Opening on the 50 MHz band between Europe and Australia - 16th Jan 2023

 

On the 16th of January 2023, there was an opening on the 50 MHz band between Australia and Europe. Tom, SP5XMU supplied the screenshot above which suggests that there was plenty of activity.

I had a closer look at this opening and what I present below is an overview of what it was like. It's not an extensive list of all the contacts or paths but I feel it gives a good representation.

While the image above suggests an extensive opening, it would seem that the footprint of the opening in Europe and Australia was confined to certain geographical areas.

The map above shows the FT8 paths from VK6KXW in the west of Australia. The number of European stations is quite low and the main footprint is in Portugal, Spain and the west of France.

VK6IR is also in the west of Australia and the image above shows the FT8 paths in Europe. Again, it's a relatively small geographic area in Europe. Notice how the F2 signals seemed to have jumped over Italy and Greece.

The image above shows the 6m paths from VK5BC near Adelaide. Note the little cluster of signals from the west of France.

This image shows the paths from VK3WK near Melbourne. Same pattern again. From what I can tell, the stations near Sydney and the VK4 stations further up the coast near Brisbane were not able to access this particular opening.

The longest path that I saw was 17,875kms between CT1IUA in Portugal and VK3DUT in the SE of Australia.

These are the spots from the DX cluster which seems to concur with the observations above...

de dx freq obs time
VK6KXW  EA7KLL 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -20 dB 1220 Hz 1033z 16 Jan
VK3OTR  F4BKV 50314.5  [LoTW] FT8 QF02WH19<>IN96GG Tnx call ft8 1010z 16 Jan
VK3OTR  F1IXQ 50314.5  [LoTW] FT8 QF02WH19<>IN95PP Tnx qso 1009z 16 Jan
VK6FLVV  EC4TR 50313  [LoTW] 1006z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  EC4TR 50313  [LoTW] tu qso 1000z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  EC4TR 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -17 dB 545 Hz 0948z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  EA3CA 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -14 dB 1601 Hz 0947z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  9H1TX 50313  [LoTW] wkd, vk3/5/6 tu david 0921z 16 Jan
VK5PO  F4BKV 50313  [LoTW] 200w res dipole at15ft 0915z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  9H1TX 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -17 dB 716 Hz 0900z 16 Jan
VK6KXW  9H1TX 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -7 dB 714 Hz 0835z 16 Jan
EA7HG  VK6KXW 50313  [LoTW] FT8 -19 dB 672 Hz 1021z 16 Jan
EA5WU  VK3KJ 50314  [LoTW] FT8 IM99WU<>QF21 0954z 16 Jan
EA5WU  VK3FZ 50313  [LoTW] FT8 IM99WU<>QF22 0952z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK5AKK 50313.7  JM75FU<F2>PF94HK FT8 0920z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK3GA 50313.7  [LoTW] JM75FU<F2>QF22 FT8 0914z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK3FZ 50313.7  [LoTW] JM75FU<F2>QF22 FT8 0913z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK5BC 50313.7  [LoTW] JM75FU<F2>PF85 FT8 0906z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK6KXW 50313.7  [LoTW] JM75FU<F2>OF87 FT8 0904z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK3BD 50313  [LoTW] CQ SECOND ALL WAY GL 0900z 16 Jan
9H1TX  VK3BD 50313.7  [LoTW] JM75FU<F2>QF22 FT8 0857z 16 Jan

All the activity seems to have been FT8 on 50.313 MHz.

Analysis... Over the last few years, we've seen some multi-hop Sporadic-E or something similar during the months of June and July. In this case, it would seem to have been a genuine F2 layer opening on 50 MHz with the solar flux up over 230.

As we get closer to the equinox, I suspect we might see more 6m openings like this. The question is if they will reach further north in Europe and further south to the likes of Tasmania and New Zealand?

The huge difference with this solar cycle is that there are a lot more people using a weak signal mode like FT8 on one frequency i.e. if there is any sort of opening, the signal will be heard and reported.

That may bring it's own problems if the opening is too good though with everyone on the same frequency.

Australia to Europe FT8 paths as reported by PSK Reporter.

Big opening on the 40 MHz band - Sun 15th Jan 2023

As the solar flux soars to over 230, the 40 MHz band is opening up nicely with plenty of F2 propagation. These are some of the 8m paths reported on the PSK Reporter website on Sunday 15th January 2023.

