EI7GL Amateur Radio Newsletter #0003 - 5th April 2024
Amateur Radio News with an emphasis on radio experiments & the VHF bands
Summary: -
Intro
HF Beacon & Propagation News - Region 2, MH370, Solar Eclipse, 30m beacon, 26 MHz, Solar Flux, 10m
40 MHz & Low Band VHF News : 40 MHz reports, Spain
50 MHz News: 50 MHz reports, Beacon in Alabama, 223 DXCC, 1000 grids, Sardinia to New Zealand, Antarctica to France, Cyprus to Australia
Upcoming 50 MHz expeditions... a long list!
70 MHz News: 4m activity, aurora, new 4m beacon, 4m nets
88-108 MHz: First Sporadic-E opening in Greece, TEP Florida to Chile
144 MHz & Above: Aurora in Australia, TEP from Namibia to Europe, TEP from Australia to Japan, Moonbounce, Antarctica
Satellites: DATV on the ISS
Experimenters Corner: Resistor values, handheld antenna teardown, CW bandwidth, impedance matching, Soldersmoke podcast
EI7GL blog posts for the last two weeks
In conclusion
Intro… Welcome to issue #0003. It’s been a busy two weeks since the last newsletter! There was a big aurora on the 24th of March which allowed a lot of VHF contacts. It killed the HF bands for a few days butthey soon recovered. We’ve seen the first Africa to Europe TEP contacts on 144 MHz in about 30 years and there has been plenty of DX worked on the 50 MHz band as well.
Newsletter… More and more people continue to sign up for the newsletter and it now has well over 300 subscribers. A special thanks to those who became paid subscribers which will help the newsletter grow.
The next question is how to use these funds to help the newsletter grow? I’m sure many of you will have read of the recent demise of CQ Magazine in the US. It was a kind of generic publication in that it covered many subjects and a lot of what they covered is available for free online anyway.
There are a number of specialist organisations that have their own much smaller publications and these will go too if they’re not supported. With that in mind, I’ll use the newsletter revenue to join some of these clubs and groups. It will be in keeping with the purpose of this newsletter i.e. promoting radio experimenters and promoting activity on the VHF bands.
Not only will my membership support them but I’ll also preview what is in their publications to give them more publicity so that others might sign up as well.
News…
HF Beacon & Propagation News… The IARU Region 2 beacon list is currently being updated. See blog for a report soon.
MH370 story featuring WSPR... In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) disappeared from radar and was never found. The 'Mentour Pilot' is a popular aviation channel on YouTube and recently released a video which looked at the timeline of events on the night in question. He also mentions the WSPR beacon mode and how some researchers claim to be able to extract flight data from the database of reception reports. After just three weeks, the video has gotten over 3-million views. You can find it at...
Solar Eclipse in North America - 8th Apr 2024... The last total solar eclipse across North America for twenty years will occur on Monday, April 8th. Ed Efchak, WX2R who is the Public Information Officer for the HamSci organisation is asking radio amateurs and short wave listeners to take part.
On the 27th of March 2024 at 8PM (Eastern) / 5PM (Pacific)*, or that same day at 10PM (Eastern) / 7PM (Pacific)*, there will be a Zoom presentation on HamSCI's Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science (FoEIS). The presenters will take your questions during the 30-minute presentations.
The link to these presentations is here: https://scranton.zoom.us/j/286316405?pwd=QWdwMlFPbDlYeXg5ZDg1dmYzeFdCUT09#success
For more information on HamSci, visit www.hamsci.org
New 30m beacon in Switzerland... Mirek, OK1DUB reports the following a new beacon is on 10144.5 kHz CW running 5W into an indoor End-Fed Half-Wave antenna. The locator square is JN47CA (IDENT every 5 minutes / planned every 15 minutes H24)
Solar Flux & Sunspots… Over the last two weeks, the solar flux reached a peak of 209 on the 23rd of March 2024. The SESC Sunspot Number reached a high of 171 on the 22nd.
