Successful contact on the 1296 MHz band by bouncing signals off Geostationary satellites - Jan 2025

I recently came across details of this remarkable contact on the 1296 MHz (23cms) band.

On the 22nd January 2025, the PI9RD station at the Dwingeloo radio telescope facility in the Netherlands managed to make a contact with HB9Q in Switzerland by bouncing signals off an INMARSAT satellite in geosynchronous orbit.

While it is reasonably common for stations on the 1296 MHz band to bounce signals off the moon and for geostationary satellites like QO-100 to relay microwave signals, the signals on this occasion were physically bouncing off the metalwork of a geosynchronous satellite.

When you consider that satellites in a circular geosynchronous orbit are at an altitude of 35,786 kms rather than a few hundred kms for satellites in low earth orbit then it's even more remarkable.

Jan, PA3FXB gave this account of the contact...

Today at PI9RD (25m Dwingeloo telescope) we succeeded in completing two QSO’s on 23 cm with HB9Q via reflection off geostationary satellites. 

This journey started in May 2013 when Andreas DJ5AR and I (PA3FXB) had our first 23 cm ISS bounce QSO using our 3 m dishes. We started experimenting with the big dish using smaller satellites.

In 2016 we (DJ5AR and PI9CAM) had a QSO via reflection off an old orbiting weather satellite. Since then, we started thinking of a QSO via reflection off a geostationary satellite. Much much, farther away but virtually fixed so no tracking challenges. 

With HB9Q we tested using a cluster of ASTRA satellites using the double tone of JT65. We did not hear or see anything, but computer analysis showed that the signal was there! We did it again and got the same result. People familiar with the satellite world suggested us to use INMARSAT as passive reflector. 

120W into a 25m dish on the 23cm band

The first INMARSAT-test with HB9Q was at the end of 2023 and produced a nice stable -23 dB and decoding signal on our screen. We then used Q65-120A. Our output power is much less so Dan did not see our signal and a strange thing happened: After a few minutes the signal disappeared….

Thinking about this and talking to satellite operators brought us to the conclusion that the orientation of the solar panels of the sats is an important thing to get good reflections. Nobody could tell us how it works on the different sats but there appear to be two systems. Constant moving of the solar panels and moving them in big steps every now and then. This might have happened when the reflection disappeared…. 

With this uncertainty about the solar panel position we decided to simply try a few INMARSATs. Today was the day ??

We started with the same INMARSAT GX5 we used in 2023 and we immediately saw -21 dB signals from Dan. This time we used Q65-60A to save our SSPA’s. After calling several times we received R-32 from Dan! Thanks to averaging!

And some minutes later after sending our RR73’s several times we received 73 from Dan. So, we made it!!! Just barely but we made it ?? 

Then we decided to try another sat. We went for INMARSAT 4A F2 (Alpha) and we experienced much stronger reflections! -15 / -24 dB. Dan was speaker copy in Dwingeloo! We had an ‘easy’ QSO?? 

After that we tried two other INMARSATs but with no result at all. So, here we are, two QSO’s via passive reflection off two INMARSATs. We think this has never been done before by radio amateurs. 

It made us very happy! Thanks to Dan and his patience and many tests! 

***

Well done to all concerned. For some details of other interesting contacts on the 1296 MHz band, see my Microwave page.

Notice: Upcoming HAARP ionospheric tests from Alaska - 27th to 31st Jan 2025

High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is based in Alaska and it's a high-power, high frequency (HF) transmitter for studying the ionosphere.  The principal instrument is a phased array of 180 HF crossed-dipole antennas  capable of radiating 3.6 megawatts  into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.  Transmit frequencies are selectable in the range of 2.7 to 10 MHz.

Update: Note that due to hazardous winter road conditions along the highways leading to the HAARP facility, the January Research Campaign has been delayed by 1 day. Dates updated below.

The research team have announced that they will be carrying out tests from the 28th of January to the 2nd of February 2025.

The press release is shown below and I've added a map to show location and distance.

To: Amateur Radio & Radio Astronomy Communities

From: HAARP Program Office

Subject: Notice of Transmission

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will be conducting a research

campaign with operating times specified in the table below. Operating

frequencies will vary, but all HAARP transmissions will be between 2.75 MHz and 10 MHz. Actual

transmit days and times are highly variable based on real-time ionospheric and/or geomagnetic

conditions. All information is subject to change.

This campaign is being conducted in support of research proposals from UAF, the University of

Florida, the Naval Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Cornell University,

Dartmouth College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the University of Houston.

Research topics for this campaign include VLF generation and ducting, studies on STEVE airglow,

and space debris detection. 

This campaign will also support the GIRAFF rocket launch from Poker

Flat Research Range, which is investigating the mechanisms that cause flickering and pulsing

within the aurora. More information on GIRAFF is available here:

https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/news/story301-36.380%20381%20GIRAFF.html

Note that a number of experiments will be conducted based on the critical frequency (f0F2)

determined by the Gakona ionosonde. The included transmission notice supplement contains

information on the frequencies HAARP is authorized to transmit. HAARP transmissions will only

occur on our authorized frequencies. 