The longest path was 8242 kms from Slovenia to the USA.

S50B N2OTO 8m FT8 8242 km 13:59:00

There are a few dubious ones in the main list and most seem to have a web based receiver in England as a common theme. These are marked as ??? below.

WSPR... It looks as if there was a trans-continental opening on 40 MHz in N America as well.

Wspr reports...
Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2023-01-15 17:10 WM2XCW CN88lx N2OTO EL96wi 40.663555 10 -23 0 4452
2023-01-15 16:38 WM2XCC DM13ji N2OTO EL96wi 40.681505 2 -8 0 3640
2023-01-15 11:56 WM2XCC DM13ji WM2XCC/6 DM13ji 40.681484 2 7 0 0
2023-01-15 11:56 WM2XCC DM13ji N3IZN/SDR DM13ji 40.681493 2 -10 0 0
2023-01-15 11:54 EI1KNH IO63ve WESSEXSDR IO80qr 40.014477 20 -17 0 367
2023-01-15 11:48 WM2XCW CN88lx VE7UTS CN89li 40.681539 10 8 0 42

List of FT8/PI4 stations in Transmit order...

Sporadic-E on the 50 MHz band - 12th Jan 2023

I received an email from Chris, IX1CKN to let me know about an opening on the 50 MHz band on Thursday the 12th of January 2023. The opening was a little unusual in that it was short lived and took place late in the evening at 20:50 UTC.

The map shows the FT8 contact with John, EI2FG on south coast of Ireland, a distance of about 1300kms.

In a later correspondence between IX1CKN and EI2FG by email, John reports that he worked about 20 stations in a short period of time and nearly all within the same geographic area in Italy.

As for the propagation mode, it was almost certainly Sporadic-E even if it's late in the evening in the Winter as opposed to the more usual daylight openings during the Summer months. There is a small peak in Sporadic-E activity in the middle of the Winter which a lot of people don't expect.

Paul, MI3LDO reports that there have been several Sporadic-E openings after sunset in the last few days with reception of low-band VHF signals from France in the 30-35 MHz range.

There has also been a recent opening from Ireland to Brazil on 50 MHz which was most likely a single Sporadic-E hop to the south and then linking into a TEP opening to South America.

The take home message is that there is plenty of activity on the 50 MHz band at the moment, you just need to spend some time listening and calling on the band.

Trans-Atlantic opening at 40 MHz - 13th Jan 2023

With the solar flux now up over the 200 mark, there was another trans-Atlantic opening on the 40 MHz band on Friday 13th January 2023.

In the past, the only thing we had to warn about potential trans-Atlantic openings on the 50 MHz (6m) band was strong signals on 28 MHz or utility signals in the low VHF spectrum. Now that there are stations transmitting on the 40 MHz band, it acts as a much better indicator that something might happen higher up in frequency.

It really does show the potential of 40 MHz as a beacon band when there is a rising F2 MUF due to solar activity. It really isn't 'just another band' as some might suggest.

A list of transmitting and receiving stations is shown below with question marks after the dubious ones which may be reports for the wrong band.

3385km opening on the 144 MHz band from Adelaide to New Zealand - 25th Dec 2022

Following on from the 3051km opening on 144 MHz across Australia on the 24th of December 2022, there was also a 3385 km opening on the Christmas Day, the 25th of December 2022 from Adelaide to New Zealand.

There is an active group of radio amateurs in Australia and New Zealand using the WSPR mode on the 144 MHz band to investigate propagation paths. On Christmas Day, VK5PJ in Adelaide managed to get just one WSPR decode from ZL2GT on the North Island in New Zealand.

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-12-25 09:12 ZL2GT RF80 VK5PJ PF95mk 144.490498 10 -18 0 3385

Leigh VK2KRR reports... "144 MHz antics for some operators yesterday. Peter Sumner VK5PJ and ZL2GT topping the maximum distance at 3385 km via Sporadic E.

There was a number of other E paths and tropo as well. Another path of note is Nigel VK6CPU at Perth on a path with Phil VK5AKK tropo path at 2140 km. Its rare to get paths into and out of Perth on tropo, but it does happen on rare occasions.

A few days back i missed reporting on a tropo path from Alan Johnson VK3DXE to VK6CPU/P  of 2442 km. Alan was the only station in VK3 who made it on this path on 23.12.22."

