EI1KNH beacon on 40.013 MHz to trial different modes - April 2022

The 40 MHz / 8m band is one part of the spectrum which is very much experimental in nature be that for checking propagation or equipment.

With that in mind, the EI1KNH 8m beacon near Dublin on 40.013 MHz is currently trialing different modes. These include CW, FT8, SSTV, RTTY, MSK144, WSPR and stepped power levels.

The modes and time sequence is shown below and any reports and feedback should be reported to the beacon keeper, Tim EI4GNB.

Note that this is an experiment. It's highly likely the modes will change again in time depending on feedback and what reception tests people are carrying out.

The highlights:
*Every 10 minutes, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw (00,10,20,30,40,50mins past the hour)
*14,34,44 & 54 past the hour, 24hrs, WSPR (preceded by variable power carrier)
*Full service 6am to midnight
*Night mode midnight to 6am mutes all but WSPR & graduated power carrier
*All modes have 'rich' content, not just callsign & locator

EI1KNH schedule (Testing from March 23rd 2022)
On the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
3mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
6mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
7mins past the hour, 3 minute break
10mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
13mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
14mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
16mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
19mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
20mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
23mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
26mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
29mins past the Hour, 1 minute break
30mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
33mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
34mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
36mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
39mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
40mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
43mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
44mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
46mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs MSK144 & cw
49mins past the Hour, 06-24hrs RTTY & cw
50mins past the hour, 06-24hrs FT8 & cw
53mins past the Hour, 24hrs carrier, 0db to 20db of attenuation in steps
54mins past the Hour, 24hrs WSPR
56mins past the hour, 06-24hrs SSTV (M1) & cw
59mins past the hour, 1 minute break

Canadian Arctic Research Station VY0ERC heard on 28 MHz - 19th March 2022

Saturday 19th March 2022: I was checking my 28 MHz log for WSPR when I noticed that I had heard the Canadian Arctic Research Station VY0ERC.

What is unusual about this is that the station is located on Ellesmere Island at 80 degrees north in the Canadian Arctic and this was on 28 MHz, not one of the lower HF bands.

In the last 5 weeks, it has only been heard on 28 MHz by 3 stations in the direction of Europe.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-03-19 15:58 VY0ERC ER60tb GM4VAC IO77xm 28.126127 0.2 -25 -3 3615
2022-03-19 15:38 VY0ERC ER60tb GM4VAC IO77xm 28.126062 0.2 -18 -3 3615
2022-03-19 15:18 VY0ERC ER60tb GM4VAC IO77xm 28.126089 0.2 -18 -3 3615
2022-03-19 14:58 VY0ERC ER60tb EA8BFK IL38bo 28.126176 0.2 -3 0 6545
2022-03-19 14:38 VY0ERC ER60tb EA8BFK IL38bo 28.1261 0.2 -3 -3 6545
2022-03-19 13:58 VY0ERC ER60tb EI7GL IO51tu 28.12604 0.2 -22 -3 4134

Station details... Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. VY0ERC is currently operating out of the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) Ridge Laboratory (RidgeLab) located on top of the hill at 80 degrees 3 minutes N and 86 degrees 25 minutes W at 600 m.a.s.l. 

The WSPR station was running just 200 milliwatts which makes it even more remarkable.

There are a few things that make this reception report unusual.

1) It was on 28 MHz and it's not usual to hear signals from so far north. The solar flux on the day was only 94 and most propagation paths are much closer to the equator.

2) The distance for me was 4,134 kms which suggests perhaps it was F2 propagation? If it was due to other propagation modes closer to the E layer than multiple hops would be required.

3) No distortion. Signals going across the polar regions tend to have an auroral flutter, something that is not conducive to WSPR.

4) Why the lack of stations hearing the signal in Europe? Why only two in the UK and Ireland?

First contact between Croatia and South Africa on the new 40 MHz band - 13th March 2022

Back in October of 2021, I reported on the first ever contact between South Africa and Slovenia on the 40 MHz band. See post HERE.

On the 13th of March 2022, there was another 'first' 40 MHz contact when when Milan, 9A2Y in Croatia managed to complete a successful FT8 contact with Willem, ZS6WAB in South Africa.

