325 km 08:27:29
VK5XY 10m FT8 16798 km 10:25:59
VK5DOC 10m FT8 16787 km 10:24:14
VK6AS 10m FT8 15053 km 11:41:29
VK8NSB 10m FT8 14315 km 09:27:14

A total of 291 stations in 43 DXCC countries were heard on FT8 on the band and the solar flux was 108.

Solar noise detected on 28 MHz after X1 flare on the sun - 28th Oct 2021

Thursday 28th October 2021: I spent most of the day listening for WSPR signals on the 28 MHz but it was pretty poor mainly due to a lack of WSPR signals.

The big surprise during the day was the large burst of solar noise on the band in the afternoon. This sounded like a loud hissing sound and it was spread across the band. 

Solar noise has a softer kind of sound as compared to electrical interference and it rises and falls in amplitude whereas electrical noise tends to be on/off.

The solar noise got up as high as S8 at one stage which is way above my usual noise floor of S1-2. It was so pronounced that I wrote down the time... 15:28 UTC.

I checked the X-Ray flux later in the day and sure enough, a big X1 flare had gone off on the sun at the same time I heard the solar noise.

You will notice from the image at the top of the post that the flare is pointing right at Earth. It's likely that the material ejected from the sun will reach the Earth this weekend resulting in possible auroral conditions and making a mess of the HF bands in general.

Update: The material is likely to impact the Earth after 21:00 UTC on the Saturday the 30th of October which will be almost in the middle of the CQWW SSB contest. The overall impact will be dependent on the magnetic polarity of the incoming material.

Video: Space weather physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov has a lot more detail about the event below...

Opening to Antarctica on 28 MHz - 27th Oct 2021

Wednesday 27th October 2021: For a change, I decided to monitor the 28 MHz band for WSPR signals even though I knew the level of activity would be dramatically lower than FT8.

FT8 is a really good mode for monitoring band conditions and seeing what part of the world the 28 MHz band is open to. The problem for me is that when things start getting too easy and every days looks the same then I get bored.

The same happens in April of every year. I start off looking for the start of the Sporadic-E season with FT8 and seeing how it progresses. Once the season gets underway and there are hundreds of stations heard on FT8, I get bored and move to WSPR.

On the 28th of October, I heard just 28 stations on WSPR as compared to the usual several hundred on FT8. Despite the low number, it was enough to make it interesting.

The longest reception reports are shown below but it was nice to see VK2DVM near Sydney and the German Antarctic station DP0GVN make it through.

 UTC (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR km 

2021-10-27 08:36 VK2DVM QF56di EI7GL IO51tu 28.126094 10 -24 17364 
2021-10-27 12:48 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126032 5 -26 13621 
2021-10-27 09:00 HS0AJ OK03ft EI7GL IO51tu 28.126075 1 -26 10045 
2021-10-27 10:18 4Z4SI KM72 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126165 0.2 -23 4086 
2021-10-27 11:58 5T5PA IL10 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126181 0.2 -25 3569 
2021-10-27 08:48 TA4/G8SCU KM56vo EI7GL IO51tu 28.126034 5 -22 3561 

WSPR is far from perfect though. I heard nothing from North or South America and this was more due to a lack of stations rather than a lack of propagation.

Most of the WSPR signals heard were due to a Sporadic-E opening to Europe.

The solar flux was up to 111.

Skip Zones on 28 MHz - 26th Oct 2021

Tuesday 26th October 2021: As the solar flux jumped up to 109, it was another good day on the 28 MHz band with 538 stations heard on FT8 in 49 DXCC countries.

The band looked pretty similar to previous day  although what stood out for me was the opening to China and Australia. These are some of the more interesting signals heard on the day...

 Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK2MBK 10m FT8 17325 km 08:22:59 (Australia)
VK2IS 10m FT8 17275 km 08:05:29 (Australia)
VK6APK 10m FT8 15125 km 09:30:14 (Australia)
9W6EZ 10m FT8 11726 km 08:57:14 (East Malaysia)
3B9FR 10m FT8 10540 km 15:51:44 (Rodriguez Is)
BX5AA 10m FT8 10221 km 08:25:14 (Taiwan)
VR2XYL 10m FT8 10046 km 08:50:29 (Hong Kong)
BD7JQD 10m FT8 10037 km 08:46:29 (China)
BG7PHA 10m FT8 10037 km 08:30:59 (China)
BD7MJO 10m FT8 10003 km 08:28:44 (China)
BA7IO 10m FT8 10003 km 08:43:14 (China)
BG0COH 10m FT8 9888 km 08:34:44 (China)
BG7SAY 10m FT8 9784 km 08:14:29 (China)
7P8RU 10m FT8 9715 km 16:22:44 (Lesotho)
BA7BK 10m FT8 9438 km 08:26:44 (China)

Skip Zone: I'm sure a lot of radio amateurs monitoring the band have no idea what type of propagation is responsible for what they are hearing and some won't care. However some of the newer operators on the band may be curious.

