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EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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3000km+ opening on 144 MHz between Australia & Fiji - 9th Dec 2021

Posted: 10 Dec 2021 08:31 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/12/3000km-opening-on-144-mhz-between.html




As the Summer Sporadic-E season begins in the southern hemisphere, there
have been reports of openings on the 50 MHz and 144 MHz bands.
In Australia, there is a very active community of stations using WSPR
beacon mode on the 2m and 6m bands with a lot of success. On the 9th of December, the 144 MHz WSPR signal from VK2IJM near Sydney was heard almost
3020 kms away on the island of Fiji by 3D2TS.UTC (y-m-d) TX
txGrid RX rxGrid MHz W SNR drift km
2021-12-09 23:08 VK2IJM QF56ni 3D2TS RH91fv 144.490586 20 -29 -1 3218
As you can see from the single reception report, the signal was -29dB which
is an incredibly weak signal.
The two stations tried to complete a FT8 contact just 14 minutes later.
3D2TS on Fuji could hear VK2IJM at-21dB but 3D2TS wasn't strong enough in Australia to complete a contact.

Propagation Mode???... The next question is how did a 144 MHz signal get
from Sydney to Fiji? The maximum distance for one hop Sporadic-E is about 2300kms so something else has to account for the additional 900kms.
It's probably no accident that this happened over a sea path and the most likely explanation is a combined one hop Sporadic-E signal that coupled
into a marine duct over the ocean. The above tropo forecast map from
Pascal, F5LEN certainly supports this theory.
It's not possible to completely rule out a 100% marine duct or a chordal
hop Sporadic-E opening with two Sp-E clouds but the highest probability is
a combined Sp-E / tropo duct.
Links...1) Check out my 144 MHz page for details of more 3000km+ openings.

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End of the road for the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH)

Posted: 09 Dec 2021 01:35 PM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/12/end-of-road-for-world-radio-tv-handbook.html



It was announced today that the World Radio TV Handbook is coming to an end
and the 2022 edition will be the last one.In a statement, the publishers wrote... "Having produced this book for the past 24 years, we are very
sorry to announce that WRTH 2022 will be the final edition of World Radio
TV Handbook produced and published by WRTH Publications.
This has been an extremely difficult decision and was only made after a lot
of thought and discussion.
We know that many people rely on WRTH and greatly enjoy getting the new
edition every year.
We realise that this news will be disappointing for many people. We wish to thank you all for your loyal support over the years.
Good DX and Happy Listening,
Nicholas Hardyman (WRTH Publisher) and the WRTH Editorial team"
Back before the widespread use of the Internet in the mid to late 1990's,
this book was a must for any serious short wave listener.
Fast forward to today and there is a huge amount of information available
for free online. In addition to that, shortwave broadcasting in many parts
of the world has disappeared or declined.
The current price for the 2022 edition is £35 which is about €41 or $46. There may be post & packing costs to be added to that so it is quite
expensive in contrast to what is free online.
If you would like to purchase the 76th and final edition of the World Radio
TV Handbook then go to their website... https://wrth.com/_shop/

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