The distance was in the region of 7,585kms and it took place at around 12:36 UTC. This would have been an hour or so after local noon and the F2 layer was likely at it's highest ionization.

Considering it was a North-South path, I suspect that F2 and TEP propagation was involved without any need for a Sporadic-E extension at either end.

The solar flux on the 13th of March was at 123 which is a lot higher than last October when it was just 78 when the first ZS-S5 contact took place.

The screenshot above from 9A2Y shows the FT8 contact. As can be seen, the signal from ZS6WAB was  -5dB in Croatia which suggests that a contact on CW would have been possible but unlikely on SSB.

Equipment: I'm not sure what 9A2Y was using but 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

Quite a number of European stations have reported hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.475 MHz over the last week or two. Considering it's located halfway between the 28 MHz and 50 MHz bands, it is now hopefully giving early warning of potential 6m openings between South Africa and Europe.

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

Long path opening on 50 MHz between South America and Asia - 12th March 2022

12th March 2022: There seems to have been a really good opening on the 50 MHz band at about 01:00 to 04:00 from South America to the east of Asia (Thanks to N0JK on the tip off for this).

The map above from the PSK Reporter website shows the paths as reported for PY2XB in Brazil. The site shows the shortest path between two stations but I think in reality, the contacts from Brazil to Japan & Taiwan were all via long path.

Long Path V Short Path... The map above shows the situation. For someone in the south of Brazil, Taiwan is effectively the other side of the world and there isn't that much difference between short path or long path.

I'm subject to correction on this but I think this extensive opening on 50 MHz was around 21,000kms via the long path.

The map at the start of the post shows that there was a path also from Brazil to Hawaii at 01:58 UTC. The map above also shows where the daylight was at about 03:00 UTC. It was likely that there was strong TEP to the west of South America which likely played a factor in the opening.

This chart is a point to point HF propagation forecast and shows how likely an opening is on each of the bands from PY2XB in Brazil to BV3UF in Taiwan. As you can see, the long path on 28 MHz is very good from 24:00 to 06:00.

By contrast, the short path prediction is very poor at this time. The DX spots just report stations heard but no-one seems to mention short path or long path.

Propagation Mode???... As mentioned already, TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) is likely to have been involved but how much? Was it partially TEP with the rest of the path via F2 propagation? Was there greyline and chordal propagation involved across the Pacific where the sun was setting?

Some seem to be very quick to explain every long distance opening as being simply TEP but remember that we're talking about a path of 21,000kms at 50 MHz. I'd suggest that it's a lot more complex than that.

Just for reference purposes, the solar flux on the day was about 127.

Notes... This was a reasonably good opening between two areas with a lot of 6m activity. The maps and data I have presented above is just a sample of this opening but it does demonstrate the distances achieved.

18,700km contact on 50 MHz between ZL1RS and EA8DO - 9th March 2022

A few days ago, I reported on an 18,000km+ opening on the 7th of March on the 50 MHz band between New Zealand (ZL1) and the Canary Islands (EA8). The previous post is HERE

On the 9th March 2022, there was another similar opening on 50 MHz but this time, it was only between two stations. As the map shows above, ZL1RS on the northern part of New Zealand managed to complete a contact using FT8 with EA8DO in the Canary Islands.

This is a screen shot of the FT8 contact...

It looks as if the distance was in the region of 18,694 kms which is pretty remarkable for the 50 MHz band.

The opening on this occasion was at 21:07 UTC. The previous opening from ZL1 to EA8 on the 7th was between roughly 21:48 to 23:22 UTC.

Besides the distance, there are two things that I find interesting about this contact.

1) Time... For the opening on the 7th of March, it looks as if the path from ZL to EA8 was open before or at the start of the opening from EA8 to South America.

PSK Reporter log for EA8DO

For the opening on the 9th of March, it was the same. Why is this? Normally openings follow the sun moving from East to West. Why did the main opening from the Canary Islands to South America happen after the more westerly opening to New Zealand?

Will there be more openings like this from EA8 to ZL1 and will they all be at the start of the opening to South America?

2) No opening from ZL1 to South America... In the previous opening on the 7th, I noted how none of the four ZL1 stations in New Zealand heard or were heard by anyone in South America. 

On the 9th, the same happened again. Note the map at the top of the post from the PSK Reporter website. There are no FT8 reports from any station in South America despite the fact that the path crosses over the continent.

