XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, rec.radio.amateur.equipment

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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Big opening on 50 MHz between South Africa & Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/10/big-opening-on-50-mhz-between-south.html

Saturday 23rd October 2021: I was first alerted to this big opening on the
50 MHz band between Europe and South Africa when Tom, SP5XMU posted the map
on the left on Twitter and tagged me.
This is a snapshot of FT8 signals on the 50 MHz over a short period but it clearly shows an opening in progress.
As well as posting the photo, Tom writes... "First solid Trans-Equatorial Propagation #TEP on 50 MHz in Solar Cycle 25 from south Europe to South
Africa"
In this post, we'll look at the opening and keep a record of how extensive
the opening was.
FT8: As per usual, FT8 was the dominant mode for the opening and the list
below shows how many European stations were heard by each of the African stations.
Call - # of stns heardZS6NJ - 86 (10 DXCC)ZS6NK - 79ZS6WAB - 53ZS6AF -
44ZS6OB - 23ZS6JGL - 18V51WC - 16ZS6BOS - 15ZS4TX - 6ZS6AYE - 5
ZS6NK: While ZS6NK was the second highest in terms of stations heard, it
was interesting to see that the path for him extended beyond the usual TEP zone.

You can see the line of stations in the south of Europe that ZS6NK heard
but it goes up to the UK and Germany as well.
Here is the map of Europe in more detail...

FT8 reports from Germany & England...
Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)ZS6NK G0BNR 6m FT8 8965 km
14:45:26ZS6NK DK8NE 6m FT8 8489 km 15:34:59ZS6NK DL1YM 6m FT8 8370 km
15:34:59
It's likely that there was some Sporadic-E which allowed the TEP signals
from Africa reach further north into Europe.
Sometimes, the locations where there are no signals can be interesting as
well. For example, there was no path for ZS6NK to Slovenia, Croatia,
Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Likewise in South Africa, it was the stations
in the north of the country that were enjoying the TEP opening and there
was no sign of the stations further south near Cape Town.
Namibia: V51WC in Namibia was also active and his FT8 is shown below...

Like the stations near in the north of South Africa, he is far enough north
to avail of the TEP opening.
SSB & CW: Looking at the DX Cluster, there was some activity on SSB and CW
as well. See below...
The DX cluster spots for V51 & ZS on the day are shown below. Non-FT8 are
in bold...

Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
IW0FFK 50313 V51WC 16:32 23 Oct 21 JN61FS<TEP>JG77GJ Namibia
IK5YJY 50313 V51WC 16:31 23 Oct 21 1197 ~ CQ V51WC JG77 Namibia
IU8FRE 50313 ZS6NK 16:27 23 Oct 21 73 Paul - ok Lotw South Africa
IK7EOT 50110 ZS6NK 16:04 23 Oct 21 SSB Booming TNX qso South Africa
IK4DRY-@ 50314.4 ZS6WAB 15:55 23 Oct 21 FT8 South Africa
EA7KBX 50313 ZS6NK 15:55 23 Oct 21 TNX QSO South Africa
IZ0CVF 50112 ZS6NK 15:51 23 Oct 21 QSB South Africa
EA7KBX 50313 ZS6OB 15:49 23 Oct 21 tnx qso Jan South Africa
IU8FRE 50313 ZS6AF 15:48 23 Oct 21 73 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50112 ZS6NK 15:48 23 Oct 21 CQing South Africa
IZ0CVF 50110 ZS6NK 15:46 23 Oct 21 Nice QSO 73 South Africa
SV3AQT 50313 ZS6WAB 15:40 23 Oct 21 FT8 South Africa
IK8PGQ 50110 ZS6NK 15:40 23 Oct 21 JN70CU<>KG46RC 59 TNX PAUL South Africa F1BBI 50313 ZS6WAB 15:39 23 Oct 21 RX FT8 -6 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:36 23 Oct 21 JN70JT<TEP>KG46RD South Africa
IK8PGQ 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:33 23 Oct 21 JN70CU<TEP>KG46RD strong 599 South
Africa
TA1BM 50313 ZS6WAB 15:27 23 Oct 21 KN40LX<ES>KG46RB Hrd South Africa
IZ8NVV 50313 ZS6OB 15:20 23 Oct 21 Hrd FT8 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6CO 15:19 23 Oct 21 -10 South Africa
IZ8NVV 50313 ZS6JGL 15:19 23 Oct 21 Hrd FT8 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6BOS 15:18 23 Oct 21 FT8 TNX QSO South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6JGL 15:16 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG44 R+11Tnxqso South Africa IT9RZR 50044 ZS6TWB/B 15:09 23 Oct 21 599 in jm76 South Africa
IU8FRE 50110 ZS6NK 15:07 23 Oct 21 73 South Africa
IT9RZR 50110 ZS6NK 15:07 23 Oct 21 cq ssb boooming South Africa
EA3AQJ 50110 ZS6NK 15:05 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 599 sorry keye South
Africa
IS0ZOD 50110 ZS6NK 15:04 23 Oct 21 55 in jn40dn South Africa
IK5YJY 50313 ZS6AF 15:01 23 Oct 21 Tnx qso South Africa
IT9RZR 50313 ZS6AYE 14:59 23 Oct 21 tnx qso 73 South Africa
IK0FTA 50110 ZS6NK 14:58 23 Oct 21 cq cw hrd South Africa
IT9RZR 50313 ZS6AYE 14:56 23 Oct 21 cq ft8 -08 South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6WAB 14:55 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 R+15tnxqso South Africa IK5YJY 50313 ZS6JGL 14:54 23 Oct 21 Tnx qso South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6OB 14:51 23 Oct 21 TNX FT8 73 South Africa
SV8CS 50110 ZS6NK 14:35 23 Oct 21 Tnx CW qso South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NK 14:30 23 Oct 21 Cq dx cq dx South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6WAB 14:29 23 Oct 21 kg46<>im86 +05db South Africa
F5LNU 50313 ZS6WAB 14:23 23 Oct 21 JN04JV<>KG46 ft8 +17 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NK 14:19 23 Oct 21 FT8 +5 strong South Africa
EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6NJ 14:18 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG33 R+10tnx qso South Africa EA3AQJ 50313 ZS6NK 14:18 23 Oct 21 JN11BI<TEP>KG46 R+10tnxqso South Africa IK7FPV 50313 ZS6NJ 14:16 23 Oct 21 tnx qso South Africa
F5LNU 50313 ZS6NK 14:16 23 Oct 21 JN04JV<>KG46 ft8 +00 picking South Africa F5LNU-@ 50313 ZSS6NJ 14:08 23 Oct 21 tu qso -3 South Africa
IK5YJY 50313 ZS6AYE 14:06 23 Oct 21 1206 ~ CQ ZS6AYE KG54 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6NJ 14:01 23 Oct 21 tep South Africa
EA5EN 50314.3 ZS6NJ 14:01 23 Oct 21 South Africa
IK0FTA 50110 ZS6NK 13:59 23 Oct 21 South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NJ 13:59 23 Oct 21 ft8 +5 South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6NJ 13:58 23 Oct 21 -08db tnx q South Africa
EA7L 50313 ZS6NK 13:58 23 Oct 21 +00db South Africa
F5LNU-@ 50313 ZS6NK 13:57 23 Oct 21 +00 in JN04 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6AYE 13:57 23 Oct 21 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS4TX 13:55 23 Oct 21 South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6NK 13:55 23 Oct 21 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6WAB 13:54 23 Oct 21 jm49 es kg46 tnx qso 73 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NJ 13:53 23 Oct 21 jm49 es kg33 tnx qso South Africa
SV8CS 50313 ZS6WAB 13:51 23 Oct 21 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6NK 13:46 23 Oct 21 jm49 es KG46 tnx new one South Africa
EA3AKY 50313 ZS6NK 13:45 23 Oct 21 +3 ft8 South Africa
IS0FWY 50313 ZS6WAB 13:40 23 Oct 21 Cq dx cq dx sent-08 in JM49 South Africa

