ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz heard in Europe - 4th to 11th Feb 2022

During the period of the 4th to the 11th of February 2022, quite a number of stations have reported hearing the ZS6WAB 8m beacon in South Africa on 40.675 MHz.

These are the 8m spots from the DX Maps website...

 Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX Prop. Comments SFI A K 
2022-02-11 11:40:46 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RB 539 coming up
2022-02-11 11:00:40 TT8SN (JK72MC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JK72MC<>KG46RB Wow, gd signal

2022-02-11 10:33:05 F5JRX (JN26AC) 40.765 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RB) Multihop Sp-E JN26AC<ES>KG46RB 519
2022-02-11 10:27:10 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN26PP<>KG46RB 529 QSB

2022-02-10 13:05:25 TT8SN (JK72MC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JK72MC<>KG46RB More than 1h

2022-02-10 10:28:14 F6ACU (JN38FC) 50.000 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) TEP 40.0675 QSB 559

2022-02-09 15:08:17 F6HTJ (JN12KQ) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP KG46rb<>JN12kq cw beacon 419 

2022-02-09 14:49:33 I0YLI (JN61HU) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB 519 qsb
2022-02-09 14:26:08 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN11CX<>KG46 55 qsb
2022-02-09 14:18:42 9H1TX (JM75FU) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) EP 559 
2022-02-09 12:54:11 F4CXO (JN26PP) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN26PP<>KG46RB 529 QSB
2022-02-09 12:18:55 DK2EA (JO50UF) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 JO50UF<F2>KG46RB 559 QSB

2022-02-07 14:23:55 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN11CX<>KG46 5-5
2022-02-07 13:18:13 M0DEP (IO90CR) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 KG46<>IO90 55
2022-02-07 11:30:01 G0DJA (IO93IF) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) F2 539 IO93if 

2022-02-06 13:14:57 IZ5ILX (JN54AC) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) TEP JN54<>KG46RB 579 QSB!

2022-02-06 13:09:39 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC)  Multihop Sp-E JN11CX<ES>KG46 s8 qsb
2022-02-06 12:00:35 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RC S9 QSB. F2+Es
2022-02-06 14:31:47 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) TEP JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 539 

2022-02-04 14:55:57 G7PUV (JO00AT) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) F2 JO00AU<F2>KG46RC 57 QSB
2022-02-04 14:57:04 EA3ERE (JN11CX) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB (KG46RC) Multihop Sp-E JN11CX<ES>KG46 cw beacon 5/
2022-02-04 12:51:51 IK5YJY (JN53PG) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) TEP s5 qsb > jn53

It's worth noting the times of these reports. The earliest is around 10:30 UTC and the latest is around 15:00 UTC. 

That is roughly a 4-5 hour window centred on local noon when the sun is at its highest.

It was also interesting to see a report from Nicolas, TT8SN in Chad at 4,300kms. This was likely to have been one hop F2 propagation.

This is the map of the stations in Europe in more detail...

Notes...

1) It's very encouraging to see so many stations listening for and reporting a beacon on the 40 MHz band!

2) Any serious 6m operator on the 50 MHz band will be always looking for sources of information be it on air or online with DX clusters or chat forums. Even if someone on 6m in Europe has no real interest in the 40 MHz band, the 8m beacon can be used to indicate that an opening to South Africa on 50 MHz may be imminent.

3) Dave, G0DJA in IO93 square in England reports hearing the beacon with a simple dipole. That is also I believe the most northerly reception report of the ZS6WAB 8m beacon to date.

It also reminded me of the perils of using the Mercator projection flat map. When Dave sent me a report, I thought that his location in IO93IF would be a good bit further away from the beacon than my location on the south coast of Ireland which is IO51TU. However in reality as can be seen from the map above which is a great circle projection, I am a little further away.

4) From the 4th to the 11th of February, the solar flux was in the range of 118 to 127.

5) It's worth remembering that all of these reports were heard by a person listening on CW. That is probably 10-15dB above what might be possible with a digital mode like FT8, Q65, WSPR or PI4.

6) This nice video shows reception of the South African beacon by Paul, G7PUV in the south-east of England on the 4th of February 2022....

Propagation Mode??... At the moment, the conditions on the 28 MHz band are reasonably good with plenty of East-West F2 layer propagation. This suggests the the F2 MUF (maximum usable frequency) on North-South paths is up above 30 MHz and into the low VHF spectrum.

Does it reach 40 MHz at the moment? I suspect it does from the south of Europe.

On some bands, you can be reasonably sure what the propagation mode is. On the 40 MHz band at the moment, can we be sure that it's all F2 layer? Is it partially or all TEP related? Is there a Sporadic-E extension at either end of the path?

It would be interesting to see if anyone could hear the beacon at around 20:00-21:00 UTC when there might be evening type TEP. If they could then that might suggest openings on the higher bands like 50 MHz and above.

It would be also interesting to see if stations in the SE of the USA could hear this 8m beacon?

Link...

1) Check out my 40 MHz page for more information about the 8m band.

Did STARLINK #1668 burning up over Spain cause an opening on 28 MHz?

The STARLINK satellite system has been in the news a lot over the last few days as a solar flare caused a large number of them to fail on a recent launch. On Thursday the 10th of February 2022, an older model #1668 reentered the atmosphere over Spain.