As I mentioned in the previous post, it's almost like chordal hop with the signal going between different parts of the ionosphere without reaching the ground.

Propagation Mode?... How exactly does a signal from the Canary Islands reach what is effectively the other side of the planet on 50 MHz? Trans-Equatorial Propagation is probably responsible for part of the path from the Canaries to South America but how did the signal get across the Pacific?

Someone suggested that antipodal focusing may be a factor in the opening but it's worth noting that this is 50 MHz, not 14 MHz. It may help but it doesn't explain what happens to make the path or paths possible.

It's good that we have two openings with some similarities but like all good science experiments, we need more openings and more data. Two data points isn't exactly 5-Sigma! 😄

The PSK Reporter log for EA8DO is shown below and you can see that ZL1RS was at the start of the opening.

VIDEO: Beginners guide to digital voice modes (D-STAR, DMR & FUSION) ...by Tim, GW4VXE

As part of the RSGB Tonight at 8 video series, Tim GW4VXE gave an interesting presentation on digital voice modes like D-Star, DMR & Fusion. This is really aimed at beginners or anyone who is not familiar with these modes.

The video is shown below. The presentation lasts from about 06:00 to 1:09:30 and there is a Q&A session after it which lasts until 1:43:40.

18,000km+ opening on 50 MHz between New Zealand & the Canary Islands - 7th March 2022

Monday 7th March 2022: There was an extremely long distance opening on the 50 MHz band between the north island of New Zealand (ZL1) and the Canary Islands (EA8) and in most cases, the distances were well in excess of 18,000kms.

If you consider that the circumference of the Earth is 40,000kms then this opening was close to the border line of what is short path or long path. See EA7 below.

Looking at the reports on the PSK Reporter website, the opening from ZL1 to EA8 occurred around 22:30 UTC. What's interesting is the EA8 stations had what looks like a TEP opening to South America about an hour later but it didn't seem to coincide with the ZL1 opening.

Questions... Like many openings, this one raises more questions than it answers.

1) Was part of the path due to TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation)? If it coincided with the opening to South America then yes but it seems to have been before it.

2) The map above for ZL1RS in New Zealand shows the shortest paths to the stations in the log on the PSK Reporter website. Was the path to EA8 direct or slightly skewed? Was the real path not actually over South America?

3) I checked the reports for the ZL1 stations and none of them show a South American station and yet, the opening was supposed to have gone over the continent of South America. There seems to have been an opening later from the south of New Zealand (ZL3) to Central America and Mexico. Was the real EA8-ZL1 path skewed and further north?

4) Propagation mode?... I would think that a large part of the path was due to chordal mode without the signal hitting the ground.

Did the signal pass over South America by chordal hop without reaching the ground?

5) How did the signal get across the Pacific which is a feat in itself?

6) How much of the path was due to F2? Sp-E? TEP?

Answers... If we were at the peak of the solar cycle then it may not be a big deal. But we're not, we're just on the way out of solar minimum, the solar flux is just 118 and this is up at 50 MHz. 

I think at best, we can make educated guesses but I think that's all we can do. Whatever the reason for the opening, it's probably no accident that this opening occurred near the equinox and it's likely to happen again.

Reports...These are some of the reports from the PSK Reporter website...

ZL1RS...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL1RS EA8/DF4UE 6m FT8 18986 km 22:23:29
ZL1RS EA8AXT 6m FT8 18828 km 22:19:29
ZL1RS EA8RH 6m FT8 18745 km 22:35:56
ZL1RS EA8TL 6m FT8 18742 km 22:34:56
ZL1RS EA8TH 6m FT8 18694 km 23:19:26

ZL1SG...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL1SG EA8/DF4UE 6m FT8 19019 km 22:06:56
EA8AQV ZL1SG 6m FT8 18929 km 21:48:11
ZL1SG EA8AXT 6m FT8 18861 km 22:00:59
EA8AXT ZL1SG 6m FT8 18861 km 21:49:41
ZL1SG EA8RH 6m FT8 18777 km 22:33:56
EA8RH ZL1SG 6m FT8 18777 km 22:31:41
ZL1SG EA8TL 6m FT8 18774 km 22:34:59
EA8TL ZL1SG 6m FT8 18774 km 22:31:41
EA8TH ZL1SG 6m FT8 18725 km 23:17:41

