Good opening to South Africa on the 40 MHz band - 21st Jan 2023

Saturday the 21st of January 2023 was another busy day on the 40 MHz (8m) band with plenty of activity. I picked out a few notable paths.

South Africa (ZS)... There were three ZS stations on the band... ZSWAB, ZS6OB & ZS4TX. They accounted for some of the longest paths seen on the day.

Here is a list of the longest FT8 paths as reported on the PSK Reporter website...

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS6OB K9MU 8m FT8 14292 km 15:04:29
ZS6WAB WB0DBQ 8m FT8 14273 km 15:24:59
ZS6WAB K9MU 8m FT8 14252 km 15:38:59
ZS6WAB KA9CFD 8m FT8 14215 km 15:13:29
ZS6WAB N8PUM 8m FT8 13959 km 15:42:28
ZS6WAB VE3DS 8m FT8 13308 km 15:04:43
ZS4TX OH7PS 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS4TX EI9KP 8m FT8 9834 km 11:11:26
ZS6OB GM0SXQ 8m FT8 9671 km 11:13:26
ZS4TX EI3KD 8m FT8 9604 km 15:26:44
ZS6OB OH7PS 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29
ZS6OB EI9KP 8m FT8 9573 km 11:48:11
ZS6WAB MM0AMW 8m FT8 9426 km 15:21:59

This is the FT8 map for ZS6WAB as a sample...

Besides the signals from South Africa reaching North America, they extended well into Northern Europe. It's not that unusual for stations in the south of Europe to hear South African signals on the 40 MHz band but this time, there were reports from stations in Scotland.

It was interesting to see that OH7PS in Finland (KP20AF) reporting reception of both ZS4TX and ZS6OB on FT8.

OH7PS
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ZS4TX 8m FT8 9927 km 11:21:29
ZS6OB 8m FT8 9576 km 11:17:29

LA9BN in Norway (JP40CN) reports reception of ZS6WAB on the DX Cluster.

I'm not sure if the ZS stations were reported this far north before on 8m? It feels like a new barrier has been breached when we start seeing reports from the JP/KP locator squares in the north of Europe.

Mexico... XE2OR in Mexico reports reception of the Irish 8m beacon EI1CAH/B and EI2IP. XE2OR is just across the border from Texas but it's further west than recent other reports from the USA.

Trans-Continental in North America... There was also an opening on the 40 MHz band across North America.

WM2XCC is one of the experimental US 8m stations located in California.

Analysis... With the solar flux up around 210, it's probably no great surprise that the F2 layer maximum usable frequency (MUF) is reaching as high as the 40 MHz band. Most of the signals reported are probably via the F2 layer in the ionosphere but for the South African stations then there was probably some TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) as well. As for how much is TEP and how much is F2 for those North-South paths???

I have included below the spots from the DX Cluster and the PSK Reporter spots.

Link... For more info on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

Addendum... 1) Report from Vincent, F5OIH...

Additional info... DX-Cluster spots in order of callsign...

2022 Report for the 40-MHz OZ7IGY beacon

In this post, we'll look at the OZ7IGY beacon in Denmark which transmits on 40.071 MHz and how many times it was spotted on the DX Cluster in 2022. I have used the DXSummit.fi DX Cluster as the source of data for this post as I can check the whole of 2022 and download the spots into a spreadsheet to examine.

There may be some spots that are missing and didn't appear on the DXSummit cluster but the aim of the post is to give a general overview of the stations reporting reception of this Danish 8m beacon during 2022 and not list every single report that appeared on multiple platforms.

If anyone would like to add any additional reports for 2022 then they can leave it in the comments.

One other caveat is that I only used one DX spot per person per day for the overall numbers.

Annual Comparison... In terms of the number of DX spots for 2022, there was a total of 176 spots from 30 people for reception of the OZ7IGY beacon on 8m. This is in marked contrast to just 13 spots from 9 people in 2021 when the beacon was off the air for most of the Sporadic-E season.

The OZ7IGY beacon was on air for most of 2022 and what also helped was the growing interest in the 40 MHz band as more stations start listening. The number of report for 2022 also surpassed the previous best which was 146 spots from 16 people in 2020.