26 MHz / 11m broadcast band... Short wave listener Jurgen Bartels reports that the BBC World Service stopped transmitting on 25.9 MHz from England on the 30th of March. It's not clear if this is for good or just the ending of the Winter schedule? He also reports that Radio Vatican plan to transmit from Madagascar in French on 25.7 MHz from 16:00 to 16:30 UTC, Monday to Friday.
28 MHz propagation news… We’ve seen pretty much everything over the last two weeks. Sometimes, the conditions have been excellent with long path openings from Europe to Australia and openings from my location in Ireland to Hawaii in the Pacific. On the flip side, it sounded pretty much like solar minimum just after the aurora on the 24th with very few signals on the band.
On the WSPR front, I’ve heard some pico-balloons on 28 MHz going around the globe and I’ve noticed the Germain polar research ship DP0POL down off Antarctica.
40 MHz & Low Band VHF News… After passing the equinox, conditions on the 40 MHz band are still very good especially on north-south paths. The few stations in South Africa have been spotted many times in Europe.
The big news of course is the welcome arrival of Spain on the 8m band as radio amateurs there have been given an 18-month permit. See blog links below for the info.
50 MHz News
New 6m beacon in Alabama… Craig, KJ4LAA reports that he is currently testing a new 6m beacon on 50.065 MHz from Alabama in the USA (EM64LN). This is co-sited with his existing 10m beacon on 28.2183 MHz.
50 MHz Report from Paul, HS0ZIN in Thailand... Wed 27th March 2024 - The usual short skip from JA, HL, 3W & VR China. Some VK's, XU7 at 09:21, 4X4DK 10:38, 3B8CW FK8CP 11:00, 3D2AG 10:25, HZ1DG 13:04. Also weak A2 Video from DU. 9K2GS 14:28, 7Q6M 15:06, 5H3DV 15:30. 15:36 VU2NXO, PR7XB 16:32, PY7ZZ, PY7DJ, 5Z4VJ 16:47, D2UY 16:53. 17:09 UTC = Local time 00:09 midnight went qrt. What a night, still waiting for Thailand (HS land) to get 6m. ...Thanks for the report Paul, lots of exotic DX in there. Obviously helps a lot when you're closer to the equator for DX on 6m.
223 DXCC on 6m...Congrats to Faber, IZ0AEG who recently got Mozambique confirmed for DXCC number 223 on the 50 MHz band.
1000 grids... Congrats to JA1UAV who recently got his 1000th grid/locater square confirmed on 6m!
EX0DX... Andrea, EX0DX reports he is now monitoring the FT8 frequency on 6m from Kyrgyzstan.
Sardinia to New Zealand... Marco, IS0ZOD reports working ZL (New Zealand) recently on the 50 MHz band with FT8.
Antarctica to France... Patrick, F2DX reports reception of the LU1ZV beacon in Antarctica, a distance of some 15,500kms. The beacon in grid GC16 is running just 5w to a dipole.
Cyprus to Australia... Michael, 5B4ALJ in Cyprus reports working VK6ZLX in Western Australia. The distance was 10,700kms. Michael has also been working into Japan on 6m as well.
50 MHz Dxpeditions - (in order of end date)…
Stefan, DL7AOS will be activating Romo Island off the west coast of Denmark as 5P5K until the 6th of April 2024. Loc: JO45GE. Operation will be holiday style with emphasis on SSB and digital modes on 80-6m. Station: ICOM IC-7300, Moxon-beam for 6m.
Jean-Luc, F1ULQ will be active as TO1Q from FG - Guadeloupe (NA-102) until the 7th of April. He will operate SSB and FT8 on the HF bands and 6 metres.
A three man team will be active as YJ0VK from Port Vila, Vanuatu (OC-035) on 40 through to 6 metres until the 11th of April 2024. For the first week their focus will be on SSB and CW, with FT8 as a ‘back-fill’ mode. The second week will be CW and FT8.
The A8OK Team will be active from Liberia in west Africa from the 5th to 19th of April 2024. They will operate on 160 - 6m, SSB, CW, RTTY, FT8, FT4, PSK.