The approximate path of the 260kg satellite as it burnt up over Spain is shown above.

Dr. Jose M. Madiedo who has a YouTube channel wrote... "This stunning fireball was spotted from Spain on Feb. 10. It was generated as a consequence of the reentry in the atmosphere of a Starlink satellite at about 20:50 local time (equivalent to 19:50 universal time). The satellite (Starlink-1668) had a mass of 260 kg. It was launched by SpaceX on 2020 Oct. 6. A wide number of causal eyewitnesses could see the phenomenon. The reentry took place at about 23,000 km/h. This gave rise to a fireball which began at a height of around 95 km over the province of La Coruña (region of Galicia, northwest of Spain) and moved southeast, crossing the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea. It ended over Algeria."

A video of the satellite burning up is shown at the end of this post.

28 MHz???... As this satellite burnt up over Spain, it would have left a trail of ionized gas behind it which had to potential to refract radio signals.

I checked the PSKReporter website for unusual signals on 50 MHz or 144 MHz but I didn't note anything. What I did notice however on 28 MHz was that EC1CS in the NW of Spain heard several stations in the 300-700km range on FT8 in the space of a minute.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
CT7AQS 10m FT8 304 km 19:48:45 IM69FT
CR7BAV 10m FT8 593 km 19:48:42 IM67HE
CS7AUJ 10m FT8 599 km 19:48:16 IM67XE
EA5GJ 10m FT8 706 km 19:48:15 IM97JX

Over the course of a day on 28 MHz, I'd expect to gradually hear a good few FT8 stations in the 300-700km range but what I found a bit unusual was that EC1CS heard 4 in the space of a minute at 19:48 UTC.

Was it just coincidence or was the ionized trail behind STARLINK #1668 responsible?
Was the track of the satellite too far north?

It's impossible to be certain but surely the ionized trail was capable of refracting some radio signals?

Selective TEP opening on 144 MHz from the Caribbean to South America - 9th Feb 2022

9th February 2022: There was another TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) opening on 144 MHz between the Caribbean and South America but this time, it was a bit unusual.

As the map above shows, nearly all of the signals shown on the PSK Reporter website were from Argentina to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and the Dominican Republic. There was also some from Argentina to Puerto Rico. What was unusual was the lack of signals further east from Puerto Rico to the south of Brazil.

Usually there are two parallel TEP paths crossing the Geomagnetic Equator. For whatever reason, the eastern path to Brazil seems to have been mostly absent.

Spots on the DX Cluster show a small bit of activity from Puerto Rico to Brazil but it seems to have been at a very low level compared to the path further west.

Spotter  Freq.  DX  Time  Info  Country
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 LU2EPO 01:03 09 Feb tnks tep q65b qso Argentina
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 LW2DAF 01:01 09 Feb tnks tep q65b qso Argentina
PY5EK 144180.0 WP3DN 23:53 08 Feb Q65B -9 dB 994 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico

The path from PY5EK in Brazil to WP3DN in Puerto Rico was the only one I noticed on the PSK Reporter website.

As for why the western TEP path was better than the eastern TEP path???

144 MHz Report... Martin, PJ4MM in Bonaire reports working the following stations in Argentina...

2022-02-09,00:43:15,2022-02-09,00:46:31,LU2EPO,GF14FW,144.181550,Q65,+05,+03,1300,Q65 Sent: +05  Rcvd: +03,,TEP 
2022-02-09,00:47:15,2022-02-09,00:48:01,LU4DJC,GF05PO,144.181550,Q65,+06,+02,1300,Q65 Sent: +06  Rcvd: +02,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:48:30,2022-02-09,00:50:01,LU5CQC,GF05SK,144.181550,Q65,+04,+10,1300,Q65 Sent: +04  Rcvd: +10,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:51:45,2022-02-09,00:53:30,LU8EDA,GF05RJ,144.181550,Q65,-11,+05,1300,Q65 Sent: -11  Rcvd: +05,,TEP
2022-02-09,00:54:30,2022-02-09,00:55:01,LU2DPW,GF05GI,144.181550,Q65,-15,-09,1300,Q65 Sent: -15  Rcvd: -09,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:13:45,2022-02-09,01:14:31,LW2DAF,GF05RK,144.181550,Q65,+03,+00,1300,Q65 Sent: +03  Rcvd: +00,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:16:30,2022-02-09,01:21:01,LU9FVS,FF97NC,144.181550,Q65,-10,-01,1300,Q65 Sent: -10  Rcvd: -01,,TEP
2022-02-09,01:21:45,2022-02-09,01:24:01,LU5CQC,GF05SK,144.181550,Q65,+01,+03,1000,Q65 Sent: +01  Rcvd: +03,,TEP
2022-02-09,02:04:30,2022-02-09,02:07:00,LU8GMM,GG02MN,50.314400,FT8,+20,-14,35,FT8  Sent: +20  Rcvd: -14,,TEP

Most of these contacts were in the region of 5,000 kms.

For the TEP contacts with Argentina, PJ4MM was using 100-watts to a 13-element Tonna Yagi which is 13 metres above ground level.

Links...
1) More info about long distance 2m openings on my 144 MHz page.