These were the top spotters of the OZ7IGY beacon in 2022 (30 in total)...

As can been seen on the map at the top of the post, nearly all of the stations heard the OZ beacon via Sporadic-E propagation. It is perhaps a little suprising that there seems to have been no reports from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Portugal or indeed a lot of Eastern Europe.

DX Cluster... If you do hear the beacon then make sure to report it on dx-clusters like DXSummit or DXMaps as some of the other clusters ignore spots for 40 MHz as they assume they're a mistake.

More information about the OZ7IGY beacon can be found here... http://www.oz7igy.dk/

For more information on the 40 MHz band, go to this page... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

EI9KP to carry out 34 MHz Propagation Tests on Sat 21st & Sun 22nd Jan 2023

Phil, EI9KP has announced that he will be carrying out test transmissions on the 34 MHz band (9m) band on Saturday the 21st & Sunday the 22nd of January 2023. The beacon will operate from 11:00 until 17:15 UTC on both days. The purpose of these tests is to investigate F2 layer propagation.

EI9KP will be transmitting on 34.013 MHz. The sequence of the beacon will be 2 x FT8, 2 x CW ID & Locator, short carrier.  The 2 x CW part is to help SWL's who do not use digital modes and also help during QSB cycles.

The beacon will be GPS disciplined with an output power of 1-watt. The antenna is a horizontal dipole with capacity hat loading.

To listen for this beacon, try 34.013 MHz CW or 34.0122 MHz USB.

Predicted Coverage Areas...

The map above shows the predicted coverage area for a 1-watt FT8 transmitter operating at 30 MHz. It's not quite 34 MHz but it's close.

It clearly shows the first F2 hop going from Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece... to the far south of Italy and perhaps the far south of Spain and Portugal. The path to the Canary Islands looks particularly good.

To the west, the first F2 hop includes Newfoundland and the recent tests confirm this. Phil writes... "Larry VO1FOG reports receiving the beacon at 12:42UTC (his email time stamp) and all the way through till sunset, which for my QTH was 16:48UTC.  F2 layer propagation.  He reports that the signal was particularly strong about half an hour before sunset, to disappear all together at sunset. He reported a similar signal peak yesterday, just before sunset."

It's possible the second F2 payer hop might reach parts of the Caribbean and the SE of the USA.

Sunset for his Phil's location is at 16:54UTC on Sat 21/01 and 16:56UTC on Sun 22/01.

Reports to EI9KP on QRZ or you can leave a comment here.

Note that it may be possible for stations in western Europe to hear the signal via backscatter. Leave your radio on 34.0122 MHz USB and see if you can get a decode of the FT8 signal.

Report for activity on the 40 MHz band - Wed 18th Jan 2023

As the map above shows, there was plenty of activity on the 40 MHz band on Wednesday the 18th of January 2023. One of the pivotal stations on the band is Martin, PJ4MM in the Caribbean. With the high MUF due to solar activity, he is ideally placed to put a good signal into the eastern part of the USA and Canada as well as into Europe.

According to PSK Reporter, PJ4MM was involved in the three longest paths reported on the 8m band on the 18th.

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
UW8SM PJ4MM 8m FT8 9303 km 14:56:11
PJ4MM SR4DON 8m FT8 8830 km 11:55:30
G9PUV TI5N5BEK 8m FT8 8757 km 15:15:13

Reports...

Paul, G7PUV (G9PUV) in the SE of England reports... "My tally for this afternoon was heard and flagged by 12 US stations, 4 Canadians, PJ4MM and TI5N5BEK. I worked WM2XEJ, VA2CY, PJ4MM and heard WM2XAN plus had 22 F2 backscatter reports from Europe."

This short video from Paul shows reception of WB4JWM/WM2XEJ ON 40.680MHz.

Patrik, 9A5CW reports the first contact on the 40 MHz band between Croatia and Bonaire, a distance of about 8419kms.