In this post, I'm not going to get into what Sporadic-E and F2 layer propagation is as this is explained on many other websites. 

I will however have a quick look at what the actual difference means on the 28 MHz band by looking at the map below from the 26th of October 2021.

Sporadic-E signals come off a layer in the atmosphere that is about 110kms up and the maximum range for signals is in the region of 2200kms. This is shown by the YELLOW line above. Even though the main Sporadic-E season is in the Summer months, we can still have plenty of Sporadic-E in October which is strong enough to support 28 MHz signals.

F2 layer signals come off a layer that is about 400kms up and as a result, the signals have a much greater range. F2 layer signals on 28 MHz are due to radiation from the sun and are getting better as we start heading back up towards the sunspot maximum in a few years. The GREEN line shows the minimum distance for F2 layer signals which for me is about the 2800km mark. Anything shorter and the angle is too high. Anything longer and it's probably ok out to a maximum one-hop range of 4000kms. 

The map shows the skip zone for me on 28 MHz on the 26th of October 2021. If you are on 28 MHz then you will probably have a similar skip zone. 

Just check the PSK Reporter website and see what you have heard in the last 24 hours. See if there is a gap out around 2200-2800kms.

Good opening to the USA on 28 MHz - 25th Oct 2021

Monday 25th October 2021: This was a pretty similar to other recent days on 28 MHz with 591 stations on FT8 in 61 countries heard on the band. 

What was different was that it seemed pretty good to the USA with a good few stations coming in from the eastern half of the country.

Interesting to see a pocket of stations in Arizona and New Mexico making it through.

The solar flux is at 101 which is well up on the 76 of a week ago.

51 DXCC countries heard on 28 MHz - 24th Oct 2021

Sunday 24th October 2021: This was a pretty good day on the 28 MHz band with 681 stations in 51 DXCC countries heard on FT8. In terms of numbers, that's about the same as a very good day at the peak of the Sporadic-E season during the Summer.

In this case however, it's a mix a some Sporadic-E to Europe and some F2 propagation to the rest of the world.

As always, it's the East-West propagation that is interesting. What I noted were...

a) Five stations from Australia.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK6APK 10m FT8 15125 km 08:30:59
VK6IR 10m FT8 15097 km 08:58:44
VK6DW 10m FT8 15061 km 09:07:14
VK6OZ 10m FT8 15056 km 11:36:14
VK8NSB 10m FT8 14315 km 10:32:14

b) RA9 stations from Asiatic Russia coming through. When I heard UA9/RA9 stations on 28 MHz then it's a good sign.

c) K7SP from Arizona.

d) Skip zones... If you look at the map, you'll notice a zone going through Bulgaria, Romania, the far west of Ukraine and European Russia. This is where the Sporadic-E stops (max distance) and the F2 propagation starts (min distance).

What's missing are stations from Japan and the west coast of the USA. As we get further up the solar cycle, those paths will be possible to stations with very modest antennas.

The solar flux was 93.

Big opening on 50 MHz between South Africa & Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: I was first alerted to this big opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and South Africa when Tom, SP5XMU posted the map on the left on Twitter and tagged me.

This is a snapshot of FT8 signals on the 50 MHz over a short period but it clearly shows an opening in progress.

As well as posting the photo, Tom writes... "First solid Trans-Equatorial Propagation #TEP on 50 MHz in Solar Cycle 25 from south Europe to South Africa"

In this post, we'll look at the opening and keep a record of how extensive the opening was.

FT8: As per usual, FT8 was the dominant mode for the opening and the list below shows how many European stations were heard by each of the African stations.

Call - # of stns heard

ZS6NJ - 86 (10 DXCC)

ZS6NK - 79

ZS6WAB - 53

ZS6AF - 44

ZS6OB - 23

ZS6JGL - 18

V51WC - 16

ZS6BOS - 15

ZS4TX - 6

ZS6AYE - 5

ZS6NK: While ZS6NK was the second highest in terms of stations heard, it was interesting to see that the path for him extended beyond the usual TEP zone.