Analysis... The extreme distance of this opening i.e. 3385 kms, cannot be explained by a single Sporadic-E hop which tends to max out around 2300 kms.

This is the tropo forecast for the 25th of December 2022 from F5LEN...

It does suggest that there were some tropo conditions in the Tasman Sea but it's not conclusive. It's probable that the western path of the path was certainly due to Sporadic-E but as for the eastern half, it may have been due to a tropo extension over the Tasman Sea or it may have been a second Sporadic-E hop i.e. possibly chordal hop Sporadic-E.

People may have different opinions on which it is but it's almost impossible to tell.

Links...
1) Examples of more long distance contacts on 2m can be found on my 144 MHz page HERE

3051 km opening on the 144 MHz band across Australia? - 24th Dec 2022

Very long distance propagation paths on the 144 MHz band are always of interest and those that exceed 3000kms are especially so. In Australia and New Zealand, there are quite a number of radio amateurs using the WSPR beacon mode to cary out propagation tests.

Leigh, VK2KRR reports on a special 3051 km opening on 144 MHz on the 24th of December 2022. It should be noted that countries in the southern hemisphere are now in the middle of their Summer Sporadic-E season.

Leigh writes..."This afternoon 24.12.22 at 0524z I noticed a report on WSPRview of VK2EFM to VK6CPU/p on 2m at 3051 km. Initially I thought it must be a mistakenly reported spot sent to wrong band, but upon further investigation and discussion with those involved, it appears this spot was real, which is quite unbelievable really considering the circumstances at the time.

The crazy part about it was that the propagation was well in decline from a quite good high MUF period which had lasted a  number of hours with MUF reported up to 107.7 MHz and path covering a good deal of southern Australia. 

Coincidentally at the same time there is also tropo propagation across the Great Australian Bight from VK5AKK to VK6CPU/p and VK6NI.

To make it somewhat more questionable, Allan Savins VK2EFM transmitted on both 6m and 2m WSPR at the same time at 0524z as was demonstrated by the local reports.

The propagation question would be, how did the signal get across? A double hop E, a Chordal E? or maybe a single E hop then into tropo ducting across the Bight?

Notice the path exactly lines up with the VK5AKK tropo path, which is interesting.

Also of note is that there was no reception of any 6m WSPR signal from VK2EFM in VK5 or VK6 at 0524z, the max distance was 440 km to myself which was probably some sort of backscatter.

The last 6m reception of VK2EFM in VK5 was 12 mins prior to the 2m path, and the last EFM 6m to VK6 was 14 mins prior, quite weak at -26 dB.

Another thing to note was that from midnight to 6am that 6m WSPR had good paths happening, I had a path with VK8RH all night, and was still there at 6am. So the MUF was raised through the night which is a good predictor of high MUF during the day.

Edit- oh and congratulations to Nigel VK6CPU and Allan VK2EFM for this path. VK6CPU/p is actually a remote station at Albany set up by Rob VK6LD by the way.

Leigh VK2KRR"

Analysis... Just to add to the available info, there was only one spot for the opening between VK2EFM and VK6CPU/P and this is it...

Local   (y-m-d) TX txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2022-12-24 05:24 VK2EFM QF56oq VK6CPU/P OF84xx 144.490478 10 -20 0 3051

This is the predicted tropo map from F5LEN...

It suggests that there were reasonable tropo conditions on 144 MHz across the Great Australian Bight. This would account for signals going 1800kms from the SW corner of Australia to Adelaide but what about the remaining 1200kms or so from Adelaide to Sydney?

I suspect it was probably a Sporadic-E opening from Sydney and then a tropo duct across the Bight but it's impossible to be sure.

A similar opening to this happened back on the 15th Dec 2020 as outlined in this previous post HERE

Links..

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

Trans-Atlantic opening on the 40 MHz band - 10th Jan 2023

With the recent increase in solar activity, the maximum usable frequency across the North Atlantic is now reaching as high as 40 MHz. The map above shows the paths that were open by those using the FT8 mode on 40.680 MHz.

Signals from G9PUV on the SE coast of England here heard 5000kms away in N America as well as by receiving stations in the UK.

Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
WW1L 8m FT8 5010 km 14:28:14
VA2CY 8m FT8 5010 km 13:57:44
G0DJA 8m FT8 278 km 13:10:11
G8BQR/OWRX 8m FT8 214 km 14:43:00
G4FKA 8m FT8 190 km 14:33:11
WESSEXSDR 8m FT8 187 km 15:45:00
M1SLH 8m FT8 128 km 14:42:11
G7PUV/A 8m FT8 9 km 18:12:14

The experimental WM3XAN station in Michigan was heard in the Caribbean.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PJ4MM WM2XAN 8m FT8 3906 km 15:31:12
WM2XAN PJ4MM 8m FT8 3906 km 15:29:56
WM2XAN WP4G 8m FT8 3359 km 15:26:56 

The current solar flux is about about the 180-190 mark.

Winter 2022 release of the QRSS Compendium 5th Edition

Every year, the Knights QRSS Group release their annual compendium. You can view the Winter 2022 (5th edition) HERE

The Knights QRSS Group promotes the use of very slow mode code beacons to carry out propagation experiments on the HF bands. Often signals that are 15 to 20 dB below the noise can be seen on a computer screen as opposed to being heard by ear.

While newer digital modes can now be used for detecting very weak signals, they don't really show propagation effects. Either the digital signal was decoded or it wasn't. QRSS signals like the one shown below shows propagation over a 15-minute period.

In that image, you can see how signals fade with the Sporadic-E footprint moving and the polarisation changing. It also shows up slight doppler effects.

You can find out more about QRSS signals by visiting the QRSS Knights Groups.io page... https://groups.io/g/qrssknights/topics

Results of the 34 MHz Propagation Tests - 4th Jan 2023

On the 4th of January 2022, Phil EI9KP carried out a series of test transmissions on the 34 MHz band. This coincided with the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower. See previous post.

The map on the left shows the reception reports.

Phil writes... "The following reception reports have been received by email:
 
Stations that were listening but "nothing received":
EI8DJ IO51UT
EI9JA IO53GT
SWL F-10255 Stephane IN87NP
 
Stations who sent me a report:
M0TXN Kev IO83ML 02:32 FT8 -17dB
EI7GL John IO51TU 01:02 FT8 -10dB
PB8DX Flo JO21DU 08:20 FT8 -16dB
SWL EA7-3173 Juan IM76GC 11:40 FT8 -19dB
SWL PA-11605 Jan JO22NU 01:13 FT8 -12dB
SWL WESSEXSDR Martin IO80QR 13:12 FT8 -8dB"

It's likely that the close in reports (<1000kms) were probably due to meteor scatter and not Sporadic-E although at the peak of the shower, it might not be possible to tell the two propagation modes apart.

I managed to get one successful FT8 decode but it was only one over the space of 12-hours. If the propagation mode was tropo or aircraft scatter then I'd expect a lot more decodes. I think I probably caught a large meteor burst at 01:02 UTC.

There were no F2 propagation reports but the 34 MHz signal will almost certainly cross the Atlantic when the conditions are good. 

EI9KP's 1-watt beacon on 34.013 MHz is based on a RF Zero board with GPS stabilisation. The beacon is self contained in a die cast aluminium box with a 2x16 char. LCD display and a few status LEDs. The sequence was 3 x FT8 transmissions, then a CW ID and then a carrier.

The beacon antenna is also an experiment in that it is a shortened (capacitive hat) dipole with sliding end tubes that can adjust for frequencies from 32MHz to 60MHz.

Other Tests... Phil reports... "I have been testing on 34MHz on and off during 2022. On 12/06/2022, I  had a 2-way QSO (FT8) with EI4GNB Tim in IO63 and on 2-4/12/2022, I was testing 34MHz propagation with LY2YR, but no reception his side.

On New Year's Day listener Paul Logan in Lisnaskey, Co. Fermanagh received the beacon signal at 12:03 and with a Delta Airlines jet passing over the signal, the beacon signal jumped suddenly from 0dB to +11dB for one over.  He heard it fluttering up.  So a groundwave (note: Cuilcagh sits prominently in the path) plus aircraft scatter?

First contact between Switzerland and Ireland on 70 MHz - 3rd Jan 2023

 In a previous post, I outlined how radio amateurs in Switzerland had obtained authorisation to operate in the 70MHz (4m) band from January 1st 2023.

With this in mind, and noting that the Quadrantids meteor shower was due on 3/4 January 20023, Roger - EI8KN (IRTS VHF / Microwave Manager) was monitoring 70.174MHz and and ON4KST Chat, for a HB9 partner for meteor scatter tests.