There are no specific data collection requests from funded investigators, but reception reports are appreciated and may be submitted online via our web form

at: https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/form/reception-reports

For updates on ionospheric conditions in Gakona, please consult ionograms from the HAARP

Diagnostic Suite: https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/diagnostic-suite

Additional Resources for Reading Ionograms
Understanding HF Propagation and Reading Ionograms from Bootstrap Workbench:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTFKNCo3Cl8

Reading Your Ionogram-Keeping It Simple from John (VE6EY):
https://play.fallows.ca/wp/radio/shortwave-radio/reading-your-ionogram-keeping-it-simple/

The image above is an annotated ionogram from HAARP that describes features that may be of

interest. Note that f0F2 is calculated at the top left.

f0F2 is the critical frequency of the F2 layer of the Earth’s ionosphere. This is the frequency at
which radio signals stop refracting off the ionosphere and begin passing through to outer space.
For certain HAARP experiments that deal with interactions in the ionosphere, transmission
frequencies below f0F2 are desirable, while for other experiments (such as those involving high altitude satellites), staying above f0F2 is required.

Supplement to HAARP Notice of Transmission

General Information for HAARP Radio Enthusiasts:

Notice: 145 MHz Activity Period for the UK & Ireland - Sun 26th Jan 2025

The 145 Alive Group are organising an activity period on the 2m amateur radio band in the UK & Ireland on Sunday the 26th of January 2025 from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC.

This is not a contest and the aim is to promote more activity on the 2m amateur radio band. The approximate location of the net controllers are shown in the map above and they will be operating on the FM channels from 145.250 to 145.575 MHz.

Don't worry about who is operating where, just tune around and see who you can hear. All you need to do is to call in and give a report. If you listen for a few minutes, you'll get the format of the exchanges.

The weather isn't looking great with a named storm crossing over the UK & Ireland on Sunday. This may result is fewer stations taking to high ground.

Winter Sporadic-E opening on the FM band in the USA - 14th Jan 2025

While the summer Sporadic-E season from late April to early August is well known, there is also a much smaller Sporadic-E season during the mid-winter.

On the 14th of January 2025, there was one such opening in North America. This one was a bit unusual in that it happened during the hours of darkness and the maximum usable frequency (MUF) went as high as 107.7 MHz.

Mike Schaffer, KA3JAW writes... "There was a good Sporadic-E opening on the 88-108 MHz FM broadcast band on the 14th of January 2025.  There was USA Winter Season FM Es reported on three spotters, Wlogger, FMLIST, DXMAPS during the midnight hours up to the top of the band. 

Two events - the first occurred from 0506 - 0655 UTC from the Northeast to the upper Midwest. The second shorter event from 2313 - 2323 UTC was from the Northeast to the lower Midwest."

Looking through the logs, the minimum skip distance was 952kms while the longest was 2289kms, close to the maximum for one hop Sporadic-E.

Successful tests with Rattlegram - Dec 2024

Every Tuesday evening, there is a local net here in Cork on the VHF bands where a few of us get on air for a chat for about an hour. Over the course of the month, we alternate between 2m FM, 70cms FM, 4m FM and 70cms DMR. 

If there is a fifth Tuesday in a month, we sometimes use it for experiments. As Tuesday the 31st of December was the fifth Tuesday in the month, a few of us tried the Rattlegram app.

Rattlegram is an app for a smartphone and it allows users to send short text messages over the radio. The beauty of the app is its simplicity. There is no need for wires or interfaces, the user just needs to hold their smartphone next to the microphone and loudspeaker of their radio.

The burst of data from the Rattlegram app only lasts for about two seconds. It's really simple to use. You just compile a short message on the app, press PTT on the radio and tell the other person you're sending a message, hold the microphone of the radio next to the smartphone and press 'TRANSMIT' on the app. The person on the receiving end gets the error free message on their app a second or two later.

Test Results... There were four of us on air for the net... Denis EI4KH, Robbie EI3GGB, Don EI8DJ and myself EI7GL. Over the course of about two hours, we successfully exchanged short text messages with the app over the air.

The tests on FM on the 145 MHz and 50 MHz bands were nearly all 100% successful. The main thing here was to make sure that the volume on the radio was turned up to a reasonable level and the phone was held near the radio.

It was interesting to see that the tests on 50 MHz SSB were also successful. The digital burst of Rattlegram is made up certain audio frequencies and on FM, these frequencies are copied exactly.

On SSB, you will never tune exactly to the other persons frequency. You can tune your radio to make the other person sound ok but if you were to relay something like music then you'd know something wasn't quite right.

With Rattlegram over SSB, the tones must be off slightly but it didn't seem to matter. 

We also tried using Rattlegram with DMR via a local repeater and simplex. Both tests were a failure and it looks as if the Rattlegram audio signal is distorted to such an extent that decoding wasn't possible.

As for why DMR failed? One theory put forward was the time division multiplex nature of DMR as the signal is chopped up.

(Addendum: Brian, EI8EJB reports using Rattlegram without any issues on FM simplex but there could be issues when trying to go through a FM repeater. See comments to blog post)

The image above shows what the Rattlegram app looked like on my phone for the tests. The oldest traffic is at the bottom and the newest messages appear at the top of the screen.

