XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

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Good opening on 50 MHz as propagation modes overlap - 20th Apr 2021

Posted: 21 Apr 2021 06:00 AM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/04/good-opening-on-50-mhz-as-propagation.html


Tuesday 20th April 2021: This was a really good day for DX on the 6-metre
band with distances of 9000 to 12000 kms being worked on North-South paths.
The map above shows the FT8 reports for Diego, LW2DAF in Buenos Aires, Argentina in South America. As can be seen, there were a substantial number
of 50 MHz signals reaching way up into the eastern half of the USA as well
as some really interesting paths to the SW of Europe and the Middle East.
There has been numerous reports on social media of people reporting TEP openings on 6m. While this was true, it doesn't fully explain what might
have been going on.
Analysis... On the map above, I have shown where the Geomagnetic Equator
is. For TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation), the normal range for LW2DAF
might be from say his location to the Caribbean. You can see a line of
stations above going from the Dominican Republic to Mexico. These were
likely to be 100% TEP.
Radio amateurs in the northern US states are well outside the range for TEP just like stations in northern Europe are. It's likely there was a
Sporadic-E (Sp-E) opening on 50 MHz at the same time as the TEP opening and this resulted in a signal from Argentina reaching well into the USA.
What we are likely seeing is an overlap of the TEP and Sp-E seasons. The
TEP season is around the equinox and is still going in April. The
Sporadic-E season kicks off properly at the end of April with openings on
28 MHz and 50 MHz.
Now, it's possible that the openings were due to just multi-hop Sp-E but considering the season is is just starting, a combination of TEP + Sp-E is
the more likely scenario.
What to do???.... This overlap of propagation modes won't last much longer
so stations should be beaming North and South now to make the most of it.
For example, someone in the NE of the USA should beam south and listen for
a Sp-E opening to the Caribbean area. If that path is open then there is a chance it might link to some TEP to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Good luck!

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Opening to Indonesia & USA on 28 MHz - Tues 20th Apr 2021

Posted: 20 Apr 2021 02:07 PM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/04/opening-to-indonesia-usa-on-28-mhz-tues.html


Tuesday 20th April 2021: This was an unusual day on the 28 MHz band in that
it opened up to Indonesia and the USA. I haven't heard signals that far
east and west in quite a while.
Txmtr Band Mode Distance Time (UTC)YB2TS 10m FT8 12575 km 13:33:14
KW4SP 10m FT8 6319 km 13:26:29
As can be seen from the FT8 log above, both signals were logged at about
13:30 UTC.
YB2TS from Indonesia was heard all over Europe. KW4SP in Alabama was
unusual in that he was only heard in Europe by a station in Spain and
myself.
I also heard one station from Brazil but that didn't appear on the PSK
Reporter website.

As for Sporadic-E, there was a weak opening to Europe as shown above. I had
the radio on for the whole day and I can't really remember hearing anything loud enough to catch my attention.
In total, I heard 53 stations from 12 countries which is reasonably low.
The solar flux today was at 86 which was a jump of 8 on the previous day so perhaps that was the main reason for the DX stations.

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