On the 3rd January, Roger (IO62) received a CQ from Andre, HB9HLM (JN36) at 09:44 and started calling using the mode MSK144.

No further reflections were received and just as Roger was about to concede, further bursts came through and the QSO was complete after 41 minutes. The distance was 1173Kms. This was ahead of the peak of the shower.

Roger believes that this may be an EI to HB9 first on the 4m band.

If anyone has already accomplished this, he would be interested to know.

It would appear that during this meteor shower, Andre was able to provide a good number of 'firsts' to European operators.

Addendum: EI8KN was using a Dual PA5070-11-6BG antenna, with 6 elements on 4m.

Absolute Radio to turn off its medium wave transmitters - Jan 2023

On the 4th of January 2023, Absolute Radio announced that they were switching off their network of medium wave transmitters. It is expected to happen on the 23rd of January 2023.

Virgin Radio was launched as an AM only network back in 1993 and it was rebranded as Absolute Radio in 2008. 

While they have closed down a few AM relays in recent years, the January 2023 shutdown is a huge change. I counted no fewer than 20 transmitters on their medium wave network that will close. These are shown in the map above.

According to Ian O'Neill of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, AM radio accounts for just 2% of the listeners in the UK but makes up 35% of the radio transmission energy costs. With stats like those, it's no great surprise that the AM network will be shut down.

From my location here on the south coast of Ireland, the signal from Washford is a reasonable signal during the day. As the years go by, the number of medium wave stations within range is reducing bit by bit. 

The main high power medium transmitters are on 1215 KHz with lower power relays on other frequencies shown below.

1215 kHz (Red)
Station Transmitter kW  
Absolute Radio Brookmans Park 62.5
Absolute Radio Droitwich 52.5
Absolute Radio Westerglen 50
Absolute Radio Moorside Edge 50
Absolute Radio Washford 50
Absolute Radio Lisnagarvey 16
Absolute Radio Newcastle upon Tyne 2.2
Absolute Radio Postwick 1.2
Absolute Radio Fareham 1

1197 kHz (Blue)
Absolute Radio Brighton 1.1
Absolute Radio Nottingham 0.5
Absolute Radio Gloucester 0.3
Absolute Radio Bournemouth 0.25
Absolute Radio Oxford 0.25

1233 kHz (Orange)
Absolute Radio Northampton 0.5
Absolute Radio Manningtree 0.5 

1242 kHz (Green)
Absolute Radio Boston 2
Absolute Radio Stockton-on-Tees 1
Absolute Radio Stoke-on-Trent 0.5

1260 kHz (Purple)
Absolute Radio Lydd 1
 
Links...

1) News item from Radio Today

2) Announcement from Absolute Radio

Upcoming propagation tests at 34 MHz - 4th Jan 2023

Phil, EI9KP in the west of Ireland will be conducting some propagation tests on the 34 MHz (9m) band on Wednesday the 4th of January 2022. This coincides with the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower which is expected to peak around 03:00 to 04:00 UTC on the 4th.

EI9KP will be using a supervised 1-watt beacon on 34.013 MHz into a horizontal dipole with capacitive end loading. The beacon sequence is three x FT8 (15s) transmissions, then a CW ID (callsign + locator) and then a 4-second carrier which completes the 1 minute period. The cycle then repeats.

Before anyone asks, yes... it's 34 MHz and not a mistake. Radio amateurs in Ireland were given permission to carry out experiments in most of the low-VHF spectrum back in April of 2018. See previous post HERE

Times & Frequencies... a) The beacon for the propagation tests will run from 00:01 UTC  to 17:00 UTC on the 4th of January 2023.

b) The frequency in use will be 34.013 MHz. Set your radio to 34.0122 MHz USB and the tone of the CW signal should be 800 Hz. The FT8 signals will probably be a bit higher.

If you're within say 1000kms of EI9KP then leave your radio on FT8 overnight and see if you get any decodes. I know MSK144 would be a better mode for meteor scatter but it's not part of the software that Phil is using. This is also a basic experiment, a lot more people are geared up and familiar with FT8 than MSK144.

Any listeners close in... say under 200kms may hear the signal by ground wave, tropo or via aircraft scatter. 200-1000kms should be ok for meteor scatter.