The three dots at the top right allow the user to access the menu items. From there, you can select CALL SIGN to put in your call as otherwise, you will appear to others as ANONYMOUS.

To clear the screen of all the text messages, select DANGER ZONE and then Delete Messages.

The longest message that you can send seems to be around 3-4 short lines of text.

Rattlegram - What's its purpose??? ... The question that obviously arises is why would you need to Rattlegram anyway? The example often offered is that in the case of a natural disaster like a flood, storm, hurricane, wildfire, etc, mobile phone cell towers can be destroyed. 

In that scenario, your mobile phone without cell coverage reverts to being a fancy camera with a calculator. Rattlegram allows the user to send short text messages over the radio until full communication is restored.

I can also see Rattlegram being used a simple tool in an scenario where I just want to pass on some basic information like say a phone number to someone.

In conclusion... The purpose of our experiment was to introduce participants of the net to the Rattlegram app and to gain experience of seeing it in use. As with the conclusion of many experiments, it raised for me more questions.

1) How well will it perform under weak signal conditions on FM or SSB? How far down into the noise will the signal go and still work?

2) Will it work on the HF bands with multipath? Will it work on a circuit with multiple hops?

I get the feeling that Rattlegram is a bit like a solution looking for a problem. It's a tool that I'm sure some resourceful operators will find a use for.

Further information... There are plenty of videos on YouTube about Rattlegram or under its older name Ribbit.

Andreas HB9BLA has a nice video below which gives a good overview of the Rattlegram app.

6474km TEP contact on 144 MHz from Argentina to a ship off the coast of Florida - 9th Dec 2024

Over the last few years, I've reported on many Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) contacts from South America to the Caribbean on the 144 MHz band... links on my 144 MHz page.

For this mode of propagation at 144 MHz, signals must generally cross the Geomagnetic Equator at right angles. This usually means that stations in the south of Brazil work places like Guadeloupe, St Martin & Puerto Rico. Stations near Buenos Aires in Argentina work stations in Curacao & the Dominican Republic.

There has been a distinct lack of 144 MHz TEP openings further west in South America mainly due to a lack of stations at one or both ends of the paths.

So it was a really big surprise to hear that Carlos, LU7MC in the west of Argentina managed to complete a contact with Yuri, UT1FG/MM on a ship to the north of Cuba!

The contact was made using the Q65B mode on the 9th of December 2024 at 01:34 UTC. This is just after 20:00 local time for both stations which is about the peak time for evening type TEP.

The distance was in the region of 6474 kms which is exceptionally long for a 144 MHz TEP contact for South America.

The map above shows just how close UT1FG/MM  was to the Florida. His ship was just 80kms south of the road going to Key West and about 170kms south of Miami.

It's hard to know for certain but I suspect that the TEP signal from LU7MC almost certainly reached Florida. It was most likely that there was nobody active there and looking.

Mode of Propagation... As indicated already, the mode of propagation was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. There may have been an extension at the northern end of the circuit with some marine tropo / ducting north of Cuba.

Mode of contact... The Q65B mode was used for this 144 MHz contact. The screen shot from LU7MC is shown below...

As you can see below, the signal level was about 0dB to -8dB which is probably too weak for SSB but should be strong enough to be heard by ear and a CW contact would be possible.

The screen shot from UT1FG/MM is shown below...

The signal levels were about the same at -4dB to -8dB.

Equipment... Carlos, LU7MC is located in the city of Mendoza in grid locator square FF57OB. He was running 100-watts into an array of 4 x 10-element Yagi antennas.

Yuri, UT1FG works on a commercial ship and was Maritime Mobile between Cuba and Florida in grid locator EL94PC. He was running 200-watts into a single 7-element Yagi antenna.

In conclusion... This really was an important contact on the 144 MHz band because it shows that there is a very good possibility of a TEP path from the west of Argentina to Florida. Could it extend even further north to some of the other southern US states by tropo? Could the stations in Chile get in on the action?

The really big question is if anyone in the United States is paying attention and is going to try and make a contact?

Link...
a) For more information on long distance 2m contacts, see my 144 MHz page.

3770 km contact on 144 MHz between Brazil and St Helena - 7th Dec 2024

On the 7th of December 2024, PY1MHZ in Brazil and ZD7GWM on St Helena Island managed to complete a contact on the 144 MHz (2m) band. The distance was in the region of 3,770kms.

This was an amazing contact for tropo on 144 MHz and it raises the question if a contact from the east coast of Brazil to the west coast of Africa might be possible?

Marcos, PY1MHZ sent on the following information... "After many years of trying over the sea, a contact was finally made last night on 144MHz 2m with the Garry Mercury ZD7GWM on Santa Helena Island at a distance of 3,768km.

Contact completed with the Q65D mode

Garry was using a Diamond X700 vertical antenna and approximately 50w. On my side, I was using 8 vertical elements with 200w. I could work up to 500w but there was no need.

Very happy with this Christmas present. 73 de Marcos PY1MHZ in grid GG98LC."