ZL1RQ... Note CN9YZ in Morocco & YS1AG in El Salvador...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZL1RQ CN8YZ 6m FT8 19768 km 20:52:26
ZL1RQ EA8/DF4UE 6m FT8 19019 km 22:10:56
ZL1RQ EA8AXT 6m FT8 18861 km 21:36:29
EA8RH ZL1RQ 6m FT8 18777 km 22:30:41
ZL1RQ EA8RH 6m FT8 18777 km 22:11:29
ZL1RQ EA8TL 6m FT8 18774 km 22:29:29
EA8TL ZL1RQ 6m FT8 18774 km 22:17:41
EA8TH ZL1RQ 6m FT8 18725 km 23:22:41
YS1AG ZL1RQ 6m FT8 11511 km 01:31:41

ZL1AKW...
Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
EA8TH 6m FT8 18318 km 23:17:26

EA5GJ reports the following... "ZL1RS receives 3 decodes from EA7HCL on 50 MHz for the long step in an intense opening this afternoon with South America, we are facing the first Pacific-Europe Long Path openings on 6 meters, in many years... #50MHz #Propagation". 

Note that none of these appeared on the PSK Reporter site.

EA7HCL is in the far south of Spain and this opening for him was actually long path. For the EA8 stations, it was short path.

These are the spots from the DX Cluster for the evening / morning. As you can see, all of the activity seems to have been via digital modes like FT8 on 50.313 MHz...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
ZL3OZ 50313.0 YS1AG 00:36 08 Mar wkng PY. -18 El Salvador
ZL3OZ 50313.0 XE1HG 00:20 08 Mar part QSO tnx. Mexico
XE1MEX 50313.0 ZL3OY 00:04 08 Mar Tnx QSO New Zealand
XE1MEX 50313.0 ZL3OZ 00:00 08 Mar Tnx QSO New Zealand
ZL3OZ 50313.0 XE1MEX 23:30 07 Mar CQ at -6 through -19 Mexico
EA8TH 50313.0 ZL1RS 23:23 07 Mar FB Signal. TU Bob New Zealand
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA8TH 23:23 07 Mar tnx qso Canary Islands
EA8RH 50313.0 ZL1RS 22:17 07 Mar tnx qso new one New Zealand
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA8RH 22:09 07 Mar tnx qso Canary Islands
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA8TL21:48 07 Mar tnx qso Canary Islands
EA8TL 50313.0 ZL1RS 21:45 07 Mar calling you ft8 New Zealand
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA8AQV 21:32 07 Mar tnx QSO Canary Islands
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA8/DF4UE 21:26 07 Mar Canary Islands
ZL1RS 50313.0 CN8YZ 21:01 07 Mar rx only, calling ZL1RQ Morocco
ZL1RS 50313.0 EA7HCL 20:18 07 Mar 3 decodes ... Spain

Zoom Presentation: Amateur Radio - A Life Long Technical Hobby - 10th March 2022

From Engineers Ireland: Hosted by the Electronic and Computing division in collaboration with the South Dublin Radio Club, this webinar with Adrian Connor and Jeffrey Roe will discuss ‘Amateur Radio - A Life Long Technical Hobby’. 

Amateur Radio is a rich and diverse hobby and an exciting mix of science, communications, engineering and fun. 

It can be enjoyed by all ages and a wide range of abilities. 

This presentation aims to showcase the hobby and how to get started.

Link HERE

Note that the presentation is free and open to anyone.

Opening to California on 28 MHz - Sun 27th Feb 2022

Sunday 27th February 2022: For the last two weeks, conditions on the 10m band seemed to be pretty mediocre with relatively few good openings to the United States. That changed on the 27th of February with a very good opening to California.

The map above shows the WSPR signals heard on 28.1246 MHz. As well as the northerly path to California, there were signals from the German Antarctic research station DP0DVN and the German Antarctic research ship DP0POL.

It's safe to say that if this map was for FT8 then there would be a LOT more signals. WSPR is a very good beacon mode but there is a lack of stations in many countries.

Beacons... These were the beacons heard in a short space of about 20 minutes.