From 09:00 to 17:00, F2 propagation should come into play and there is a possibility the signal may be heard in Europe or North America. And of course, you can never rule out the possibility of Sporadic-E popping up.

If you're interested then have a listen and be sure to send your reports to Phil, EI9KP on QRZ. You can leave them as a comment here if you wish.

QRPproject Shop closes down - Jan 2022

I noticed a few days ago that the QRPproject shop in Germany closed down at the end of 2022.

The QRPproject was described as follows..."QRP and Homebrew HAM Radio by DL2FI and DL7NIK QRP Made in Germany and more QRP Kits, qrp transceivers, accessories, mini keyers dealer for antennas, atu and more accessories".

It's impending closure was first announced back on the 1st of November 2022.

The website with the closure announcement is here... https://www.qrp-shop.biz/

Their information website is still active for the moment... https://www.qrpproject.de/UK/indexuk.html

Report from PJ4MM in the Caribbean about 40 MHz activity - 25th to 30th Dec 2022

In a previous post on the 24th of December 2022, I wrote about how Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean had received permission to use the 40 MHz and 70 MHz bands - see HERE

Martin has sent on a short report for the six days from the 25th to the 30th of December 2022 inclusive with a list of stations worked on 8m, stations heard on 8m and reception reports of PJ8MM on 8m.

Worked on 8m:
25/12 G9PUV (JO00AU), WM2XAN (EN74OH)
27/12 DL5WP (JO43CD), S50B (JN65XU), G9PUV, WM2XAN
28/12 ZS6WAB (KG46RC) in FT8 and SSB
30/12 WM2XAN (decoding >1.5hr)

Heard on 8m:
24/12 WM2XEJ (EM83JI), WM2XAN
25/12 EI2IP (IO52QJ), WM2XEJ
27/12 WM2XEJ, WM2XCC (DM13JI)

Listener reports on 8m:
23/12 FG8OJ (FK96HG)
27/12 DK8NE (JO50AL), NL8992 (JO32FL), ON7EQ (JO21FC), EA8/DF4UE (IL38BP), EA8BFK (IL38BO), VE1PLZ (FN85PR), KA9CFD (EN40OM), N8PUM (EN66DL), VA2CY (FN46LW), PJ4RF (FK52UD), VE3MMQ (FN14PR), KC0IYT (FN42KJ), W4TAA (EL87VB), PJ4BZL (FK52UC)
30/12 N8PUM, PJ4RF, K5YT (EM22NV), WW1L (FN54OM), EA8BFK , KA9CFD (EN40OM), KE8PFV (EN82JG), WB0DBQ (EN46BW)

Most of the propagation paths are probably F2 and the solar flux was up around the 150 mark for the period in question.

It's gives a nice insight into what is propagation is possible on the 40 MHz (8m) band.

For more information on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page HERE

PI9CAM bounces Slow Scan TV signals off the moon at 1296 MHz - 30th Dec 2022

On the 30th of December 2022, the Dutch amateur radio station PI9CAM carried out a series of tests by bouncing Slow Scan TV (SSTV) signals off the moon at 1296 MHz. PI9CAM is the callsign of the special station at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the north-east of the Netherands.

PI9CAM used the 25-metre dish at the site which was originally built in 1956 and was once the largest radio telescope in the world. As far as I know, they were using 100-watts for the SSTV tests.

One of those monitoring these tests was Rob, M0DTS in the NE of England. Listening on a frequency of 1296.120 MHz USB, Ron managed to get these images.

While the images have a lot of noise in them, it should be remembered that these 23cms SSTV signals on 23cms were bounced off the moon.

SSTV is an old analogue technology where signals well above the noise floor are usually required for a good decode and picture. It's not some sort of modern digital technology which decodes signals buried in the noise. 

This short video clip shows what the slow scan tv signal from the moon sounded like...

pic.twitter.com/rj829Q6zdb

— Rob Swinbank (@M0DTS) December 30, 2022

For reception of the 23cms signal, M0DTS was using a 3-metre dish with a dual polarity feed and a 0.2dB noise figure low-noise amplifier.

Thanks to Rob, M0DTS for the above information.

For more posts on the blog about the microwave bands, see my Microwave page.

Blog traffic for 2022

As we start a new year, I had a look back at the stats for the blog for 2022. I took a break from posting from about May to October and this obviously had quite an impact on the traffic to the blog. As you can see from the chart above, the blog ended the year with an average of just over 15,000 pageviews per month.