You can see the line of stations in the south of Europe that ZS6NK heard but it goes up to the UK and Germany as well.

Here is the map of Europe in more detail...

FT8 reports from Germany & England...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

ZS6NK G0BNR 6m FT8 8965 km 14:45:26

ZS6NK DK8NE 6m FT8 8489 km 15:34:59

ZS6NK DL1YM 6m FT8 8370 km 15:34:59

It's likely that there was some Sporadic-E which allowed the TEP signals from Africa reach further north into Europe.

Sometimes, the locations where there are no signals can be interesting as well. For example, there was no path for ZS6NK to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Likewise in South Africa, it was the stations in the north of the country that were enjoying the TEP opening and there was no sign of the stations further south near Cape Town.

Namibia: V51WC in Namibia was also active and his FT8 is shown below...

Like the stations near in the north of South Africa, he is far enough north to avail of the TEP opening.

SSB & CW: Looking at the DX Cluster, there was some activity on SSB and CW as well. See below...

The DX cluster spots for V51 & ZS on the day are shown below. Non-FT8 are in bold...

TEP opening on 40 MHz between South Africa and Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: This seemed like a particularly good day for TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) with signals on the 40 MHz (8m) and 50 MHz (6m) from South Africa reaching Europe. In this post, we'll just look at the 40 MHz opening.

The map above shows the reports from the DX-Cluster with several stations across the south of Europe hearing Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz.

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
SV8CS 40675.0 ZS6WAB 14:04 23 Oct FT8 Beacon South Africa
I0YLI 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:28 23 Oct JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB Calling CQ . South Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:18 23 Oct JN11CX<ES>KG46 +2db cq South Africa
IZ0CBD 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:00 23 Oct JN61FP<TEP>KG46RB Rx 589 South Africa
IK0OKY 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:52 23 Oct JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 South Africa

Most of the distances seem to be in the region of 7000-8000kms.

SV2DCD in Greece and 9H1TX on Malta also report hearing ZS6WAB.

Report 1: Francesco, IZ0CBD in JN61FP near Rome reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz with a Kenwood TS2000 transceiver and a 6-element Yagi for the 50 MHz band.

Here is a nice video from Francesco showing his reception of the 8m beacon...

Report 2: Emilio, IK0OKY writes to say that he and Pino, IK0SMG both heard ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz from JN61 Square. IK0OKY writes... "Signals were very good with peaks up to 559 on a FT 847 and 2 element quad fractal antenna for the 6 meter band. Pino uses an IC7300 plus a 2 el HB9CV for 6m as well. After a nice 50 Mhz opening to South Africa and Namibia took place as well with ZS6 and V51 stations coming in."

Video 1 from IK0SMG shows how strong the signal was...

Video 2 from IK0OKY shows reception of the 8m beacon on a Yaesu FT-847...

Propagation Mode: It seems to be assumed that the propagation mode for these low band VHF signals near the bottom of the sunspot cycle are TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). However as the solar flux rises, there will be a stage where North-South paths on the low VHF bands are possible via F2 layer propagation.

Considering this opening reached 50 MHz as well, I suspect it was due to TEP but as the solar flux rises, I don't think we can always assume it is. It could well be that paths that cross the equator like this will be a mixture of both.

Links...

1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on my 40 MHz page HERE

28 MHz band opening to Australia - Sat 23rd Oct 2021

Saturday 23rd October 2021: This was a pretty big day on the 28 MHz band with 439 stations in 46 DXCC countries heard with the FT8 mode. The bulk of these were due to a Sporadic-E opening to Europe and a very good F2 opening to Ukraine & Russia.

The signals that caught my interest though were the three stations from Australia.

Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4ZC 10m FT8 16973 km 08:25:44
VK8NSB 10m FT8 14315 km 09:34:44
VK8ZJZ 10m FT8 14314 km 08:39:29

It was very unusual to hear VK4ZC near Brisbane on the east coast. As you can see, nothing else was heard along that northerly path. I have no proof but I suspect the path may have been skewed with the signals staying closer to the equator.

The solar flux was at 87.

Opening to Australia on 28 MHz - Fri 22nd Oct 2021

Friday 22nd October 2021: Compared to some of the recent openings on the 28 MHz, the day wasn't all that exceptional with 204 stations in 44 countries heard on FT8.

However, it's always nice to hear Australia on the 10-metre band. VK6JJJ in Perth is just over 15,000kms from my location.

The solar flux was at 82.