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country - Pwr
EI7GL 28300.0 K6FRC/B 19:13 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>CM97HP United States - 100w
EI7GL 28298.0 K5TLL/B 19:12 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>EM51GG United States - 25w
EI7GL 28244.3 KC4EOG/B 19:11 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>FM05HI United States - 4w
EI7GL 28222.5 KA4SEY/B 19:07 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>EM95VP United States - 3w
EI7GL 28222.6 N1NSP/B 19:05 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>FM17RD United States - 10w
EI7GL 28206.1 KM4NBB/B 19:04 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>EM84BM United States - 5w
EI7GL 28200.0 W6WX/B 19:01 27 Feb IO51TU<F2>CM97BD United States - 100w

The two stations in bold were in California which means that it would have been possible to work someone on CW and it wasn't just a case of weak signals buried in the noise.

The solar flux on the day was only 97 so I'm not sure why conditions were so good.

New 40 MHz beacon in Washington State - Feb 2022

Halden Field, NR7V is one of the few US radio amateurs who managed to get a special experimental permit to operate on the 40 MHz band and was allocated the callsign WM2XCW back in the second half of 2021.

He has now announced that he has an experimental CW beacon is on the air on the 40 MHz band.

He writes..."The purposes of this beacon are:
1.  To enable detection of propagation openings on this band that would not be detected by reception of WSPR transmissions.
2.  To enable analytical measurements of such detected propagation, including
 a.  signal strength and its variations
 b.  wavelength shift and broadening during propagation"

This beacon transmits on 40.6630 MHz which is about 400 Hz below the 200Hz of spectrum used at present for WSPR transmissions.

This will allow people to listen both for the new beacon and to WSPR transmissions at the same time. The same method is used for QRSS transmissions on the HF bands and is very effective.

The beacon will transmit once every 10 minutes, following its WSPR transmissions.  It sends identifying information in 18 wpm Morse code and then a carrier for 30 seconds.  The beacon location is at Point Roberts in the far north-west of Washington State and the locator square is CN88. 

The beacon uses a QRP-Labs U3S with a 10W Linear PA and the antenna is a dipole about 9m above ground level. It is orientated to favour transmission to the NW and SE.

The map above shows the location of the beacon in the NW of the United States. The lobes of the antenna are also shown going NW & SE.

Most of the reception reports are likely to come from the western half of the USA and in the region of 1000-2100 kms and the propagation mode will be Sporadic-E. At the peak of the Sp-E season in late May and all of June, there will be double hop Sp-E openings to the eastern part of the USA in the range of 2600-3500kms.

It will be very difficult to hear the beacon in Europe as it's a northerly path and it's in the null of the dipole.

There is the possibility of some very interesting openings to Japan with multi-hop Sp-E or via Sp-E & TEP to South America. The biggest challenge here is getting someone interested enough to try and listen.

As we head towards the peak of the solar cycle, some F2 openings are likely on the 40 MHz band and it will be interesting to see if the beacon is heard on the east coast of the United States.

Any reception reports should be sent to NR7V or on the DX-Maps website.

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

Video: How to win a VHF radio contest - Northern Black Forest Group DR9A 2017

In 2017, the Northern Black Forest Group DR9A in Germany won the multi-op section in the IARU Region 1 2m contest. This is held in September every year.

The photo above shows the 144 MHz antenna system. Lower down on the mast, there are 4 high stacks of medium gain 6-element Yagi's pointing in fixed directions every 45 degrees. At top of the mast, there is an array of 4 high gain 17-element Yagi's for when more gain in a particular direction is needed.

These are the top 20 stations in the results...

The DR9A contest station operated from the JN48EQ in the south-west corner of Germany. As you can see from the map below, it is pretty much in the centre of western Europe with stations in all directions.

The short video below gives a flavour of what the contest was like...

Link...
1) DR9A website

Ongoing DRM tests at 86.5 MHz in Copenhagen - 2022

I came across an interesting news report recently about an Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) test that is currently taking place on 86.5 MHz in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

While several countries have DAB systems up and running, some are carrying out test in or around Band 2 (88-108 MHz) and seeing if digital DRM signals could co-exist with analogue FM signals.

The DRM test in Copenhagen started on the 13th of October 2021 and runs until the 1st of August 2022. There is an option of extending this to the 30th of August 2023.