Comment & Analysis... Yet again, this is another fine example of some of the undiscovered paths that exist once there are stations active in the right location. Some of the VHF contacts that Garry, ZD7GWM has been able to complete with a vertical omni-directional antenna are nothing short of remarkable.

In the last few years, he has managed to work South Africa at 3000kms on 144 MHz and 432 MHz via tropo, he has worked Spain and Portugal at about 6000kms on 144 MHz via TEP and now, he has worked across the South Atlantic on 144 MHz to Brazil.

As for the contact to Brazil, it seems likely that it was a marine duct across the South Atlantic. The tropo prediction map from Pascal, F5LEN certainly seems to support this theory.

How many other undiscovered long distance paths are out there?

I have a previous post about Garry's set up HERE

For more information about other long distance openings on the 2m band, see my 144 MHz page.

LongChat… The new amateur radio text chat software by TA2STO

Oguz, TA2STO in Türkiye has developed a new mode called LongChat to allow radio amateurs to communicate with each other.

It's described as follows... "LongChat is a low-power (QRP) / low bitrate text chat software application over ham radios connected to a PC. Chirp symbols with an audio bandwidth of 2400 Hz (300-2700 Hz) are generated on the PC side for encoding the messages. Baseband audio signal is then transferred from PC to ham radio for modulation at the selected mode. SSB, FM and other types of modulation modes can be used. Forward error correction codes are used to correct messaging errors

Current version is tested on ICOM-7300 and YAESU FT991A radios. Other radios are supported but not tested yet. Future improved versions will support higher data rates or lower S/N ratios. 

Since the software is continually improved and data structures may have changed, newest version needs to be used for compatibility with all users. To ensure this, software will remind you to download and use the latest version when a new version is ready.

Specifications
Usable data rate (net user data) is 7 ASCII characters per second at -12 dB signal to noise ratio.
Eb/No (Energy per Bit to the Spectral Noise Density) is 5 db 
Measurement of received message SNR.
Measurement of chirp frequency shift in SSB mode.
You may download the software, user manual and brochure at the link below.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NQwbeoHE3vPLORGN1krpSNHHI9brhDJh?usp=sharing "

As of late 2024, this is all very new and I'm sure a lot of people will have questions as to how good is it? Will it be better than modes like JS8Call? And more critically, will it get a critical mass of users to make it worthwhile?

I'd suggest that at the moment, it should be seen as something of interest to those who like to experiment with digital modes on the HF bands and want to experiment to see how it compares to other modes.

It also seems to be a 'work in progress' project  but remember that the software for this mode is free and is being developed by one person. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.

TA2STO released the following video about it...

Update from TA2STO - 1st Dec 2024: 

- Hi, I am the author of LongChat chirp mode. I started it a few years ago as a project for low power sensor applications. Then I wanted to try it as an experimental digital ham mode.

- The link for the software is at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NQwbeoHE3vPLORGN1krpSNHHI9brhDJh

-LongChat is an encoder/ decoder. In general it should work on all modulations LSB, USB, FM, AM etc.

- I usually work with USB at lower band edges and LSB at upper band edge. It is easy to miss it when changing the modes. I guess I relied on IC7300 to disable transmission at band edges. IC 7300 does allow that though. I had no specific reason for using LSB. It works both on USB and LSB.

- I am preparing a new video to compare the power efficiencies of digital modes. I will post it when ready

- Newest version is 1.3.00 . Setup manual, version info and other things are also in the link above.

- LongChat is experimental and supports a number of radios. Untested radios are marked with * as the first character

- I am not an experience radio ham in operations and regulations. Maybe experienced radio hams can designate frequencies and protocols for test purposes.

- Since the signal is way below the noise level (-13 db) , there is yet no equivalent of a waterfall display like FT8, JS8 etc. This makes it harder to see the activity.

- You can view the waterfall in FT8 because it's minimum SNR is -4 db. and bandwidth is 50 hz . People quote -21 db as the SNR for FT8. This is the referred SNR if the bandwidth were to be widened to 2500 Hz. My next video will clarify these issues.

- Since there are no designated frequencies for LongChat, it is difficult to find some one for QSO

-There is also a criticism of LongChat not being open source . LongChat code has some new algorithms with IP value. If I open the source code to radio hams, people and companies with commercial interest will also have a free access. But I totally respect and mostly agree with the open source advocators.

- In short, LongChat is an experimental mode. My effort is to bring the SNR of LongChat to the limit dictated by the Shannon channel capacity theorem and make it the most power efficient mode.

- If people want to experiment with it, I am ready to support. I am not the best person to decide on the designated QSO frequencies, LSB or USB selection, protocols etc. If some of you want to do that , or perhaps open a group here or on google groups i.o, I would be happy to get involved.

Addendum: Matt, M0DQW released the following video which shows LongChat in operation...

Reception report of Dutch FM radio station in Finland...

Thanks to Rob, PE9PE for sending on this following news item. Omroep Venlo is a relatively low powered FM radio station in the south of the Netherlands running 0.5kW on 96.9 MHz.