While that is down of the last two years, it's still a pretty good number. The chart below shows the daily views per day for the year.

You can see the traffic dropping off in May and then picking up again in November.

It's important to note that it's not all about blog traffic and pageviews either. Amateur radio for me at the end of the day is a scientific hobby and the frequency of posting depends on the amount of time I have  available. 

Social Media... On this front, my EI7GL Twitter account went from 800 to 1083 followers. My Facebook page went from 343 to 502 followers and my Instagram account went from 210 to 262 followers.

And for 2023??? I have a few ideas for the blog which I hope to try in the next year. The key thing for me is that whatever I write about and post, I have to be interested in it. I could probably get loads of traffic if I wrote about DX-ing on the HF bands, contesting or the latest HF rigs but I really have no interest in that.

I have seen lots of interesting stories from 2022 which I might still cover. The problem with a lot of information about amateur radio is that it exists in niche forums and social media accounts. A few people know about something that happened but I like trying to putting a spotlight on those stories and bringing them to a wider audience. 

I also think it's important to try and document properly say an unusual opening on a particular band so that there is a record of it. I try to keep links to these posts in the various band pages I have on the site. e.g. 40 MHz, 50 MHz and so on.

Hopefully for the year ahead, I keep posting and we'll see how things go.

12,000km+ opening on the 40 MHz band from California to Australia - 28th Dec 2022

Following on from the report of a 12,000km+ opening from South Africa to the United States, here is another report of remarkable opening on the 40 MHz band from California to Australia.

On the 28th of December 2022, Hilary VK2AZ in Sydney, Australia managed to get two decodes of the WSPR signal from Chris, WM2XCC in California on the 40 MHz (8m) band. The distance was 12,156 kms.

2022-12-28 01:36   WM2XCC   40.681491   -22   0   DM13ji   50   VK2AZ   QF56if   12156   242   2 
2022-12-28 01:28   WM2XCC   40.681492   -22   0   DM13ji   50   VK2AZ   QF56if   12156   242   2

Screenshot from VK2AZ

WM2XCC is the experimental callsign allocated by the FCC to Chris, N3IZN. For his experimental 8m WSPR transmissions, he was using 50-watts to a half-wave vertical.

VK2AZ in Sydney was using a horizontal half-wave dipole in a very noisy suburban location.

Analysis... At 01:30 UTC, the sun would have been over the centre of the Pacific Ocean so it's probably no great surprise that it happened at this time as the level of ionization would have been at maximum. With the solar flux now reaching 150-160, F2 trans-equatorial (north-south) paths up as high as 50 MHz are being reported recently.

In the last few weeks, there have been paths on the 50 MHz band from Australia & New Zealand to the western half of the United States. As 40 MHz is a lower band, it was likely that the path was open as well recently but this is the first time that an 8m signal across the Pacific has been reported.

In terms of propagation and potential paths, the 40 MHz band will never be as good as the 28 MHz band but it should always be better than 50 MHz. The reason it isn't obvious is just a lack of activity and reports.

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

12,475km opening on the 40 MHz band from South Africa to the USA - Dec 2022

With the solar flux now reaching the 150 mark, the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) is now allowing more paths on the 40 MHz band to open up.

Tim, WW1L in the state of Maine in the USA reports reception of the FT8 signals from ZS6WAB in South Africa on Monday the 26th of December 2022. The distance was about 12,475 kms.

The Red lines on the map above are for the 50 MHz band and the Purple lines are for the 40 MHz band. On the 8m band, WW1L was hearing two of the US experimental stations as well as ZS1WAB in South Africa.

The main frequency for SSB and FT8 on the 8m band is 40.680 MHz, right in the middle of the ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, Medical).

Wed 7th Dec 2022: This day seems to have been even better with WW1L hearing ZS6WAB & ZS6OB from South Africa and G9PUV from England.

A note of caution about the map above... there may be some mistaken reports from other bands but overall, it seems about right. ZS6WAB and ZS6OB can both be seen in South Africa and they had 8m paths to Europe and the USA.

PJ4MM in the Caribbean is hearing 8m signals from Europe. The station in the south of Portugal and in the Canary Islands are hearing 8m signals and reporting them.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of activity on the band.