This is a collaborative project organised by Open Channel, an independent Danish network operator in Copenhagen, with Canadian Nautel (transmitter), German RFmondial (DRM modulator & measuring instruments) & Fraunhofer IIS (Content server) and Swedish Progira (network planning).

The project is supported by Gospell, NXP, partners in Denmark and other non-DRM Consortium members like Bauer Media (supplying content) and Kathrein (antenna).

The frequency allocated is 86.5 MHz and with a bandwidth of 200 kHz, which makes room for two DRM signals. Each DRM signal has a capacity of 186.4 kbps (16QAM, CR 5/8) and accommodates three audio channels and multimedia services, so for the 200 kHz a total of six digital radio stations can thus be broadcast. Further down the line there are ambitions to involve the Öresund region (commonly known in English as the Sound, a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border) and possibly collaborate with another FM station on the Swedish side.

The height of the antenna is 88m and the terrain elevation is 8m (more details below). In phase 1, Open Channel will test single DRM channel with 120 Watt ERP. The coverage probability for mobile reception in Greater Copenhagen is illustrated in the picture below...

The trial on the 86.5 MHz frequency has also been approved by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency. The fact that the experiment is done a bit below the regular FM band (band II 87.5-108 MHz) is due to the fact that there is no space in this dense region. The new receivers for FM/DRM can handle 64-108 MHz.

“We are working on expanding the FM band in Denmark from 85 – 87.5 MHz, so that the Danish FM band goes from 85 to 108 MHz and thereby create more space to introduce digital radio on the FM band”... says Kenneth Wenzel, project manager and director of Open Channel.

“This DRM field trial offers a unique opportunity to showcase the versatility of DRM-FM by packing two DRM signals within a single FM channel allocation demonstrating optimal spectral efficiency for DRM using a Nautel VS transmitter.”... says Philipp Schmid, CTO at Nautel.

Source... https://www.drm.org/drm-for-fm-in-the-heart-of-europe/

New DRM tests on 954 kHz planned from the Czech Republic in 2022

It was announced recently that České Radiokomunikace (CRA) in the Czech Republic has obtained a license from the Czech telecoms regulator (ČTÚ) to conduct a DRM test on 954 kHz in the city of České Budějovice in the south of the country.

The transmitter will have a power of just over 3kW which means it may be heard across Europe at night. The 954 kHz is one of the medium wave frequencies where the (AM) programs ČRo Dvojka and ČRo Plus were broadcast until the end of 2021.

CRA wants to use the test, among other things, to determine the scope and energy efficiency of broadcasting in the DRM standard. Both the 16 QAM and 64 QAM, the two common modulation schemes in DRM, will be tested. The operator will use an existing Transradio medium wave transmitter into which they will integrate a digital modulator.

The DRM system has long been touted as the digital replacement for AM on the Medium Wave and Short Wave bands. In 2003 and 2006, the Czech public broadcaster ČRo conducted a series of DRM tests on medium and short wave so these new tests should be seen in that light.

DRM has gained a foothold in countries like India but the take up has been slow elsewhere in the world.

Digital SSTV signals from the International Space Station - Feb 2022

Slow Scan TV (SSTV) signals from the International Space Station (ISS) are usually transmitted on 145 MHz and on FM in an analogue format. On the 20th of February 2022, there was an experiment whereby a digital version of a SSTV signal was sent on 437 MHz instead.

The experiment was for five passes of the ISS over Europe between 05:12 UTC and 11:51 UTC.

The above image from Riccardo, IU4APB in Italy shows a montage of images that he managed to decode. Like any good experiment, there are a number of lessons to take away from it.

Path Loss... Some people noted that the digital SSTV signals on 437 MHz were a LOT weaker than the usual analogue SSTV signals on 145 MHz. This is to be expected as the path loss at 437 MHz is about 9dB higher than at 145 MHz.

The images above captured by IU4APB were with a directional Yagi on 437 MHz. Many people are using just simple vertical antennas on 145 MHz to receive the usual SSTV signals and may well be using similar low gain antennas on 437 MHz with disappointing results. Lesson - Use a directional antenna with more gain to compensate for the extra path loss.

