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Cycle 25 is Kicking Butt

βœ‡The Boring Ham Radio Part
AA4LR

Don't know why I didn't write about this when it happened.

August 9th, the daily Sunspot Number (SSN) was 382. That seemed enormously high. I couldn't remember a single time when the SSN was that high. So, I did some digging.

I downloaded all the SSN data, converted into an Excel spreadsheet and did some analysis. The SSN hasn't been that high since 1991. That's 33 years ago!

The SSN has only been this high a total of ten times in my lifetime (since February 1961) -- Five in 1979, Twice in 1989, and Three times in 1991.Β 

Of course, none of this compares with Cycle 19, where daily SSN values were well over 500 for many days. But those values all happened 1956-1959, well before I was born.

Cycle 25 is shaping up to be much better than Cycle 24, which was really lousy, and possibly better than Cycle 23. Β The smoothed SSN has already exceeded the maximum value for Cycle 24, and it is far from over.Β 

We've already seen a huge change in the bands in the last couple of years. 20m is open 24 hours, and 15m much of that time. 12 and 10m is open every day. I'm hoping we might see some 6m F2 openings. Enjoy it while you can. We should have two more years of these conditions before the cycle starts back down.

6100km TEP contact on the 144 MHz band between Spain and St Helena - 25th Sept 2024

βœ‡EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity
John， EI7GL

A little bit of history was made on Wednesday 25th September 2024 when EA4I in Spain and ZD7GWM on St Helena Island in the South Atlantic managed to complete a Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) contact on the 144 MHz (2m) band.

This is as far as I know the very first TEP contact on the 144 MHz band between these two countries.

JosΓ©, EA4I in the west of Spain was running 700 watts into an array of 4 x 17-element Yagi antennas. As far as I know, the polarization was horizontal.

Garry, ZD7GWM on St Helena had a much more modest station with just 50-watts from a Yaesu FT-897 into a Diamond X700H vertical antenna.

While many other TEP contacts are made with the Q65 mode due to the TEP spreading and distortion, this particular contact was made with the FT4 mode.


Andy, EA7KBX reports... "A new record was set tonight between EA4I Jose and ZD7GWM Garry - a small group of us have been running TEP tests from Spain to St Helena Island on 2m / 144Mhz the QSO was completed using FT4 at 6,094.22Km !!Β 

Jose using 4x 17 element beams and 700w while Garry was using a Diamond vertical and FT- 897 with just 50w !! Amazing contact for the record books"


Analysis... 2024 has been a pretty remarkable year for Trans-Equatorial Propagation on the 144 MHz band. For the last few years, there have been many reports of TEP openings from Argentina & Brazil in South America to the Caribbean area.

Some were claiming that it wouldn't be replicated in other parts of the world because the Geomagnetic Equator was too far north but that hasn't turned out to be the case. We've seen regular 144 MHz TEP openings this year from Namibia to Europe, the Middle East to the Indian Ocean and from Japan to Australia.

As long as both stations are roughly equidistant from the geomagnetic equator and the signal crosses the geomagnetic equator at about 90-degrees then a path is possible.


The biggest obstacle is getting someone active at either end of the TEP path. In this case, Garry, ZD7GWM is the only person active at the southern end of this circuit.

I'm sure if the antenna was upgraded to something modest like a 9-element Yagi fixed in a northerly direction then even more 2m TEP contacts with Europe should be possible.

I wonder if there are any VHF DX groups that help out DX stations with modest antennas?


I have a previous post about Garry's set up HERE

For more information about other long distance openings on the 2m band, see my 144 MHz page.

Long Duration M-Class Flare, and More (Livestream)

βœ‡AmateurRadio.com
Tomas NW7US
This livestream recording is from September 1, 2024 – the NW7US Radio Communications Channel Livestream.Β  We do this livestream every Sunday at 21:15 UTC.Β  Here is the link to the livestream from this past Sunday: The livestream list is here: https://www.youtube.com/@nw7us/streams I hope to see you in our livestream live chat, during the next session […]

Long Duration M-Class Flare, and More (Livestream)

βœ‡AmateurRadio.com
Tomas NW7US
This livestream recording is from September 1, 2024 – the NW7US Radio Communications Channel Livestream.Β  We do this livestream every Sunday at 21:15 UTC.Β  Here is the link to the livestream from this past Sunday: The livestream list is here: https://www.youtube.com/@nw7us/streams I hope to see you in our livestream live chat, during the next session […]

Videos I’ve been watching: HF propagation, how to use a NanoVNA, Hallicrafters’ world of SW radio

βœ‡KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
Dan KB6NU

W3LPL on HF propagation

At an hour and a half, this video is kind of long, but if you’re interested in propagation, it’s worth watching.

W2AEW on how to use a NanoVNA to measure a filter’s characteristics

Alan, W2AEW, shows how to use a NanoVNA, which is one of the most useful tools for characterizing RF components and circuits.

Hallicrafters World of SW Radio

Back in the day, Hallicrafters was arguably the biggest name in amateur and shortwave radio. Unfortunately, this is just an audio file, but I guess, radio is audio so just close your eyes and imagine that you’re listening to this on a Hallicrafters receiver.

Livestream: Space WX, Propagation, Amateur Radio – Sundays

βœ‡AmateurRadio.com
Tomas NW7US
Join us, every Sunday at 21:15 UTC (5:15 PM, Eastern Daylight Time, 4:15 PM Standard), for an informal livestream chat session about: – current space weather β€” the Sun/Earth connection β€” including sunspot activity, solar x-ray flares, and geomagnetic activity, as well as, – current radio signal propagation conditions on the shortwave (high-frequency, or HF) […]

Vacuum Tubes – Electronics at Work: 1943 Educational Film

βœ‡AmateurRadio.com
Tomas NW7US
In the classic educational film titled β€œElectronics at Work,” produced by Westinghouse in 1943, viewers are introduced to the fascinating world of vacuum tubes. This film highlights the crucial role these devices played in both military and commercial sectors, including radio telecommunications, radar, and various industrial applications. The narrative suggests that vacuum tubes provided the […]
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