PJ2BR completes 5461km contact on 144 MHz with just 10-watts - 7th Feb 2022

At the moment, there seems to be an TEP opening on the 144 MHz band every evening between South America and the Caribbean area. The evening of the 6th of February was no exception with an opening just after midnight UTC on the 7th (~8pm for the stations involved on the evening of the 6th).

Brett, PJ2BR in Curacao reports working stations in Argentina with just 10-watts into a 3-element Yagi!

PJ2BR writes... "This is an unusual evening. Was able to work @LU4DJC, @LU1FAM and @LU2EPO on 2m Q65. What makes this unusual is, made the contact with 10W and a 3 element Arrow yagi! My signal was also rx’ed in Uruguay. 5461 Km on 2m 10W!"

Many people will be familiar with the Arrow dual band antenna which is often used to work the satellites.

5,461 kms on 144 MHz with just 10-watts in to a 3 element Yagi is pretty amazing. Remember that this is via Trans-Equatorial Propagation and not via some satellite passing over. 

It is also a LOT further than the 3000kms or so across the North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland which has never been bridged on 144 MHz.

To complete the contact, PJ2BR was using the Q65 digital mode...

In this screen shot, LU2EPO in Argentina was hearing PJ2BR at -16dB which is just below what is detectable by ear.

There are the spots from the DX-Cluster for the opening...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
PY2OAL 144180.0 FG8OJ 01:47 07 Feb TEP 4300 KM tnx Q65 Sent: -05 Guadeloupe
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 FG8OJ 01:21 07 Feb Q65b CQ Guadeloupe 
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 NP4BM 01:20 07 Feb Q65b CQ Puerto Rico
HI8GSP-@ 144180.0 LU2EPO 01:14 07 Feb Q65 TNX FOR THE CONTACT Argentina
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:57 07 Feb Q65B +0 dB 1529 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
PY2SRB 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:53 07 Feb Q65B -1 dB 1555 Hz Puerto Rico
LU1FAM-@ 144180.0 PJ4GR 00:50 07 Feb Q65B Bonaire
LU1FAM-@ 144180.0 HI8CAF 00:49 07 Feb Q65b Dominican Republic
LU1FAM-@ 144180.0 PJ2BR/QRP 00:49 07 Feb q65b Curacao
WP4KJJ-@ 144180.0 PY5EK 00:49 07 Feb Brazil 
WP4KJJ-@ 144180.0 LU2EPO 00:48 07 Feb Argentina
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:41 07 Feb TEP Q65B Curacao
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8CAF 00:40 07 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI3I 00:37 07 Feb  TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 WP3DN 00:31 07 Feb Q65B -8 cq Puerto Rico

Links...

1) For more examples of long distance openings on the 2m band, see my 144 MHz page.

FM radio stations from Jamaica heard on 89 MHz & 96 MHz in Chile via TEP

Pipe, CE3SX / CE3SAD in Chile writes to say that he managed to hear two FM radio stations on 89.9 MHz and 96.1 MHz from Jamaica during a TEP opening recently.

CE3SX writes... "Stylz FM 96.1 from Port Antonio and KLAS 89.9 from Kingston, Jamaica heard in Chicureo, Santiago, Chile FF46pr Via Trans-Equatorial Propagation

Date: January 31 and February 01, 2022. Hours: 21.46CEv 00.46 UTC and 22.03CEv 01.03 UTC

Maximum distance: 5,755 km"

As Pipe outlines, the distance is around 5,700kms and is approaching the maximum distance usually associated with Trans-Equatorial Propagation. 

A video clip of the reception is shown below...

Pipe also notes that regular reception TEP signals on the 88-108 MHz band from Columbia and he is using a 7-element Band 2 Yagi as designed by YU7EF.

CE3SX also notes that there are no 144 MHz stations in Columbia (HK) and Jamaica (6Y) to try on the 2m band.

As I outlined in a recent post, there are parallel paths from Brazil and Argentina to the Caribbean on 144 MHz during TEP openings and it's likely that similar paths are there further east from Chile to Columbia, Jamaica and Cuba on 2m.

Links...
1) For more examples of long distance reception reports on 88-108 MHz band, see my Band 2 page.

Good opening on 28 MHz to North America - Sat 5th Feb 2022

Saturday 5th February 2022: Over the last few weeks, there have been some good F2 openings on 28 MHz to the east but it has been poor to the west. On the 5th of February, things flipped around a bit with poor F2 conditions to the east but very good to the west.

The map above shows the WSPR signals that I heard on 28 MHz and as you can see, there are plenty of signals from North America. The two that were of special interest were the northerly path to Utah and Arizona.

It was also nice to see that some of the stations were running just 200-milliwatts. 

There was also some Sporadic-E to Europe.

The solar flux on the day was 130.

