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...
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.