Transatlantic super DX on 2m

John EI7GL reports on some amazing DX on 2m across the Atlantic from the Canary Is to the Caribbean.  Yet again, FT8 was mainly used although there was some SSB too.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/08/day-2-of-trans-atlantic-opening-on-144.html .

6m Europe to Australia (again)

According to John's blog, there was another Europe to Australia opening on 6m. The furthermost was over 17000km, which is quite mind blowing on a VHF band. This is not a pirate as multiple stations were involved. Amazing!  This seems extremely unlikely to be multi-hop Es. I am sure we have lots to learn still!

Also on the blog is a report of the South African 8m beacon being copied in SE England.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

40MHz experimental station in the USA

According to John's blog there is an experimental station WL2XUP active in the USA on the 8m band. As time progresses a bigger antenna and more power are planned.

Is this the first of many?

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

8m beacons

On John Desmond EI7GL's blog there is a very useful list of 8m beacons. On his blog are also 5m beacons. I hope John does not mind me copying part of his image here. If there is a problem, I can remove the post.

There is always lots of good stuff on his excellent blog. I see he also reported a recent Australia-Europe opening on 6m.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html.

South African 8m beacon copied in Greece

Southgate News relays some information on the EI7GL blog that the South African 8m beacon has been copied in Greece. There is even a recording on John's blog. There was a earlier report of it being copied in Portugal. Both these look like TEP.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/april/south-african-40-mhz-beacon-heard-in-greece.htm#.YH_f8ijYrrc

EI7GL on 10m

At the moment, 10m has not "got going" . The Es season has not properly started and the F2 openings are few. 

Better equipped stations are copying more than me. John in Eire is certainly doing a bit better than me! I am not sure what gear and antenna he uses. It certainly must be better than my indoor loop made with thin wire, HI.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .

Transatlantic 2m tropo in the North Atlantic?

According to tropo forecasts, there is remote chance of transatlatic tropo on 2m early this week between Canada and western Europe. There are people trying on FT8. As far as I am aware we have never had a transatlantic QSO on 2m in the North. People have spanned from Cape Verde to the Carribean. FT8 is a good mode to try as it works with very weak signals. Crossing the North Atlantic with 2m tropo is a very long way!

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/04/vo1fn-144-mhz-trans-atlantic-sdr.html .

8m tests

John EI7GL has news on his blog of 8m tests using FT8 with stations in Europe.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2020/08/ft8-experiment-on-40-mhz-1st-to-15th.html

D4VHF (Cape Verde Is) antenna changes

John EI7GL has a piece on his blog about changes to the antennas at D4VHF.  They seem to be well equipped and the better stations in Europe, and elsewhere, are working them on many VHF bands.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2020/07/upgrade-of-d4vhf-station-vhf-microwave.html

8m and 5m news

EI7GL's blog has some news about the 8m and 5m bands. I do hope more countries get access to these bands in the near future. In my view the Eire government has been very far sighted.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/

Amazing transatlantic DX on 432MHz

Southgate News relays news of some amazing DX on 70cm across the Atlantic by terrestrial means. I think this was first reported on EI7GL's blog.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/april/432-mhz-trans-atlantic-record-extended-to-almost-4370-kms.htm#.XpQ6zxnYq00

Irish 60MHz (5m) beacon on-air

Apparently the new Irish 60MHz beacon is now active:

"Back in early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-metre) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland (EI) on a secondary non-interference basis. Now we have news that the very first beacon on 60 MHz is operational! The new beacon is operational since the 16th of December 2019 and has the call EI1KNH. It is on 60.013 MHz and runs 25 watts into a vertical folded dipole. This is currently the only 5-metre beacon operational in the world."

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/12/new-irish-beacon-on-60-mhz-now-on-air.html

The site is near Dublin.  An 8m (40MHz) beacon should be on the same site in Q1/2020.

Antipodial 2m DX

Not quite sure how he finds all this juicy news, but EI7GL's blog reports some remarkable 2m DX QSOs in Australia and New Zealand.

This is a good blog with lots of interesting stuff regularly.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/12/recent-3000km-opening-on-144-mhz.html

Austalian super-DX on 70cm

EI7GL reports that the 70cm record has been extended (2806km) in Australia. The contact was using FT8.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/12/australian-70cms-digital-record.html

2m super DX

Southgate News passes on some news of a blog post by EI7GL about some quite astonishing 2m DX QSOs.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/july/144-mhz-cape-verde-islands-to-italy.htm

Interesting blog - EI7GL

John EI7GL in southern Eire has a very interesting blog and he usually posts the DX he is copying there on 10m. This is lots of other stuff too.

Judging by his results, I suspect my antenna is several dB down on his, at least in some directions.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/

Irish VHF spectrum - big allocations

From John's blog comes news of huge chunks of VHF spectrum being made available to EI amateurs. In my view, this is very enlightened.

I guess it would be too much to expect OFCOM to do similar, even with a very low ERP limit and stations operating on a "strictly no interference to primary users" basis. Of course, this would involve OFCOM staff thinking, so no, no, no.  Silly me for even suggesting this! Personally even 100mW at 40MHz would do me. With FT8 or WSPR we could do some serious radio science.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/irish-radio-amateurs-gain-access-to.html