Stations running 200mW or less...
 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz                         W SNR drift km 
2022-02-05 13:52 PA0JED JO32lj EI7GL IO51tu 28.126042 0.1 -23 1 1047 
2022-02-05 14:36 PY3FF GF49ju EI7GL IO51tu 28.126111 0.2 -22 0 10028 
2022-02-05 16:00 KG4KGY EM77bc EI7GL IO51tu 28.126165 0.2 -23 0 6057 
2022-02-05 16:50 WD9EKA EM69ek EI7GL IO51tu 28.126166 0.2 -11 -2 5998 
2022-02-05 15:58 W9VW EM79 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126059 0.2 -22 0 5828 
2022-02-05 16:28 W8MV EN90fx EI7GL IO51tu 28.126113 0.2 -24 -3 5493 
2022-02-05 16:18 K3WRG FM28 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126163 0.2 -15 0 5236 
2022-02-05 15:58 N1TI FN41op EI7GL IO51tu 28.126116 0.2 -26 0 4735 
2022-02-05 08:38 5T5PA IL10lw EI7GL IO51tu 28.126111 0.2 -23 1 3519 
2022-02-05 17:12 IW4BLG JN54pi EI7GL IO51tu 28.126104 0.2 -26 -1 1674 
2022-02-05 13:50 DC7TO JO62qk EI7GL IO51tu 28.126122 0.2 -21 0 1480 
2022-02-05 14:12 DK3DUA JO61 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126109 0.2 -19 0 1467 
2022-02-05 13:08 DK2FT JO44sm EI7GL IO51tu 28.12611 0.2 -24 0 1226 
2022-02-05 14:14 DL2WB JN39 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126076 0.2 -16 -1 1110 
2022-02-05 14:48 G0PKT JO01mt EI7GL IO51tu 28.126068 0.2 -25 0 647 
2022-02-05 15:28 G0MBA JO01 EI7GL IO51tu 28.126059 0.2 -22 0 645 
2022-02-05 07:58 EI4GEB IO52rn EI7GL IO51tu 28.126 0.2 -23 3 80 

5000km mobile contact on 144 MHz SSB between Puerto Rico & Paraguay - 4th Feb 2022

This report is really pretty amazing. Jose, WP4KJJ reports that he managed to complete a SSB contact on 144.300 MHz with Juan, ZP9HTL in Paraguay while operating mobile!

Jose said that he was using an ICOM IC-7000 radio with a COMET vertical antenna on his vehicle.

He said that ZP9HTL was 5/1 on SSB.

This contact was via Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) and the distance was 5,018 kms!

It's one thing to make contacts with Yagi antennas on a mast but to complete a 5,000km+ contact from a vertical antenna on a pick up truck on 144 MHz is pretty amazing. 

Remember that the distance across the North Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland is 3000kms. This was 2,000kms further.

There are people operating mobile on the HF bands who would be happy with a 5000km contact but this was on 2-metres!

TEP opening on 144 MHz... It was of course part of a bigger opening as can be seen from the map below.

Most of the activity seems to have been on the Q65 mode.

DX spots from the opening are shown below...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
FM8QR 144300.0 PU2YMU 02:48 04 Feb TNX QSO Brazil
FM8QR 144300.0 PY2HEN 02:41 04 Feb TNZ QSO Brazil
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 02:35 04 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ4EL 02:26 04 Feb TEP Q65B Bonaire
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 NP4BM 02:25 04 Feb TEP Q65B Puerto Rico
LU8FML 144180.0 HI8CAF 02:22 04 Feb Q65 -11 dB Dominican Republic
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 LU4DJC 02:21 04 Feb tnks q65b tep qso Argentina
HI8GSP-@ 144180.0 LU2DPW 02:14 04 Feb q65 tnx 73 Argentina
LU8FML 144180.0 HI8GSP 02:13 04 Feb Q65 -01 dB Dominican Republic
HI8GSP-@ 144180.0 LU8FML 02:13 04 Feb q65 tnx 73 Argentina
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 9Y4D 02:13 04 Feb Q65b Tu -11 Trinidad & Tobago
LU8FML 144180.0 PJ4GR 02:05 04 Feb Q65 -15 dB Bonaire
PY5EK 144180.0 NP4BM 01:55 04 Feb Q65B -5 dB 800 Hz tnx tep Puerto Rico
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 PY5EK 01:55 04 Feb tnks q65b tep qso Brazil
PY5EK 144180.0 WP3DN 01:49 04 Feb Q65B -9 dB 1008 Hz Puerto Rico
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 WP3DN 01:44 04 Feb Q65B -11 Tu Puerto Rico
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8CAF 01:43 04 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
PU2KNM 144174.0 FM5CS 01:37 04 Feb SWL FT8 -1 dB 1143 Hz Martinique 
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ2BR 01:36 04 Feb TEP Q65B Curacao
WP4KJJ-@ 144300.0 ZP9HTL 01:01 04 Feb 5-1 Paraguay

WSPR activity on the 40 MHz band in North America - January 2022

In 2021, seven US stations and one Canadian station were given experimental licenses for the 40 MHz band. Several are now active and using the WSPR beacon mode on the band.

This post covers the reception reports for each station in North America for January 2022.

Canadian experimental station CBG209: To allow the callsign to be recognised by WSPR, the callsign was reversed and 902BGC was used.