It looks as if one of the US experimental stations WM2XAN in Michigan exchanged a signal report with ZS6WAB on 40.680 MHz...

160015 -20 0.3 1399 ~ WM2XAN ZS6WAB R-02

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

Opening on the 40 MHz band from the Caribbean to Europe - 27th Dec 2022

In a previous post a few days ago, I gave details about how Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean had received permission for the 40 MHz and 70 MHz bands. With the Solar Flux up around the 150 mark, it looks as if the F2 MUF (maximum usuable frequency) for some paths is well above 30 MHz and into the low-VHF region.

The map above shows the paths on 40 MHz from Bonaire and the list below shows extracts of the 8m FT8 log from the PSKReporter website.

The furthest signal to the east was to S50B in Slovenia (8435 kms), the furthest to the west was to WM2XCC in California (5485 kms).

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
PJ4MM PJ4RF 8m FT8 10 km 17:14:41
PJ4BZL PJ4MM 8m FT8 12 km 17:33:26
PJ4MM PJ4BZL 8m FT8 12 km 17:32:41
WM2XEJ PJ4MM 8m FT8 2803 km 16:07:59
PJ4MM KC0IYT 8m FT8 3370 km 17:25:14
PJ4MM VE3MMQ 8m FT8 3709 km 17:16:41
PJ4MM VE1PZ 8m FT8 3765 km 16:26:44
PJ4MM KA9CFD 8m FT8 3846 km 17:14:44
PJ4MM VA2CY 8m FT8 3873 km 17:14:44
PJ4MM WM2XAN 8m FT8 3906 km 17:28:41
PJ4MM N8PUM 8m FT8 4229 km 17:14:44
WM2XCC PJ4MM 8m FT8 5485 km 19:44:44
PJ4MM EA8BFK 8m FT8 5896 km 16:22:00
PJ4MM EA8/DF4UE 8m FT8 5896 km 14:20:29
PJ4MM G9PUV 8m FT8 7438 km 14:01:59
PJ4MM ON7EQ 8m FT8 7748 km 13:49:27
PJ4MM NL8992 8m FT8 7899 km 13:40:29
PJ4MM DL5WP 8m FT8 8022 km 13:47:29
PJ4MM DK8NE 8m FT8 8136 km 13:38:28
PJ4MM S50B 8m FT8 8435 km 13:45:26

Additional report from PA3GHQ... "I received 9 times CQ from PJ9MM with Elad FDM DUO SDR, HM dipole in the attic & JTDX from 13:45 x 13:51 UTC. Signals from -9 tot -24 dB. ‘73 Kees PA3GHQ/ SWL BDXC CAS4147 Gorinchem The Netherlands"

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

Yaesu FT-818 radio discontinued - Dec 2022

 
In a statement on the 28th of December 2022, Yaesu USA announced that their FT-818 radio is going to be discontinued. The reason given is the 'worldwide parts shortage'.

This radio is essentially a 'shack in a box' as it covers nearly all of the amateur radio bands including all of the HF bands (160-10m), 6m, 2m and 70cms. The power output is 6-watts.

The FT-818 model was released in March of 2018 and was the replacement for the venerable F-817 which was released way back in 2001. The FT-817 was a hugely popular radio especially with QRP and portable enthusiasts in its day. The FT-818 was supposed to be its more modern iteration but it was widely seen the FT-817 with a few improvements and it left a lot of people disappointed.

A quick check of the prices show the FT-818 selling for about $650. That's about half the price of the hugely popular ICOM IC-705 which sells for $1350. As a radio, it would have been under pressure from Chinese radios like Xiegu which sell for the same or less or from the IC-705 which created a huge buzz when it was released.

Maybe it was discontinued because of the 'parts shortage' but I suspect a lot of people will think it was because of poor sales. Whatever the reason, it's sad to see this popular FT-817/818 line come to an end.

***

Yaesu also announced that they would be also discontinuing their FTM-400XDR radio. This is a dual band 2m/70cms radio with FM and C4FM. It was released in 2015 as far as I can tell.

Again, the 'parts shortage' is the reason given for its demise.

Yaesu USA ANNOUNCEMENT - Dec.28th, 2022... "Please be informed that the production of the FT-818ND and FTM-400XDR will be discontinued. We are forced to make this unfortunate decision due to difficulty we are having with the availability of some components. We appreciate your long-term patronage of the FT-818ND and FTM-400XDR."