XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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3000km+ opening on 144 MHz from the Madeira Islands to Europe - 17th June
2021

Posted: 18 Jun 2021 09:57 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/06/3000km-opening-on-144-mhz-from-madeira.html



Thursday 17th June 2021: As I spend more time looking at Sporadic-E
openings on 144 MHz, it's becoming clearer that distances in excess of
3000kms are actually a lot more common than we might have expected.
On the 17th of June, there was what I believe to be a double hop Sporadic-E opening from the Madeira Islands to Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and
the Ukraine.
These are the FT8 paths on 144 MHz for CT3HF...Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time
(UTC)UT5ST 2m FT8 3893 km 14:34:26HA6NQ 2m FT8 3521 km 13:27:59S51ZO 2m FT8
3221 km 13:19:599A6NA 2m FT8 3214 km 13:14:29S55OO 2m FT8 3078 km
13:14:56S52LM 2m FT8 3003 km 13:20:56S59F 2m FT8 3003 km 13:20:57IV3/HB9CAT
2m FT8 2997 km 13:21:00IV3BLQ 2m FT8 2973 km 13:21:29IV3GTH 2m FT8 2966 km
13:18:56I3VWK 2m FT8 2856 km 13:27:59IK3MLF 2m FT8 2852 km 13:14:56IK4CBO
2m FT8 2711 km 13:21:26
If we look at the map for UT5ST in the Ukraine, this is what it looks like.

Notice how there are stations in the south of France and the NW of Spain at roughly the midway point.
EA6VQ UT5ST 2m FT8 2001 km 14:47:56
CT3HF UT5ST 2m FT8 3893 km 14:34:26
F1HQM UT5ST 2m FT8 1609 km 14:31:59
F4VTP UT5ST 2m FT8 1776 km 14:24:26
EB2FJN UT5ST 2m FT8 2191 km 14:24:26
F5DYD/P UT5ST 2m FT8 1933 km 14:15:26
EB3JT UT5ST 2m FT8 1983 km 14:04:11
UT5ST IS0YFG 2m FT8 1644 km 13:54:44

This to me suggests that for there were two Sporadic-E hops involved rather than one hop (2300kms) with a tropo extension.

Just to note that the opening from UT5ST to the NW of France was at the
later time of about 18:18 UTC.
These are the spots from the DX-Cluster which suggests that all of the
activity for these long paths was on the FT8 digital mode...
F6GNR 144174.0 CT3HF 16:43 17 Jun IN97FD<ES>IM12OP -20 FT8 Tnx Madeira
Islands G4FUF 144174.0 CT3HF 16:38 17 Jun JO01GN<ES>IM12OP Madeira Islands
EA2Z 144174.0 CT3HF 16:33 17 Jun 73. FT8 ES Vert antenna Madeira
IslandsHA9AL-@ 144174.0 CT3HF 14:21 17 Jun BIGGEST DX FOR ME RX 3442KM
Madeira IslandsS57A-@ 144174.0 CT3HF 13:30 17 Jun tu your best+4 Madeira IslandsS51ZO 144174.0 CT3HF 13:27 17 Jun Jn86/ES/IM12 -08db tnx Madeira
Islands
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info CountryCT3HF 144174.0 F5DYD/P 14:52 17 Jun
IM12OP<ES>JN03 FranceCT3HF 144174.0 F5PSR 14:43 17 Jun IM12OP<ES>JN13 FranceCT3HF 144174.0 UW8SM 13:32 17 Jun IM12OP<ES>KN28 HRD -13 into IM UkraineCT3HF 144174.0 S57A 13:28 17 Jun IM12OP<ES>JN65 +13 SloveniaCT3HF 144174.0 S51ZO 13:24 17 Jun IM12OP<ES>JN86DR FT8 +05 SloveniaCT3HF 144174.0 S55OO 13:22 17 Jun IM12OP<ES>JN76 Slovenia
Note the second Ukrainian station UW8SM who was at 3,875 kms.
Tropo: This was the tropo prediction map at the time....