The openings for the month of January are shown above and I have listed the openings below with the reports under 200kms filtered out. I also removed multiple reports for the same station for the same opening. The power is listed as 10 watts.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz                         W SNR drift km
2022-01-15 17:32 902BGC CN89 WM2XCC DM13ji 40.663524 10 -22 0 1856

2022-01-12 05:14 902BGC CN89 W3PM EM64or 40.663509 10 -27 0 3365
2022-01-12 04:54 902BGC CN89 WB6HYD CM87xi 40.663524 10 -27 0 1351
2022-01-12 04:54 902BGC CN89 W7IV CM95qn 40.663525 10 -23 0 1560
2022-01-12 00:14 902BGC CN89 WM2XCC DM13ji 40.663522 10 -29 1 1856

2022-01-04 15:40 902BGC CN89 WM2XCC DM13ji 40.663522 10 -13 0 1856

2022-01-03 18:00 902BGC CN89 WM2XCC DM13ji 40.663521 10 -26 1 1856
2022-01-03 17:50 902BGC CN89 WB6HYD CM87xi 40.663524 10 -20 0 1351
2022-01-03 17:40 902BGC CN89 WB6HYD CM87xi 40.663524 10 -21 0 1351

2022-01-02 09:18 902BGC CN89 WM2XCC DM13ji 40.663523 10 -17 0 1856

Even though it's mid-Winter, there seemed to have been five distinct openings. Most of the signals can be accounted for by mid-Winter Sporadic-E or possibly Auroral-E propagation but the one that really sticks out is the 3365km opening to W3PM in Alabama. 

The maximum distance for one hop Sporadic-E is about 2200kms. As it occurred near the end of an opening, it was probably due to double hop / chordal hop Sporadic-E.

WM2XCW in Washington State: Just local reports for this station during the month.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-02-01 22:16 WM2XCW CN88 VE7NZ CN89 40.663552 10 12 0 111
2022-01-13 17:50 WM2XCW CN88 VE7SKY CN89 40.663467 10 10 0 111
2022-01-13 01:30 WM2XCW CN88 VE7RPX CN89lh 40.663531 10 -19 0 93
2022-01-12 21:00 WM2XCW CN88 VE7DH CN89nf 40.663544 10 -4 0 84
2022-01-12 20:50 WM2XCW CN88 KC7GVU CN88kb 40.663531 10 -29 0 47
2022-01-12 20:44 WM2XCW CN88 CGB209 CN89li 40.663529 10 -16 0 97

WM2XAN in Michigan: This one is listed as 100 watts.

There seem to have been four openings during the month and all the distances are typical of single hop Sporadic-E.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km mode km/W spotQ version
2022-01-17 16:30 WM2XAN EN74oh W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663449 100 -26 -4 1553

2022-01-16 01:54 WM2XAN EN74oh W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663445 100 -24 -4 1553
2022-01-15 23:44 WM2XAN EN74oh AE5LY/2 EL29hb 40.663491 100 -27 -4 1937

2022-01-12 04:02 WM2XAN EN74oh W3PM EM64or 40.663469 20 -10 -4 1079

2022-01-11 16:24 WM2XAN EN74oh WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.663485 100 -7 -3 1226
2022-01-11 06:20 WM2XAN EN74oh WM2XEJ EM83ji 40.663487 100 -22 -4 1226
2022-01-11 02:56 WM2XAN EN74 VE1PYE FN84et 40.66347 100 -18 0 1690
2022-01-10 22:14 WM2XAN EN74 N2OTO EL96wi 40.663894 0.5 -18 -4 2063

WM2XEJ in Georgia: Another listed as 100 watts although it was listed as 10 watts at times.

There seems to have been seven openings during January. Most of them are Sporadic-E but it's interesting to see several in that 300-800km region which is usually inside the Sp-E skip zone.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km mode km/W spotQ version
2022-01-23 21:30 WM2XEJ EM83ji W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663487 100 -19 0 562

2022-01-20 18:34 WM2XEJ EM83ji WM2XAN EN74oh 40.663527 100 -18 0 1226

2022-01-19 15:10 WM2XEJ EM83ji WM2XAN EN74oh 40.663524 100 -28 0 1226

2022-01-16 00:26 WM2XEJ EM83ji WM2XAN EN74oh 40.663525 100 -19 -1 1226
2022-01-15 23:52 WM2XEJ EM83ji AE5LY/2 EL29hb 40.663522 100 -18 0 1251
2022-01-15 22:56 WM2XEJ EM83ji W4WLO/S11 EM50vo 40.663477 100 -17 0 562

2022-01-15 16:32 WM2XEJ EM83ji W3PM EM64or 40.663503 100 -23 0 364

2022-01-12 17:28 WM2XEJ EM83ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663522 100 -22 0 833
2022-01-12 14:52 WM2XEJ EM83ji NI4Y EM73 40.663509 100 -28 0 171

2022-01-11 21:02 WM2XEJ EM83ji VE2UG FN35gs 40.66345 10 -25 0 1611
2022-01-11 18:20 WM2XEJ EM83ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.663456 10 -22 0 833
2022-01-11 16:08 WM2XEJ EM83ji WM2XAN EN74oh 40.663464 10 -22 -2 1226
2022-01-11 15:04 WM2XEJ EM83ji KC5LT EM86 40.663454 100 -21 1 348

2022-01-11 06:22 WM2XEJ EM83ji WM2XAN EN74oh 40.663466 10 -6 -2 1226
2022-01-11 06:04 WM2XEJ EM83 N2OTO EL96wi 40.663453 10 4 0 841

WM2XCC in California: Listed as just 2 watts this time.