Robbie, EI2IP reports the following... "SSB Contact Worked PJ4MM, Martin in Bonaire Island on 8M/40MHz"

and... "SSB Contact WM2XEJ, Tom in Georgia, North America on 8M/40MHz"

Miha, S51FB reports that the 8m beacon in Slovenia, S55ZMS/B was heard by Tim, WW1L in the state of Maine in the USA (FN54).

***

DX Cluster reports are at the bottom of this post.

All reports... All of the 40 MHz paths are shown below. I have removed BG0GE who was almost certainly reporting the wrong band. The WESSEXSDR seems to generate a good few bogus spots as well and I have marked these and other suspect ones with a question mark.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)

Danish 40 MHz beacon heard for the first time in N America - 17th Jan 2023

On the 17th of January 2023, Rupert N2OTO reported the reception of the Danish OZ7IGY beacon on 40.071 MHz. This is as far as I know the first reception report of the Danish 8m beacon in North America. 

I have never seen any reports before for this 8m beacon being heard outside of Europe although paths were very likely open.

The distance from OZ7IGY/B to N2OTO is 7739kms and it's very likely the propagation mode was two hops of the F2 layer. It's probably no accident that the signal was heard in Florida as this is the most southerly of the great circle paths.

The solar flux was above 220 which suggests that the F2 maximum usable frequency (MUF) was well above 30 MHz and into the low VHF region.

The composite screenshot from N2OTO above shows some of the PI4 decodes. The opening seems to have lasted about 16 minutes and possibly coincided with a sunset in Denmark.

The peak signal had a signal to noise ratio of +1dB which would have meant that the CW ID would have been quite easy to hear.

As the OZ7IGY beacon is frequency stabilised by GPS, you can see that the receiver used by N2OTO is about 20 Hz off frequency which is pretty normal for most radios. It's a neat test and result for a VHF beacon that is on the other side of the Atlantic.

If anyone else wants to listen for the OZ7IGY beacon then try first on 28.271 MHz and get used to using the PI4 software. Once you get it working, try listening then on 40.0702 MHz USB.

Links...
1) OZ7IGY beacon website
2) My 40 MHz page

Addendum... Report for the 18th of Jan 2023

Martin, PJ4MM on Bonaire in the Caribbean reports reception of the Danish 8m beacon... "Copied the OZ7IGY beacon very well for about 15min. Was to late to install the PI4 software to get a dB report, in cw beacon was around 559"

Rupert, N2OTO reports reception of the beacon again on the 18th. Note the earlier time.

Band -----UTC------ ----Message----- ---------PI4--------- -Carrier-- --Decoder--

  YYYYMMDD HH:MM Decoded        T S/N Qua Time  Freq M  Freq   C/N

Trans-Atlantic opening at 34 MHz - 16th Jan 2023

Radio amateurs in Ireland have permission to use large portions of the low-VHF spectrum for experiments and Phil, EI9KP has been carrying out tests at 34 MHz which is the 9-metre band.

Phil conducted some tests during the Quadrantids meteor shower at the start of January 2023 and the results can be seen HERE.

With the rise in solar flux to over 230 and the rise in the maximum usable frequency (MUF) into the low-VHF spectrum, Phil conducted some tests on the 16th of January 2023 and his 1-watt beacon was heard across the North Atlantic in Newfoundland!

EI9KP writes... " I am delighted that the 1W beacon was received at 13:27UTC by VO1FOG in Newfoundland, Canada, a distance of 3145km/1995mi.  A first report from across the Atlantic, likely F2 propagation.  Thank you Larry for the report and sound clip.

Given high SFI next few days and possibility of F2 type propagation I will turn on the beacon again tomorrow Tuesday 17/01/2023 from 11:00 till 17:00 UTC. "

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.

More info in this previous post.

Update 17th Jan: VO1FOG also heard the test signal from EI9KP on the 17th of January 2023. The audio recording below shows the CW and FT8 signal.

EI9KP/b on 34.013 received today and yesterday. Tx pwr is 1 watt. pic.twitter.com/Wc1FWw1qn5

— VO1FOG (@VO1FOG) January 17, 2023

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