TEP opening on 144 MHz between Argentina & the Caribbean - 20th Oct 2021

Wednesday 20th October 2021: It's interesting to see that the TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings are continuing on 144 MHz in South America.

This is a sample of the TEP spots from the DX-Cluster with distances in the region of 5300 to 6000kms...

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
LW2DAF 144180.0 HI8DL 00:12 20 Oct CQ CQ Q65B 15s Dominican Republic
LU5BE 144180.0 HI8DL 00:11 20 Oct Q65B -4 dB 961 Hz Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144290.0 HI8DL 00:04 20 Oct USB PHONE S5 A 6022 KM Dominican Republic
LU5CQC 144180.0 HI8DL 23:52 19 Oct Q65 DX 6022KM TEP Dominican Republic
LW2DAF 144310.0 HI8DL 23:42 19 Oct 55 IN GF05rk Dominican Republic
LU7DW-@ 144290.0 HI8DL 23:38 19 Oct Dominican Republic

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
LU5CQC 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct Q65 DX 5300 KM TEP Curacao
LW2DAF 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct CQ CQ Q65B 15s Curacao 
LU5BE 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:11 20 Oct Q65B -3 dB 1395 Hz Curacao
LU5BE-@ 144300.0 PJ2BR 23:48 19 Oct cq CQ Curacao
LW2DAF 144300.0 PJ2BR 23:44 19 Oct CQ CQ 55 in GF05rk Curacao

It's nice to see that a lot of the reports for the opening were on SSB...

In the video, LW2DAF near Buenos Aires is working HI8DL in the Dominican Republic. Note the distortion due to TEP.

pic.twitter.com/PHcp0mpzxT

— Diego Alejandro Feil (@LW2DAF) October 20, 2021

In the second video clip, LW2DAF is working PJ2BR in Curacao and the distortion is even worse.

This is actually a very good reminder to all of those stations who stay all of the time on FT8 that they might be missing some good openings. If the TEP signals are too distorted then FT8 doesn't work.

It's all about using the appropriate mode for the conditions at the time.

Update: As the frequency gets higher then only signals that are at right angles to the Geomagnetic Equator are propagated. This means that signals at say 28 MHz can arrive at a wide range of angles but 144 MHz signals need to be close to 90 degrees. 

The result at 144 MHz is that stations in Argentina are working Curacao, Aruba and Dominican Republic, stations in the south of Brazil are working Guadeloupe and Martinique.

This is a video of PY2AOL working FM5CS on the 20th of October...

First contact between Slovenia and South Africa on the new 40 MHz band - 17th Oct 2021

Sunday 17th October 2021: A little bit of radio history was made today when there was a successful two way contact between S50B in Slovenia and ZS6WAB in South Africa on the new 40 MHz band.

Not only was this the first contact between Slovenia and South Africa but it was also the first contact between Europe and Africa on the new 8-metre band.

Borut, S50B reports that he worked Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz using the FT8 digital mode...

As can be seen, the signal was quite weak at -8dB and -10dB which suggests that a contact on CW might have been possible but unlikely on SSB.

S50B writes... "I'd like to announce the first 8m, 40mhz, FT8 qso between AF-EU and South Africa and Slovenia. Mny tnx to ZS6WAB.....Juupii 🙂 73 de Borut s50b"

The key point about this contact is that it shows the 40 MHz path between Europe and South Africa is possible and in future, CW and SSB contacts may follow.

Distance: The contact was in the region of 7925kms which means by default, it also sets a new distance record for the new 40 MHz band.

Propagation Mode: If this contact was on 50 MHz, I'd probably be saying it was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. At the moment, we're getting modest East-West openings at 28 MHz further north in Europe. It stands to reason that openings from the south of Europe on paths to the South must extend well up into the low VHF region above 30 MHz.

Does the F2 MUF to the south extend up as far as 40 MHz? I really don't believe anyone can say with 100% certainty that this opening was only F2 layer or it was only TEP. The solar flux today was just 78 which isn't all that high.

Equipment: Subject to confirmation, I think S50B was using 100 watts from an ICOM IC-7100 into a 4-element Yagi as shown above. 

ZS6WAB uses an old ICOM IC-706 for the 8m CW beacon with a 5-element YU7EF designed Yagi so I presume that is what was used.

Antenna stack at ZS6WAB with the 40 MHz Yagi at the top

Hopefully, this contact will encourage more experiments on the 40 MHz band. There is a number of new 40 MHz experimental stations in the USA and an 8m contact contact between South Africa and North America would be really interesting.

As always, if you want more information on the new 8m band then check out the links in my 40 MHz page.