KH0/JA6REX, KH0/W6HZH & WH0B (JA6VQA) will be active from Saipan (OC-086) during April 25-30, 2024. QRV on FT8/FT4; 160-6m.
Bernhard, DL2GAC will be active as H44MS from Malaita (IOTA OC-047), in the Solomon Islands, until the 25th of April 2024. He will be QRV daily, with activity on the HF & 6m bands using SSB and some FT8.
PE1OJR will once again be operating in ‘holiday-style’ as PJ4TB (PJ4, BONAIRE) during the 13th to the 28th of April. QRV from 40 to 6m using a vertical and/or end-fed wire.
Jeff K5WE and Craig W5CCP will be operating as TX7W from Raivavae (FO0, AUSTRAL ISL) between April 16 and April 30. Operation from 160 to 6 meter using CW, SSB and digi.
Toshi, JH6HZH will be operating as KH0/JH6HZH on the Mariana Islands from the 24th of April to the 1st of May. Activity from 160 to 6m using CW, SSB and FT8.
JD1BQP will be active on Ogasawara from the 22nd of April to the 3rd of May 2024. Operation from 15m to 6m using mainly SSB.
A Norweigan team will be active from Market Reef (IOTA EU-053) as OJ0T from the 27th of April to the 4th of May 2024. They will operate on 160 - 6m, CW, SSB, Digital Modes. OJ0T call sign will be used CW, SSB. On FT8 they will use OJ0/LA1UW, OJ0/LA3WAA, OJ0/LB5SH, OJ0/LB0VG.
A team from Belgium will be active on Lolland Island (EU-029) in Denmark as 5P5LI from the 29th of April to the 5th of May. QRV from 160 to 6 meter using CW, SSB and Digi.
DF2WO / D44TWO (FT8 and CW) and Franz DG9KAN / D44KAN (SSB) will be active on AF-005 Santiago Isl (AF-005) in Cape Verde from the 8th to the 20th of June 2024. Operation mainly on 6m using FT8 and CW.
Gregg, W6IZT and Hal, W8HC will be operating from Falaise des Oiseaux, St. Martin (FS) for a one week DX-cation from June 25 to July 2. They will be active 6m-40m with a 5 element LFA yagi for 6m.
Giovanni IZ2DPX will be active from Saint-Leu, Reunion island as TO7PX during July 8-14, 2024. QRV on 40-6m; SSB & FT8 using fishing rod antenna; holiday-style activity.
KV1J will be active as FP/KV1J on St Pierre & Miquelon (FP) from the 10th to the 2nd to the 16th of July 2024. Operation from 80 to 6 meter using CW, SSB and digi.
A team of Canadian radio amateurs will be active as TO8FP on St Pierre & Miquelon (FP) from the 10th to the 22nd of August 2024. 10-22. Operation from 80 to 6m using CW, SSB, digi and sats.
The CY9C team will be active from St Paul Island off the east coast of Canada on all bands from HF to 6m & 2m. The dates for the DXpedition are August 26 – September 5, 2024.
ZD9, TRISTAN DA CUNHA Lance, W7GJ will be active as ZD9GJ on Tristan Da Cunha as a 6m EME DXpedition from the 23rd of August to the 30th of September 2024.
HA5AO is planning to be active in four African countries from the 3rd of September to the 14th of October 2024. He writes… “The operating sites are within 40-80 km circle of the common borders of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Ten days of operation can be expected from each country on CW, SSB, and FT8 from 80 m up to 6 m. The licenses are in hand, the QTHs are booked.
I will use K3S and FT-710 transceiver with KPA 500 power amplifier. The antenna is DX Commander vertical for 40-6 m bands and multi-band inverted-V (80 m-6 m) on 12 m HD Spider pole, donated by Spiderbeam. The planned schedule is as follows,
03-13 September, Zimbabwe, Zambezi National Park as Z22AO, QRA: KH21ww
14-23 September, Zambia, Victoria Falls region as 9J2AO, QRA: KH22wc
24 Sept-04 October, Botswana, Chobe National Park as A25AO, QRA: KH22oc
05-14 October, Namibia, Katima Mulilo region as V5/HA5AO QRA: KH22dm”
Dave, VK2DS will be active as VK0DS from Davis Station, Antarctica until November 2024. He will operate on HF Bands, plus 6m and EME 2m and 23cm.
