• [EI7GL] 6000km+ TEP opening on 144 MHz from the Caribbean to S America

    From EI7GL via rec.radio.amateur.moderat@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 20 03:57:50 2022
    XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

    EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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    6000km+ TEP opening on 144 MHz from the Caribbean to S America - 19th Jan
    2022

    Posted: 19 Jan 2022 11:00 PM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/01/6000km-tep-opening-on-144-mhz-from.html


    19th January 2022: It was interesting to see that that there was a TEP (Trans-Equitorial Propagation) opening on 144 MHz between the Caribbean and South America. While the opening happened at 01:00 UTC on the 19th, the
    time for the stations concerned was about 8pm on the evening of the 18th.
    The maps above shows the opening on 144 MHz with distances in the region of 4,400 to 6,143 kms being recorded. To put that in context, the distance
    across the North Atlantic from Ireland to Newfoundland is about 3000kms so
    the longest contact from Buenos Aires to the Dominican Republic is over
    twice that distance.
    LW2DAF: Diego, LW2DAF in Buenos Aires, Argentina reports that his contact
    with HI3I in the Domican Republic was a personal distance record. Diego was using the Q65B mode and the log from PSK Reporter is shown below...
    Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
    LW2DAF HI3I 2m Q65 6143 km 00:32:17
    HI3I LW2DAF 2m Q65B 6143 km 00:30:34
    PJ4EL LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5299 km 01:05:44
    LW2DAF PJ4EL 2m Q65 5299 km 00:13:28
    PJ4GR LW2DAF 2m Q65B 5294 km 01:44:18
    LW2DAF PJ4GR 2m Q65 5294 km 00:23:29

    WP4KJJ on Puerto Rico heard two stations from Brazil.
    Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
    PY5EK 2m Q65 5198 km 01:04:13
    PY2OAL 2m Q65 4914 km 01:19:58

    FG4SU on Guadeloupe seems to have had a good path into Brazil and was using
    FT8 instead.
    Txmtr Rcvr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)
    PU4JLV FG4SU 2m FT8 4189 km 01:35:44
    FG4SU PU4JLV 2m FT8 4189 km 01:34:11
    FG4SU PY2TC 2m FT8 4287 km 01:33:44
    PY2TC FG4SU 2m FT8 4287 km 01:04:44
    PY2SRB FG4SU 2m FT8 4386 km 01:07:44
    FG4SU PY2SRB 2m FT8 4386 km 00:59:02
    PU2MBY FG4SU 2m FT8 4421 km 01:02:14
    FG4SU PU2MBY 2m FT8 4421 km 01:00:29
    PY2OAL FG4SU 2m FT8 4566 km 01:14:14
    PY2WLM FG4SU 2m FT8 4725 km 01:32:29

    You'll notice from the map above that the TEP signals at 144 MHz tend to
    stay close to 90 degrees relative to the Geomagnetic equator. The paths
    tend to run parallel to each other with stations in the Dominican Republic
    & Curacao working Argentina and Puerto Rico & Guadeloupe working Brazil.


    These are the spots from the DX Cluster...Spotter Freq. DX Time Info Country
    PU4JLV 144174 FG4SU 01:36 19 Jan 22 FT8 -10 dB 1584 Hz Guadeloupe
    PU4JLV 144174.8 FG4SU 01:07 19 Jan 22 FT8 -18 dB 1589 Hz Guadeloupe
    PY5EK 144180 WP3DN 00:49 19 Jan 22 Q65B -11 dB 901 Hz tnx tep Puerto Rico
    While TEP openings are normally associated with the equinox period, it's interesting to see one an opening on 144 MHz in mid-January.
    Links...1) For more examples of long distance openings on 144 MHz, see my
    144 MHz page HERE

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    South African 40 MHz beacon heard in Rome, Italy - 16th Jan 2022

    Posted: 19 Jan 2022 06:01 AM PST https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2022/01/south-african-40-mhz-beacon-heard-in.html



    16th January 2022: Emilio, IK0OKY reports that there was a nice opening on
    the 40 MHz band on the 16th of January when several amateur radio stations
    in & near Rome reported reception of the ZS6WAB/B beacon in South Africa. Emilio writes..." Today, there was a 40 MHz opening from Rome area towards South Africa ZS. The ZS6WAB beacon on 40.675 MHz was heard in JN61 square
    from 11.15 UTC until 12.30 UTC.
    The beacon was heard first from IK0FTA Sergio and then also from some other locals (IW0FFK Marco , IK0SMG Pino and myself).
    I received it up to 559 on a cubical quad fractal antenna for 6m.
    Unfortunately no 6m QSO took place during the period that the beacon was
    in."
    Grazie Emilio.
    DX-Cluster spots...Date & time Spotter QRG Mode DX km Prop. Comments
    2022-01-16 12:28:24 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508
    JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 319 now
    2022-01-16 12:06:59 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508
    JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC still in
    2022-01-16 11:48:38 IK0OKY (JN61ES) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RC) 7508 JN61ES<TEP>KG46RC 559
    2022-01-16 11:16:44 IK0FTA (JN61GV) 40.675 CW ZS6WAB/B (KG46RB) 7522 599 in
    jn61
    Propagation: The solar flux on the day was 116 with an A index of 22 and a
    K index of 2-3. Considering that the beacon and the stations in Rome are equidistant from the geomagnetic equator, I presume the primary mode of propagation was TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation. It's probably no
    accident that the opening was just after local noon.
    Early warming... This report I think shows the real value of the 40 MHz
    band as an early warning system. There is a huge gap between 28 MHz and 50
    MHz bands and the 10m band will be open many many times without the
    propagation ever reaching 6m.
    The 40 MHz band helps bridge this gap and this will become even more
    important as the solar flux begins to rise and the MUF goes above the 28
    MHz band and into the low-VHF spectrum.
    On this occasion, there was no opening on the 50 MHz band but that won't
    always be the case. In the future, there will be times when the reception
    of a 40 MHz beacon will alert VHF operators to get ready on 50 MHz and to
    have their beams pointing in the right direction.Links...
    1) As always, I have plenty of info on my 40 MHz page.

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