On their website, they posted a story about how someone in Ivalo in the north of Finland had sent them a reception report with an audio recording which they put on their website... https://omroepvenlo.nl/nieuws/artikel/omroep-venlo-ook-in-lapland-in-de-ether

On their site, they write... "Omroep Venlo was temporarily audible in Lapland thanks to a natural phenomenon. A local radio amateur in Northern Finland picked up the signal and listened to music from Venlo." 

"52-year-old Marko Brask from Ivalo, Finland, some 2,300 kilometres north of Venlo, was surfing the airwaves when he came across a radio broadcast from Omroep Venlo. Brask could understand little of the song Waat Gaon We Doon by De Herfshane Band. Reason for him to write to Omroep Venlo and check whether the broadcast actually came from Venlo."

"That was correct; the fragment that Brask sent along is indeed from a broadcast of Omroep Venlo. The signal could be heard in Lapland thanks to a natural phenomenon with the ionosphere. This layer in the atmosphere can reflect radio signals back to the earth like a mirror. This allows signals on the FM band to be listened to over great distances."

They don't mention the date of the reception report but it sound likes it might have been Sporadic-E. The distance was 2236 kms which is just inside the maximum distance for one hop Sporadic-E.

Using Google search, I can see other reception reports for this person in Finland so it would seem like they are an experienced FM DXer rather than just some random person finding the station on an ordinary radio.

In itself, it's not all that special a reception report in terms of distance or power but it was still interesting to see a radio station acknowledge the report on their website.

VIDEO: Solar Cycle 25 update by Carl, K9LA

In November of 2024, Carl, K9LA gave a presentation titled "Review of Propagation in the First Half of Cycle 25, and forecast for the Second Half of Solar Cycle 25" to the Madison DX Club. In it, he looks at the data for the current sunspot cycle, what the bands are like and what the future might hold.

It was also interesting to note from the presentation a recent interesting skewed propagation path on the 50 MHz band between the UK and Japan.

The main presentation is about 24-minutes in length.

3000km opening on Band 2 (88-108 MHz) from Ireland to Western Sahara - 10th Nov 2024

Paul Logan in the north-west of Ireland is one of the most active FM DXers in Europe and on the 10th of Nov 2024, he caught an interesting opening on the 88-108 MHz band.

From about 11:00 to 12:00 UTC, he heard a large number of FM radio stations from Spain and Portugal due to a Sporadic-E opening. While this is quite normal during the summer Sporadic-E season, it is unusual during the month of November and especially at these frequencies.

However, the really interesting signals were those that were much further to the south. This is an extract from Paul's log...

Mode UTC  QRG ITU Station, location Distance km kW ERP Pol
Es 1209 87.90 AZR RTP Antena 2, Pico Alto de Santa Maria 2346 1 v
Es 1151 93.00 CNR COPE, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906  4
Es 1154 88.60 CNR Happy FM, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 0.25
Es 1152 91.20 CNR Onda Fuerteventura, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 0.5 m
Es 1149 87.70 CNR RNE Radio Clásica, Puerto del Rosario/Temejereque 2906 7 m
Es 1146 90.20 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania, Tarfaya 2960  4 v
Es 1146 93.90 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 3.16 v
Es 1146 91.00 MRC SNRT Radio Régionale de Laâyoune, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 10 h
Es 1146 87.90 MRC SNRT Al Idaâ Al Amazighia, Laâyoune=El Aaiún 3050 10 h

AZR - Azores, CNR - Canary Islands, MRC - Morocco / Western Sahara

Note that the signals are in the lower portion of the 88-108 MHz band and the highest frequency listed is 93.9 MHz.

For this opening, Paul was using a SDR Play RSP1A receiver with a 9-element Yagi for Band 2.

The normal maximum range of single hop Sporadic-E signals is about 2300 kms so an explanation is required as to how the signals above were heard.

The image above shows the tropo forecast by Pascal, F5LEN showing enhanced conditions to the north of the Azores and Canary Islands.

It seems likely that while there was a Sporadic-E opening from Ireland to Spain and Portugal, this very likely extended to the west as well to the sea to the west of Portugal. This then coupled into a maritime surface tropo duct as far as the Azores, Canary Island and the Western Sahara / Morocco. 

Of course, no-one can say for certain that this is exactly what happened. There is always the possibility of two Sporadic-E hops but the chances of that are a lot lower then the combined Sp-E / Tropo scenario.

Paul Logan as a very active FM DXer has heard stations in this area before but it's usually during the summer Sporadic-E season. It's just very unusual to hear 3000 kms signals in mid-November.

Indeed, Paul reports that this is the first time he has heard the Canary Islands by Sporadic-E outside of the usual summer season.

Links...

1) For latest logs on FM DX, see https://www.fmlist.org/

2) For more examples of long distance reception reports, see my 88-108 MHz page.

TEP openings on the 144 MHz band from St Helena Island to Europe - Oct 2024

Back at the end of September 2024, I had a post on the blog about the first TEP contact on the 144 MHz band between Spain and St Helena in the South Atlantic, a distance of about 6,100 kms - Post HERE.

Just after that, other stations in Spain and Portugal were making TEP contacts with St Helena so I waited for the end of October to do a proper report.