It looks as if the usual path from Portugal to the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands is a bit weaker than usual. This ties in with no CT stations
in Portugal hearing CT3HF. It supports the theory that it was two hops.
Canary Islands - EA8: It looks as if stations on the Canary Islands were a
bit too far south for nearly all of the opening that occurred around 13:30-14:40 UTC. They had their own opening to France, England and Belgium around 16:30 UTC.

In the above image, the image on the left shows the paths from one of the
EA8 stations. The image on the right shows the paths from G4ZFJ in England
with a Sporadic-E footprint around Lisbon in Portugal.
Considering that the EA8 stations didn't seem to be hearing the CT/EA
stations on tropo, I think this was another opening on 144 MHz with two Sporadic-E hops.
As the FT8 reports below show, some paths were just short of 3000 kms.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
ON4KHG EA8CSB 2m FT8 2993 km 16:41:56
G0MBL EA8CSB 2m FT8 2938 km 16:39:42
G4ZFJ EA8CSB 2m FT8 2937 km 16:30:57
F6EAS EA8CSB 2m FT8 2629 km 16:25:41
F6GNR EA8CSB 2m FT8 2444 km 16:29:27
EA8CSB F4EZJ 2m FT8 2387 km 16:30:12
F4EZJ EA8CSB 2m FT8 2387 km 16:25:56
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
F6EAS EA8AO 2m FT8 2698 km 13:09:26
F6GNR EA8AO 2m FT8 2516 km 16:35:56
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
F4EZJ EA8AR 2m FT8 2403 km 16:26:27
In Conclusion: It does seem as if the opening from the Canary Islands (EA8)
was a bit more patchy that the one from the Madeira Islands (CT3) but the distances were still up around 3000kms and above.
Before the introduction of FT8 in 2017, I think the general consensus was
that there were a handful of 3000km+ Sporadic-E openings on 144 MHz every Sporadic-E season.
Now that I am keeping a record of them for the Summer of 2021, it seems as
if 3000km openings at 144 MHz are a lot more common than we thought.

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16,000km+ opening on 50 MHz from Australia & New Zealand to Europe - 17th
June 2021

Posted: 17 Jun 2021 10:35 PM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/06/16000km-opening-on-50-mhz-between.html