It seems there were three distinct openings and all were to the cluster of receivers near Vancouver. Again, all typical Sporadic-E distances.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-01-11 23:16 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7DH CN89nf 40.663503 2 -25 0 1826
2022-01-11 22:38 WM2XCC DM13ji CGB209 CN89li 40.663489 2 -6 0 1843
2022-01-11 21:46 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7DH CN89nf 40.663503 2 -24 0 1826
2022-01-11 20:16 WM2XCC DM13ji VE7UTS CN89li 40.66349 2 0 0 1843

2022-01-04 15:30 WM2XCC DM13ji VA7MM/A CN89og 40.663537 2 -23 0 1829

2022-01-02 09:38 WM2XCC DM13ji VA7MM/A CN89og 40.663535 2 -22 0 1829

In conclusion: To the best of my knowledge, there is no WSPR activity in Europe at present and the guys in North America are certainly leading the way. 

Despite the fact it was January and mid-Winter, there is plenty of evidence of openings on the 40 MHz band. Once we get to May, these openings in the region of 800-2000 kms should start to become a lot more common. 

Looking through the full reports for January, most of the signals were buried in the noise and it shows the advantage of using a weak signal mode like WSPR as opposed to just plain CW. If all of these experimental stations had just CW beacons then I certainly wouldn't be writing this post as little or nothing would have been reported.

Some thoughts...

1) It would be nice if more people set up receivers for the band and listened for WSPR signals.

2) We'll have to wait and see if the remaining three experimental US calls have any interest in getting up and running on WSPR.

3) It would be great to see some WSPR activity in Europe as well. Anyone interested??

Links...

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

Another TEP opening on 144 MHz between S America & the Caribbean - 2nd Feb 2022

Wednesday 2nd February 2022: Another day, another big Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) opening on 144 MHz between South America and the Caribbean. The map above shows the parallel paths from Argentina to Bonaire, Curacao & the Dominican Republic and from Brazil to Puerto Rico, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Trinidad.

The parallel paths are due to the fact that at 144 MHz, TEP signals must cross the Geomagnetic Equator close to right angles. At lower frequencies like 50 MHz and 28 MHz, the angle can be much wider.

I have included a list of the spots from the DX Cluster at the bottom of the post.

Video: Brett, PJ2BR in Curacao has a nice video clip of a LW2DAF on 144.300 MHz SSB.

This was the SSB contact with Diego @LW2DAF Slightly over 5.000 Km away. pic.twitter.com/oeHCTVQG3r

— Brett Ruiz (@pj2br) February 2, 2022

This second video clip is of Diego, LW2DAF in Argentina having an SSB contact with HI8GSP in the Dominican Republic on 144 MHz, a distance of about 6000 kms.

LW2DAF <> @HI8GSP TEP 6000km yesterday night. pic.twitter.com/BUptrTtiPF

— Diego Alejandro Feil (@LW2DAF) February 3, 2022

Caribbean: This is a map in closer detail of the stations in the Caribbean...

The reason I include this is that it shows the usual stations and countries in the Caribbean that are taking part in these TEP openings on 144 MHz. The map also shows all of the other countries where there doesn't seem to be much if any 2m activity.

The map just got me thinking... could more people in the Caribbean get active on 2m?

Chile? Cuba? Columbia? Central America?... In other previous posts, I've looked at TEP openings on the 88-108 MHz band between Chile and Columbia. 

Q. Do these reach 144 MHz as well? Is the lack of contacts just because there are no stations from some of these countries on 144 MHz?

CO8LY was mentioned on the DX cluster but I couldn't see any record of a path on the PSK Reporter website.

432 MHz??? Lots of questions today! 

Q. If there is a really good TEP opening on 144 MHz in South America, can it reach 432 MHz? It's been done before between Zimbabwe and Greece.

Q. Is anyone trying to make a 70cms contact via TEP at the moment? 

Q. Is it only possible at the peak of the solar cycle?

DX Cluster spots from the opening...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
PY2TC 144300.0 FM8QR 01:50 02 Feb TEP - TKS QSO. 73 Martinique
PY2SRB-@ 144175.5 9Y4D 01:33 02 Feb FT8 Trinidad & Tobago
PY2SRB-@ 144175.5 FM8QR 01:28 02 Feb FT8 Martinique
LU7DW-@ 144300.0 HI8GSP 00:48 02 Feb GF05<TEP>FK58 Dominican Republic
LU2DPW-@ 144300.0 HI8GSP 00:42 02 Feb GRS TEP SSB QSO Dominican Republic
LU4DJC-@ 144175.0 CO8LY 00:42 02 Feb cq jt65 Cuba
LU4DJC-@ 144300.0 HI8GSP 00:37 02 Feb TEP USB Dominican Republic
LU4DJC-@ 144300.0 PJ4BR 00:33 02 Feb TEP USB Bonaire
LU7DW-@ 144300.0 PJ2BR 00:28 02 Feb GF05<>FK52 Curacao 
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4G 00:28 02 Feb Q65B -11 dB 1214 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ2BR 00:23 02 Feb TEP Q65B Curacao
LU2DPW-@ 144180.0 PJ4MM 00:17 02 Feb TKS Q65B QSO 73 Bonaire
PY5EK 144180.0 WP3DN 00:03 02 Feb Q65B -8 dB 843 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
PY5EK 144180.0 NP4BM 00:01 02 Feb Q65B -16 dB 839 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 23:57 01 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ4MM 23:53 01 Feb TEP Q65B Bonaire
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8GSP 23:50 01 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic

FM8QR 144300.0 PY2TC 02:12 02 Feb TEP Brazil
FM8QR 144300.0 PY2OAL 02:11 02 Feb TEP Brazil
PJ4MM 144180.0 LU5CQC 00:53 02 Feb tep Argentina
HI8GSP-@ 144300.0 LU2DPW 00:50 02 Feb USB 73S por gracias el contacto Argentina
HI8GSP-@ 144300.0 LU4DJC 00:49 02 Feb USB gracias por el contacto 73 Argentina
HI8GSP-@ 144300.0 LW2DAF 00:48 02 Feb USB GRACIAS POR EL CONTACTO Argentina 
PJ2BR 144300.0 LU4DJC 00:35 02 Feb Gracias por la SSb contacto! Argentina
PJ2BR 144300.0 LW2DAF 00:35 02 Feb great qso on ssb! Argentina
PJ4MM 144180.0 LU2DPW 00:19 02 Feb tep Argentina
PJ4MM 144180.0 LU7JMS 00:08 02 Feb tep Argentina
NP4BM-@ 144180.0 PY5EK 00:01 02 Feb tnks q65b qso Brazil

Antarctica heard on 28 MHz - 1st Feb 2022

Tuesday 1st February 2022: While conditions on 28 MHz weren't as good as the 31st of January, the 10m band still opened to Australia. I was listening on WSPR all day and the most interesting signal for me however was the German Antarctic research station DP0GVN.

These are the WSPR decodes from Australia & Antarctica...

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W                             SNR drift km
2022-02-01 10:16 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126019 50 -24 0 17449
2022-02-01 10:08 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126016 50 -23 0 17449
2022-02-01 09:54 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126011 50 -23 1 174492

022-02-01 09:40 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126 50 -25 1 17449
2022-02-01 09:42 VK3DEK QF12jq EI7GL IO51tu 28.126094 5 -20 0 17247
2022-02-01 09:36 VK3DEK QF12jq EI7GL IO51tu 28.126089 5 -24 0 17247
2022-02-01 12:48 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126042 5 -27 0 13621
2022-02-01 12:18 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126038 5 -29 1 13621
2022-02-01 11:48 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126039 5 -20 0 13621
2022-02-01 10:18 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126022 5 -29 0 13621
2022-02-01 09:48 DP0GVN IB59ui EI7GL IO51tu 28.126007 5 -23 1 13621

If you examine the signal strengths then you'll notice that they are all down down in the -20dB to -29dB region i.e. they're buried in the noise and well below what I could hear by ear.

Even if the signal is really weak, there is still a bit a of 'wow' moment when Antarctica appears on the screen on 10m.

Big TEP opening on 144 MHz between South America & the Caribbean - 1st Feb 2022

Tuesday 1st February 2022: The impressive looking map above is from the PSK Reporter website and it shows some of the paths that were open on 144 MHz on the the 1st of February between South America and the Caribbean.

And yes, that's 144 MHz! ...the VHF band that is supposed to be 'line of sight' as we're often told.

Most of the contacts were between 3,700 and 6,000 kms.

The opening which was around 01:00 UTC or 20:00 local time was due of course to TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. Most of the paths on 144 MHz were at right angles relative to the Geomagnetic Equator.

Most of the contacts seem to with the Q65 mode with a few on FT & SSB.

Here are the 144 MHz spots on the DX-Cluster from Brazil & Argentina...

 Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
PY2SRB-@ 144174.0 FM5CS 01:37 01 Feb FT8 Martinique
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ4GR 01:23 01 Feb TEP Q65B Bonaire
PY5AM 144174.0 FM5CS 01:21 01 Feb FT8 +1 dB 1362 Hz Martinique
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ4MM 01:20 01 Feb TEP Q65B Bonaire
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 PJ2BR 01:19 01 Feb TEP Q65B Curacao
LU4DJC-@ 144180.0 HI8GSP 01:18 01 Feb TEP Q65B Dominican Republic
LU2DPW-@ 144180.0 HI8GSP 01:15 01 Feb TKS Q65B QSO 73 Dominican Republic
LU1FAM-@ 144180.0 HI8DL 01:11 01 Feb Dominican Republic
LU1FAM-@ 144180.0 HI8GSP 01:06 01 Feb Dominican Republic 
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 9Y4D 00:41 01 Feb Q65B 15s CQ Trinidad & Tobago
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 WP3DN 00:34 01 Feb Q65B 15s CQ Puerto Rico
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 NP4BM 00:26 01 Feb q65b tu Puerto Rico
PY5EK 144181.0 WP4G 00:25 01 Feb Q65B -1 dB 1236 Hz tnx tep Puerto Rico
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 WP4G 00:25 01 Feb q65b tu Puerto Rico
PY5EK 144300.0 NP4BM 00:12 01 Feb TNX 55 IN GG43 Puerto Rico
PY2SRB-@ 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:08 01 Feb q65b 15s -1 Puerto Rico
PY5EK 144180.0 WP4KJJ 00:02 01 Feb Q65B +5 dB 1543 Hz TNX TEP Puerto Rico

Link...