First of all, I must give credit to Gabriel, EA6VQ who collects a list of TEP openings on his website... https://www.dxmaps.com/

As with all data, it's hard to know from just raw information what is going on. So I took the information and generated the map that is shown above to give a better idea of what happened during the month of October 2024.

Some notes...

1) # of Days... Out of the 31 days of October 2024, there were 22 days where Trans-Equatorial Propagation on 144 MHz was reported between St Helena and the Iberian peninsula. As Garry, ZD7GWM is the only person active on 144 MHz from St Helena, any reported activity obviously depends on him being active. 

There were also a few days where TEP didn't seem possible due to geomagnetic disturbances. 

Still though, it's remarkable that there was a TEP path on 144 MHz to St Helena on two-thirds of the days of the month.

2) Mode... The initial contact with EA4I last month was with the FT4 digital mode. They are now using modes more suitable for TEP. For the first half of the month, the Q65-30B mode was used while the Q65-60D mode was used in the second half.

3) Right Angles... At 144 MHz, the TEP paths cross the geomagnetic equator close to 90-degrees. This is where the value of map becomes a reality because we can see the spread east and west of the stations involved.

Most of the stations at the northern end of the TEP circuit are in Portugal and the EA4 & EA7 regions of Spain. It's interesting to see EA3CJ in the NE of Spain is the outlier and well to the east of the rest. 

4) Missing signals?... Sometimes, it's the missing signals that are interesting. There were no reports from the EA1 area in the NW of Spain. Too far north? There were also no reports from the EA5 or EA6 areas. Too far east?

5) Distances... The longest distances are in the region of 6,300 to 6,400 kms. A total of 17 stations were involved at the northern end of the TEP path. Even UT1FG/MM on a ship to the west of the Straits of Gibraltar managed to get in on the action!

CT1EEB IN50qr 6315km

CT7ABA IN60GD 6246km

CT1FCX IM59LG

CT1APE IM59kj

CT1FFU IM59kk

CT1DIZ IM58kp

CT1CAD IM67GE 

UT1FG/MM IM55

EA3CJ JN01SE 6403km

EA4GDA IM68MV

EA4I  IM68MU

EA4LU IM68TV

EA4CYQ IM78CX

EA7/SM0KAK IM76mm

EA7BPO  IM76SR

EA7HLB IM76OP

EA7FDW  IM76WS

6) Times... As is typical with evening type TEP, most of the signals were around 8pm local time. The earliest report was at 19:38 UTC and the last report was 21:32 UTC.

7) ZD7GWM... As far as  I know, Garry, ZD7GWM on St Helena has a modest station with just 50-watts from a Yaesu FT-897 into a Diamond X700H vertical antenna.

Analysis... I've been following the TEP tests in 2024 and it has been pretty remarkable just how often the path is there on 144 MHz. I think a lot of people expected it to be more sporadic but it often seems like TEP at certain times of the year is almost a daily occurrence.

Looking at the map, I think a lot of people will be wondering just how far north could this TEP path reach? Is it possible to reach the north of Spain? Could another propagation mode take the TEP signal further north to the likes of Ireland, Wales & the SW of England?

Sporadic-E would be an obvious answer but it's very unlikely at 144 MHz at 8pm on an evening in October. A maritime duct from Ireland to the north of Spain is more likely but signals don't seem to get too far inland into Spain.

It's very likely that the TEP signals from St Helena are in the north of Morocco but there is no-one there to exploit it.

I have a previous post about Garry's set up HERE

For more information about other long distance openings on the 2m band, see my 144 MHz page.

Opening from Guam to Ireland on the 50 MHz band - 5th Nov 2024

Tuesday 5th Nov 2024 - I had a quick listen to the FT8 frequency of 50.313 MHz today and almost straight away, I got FT8 decodes from India and Sri Lanka. It was obvious that there was some really good F2 propagation on the band.

I checked the PSKReporter website later to see if there were any good DX paths. I was interested to see that there was a path open from KG6DX on the island of Guam in the Pacific to Ireland & the UK.

Sometimes, it's not the distance that matters but how far north or south the path goes.

In this case, did the 50 MHz signals really go direct and pass that far north over Russia? Or was the path skewed with the signals following a path further south?

The solar flux today was 246 with a smoothed sunspot number of 191.

Here are some of the stations that had a path open to Guam (12,000kms +)

 Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC) SNR

CT1EEB KG6DX 6m FT8 13398 km 11:20:13 -15
KG6DX CT1EEB 6m FT8 13398 km 11:18:59 -15
CT7BIZ KG6DX 6m FT8 13360 km 11:25:43 -17
KG6DX EA5K 6m FT8 13311 km 11:18:59 -18
F4BKV KG6DX 6m FT8 12588 km 11:28:13 -18
F8BON KG6DX 6m FT8 12540 km 11:35:43 -15
F8DBF KG6DX 6m FT8 12494 km 11:20:13 -7
KG6DX F6HRP 6m FT8 12429 km 11:18:59 -12
G7RAU KG6DX 6m FT8 12377 km 11:39:43 -13
KG6DX G7RAU 6m FT8 12377 km 11:18:57 -1
G8BCG KG6DX 6m FT8 12309 km 11:35:43 -16
EI7BA KG6DX 6m FT8 12305 km 11:21:13 -16
EI3EBB KG6DX 6m FT8 12290 km 11:23:43 -11
KG6DX GE1SDX 6m FT8 12267 km 11:18:59 -11
KG6DX G0KDY 6m FT8 12260 km 11:18:59 -15
KG6DX G0ABI 6m FT8 12243 km 11:19:29 -7
G0GGG KG6DX 6m FT8 12150 km 11:24:43 -18
GW7SMV KG6DX 6m FT8 12147 km 11:29:13 -10
KG6DX GW7SMV 6m FT8 12147 km 11:19:56 -11
KG6DX G0KTN 6m FT8 12141 km 11:26:00 -9
F6GCP KG6DX 6m FT8 12140 km 11:18:43 -17
G4CCZ KG6DX 6m FT8 12068 km 11:21:13 -16
KG6DX GW0WZL 6m FT8 12052 km 11:18:57 -6
F5OHS KG6DX 6m FT8 12027 km 11:30:43 -16
G0MTN KG6DX 6m FT8 12019 km 11:28:13 -10
KG6DX GW8ASD 6m FT8 12005 km 11:18:56 -10
GW8ASD KG6DX 6m FT8 12005 km 11:17:13 -14

K6JEY talks to Ham Radio Workbench podcast about Earth Moon Earth Amateur Radio Operation

 

Over the last few months. I've been listening to some of the back catalogue of podcasts from the Ham Radio Workbench while I've been out walking. I recently listened to one titled 'Earth Moon Earth Operation'. 

In the podcast. Doug Millar, K6JEY talks to George, KJ6VU and Mike, VA3MW about his experience operating moonbounce on the 144 MHz and microwave amateur radio bands.

While the podcast is from September of 2020, I think a lot of people who are interested in the VHF and microwave bands will find it of interest.

The podcast itself at 2 hours 33 minutes is very long. The first 32 minutes is general chit chat with some microwave operation discussed.

The first part of the presentation proper begins at 32:00 and lasts until about 1:52:00. The photos and notes for this first section are shown in a PDF slideshow titled SIDEWALK EME... Link HERE 

The second part of the presentation starts at 1:52:00 and concludes at about 2:30:00. The second PDF slideshow is titled 10GHz EME Project... Link HERE 

40 MHz option added to popular ON4KST Chat site...

The ON4KST 'CHAT' website is a very popular tool for radio amateurs on the VHF & UHF bands as it allows them to exchange real time information with others about band conditions.

While there are several different platforms for information, each one tends to serve a different function.

The DX-Cluster is good for spotting DX stations on a particular frequency but the exchange of information is very limited.

There is the 40 MHz & 60 MHz group on Facebook with roughly 1200 members but that's more for post-opening analysis and the sharing of images.

The ON4KST pages have their own niche and it allows for the rapid exchange of short live time messages about what's happening on a particular band.

An screenshot of the CHAT site is shown above.

There used to be some 40 MHz traffic before on the 50 MHz chat page but with more people experimenting on the band, Alain ON4KST has kindly set up a separate page for 8m activity.

The link is http://www.on4kst.info/

For more info on the 8m band, see my 40 MHz page.

17,000km+ opening on the 50 MHz band from the UK to Sydney, Australia - 27th Oct 2024

There's an expression in the English language called 'CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FOR THE TREES'. Sometimes DX on the VHF bands can be like this, you can see a flood of reports and contacts on a particular band during an opening but the exceptional DX reports often get missed.

There have been many reports of openings in the last week from Australia to Europe but a lot of these are from the south of Europe and to places like Western Australia (VK6). There's a huge difference between say an opening on 6m from Perth to Athens compared to say an opening from the UK to New South Wales.

Conditions on Sunday the 27th of October 2024 were really good on the 50 MHz band and Stewart, G0LGS in the west of England reports working VK2IR in Sydney, Australia... a distance just under 17,120kms.

Stewart sends on the following report... "After being on six (on/off) since 1985 I was lucky to get one of those magic moments on Six just after 07:00 on Sunday 27th October 2024

I was up early and had the beam looking East for a while on 6m FT8 (50.313) when at 07:07:15 I saw VK2IR calling an OZ station (Denmark).

I immediately stated calling CQ and after 4 calls at 07:09:15 UTC. VK2IR called me giving me -17. Report, my report back was R-17 and at that point the conditions faded a little (I could see faint trace in waterfall but no decodes) and I was not sure if we would complete however at 07:11:45. I finally received RR73 for my first ever 6m contact with VK at 17,089km.

This QSO was later confirmed on LoTW

Paul G4RRA saw things a little better than I did and during that period when VK2IR also worked PA3GCV and then just after that PA0O and PC5C as can be seen from Paul's Screenshot.

I am told that this might be the best distance Terrestrial DX on 6m from the UK so far this season.

On Monday some UK and EU stations managed to make SSB QSOs with VK6 and on Tuesday some had SSB QSO's with DU6/PE1NSQ and FT8 with both DU6/PE1NSQ and 4S7AB and others, but I missed out on those.