The Rebel DX Group hope to be active from Nigeria (5N) after their Tuvalu DXpedition. They have requested the callsign 5N5N. Three ops with up to 10 stations; 160-6m, mainly CW & FT8. Dates will be announced soon.
FT4GL Glorioso Islands –update - FT4GL will also now be QRV on the 50 MHz Band, propagation permitting.
For more information on DX and expeditions, go to https://www.dx-world.net/
70 MHz News…
70 MHz Activity - 23rd March to 5th April 2024… Looking at the DX-Cluster, there have been reports of some tropo enhancement but no reports yet of any Sporadic-E.
Aurora... During the short aurora on the 24th of March, David, G4ASR in England reports contacts with OZ (Denmark), DL (Germany), PA (Netherlands) and GM (Scotland).
New 4m beacon... Dave, G4FKI reports that there is a new 4m beacon on the air from Millbrook south of Bedford in England (IO92RA). The beacon uses the call GB3MBD/B and transmits on 70.050 MHz, reports are welcome.
70 MHz FM Net... The Mid Lanark Amateur Radio Society near Glasgow, Scotland hold a weekly net on 70.425 MHz FM. Look for them at 20:00 UTC on Thursday evenings.
70 MHz FM Net... The International 'Vertical' SSB net near Southampton is held every Monday evening at 19:30 local time. Look for them on 70.220 MHz.
70 MHz FM Net… The Ted Net takes place every Sunday morning on 70.325 MHz FM at 9am. Most of the activity is near the Isle of Wight / Solent area on the south coast of England.
Band 2 - 88 to 108 MHz…
FM in Germany to close in 2036??... According to a recent posting by Michel Fremy on his Radio Magazine Facebook page, the closedown of the FM broadcast band on 88-108 MHz won't happen until at least 2036. Many countries including Germany are trying to move broadcasting over the DAB digital platform.
Sporadic-E... A FMDXer in Greece reports the first Sporadic-E opening of the year when he received a radio station in Cairo on 88.2 MHz. The highest maximum usuable frequency was 102.2 MHz.
Florida to Chile… I recently heard details of a remarkable reception report of a FM-DXer in Chile who managed to receive a FM radio station in Florida by TEP. I have details of a previous reception report in 2023 up on the blog but this is the first one of 2024. I must put up a blog post about it as it’s worth noting.
144 MHz & Above…
Aurora tests in Australia... On the 24th of March, there was a major aurora which impacted the HF & VHF bands. In Australia, VK7MO and VK3MAP did some doppler tests on 50 MHz and 144 MHz by bouncing signals off the auroral curtain. Rex, VK7MO gives a short report on it and it can be seen in this YouTube video (starts at 04:00 and ends at 13:40)...
TEP path opens from Namibia to Europe… The big VHF news over the last few days was the opening at 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe! The propagation mode was TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) and it’s been over 30 years since a similar opening was heard in Europe. See the links for the blog posts below.
TEP from Japan to Australia… This path has been open most days in March but it has gone largely unnoticed by the various amateur radio media sources. Again, see the links below.
EME 144/432 MHz Dx-pedition to Rhodes (SV5)... Two German radio amateurs (DF2ZC and DH7FB) are planning to travel to the island of Rhodes (SV5) and be active on 2 m and 70 cm moonbounce with the callsign SZ5RDS. Their locator square will be KM46CK and they will use the Q65A-60 and JT65B modes. They plan to be active from the 14th to the 20th of April 2024. Frequencies will be determined when on site.
David VK2JDS will occasionally be active from Davis Station, Antarctica using the callsign VK0DS until November 2024. He hopes to be QRV on HF bands and will also try 2m EME using a single 12el yagi and 100 watts from an IC9700 using JT65A or Q65A-60 (or similar).
David, G0LBK reports working VK0DS in Antarctica on 1296 MHz via moonbounce on the 30th of March. The mode was Q65-60C. VK0DS was using 70-watts into a 2.4m dish.