Thursday 17th June 2021: Another day, another opening on 50 MHz between Australia and Europe. This one however was different as several stations
from the Adelaide area (VK5) in the south of Australia were involved.
It also seems as if a small number of stations in New Zealand and the Australian states of Victoria & Western Australia managed to work Europe as well. Info further down post.
All the areas of Australia are not the same in terms of propagation,
Stations on the north coast have a pipeline into Japan & China via TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) whereas stations in the south of the
continent are a bit too far south.
That's why openings on 50 MHz between the south of Australia and Europe are always of interest. It raises the very real question of just how exactly
does a signal at 50 MHz travel so far near the bottom of the sunspot cycle.
The maps and station list below are derived from FT8 reports on the PSK Reporter website and it may well not include everyone. I couldn't find any information on SSB or CW contacts being made but that doesn't mean they weren't.
These are the distances for the VK5 stations near Adelaide.
VK5PWF4BKV 6m FT8 16429 km 05:25:59
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK5BC F4BKV 6m FT8 16403 km 05:21:59
VK5BC F5LNU 6m FT8 16293 km 05:47:59
DK8NE VK5BC 6m FT8 15566 km 05:55:44
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
F6BKI VK5PJ 6m FT8 16428 km 06:26:11
F4BKV VK5PJ 6m FT8 16420 km 05:23:41
F5LNU VK5PJ 6m FT8 16310 km 05:58:14
F4ARU VK5PJ 6m FT8 16296 km 06:37:11
F5BZB VK5PJ 6m FT8 16218 km 06:08:11
DF6PW VK5PJ 6m FT8 15741 km 06:15:12
IS0AWZ VK5PJ 6m FT8 15585 km 06:22:14
IS0GQX VK5PJ 6m FT8 15582 km 05:58:11
DK8NE VK5PJ 6m FT8 15580 km 06:15:41
IZ5IMD VK5PJ 6m FT8 15541 km 06:22:11
IZ5EKV VK5PJ 6m FT8 15479 km 06:23:41
IZ4AIK VK5PJ 6m FT8 15369 km 06:11:11
DG1VL VK5PJ 6m FT8 15311 km 06:07:11
I6WJB VK5PJ 6m FT8 15218 km 06:30:41
4O3A VK5PJ 6m FT8 14862 km 06:15:14
LZ1ZL VK5PJ 6m FT8 14361 km 05:42:11
4X4DK VK5PJ 6m FT8 13138 km 06:43:41
4Z1UF VK5PJ 6m FT8 13133 km 05:36:14
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)VK5SFA F5LNU 6m FT8 16302 km
06:18:26VK5SFA F4ARU 6m FT8 16286 km 05:46:26VK5SFA EA6Y 6m FT8 16104 km
06:51:00DK8NE VK5SFA 6m FT8 15580 km 06:26:41VK5SFA DK8NE 6m FT8 15580 km
06:03:59IS0AWZ VK5SFA 6m FT8 15569 km 05:57:14VK5SFA IS0GQX 6m FT8 15567 km
05:57:59VK5SFA IZ5IMD 6m FT8 15531 km 06:18:59VK5SFA IZ5DKJ 6m FT8 15528 km
06:18:59VK5SFA IZ4AIK 6m FT8 15360 km 06:24:28VK5SFA YT1Q 6m FT8 14710 km
06:23:59VK5SFA LZ2CM 6m FT8 14510 km 06:25:59VK5SFA UT7QF 6m FT8 13751 km
06:49:294X4DK VK5SFA 6m FT8 13122 km 06:51:41
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK5AKK F4BKV 6m FT8 16422 km 05:30:59
DK8NE VK5AKK 6m FT8 15589 km 06:28:44
IS0AWZ VK5AKK 6m FT8 15575 km 06:02:14
IS0GQX VK5AKK 6m FT8 15572 km 05:58:44
State of Victoria...Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)F4ARU VK3DUT 6m
FT8 17158 km 06:44:11DF6PW VK3DUT 6m FT8 16576 km 06:09:11DK8NE VK3DUT 6m
FT8 16418 km 06:15:41I6WJB VK3DUT 6m FT8 16080 km 06:41:44
West coast of Australia...Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)F4ARU
VK6KXW 6m FT8 14383 km 05:04:14UR7DWW VK6KXW 6m FT8 12935 km 05:19:14LZ2NW
VK6KXW 6m FT8 12471 km 05:09:44LZ2JA VK6KXW 6m FT8 12461 km 05:10:444X4DK
VK6KXW 6m FT8 11174 km 05:04:44
New Zealand: I found two stations in the far north of New Zealand who
managed to work the SE of Europe with distances around 17,000kms.

Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)SV1DH ZL1RS 6m FT8 17309 km 04:38:11
SV5DKL ZL1RS 6m FT8 16924 km 05:03:14
ZL1SG SV1DH 6m FT8 17281 km 04:37:56
DX-Cluster: The cluster shows some FT8 related spots.
Spotter Freq. DX Time Info CountryDG1VL 50313.0 VK5PW 06:17 17 Jun FT8
-24dB 2584Hz AustraliaIS0AWZ 50313.0 VK5SFA 06:05 17 Jun JM49<FT8>PF95 TKS AustraliaF4BKV-@ 50313.0 VK5PW 05:26 17 Jun AustraliaLZ1ZL-@ 50313.0 VK5BC 05:17 17 Jun TKS for QSO 73! AustraliaVK3DUT-@ 50313.0 EA6Y 06:26 17 Jun
-17 rx only Balearic IslandsSV1DH 50313.0 ZL1SG 04:42 17 Jun CQ EU -18DB
New Zealand
SV1DH 50313.0 ZL1SG 04:42 17 Jun CQ EU -18DB New Zealand
Propagation Mode: The jury is still out on this one. What is the
probability of getting 8 hops of Sporadic-E at 50 MHz? We've seen so many
of these openings now that Sporadic-E is not the whole answer. I suspect
it's involved at the European end for a small number of hops but something
else is responsible for the bulk.

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