Repeater interference... From my understanding, the SSTV signals on 145 MHz are usually 'broadcast' from the ISS. For this experiment however, the digital SSTV signals were sent via the repeater on the ISS.

While the experiment was announced beforehand, not everyone may have heard about this. Some stations may use the ISS repeater as per normal without knowing that they were causing interference to the SSTV experiment.

A lot of the Black lines in the image above and below were probably be due to this as this interference was reported.

Digital - All or Nothing... As with most digital signals, either the signal is perfect or it's not. Contrast the digital SSTV signal above and the analogue SSTV signal below...

Example of an analogue SSTV signal

With the analogue signal, noise appears as small dots and lines. With the equivalent digital signals, the small dot is replaced with a large square when the signal is too weak.

Doppler... As the signal was on 437 MHz, the doppler shift of the downlink signal was three times that experienced on 145 MHz. It's another parameter to control.

In conclusion... While the usual 145 MHz analogue SSTV transmissions have the greatest reach in terms of people being able to decode the signals, it's also a well worn path. It's good to try something different and hopefully the experiment will be repeated.

It would be good if the digital SSTV signal could be 'broadcast' on 145 MHz as opposed to via the ISS repeater. I'm not sure how feasible this is as it may require some input from the onboard astronauts.

Update: Miro, SP5GNI in Poland also reports reception of the experimental digital transmissions from the ISS and has some images at the bottom of this post HERE

Links...
www.ariss.org
www.ariss-eu.org

Update on UK amateur radio stations getting permission to experiment on the 40 MHz band

As of February 2022, a number of amateur stations in the UK are trying to get permission from OFCOM, the UK licensing authority to carry out experiments on the 40 MHz band.

NOV... Roger, G3XBM reports that he applied for a Amateur Radio Special Research Permit and getting a Notice Of Variation (NOV) as shown in A above. His application for this was recently turned down.

At present, some UK radio amateurs are using these NOV's to experiment with compressed digital video techniques at 146 MHz and 71 MHz.

I know there is at least one more person waiting for a reply on their application for a 40 MHz NOV although it doesn't look good at this stage.

Innovation & Trial License... The second route is to apply for a Innovation and Trial License as shown as B above. This costs at least £50 and G3XBM is currently applying for one of these.

This would seem to be similar to how the FCC in the United States recently allocated special experimental permits to seven individuals.

OFCOM... A few years ago, the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) held discussions with OFCOM about new frequencies and allocations. OFCOM were of the view that they would not allocate anything for 'more of the same'. 

In other words, they're not going to allocate new frequencies for DX-ing, contesting or just talking to someone else down the road. Their view was that radio amateurs in the UK have more than enough frequencies for this and they're probably right.

Any new permit or allocation will have to show there is a genuine need for it. Radio amateurs experimenting with modern compressed digital video techniques and getting the signal to fit inside a limited band is a good example of this.

Looking forward... It's not looking great at the moment but it would be very useful if some UK stations were allowed to use the weak signal mode WSPR on low power on the 40 MHz band on an experimental basis. They would be unlikely to cause any interference to other users if they were just given say the ISM band of 40.670 to 40.700 MHz to experiment with. 

This could be used to carry out propagation experiments as we approach the peak of the next sunspot cycle. As the solar flux increases, it's not always obvious where the maximum usable frequency is for the F2 layer of the ionosphere.

We know it's in the low VHF region but where? It's well above 28 MHz but below 50 MHz. Being able to do propagation research is where the real value of having an allocation at 40 MHz lies.

It seems likely that if an application is going to be successful then it will have to go into some detail as to how the experiments will be carried out and how any potential interference to other users can be mitigated.

40 MHz page passes 20,000 pageviews - Feb 2022

Back in April of 2018, Irish radio amateurs got access to large parts of the low VHF spectrum including an allocation at 40 MHz. At the time, there was little or no information about this part of the spectrum and what did exist, was scattered across the web.

In June of 2018, I set up a dedicated page on the blog so that it would be easier for others to find out about the band. I regularly post about 40 MHz related openings and news on the blog and I keep all of the links to each post up on the 40 MHz page.

It is now the largest resource for information about the 40 MHz / 8m amateur radio band on the web and in February of 2022, it passed 20,000 pageviews! At the moment, it's gets about 500 pageviews per month.