Satellites…
DATV on the International Space Station... In 2019, the digital amateur television unit on board the International Space Station (ISS) called HamTV was brought back down to Earth for repair following a failure. A SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS launched on Thursday March 21st which included the new HamTV system in the payload. It is not expected be activated for at least a few weeks yet, however. When operational again, it is anticipated it will transmit digital video and audio in the 13-centimetre band. (Source - IRTS News)
Experimenters Corner…
Resistor Values… Understanding the E3, E6, E12, E24, E48 & E96 series of standard resistor values: what they are, tables of values, why they are used, how they were derived, etc… https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/electronic_components/resistors/standard-resistor-values-e-series-e3-e6-e12-e24-e48-e96.php
Quansheng K5 Antenna Teardown... A short video from the IMSAI GUY looking at the insides of a Quansheng K5 Rubber Duck 2m / 70cms antenna...
CW Bandwidth... Alan, W2AEW recently posted a video on YouTube in which he discusses the bandwidth of a CW signal and why rise & fall times are so important...
LC impedance matching... Nick, M0NTV talks through the basics of designing an LC impedance matching network (Pt 1 of 2)...
Soldersmoke Podcast... The latest SolderSmoke podcast #251 was released on the 1st of April 2024. Details here... https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2024/04/soldersmoke-podcast-251-aurora-cbla.html
EI7GL Blog Posts…
Here are some of the posts on the blog over the last two weeks…
Activity on the 40 MHz band - 4th April 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/activity-on-40-mhz-band-4th-april-2024.html
Day 5: TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 4th Apr 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/day-5-tep-opening-on-144-mhz-from.html
TEP opening on 144 MHz band from Japan to Australia - 3rd Apr 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/tep-opening-on-144-mhz-band-from-japan.html
Day 4: TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 3rd Apr 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/day-4-tep-opening-on-144-mhz-from.html
Spain opens up the 40 MHz (8m) amateur radio band with conditions - April 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/spain-opens-up-40-mhz-8m-amateur-radio.html
New 144 MHz TEP beacon in South Africa - April 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/new-144-mhz-tep-beacon-in-south-africa.html
Day 3: SSB contacts made on 144 MHz during TEP opening from Namibia to Europe - 2nd Apr 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/day-3-ssb-contacts-made-on-144-mhz.html
Another 6000km+ TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Europe - 1st April 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/another-6000km-tep-opening-from-namibia.html
6530km TEP opening on 144 MHz from Namibia to Greece - 31st March 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/04/6530km-tep-opening-on-144-mhz-from.html
BBC Radio 4 Medium Wave Service to close - April 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/bbc-radio-4-medium-wave-service-to.html
Upcoming HAREC Amateur Radio Licence Exams in Ireland - 11th May 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/upcoming-harec-amateur-radio-licence.html
Long path opening on 28 MHz from Ireland to Australia - March 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/long-path-opening-on-28-mhz-from.html
Lesotho in the log on 28 MHz CW - 27th March 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/lesotho-in-log-on-28-mhz-cw-27th-march.html
Reception reports for the Arctic VY0ERC 28 MHz beacon - March 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/reception-reports-for-arctic-vy0erc-28.html
Opening from Hawaii to Europe on 28 MHz - March 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/opening-from-hawaii-to-europe-on-28-mhz.html
Mystery opening on 28 MHz in the middle of the night - 21st Mar 2024... https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/mystery-opening-on-28-mhz-in-middle-of.html
In Conclusion…
Another big newsletter! It starts off as a few words and two weeks later, it’s a short novel :o)
One thing I notice in compiling this newsletter is just how much ‘noise’ is out there. There are plenty of interesting news items but often, it’s buried away in Facebook groups or email forums where only a relatively small number of people get to see them. I’m hoping that the newsletter will highlight some of those little nuggets that go unnoticed.
If you’d like to support it then you might consider becoming a paid subscriber even if it’s for a month or two.
Provisional date for next newsletter: 19th Apr 2024
John, EI7GL
My radio blog: https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/