Currently (Weds 0820) VK's are getting good propagation to East EU and Scandinavia."

G0LGS was using an ICOM IC-7300 with an Acom 1000 Linear (set to about 700W) with a 4 Ele LFA at 7m above ground level.

Analysis... As we reach the peak of the current sunspot cycle, conditions are really getting good on the 50 MHz band. Unlike previous solar peaks when the dominant modes were SSB and CW, there are now huge numbers of stations using weak signal modes like FT8 which allows reception of very weak signals buried in the noise. It's probably fair to say that openings and contacts are being made now that would have gone unnoticed in the past.

On the 27th of October, the solar flux was at 246 and the sunspot number was 198. The propagation mode was via the F2 layer of the ionosphere.

Over the next few months, we're likely to see more remarkable paths appearing on the 50 MHz band and now is the time to be active on the band. If the 6m band can open from the NW of Europe to the SE of Australia then there should be plenty of more opportunities.

Link... See my 50 MHz page for more reports of other long distance openings on the 6m band.

Trans-Atlantic opening on the 50 MHz band - 31st Oct 2024

Now that we're at or near the peak of the sunspot cycle, there are plenty of reports on the 50 MHz (6m) amateur radio band. While north-side openings are reasonably common, it's the east-west openings from more northerly latitudes that are more difficult.

One of the key indicators of very good conditions on the 50 MHz band is an opening across the North Atlantic from Europe to North America. On the 31st of October 2024, there was one such opening as can be seen above.

The map shows the 50 MHz paths on FT8 from EI3KD on the south coast of Ireland but I'm sure there were plenty of other similar paths for stations in the UK and Ireland.

It's interesting to see the footprint of the signals in the USA dropping off around the 6,000km mark which would suggest perhaps 2 x 3000km hops.

The key takeaway message is that now is the time to get on the 50 MHz band and make the most of the good openings. There should be plenty of openings on the 6m band over the next few months.

40 MHz reception report from Bill Smith, W1-7897 for May to August 2024

Thanks to short wave listener Bill Smith, W1-7897 for sending on his 40 MHz reception report for May to August of 2024.

Bill who is located near Douglas in Massachusetts in the United States is using a Yaesu FT-847 as a receiver on the 40 MHz (8m) band with a 5-element beam for the 50 MHz band about 6m above ground level.

The period in question covers the summer Sporadic-E season and it's a good example of just how hard to hear any relevant signals if there is no-one in range.

At first sight, the north-eastern part of the USA might seem like a good location for Sporadic-E and it is on bands like 50 MHz / 6m. On the 40 MHz band however, nearly all of the amateur radio or experimental stations are located well outside the 1-hop Sporadic-E range of about 2300kms.

During the four months of May, June, July & August, the pickings were slim with just two stations heard in the Caribbean which may have been double hop Sporadic-E.

40 MHz reception report from Bill Smith, W1-7897 for May to August 2024:

1st May 2024: PJ4MM in Bonaire (FK52) brief CQ 19:36 to 19:37 UTC  -16dB in strength. No Reply. 

3rd June 2024: ZF1EJ (EK99) logged 12:37 and 12:39 UTC calling CQ from the Cayman Islands. No answer. Signal Strength -17 dB on 40.680 MHz FT8.

15th June 2024: PJ4MM (FK52) logged at 20:50 UTC one CQ Call with no answer; Signal strength -16dB  on 40.680 MHz FT8.

18th June 2024: PJ4MM (FK52) called CQ from 16:47 until 17:03 UTC. No answers. Signal Strength ranged from -19dB to -7dB on 40.680 MHz FT8.

RX: FT-847.  Bill Smith, SWL W1-7897 Douglas, MA (FN42DA).

Thanks for the report Bill!

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

Opening on the 40 MHz band between N Australia and NW Europe - 23rd Oct 2024

A week ago on the 16th of Oct 2024, I reported on how there was an opening on the 40 MHz (8m) band from the north of Australia to the south of Europe. Conditions are gradually improving and on the 23rd of October, there was a similar opening but this time, it was from the north of Australia to the north-west of Europe. I have included a log of reports at the bottom of this post.

The map above shows the FT8 reports from PSK Reporter and the frequency is use was 40.680 MHz, the main centre of activity for all modes on the 8m band.

Mark, VK8MS in Australia was operating under the terms of the LIPD (Low Interference Potential Devices) Class Licence.  LIPD allows Australian citizens to operate on several bands in the low VHF spectrum with the need for a licence if the power output is below certain levels.

For the frequency range of 40.660 to 41.000 MHz (340 kHz), a maximum of 1-watt ERP can be used.

I have more details about the Australian LIPD licence in this previous post... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/01/low-vhf-band-lipd-licence-in-australia.html

In general, the further the path moves away from the equator, the more difficult the path. It's one thing for VHF signals from Australia to reach the south of Europe but when path opens to places like the UK and Ireland then it's worth taking note.

The key takeaway from this post is that conditions on the 40 MHz band are improving and if the maximum usable frequency is reaching as high as 40 MHz then there is a chance that an opening on the 50 MHz band isn't too far behind.

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

Log for VK8MS on PSK Reporter...