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TEP opening on 40 MHz between South Africa and Europe - 23rd Oct 2021

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 12:17 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/10/tep-opening-on-40-mhz-between-south.html




Saturday 23rd October 2021: This seemed like a particularly good day for
TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) with signals on the 40 MHz (8m) and 50
MHz (6m) from South Africa reaching Europe. In this post, we'll just look
at the 40 MHz opening.

The map above shows the reports from the DX-Cluster with several stations across the south of Europe hearing Willem, ZS6WAB on 40.675 MHz.Spotter
Freq. DX Time Info Country
SV8CS 40675.0 ZS6WAB 14:04 23 Oct FT8 Beacon South Africa
I0YLI 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:28 23 Oct JN61HU<TEP>KG46RB Calling CQ . South
Africa
EA3ERE 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:18 23 Oct JN11CX<ES>KG46 +2db cq South Africa
IZ0CBD 40675.0 ZS6WAB 13:00 23 Oct JN61FP<TEP>KG46RB Rx 589 South Africa
IK0OKY 40675.0 ZS6WAB/B 12:52 23 Oct JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559 South Africa
Most of the distances seem to be in the region of 7000-8000kms.
SV2DCD in Greece and 9H1TX on Malta also report hearing ZS6WAB.
Report 1: Francesco, IZ0CBD in JN61FP near Rome reports hearing the ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz with a Kenwood TS2000 transceiver and a 6-element Yagi
for the 50 MHz band.
Here is a nice video from Francesco showing his reception of the 8m
beacon...


Report 2: Emilio, IK0OKY writes to say that he and Pino, IK0SMG both heard ZS6WAB/B on 40.675 MHz from JN61 Square. IK0OKY writes... "Signals were
very good with peaks up to 559 on a FT 847 and 2 element quad fractal
antenna for the 6 meter band. Pino uses an IC7300 plus a 2 el HB9CV for 6m
as well. After a nice 50 Mhz opening to South Africa and Namibia took place
as well with ZS6 and V51 stations coming in."
Video 1 from IK0SMG shows how strong the signal was...

Video 2 from IK0OKY shows reception of the 8m beacon on a Yaesu FT-847...

Propagation Mode: It seems to be assumed that the propagation mode for
these low band VHF signals near the bottom of the sunspot cycle are TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation). However as the solar flux rises, there will
be a stage where North-South paths on the low VHF bands are possible via F2 layer propagation.
Considering this opening reached 50 MHz as well, I suspect it was due to
TEP but as the solar flux rises, I don't think we can always assume it is.
It could well be that paths that cross the equator like this will be a
mixture of both.
Links...1) As always, there is plenty of information about the 8m band on
my 40 MHz page HERE

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28 MHz band opening to Australia - Sat 23rd Oct 2021

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:12 PM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/10/28-mhz-band-opening-to-australia-sat.html



Saturday 23rd October 2021: This was a pretty big day on the 28 MHz band
with 439 stations in 46 DXCC countries heard with the FT8 mode. The bulk of these were due to a Sporadic-E opening to Europe and a very good F2 opening
to Ukraine & Russia.
The signals that caught my interest though were the three stations from Australia.Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
VK4ZC 10m FT8 16973 km 08:25:44
VK8NSB 10m FT8 14315 km 09:34:44
VK8ZJZ 10m FT8 14314 km 08:39:29
It was very unusual to hear VK4ZC near Brisbane on the east coast. As you
can see, nothing else was heard along that northerly path. I have no proof
but I suspect the path may have been skewed with the signals staying closer
to the equator.
The solar flux was at 87.

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