The problem with information on Twitter, Facebook, email forums and magazines is that the information gets forgotten very quickly. It's hard to go back and see what happened before.

The real value of a dedicated 40 MHz page is having all the information listed in one spot. If someone wants to find out about what is happening on the 40 MHz band then there is a resource there where they get up to speed relatively quickly.

The 40 MHz page can be viewed HERE

California & Australia heard on 28 MHz - 16th Feb 2022

Wednesday 16th February 2022: There was a pretty extensive opening on the 28 MHz band with both Australia and California heard. The map above shows the 29 stations that I heard with WSPR.

If this had been with FT8 then I'd have probably heard 100+ but it's still nice to see increasing WSPR activity on the 10m band. Last year, it was pointless listening on WSPR as the conditions were poor and not many stations were on 28 MHz.

These are the top 10 stations in terms of distance and as always, nice to see four stations from Australia on 28 MHz.

 Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX         rxGrid         MHz W SNR drift         km 
2022-02-16 09:02 VK3KCX/1 QF22qd EI7GL IO51tu 28.126013 50 -25 0 17449 
2022-02-16 09:22 VK2IJM QF56ni EI7GL IO51tu 28.126084 10 -16 0 17407 
2022-02-16 09:08 VK2EFM QF56oq EI7GL IO51tu 28.126073 5 -27 0 17380 
2022-02-16 09:16 VK2DVM QF56di EI7GL IO51tu 28.126083 50 -7 2 17364 
2022-02-16 09:30 HS0AJ OK03ft EI7GL IO51tu 28.126081 1 -26 0 10045 
2022-02-16 13:54 PY3FF GF49ju EI7GL IO51tu 28.126123 0.2 -29 0 10028 
2022-02-16 12:58 ZS1LCD JF95fx EI7GL IO51tu 28.126052 1 -17 1 9900 
2022-02-16 11:58 HS0ZEV OK08dh EI7GL IO51tu 28.126141 0.1 -20 0 9629 
2022-02-16 17:24 NQ6B DM12mr EI7GL IO51tu 28.126098 5 -23 -2 8334 
2022-02-16 17:24 AE7YQ DM41kx EI7GL IO51tu 28.126133 5 -14 0 8060 

The solar flux was at 103 which is down from the recent peak of 130.

Amateur TV signals from the German Antarctic Research Station DP0GVN

After hearing the German Antarctic research station, DP0GVN on 28 MHz WSPR yesterday, it reminded me of a recent story I saw about how that station is also operational on ATV (Amateur Television) on the QO-100 Geostationary satellite.

The QO-100 geostationary satellite is located over central Africa and it is allowing radio amateurs the opportunity to experiment on the microwave bands. The uplink to the satellite is just above 2.4 GHz while the downlink is just below 10.5 GHz.

The footprint of the satellite with 5 degree and 10 degree elevations is shown above. For the DP0GVN station in Antarctica, the elevation of the satellite is about 7 degrees above the horizon.

AMSAT-DL recently paid for a new antenna and radome to be installed at the station as shown above. This happened at the start of January 2022.

This is the new radome in place to protect the antenna from the harsh Antarctic weather.

This video clip from Vale, IZ5ILX in Italy dated the 31st of January 2022  shows the ATV signal from DP0GVN via the QO-100 satellite.

Excellent DVB-S2 tests from NEUMAYER STATION
ANTARTICA VIA P4-A - QO-100 GEOSAT
QRG: 10497.750 GHz 1,5 MSr -2/3 Fec#DP0GVN @amsatdl #QO100 #ANTARCTICA
📡📺📹🛰️ pic.twitter.com/DF1Hr6Hwv8

— IZ5ILX Vale (@iz5ilx) January 21, 2022

While I'm not that interested in Amateur TV or satellite operations, I did find this story interesting because it shows how a geostationary satellite like QO-100 is opening up a lot of possibilities for experimentation on the microwaves bands and with Amateur TV.

For someone outside the footprint like in North America, these experiments are impossible unless they live near others active on those bands or modes.

There has been a lot of talk of late about how to get more people interested in Amateur Radio. I'd suggest that experiments like this are going to appeal a lot more to a younger generation than say making SSB contacts on the HF bands which is rather dated at this stage.

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?