1) Some other examples of long distance paths on 2m can be found on my 144 MHz page.

Good opening from Europe to Australia on 28 MHz - 31st Jan 2022

Monday 31st January 2022: There was a nice opening on 28 MHz on the 31st with some strong signals between Australia and Europe.

The map above shows what I heard on WSPR on 28 MHz on the 31st. While conditions were poor to the west, it was good to the south and the east. It's worth noting that this is WSPR where there is a limited number of stations transmitting. If I had been listening on FT8 then the map would have a lot more dots.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km 
2022-01-31 09:20 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126017 50 8 0 17449
2022-01-31 12:10 VK3KTT QF22gg EI7GL IO51tu 28.126102 50 -18 0 17388
2022-01-31 10:54 VK3QD QF22ik EI7GL IO51tu 28.12601 2 -23 1 17385
2022-01-31 09:58 VK6XT OF86td EI7GL IO51tu 28.12618 5 -11 0 15311

I heard four VK stations on WSPR with all three of the VK3 stations near the city of Melbourne. 

The 50 watt signal of VK3KCX/1 had a signal to noise ratio of +8dB which is up at the level where a SSB contact would be possible. It was nice to see the 2 watt signal from VK3QD also making it through with a signal of -23dB.

I also heard the VK8VF beacon near Darwin on 28.268 MHz which was just above the noise. There's something magic about actually hear a CW signal from the other side of the world on 28 MHz. 

The video clip below from G8DX shows how strong the signals were on SSB...

Amazing conditions on 28MHz today - here’s a short clip of VK3KJ from this morning with my aerial at just 25ft due to strong winds #hamradio pic.twitter.com/RFsS2acrnN

— Jack G8DX (@jackg8dx) January 31, 2022

The solar flux was up at 130 so it seems the sun is well up on the 100 or so of late.

New 40 MHz beacon WM2XCS now operational from New Jersey

George, N2CG has one of the seven experimental 40 MHz permits in the USA and was given the callsign WM2XCS. He has just announced that he now has an operational 40 MHz beacon from his location in New Jersey.

George writes..." I am happy to announce that on January 26, 2022 at 1900 UTC WM2XCS beacon began operating on 40.685 MHz CW mode at 10 Watts output into a SIRIO 8m 5/8 wave vertical
antenna.  

The WM2XCS CW beacon on 40.685 MHz sends the following message at 12 WPM: "VVV DE WM2XCS BCN WM2XCS BCN FN20WV NNJ 5 seconds dash AR" that takes about 50 seconds to send.  This message is followed by a 60 seconds delay and then the sequence repeats.  My transmitter frequency tolerance is +/- 0.5 ppm.

For now, I operate the beacon about 10-11 hours a day beginning around 8 AM EST (1300 UTC) to 7 PM EST (0000 UTC).  Signal reports and/or spotting reception reports of my 8m beacon will be most welcomed.

I encourage all when hearing my beacon to spot your report on the DXMAPS website ( www.dxmaps.com ) that indicates 40 MHz band reports.

73, George  WM2XCS/N2CG"

Analysis... This beacon should be widely heard once the Sporadic-E season begins in the second half of April. The map above shows the typical range for Sporadic-E signals on the 40 MHz band while most of the openings should be around the 1200-1800km mark.

This in effect means that stations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia and the north of Florida are the most likely to hear it during the Summer months.

There will be openings in the range of 2000-2300kms but these will be weaker.

During the months of May, June & July, there should be more multi-hop Sporadic-E openings. This should allow openings from New Jersey to California and from New Jersey to Europe.

The fact the beacon is CW only and doesn't have a digital component like FT8, PI4 or WSPR means the conditions will really need to be good.

What will be really interesting to see if the rising solar flux levels result in an opening via the F2 layer? Will the MUF reach the 40 MHz band?

Certainly, F2 layer propagation from New Jersey to California and Europe on 40 MHz at the peak of the upcoming sunspot cycle will be possible.

It would also be very interesting to see if anyone in South America is able to hear this beacon.

Listening for the WM2XCS beacon... For the 40 MHz band to open, the 28 MHz band below it will almost certainly be open as well.

I have compiled a short list of 28 MHz beacons which are in the general area of WM2XCS...

K3CX/B 28.2025 FN20CI 
WN2A/AK2F 28.2085 FN20OU 
K3FX/B 28.2160 FN20XE
N3TVV/B 28.2320 FN20DU
N2MH/B 28.2325 FN20UT
WA3MCK/B 28.2400 FN21BF
KG2GL/B 28.2460 FN20WT
KA3JOE/B 28.2495 FN20MD
KB2RSK/B 28.2685 FN22QW
WA3NFV/B 28.2700 FN20IH

If you can hear any of those beacons on 28 MHz then that would be a good time to look for the WM2XCS beacon on 40.685 MHz.

Link...
1) For more information on the 8m band, check out my 40 MHz page.