On the 14th of May 2024, Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH have a very detailed presentation titled 'Long-haul Ionospheric Propagation on 50 MHz' to the Madison DX Club.
In the video, Roger goes into quite a bit of depth about Sporadic-E propagation, Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) and the complexities of both.
I think anyone who has an interest in propagation at 50 MHz or even in the low VHF region will find this presentation of interest.
The presentation is about 70 minutes in length and is shown below...
Link... See my 50 MHz page for other presentations and posts about some long distance paths on 50 MHz.
The GB3MBA beacon near Mansfield in England operates on 50.408 MHz and was set up to investigate reflections from meteor trails.
As the map shows above, the project team has already has a number of dedicated receivers set up to monitor the 6m band for any meteor reflections from the beacon. They are however looking to for a quiet radio site in Scotland for a receiver there.
Brian, G4NNS writes... "What is needed is a reasonably radio quiet site with no nearby 6 m transmissions, with power, (10 W or less) and an internet connection. The data stream is about the same as an audio stream so not excessive. Ideally the site would be a minimum of 200km North of the beacon which is located near Mansfield 53.10N, 1.22W.
An astronomy society withΒ a dark sky observing site would be ideal. We would need someone local who is radio "savvy" to check the site and help with installation.Β A locally sourced mast of 3 or 4m would be handy but we can supply all other materials.Β We are trying to achieve a rangeΒ of different reflection geometries for each meteor event. When we can make observations from a sufficient number ofΒ different directions it may be possible, by using Doppler measurements, to calculate the trajectory and hence radiant of the meteor."
If you have an interest in propagation or DX on the 50 MHz band, this is an important time of year.
Sporadic-E... At the end of April, we should see the start of the Sporadic-E season in the northern hemisphere. The initial openings should be on the 28 MHz band with stations about 1500-2000kms away being heard and worked.
It's only a matter of time before the openings extend up to the 40 MHz, 50 MHz and 70 MHz bands.
Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP)... The TEP season peaks around the Equinox but it extends until early May. The important thing to note here is that there is an overlap between the Sporadic-E season and the TEP season.
Normally stations in the norther part of Europe or the USA are too far north to reach the TEP zones which are roughly shown above. All that is needed is just one Sporadic-E hop for more northerly stations to reach this TEP zone.
What to look out for over the next few weeks...
The key point is to look to the south for the next few weeks to make the most of this overlap. Once the TEP season ends in early May, the Sporadic-E season will continue until August.
Thanks to Roger, EI8KN for sending on details of the activity of the 7P8EI team on the 50 MHz band.
6m operation from Lesotho β 7P8EI
From the 19th March to the 31st March 2024, I was fortunate to be part of the thirteen-strong EIDX Group dxpedition to the Kingdom of Lesotho. The callsign was 7P8EI; incorporating the usual Group suffix. We had approximately ten days of operating from the Molengoane Lodge, Nazareth, Lesotho. The locator was KG30VO.
The HF stations achieved around 53,000 contacts during the ten days.
We only had a basic setup for 6m consisting of an IC-7300, running around 60 watts to a Diamond HB9CV. No rotator. Software was MSHV.
We experienced TEP (Trans-Equatorial Propagation) openings on 24th to 27th March, and again on 29th March.
573 contacts in total were made consisting of 481 uniqueβs.
Thirty-five DXCC were worked, with the majority being in Europe (98%) with Italy the highest country (28%).Β Seven stations were worked in Africa, and five in Asia.
Only one G station was worked β G7RAU. Dave must be very happy!
As we approach the equinox, there are some really good openings on the 50 MHz (6m) band. On the 9th of March 2024, there was a path open from Chatham Island in the Pacific to southern Europe.
The paths from the PSK Reporter website are shown above and note the ones in Europe. The PSK Reporter website shows the shortest path but it's likely that the signals from ZL7DX on Chatham Island to Italy and Malta were in fact long path and over 20,000kms.
I have listed the European stations that heard ZL7DX below and I've adjusted the distances.
Back in December, I carried out an experiment to find and record the peak of the Geminids meteor shower by listening to the GB3MBA 50 MHz beacon which is 500kms from my location. See post HERE
On the afternoon of 4th of January 2024, there was the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower which tends to be very narrow but intense. This time, I just took some screenshots of the meteor reflections.
Introduction... Back in 2022, a new radio beacon called GB3MBA was put on air on the 50 MHz band and its primary purpose was carrying out meteor scatter experiments. Located near the town of Mansfield in the centre of England, the beacon runs 75-watts into a small Moxon antenna which beams straight up.
Unlike most amateur radio beacons, this one is basically a carrier that is on nearly all of the time which is exactly what is needed for meteor scatter experiments. The main coverage area is the UK itself but as I'm 502 kms from the beacon, I'm close enough for it to be of use.
For the Quadrantids meteor shower, I was using a Yaesu FT817 on USB as a receiver and the antenna was a 2-element Yagi in the attic of my house. The antenna was beaming about 120 degrees which is about 45 degrees off the beam heading for the beacon (The choice of beam heading is determined by the space in the attic and I wasn't trying to beam away from the beacon).
Quadrantids screen shots...
The image above shows the composite collection of seven different screenshots. As can be seen, there was plenty of evidence of pings and bursts from the GB3MBA beacon.
The images on the blog are quite small and a link to a larger version of the image is on Facebook HERE.
I'll use the more detailed example above to explain what you are looking at. The time is moving from right to left and you will notice the 30-second timestamps. As my receiver isn't GPS locked, I'm probably around 5 Hz off frequency which is ok.Β
If I was hearing the beacon directly, it would show up as a solid yellow line going across the centre of the screen. Instead, you are looking at the signal reflecting / refracting off the trail of electrons left behind by the meteor as it burnt up. As these electrons are in motion in different layers of the upper atmosphere, there is some doppler shift on the signal.
In the example above, the 50 MHz signal lasted for about 90-seconds.
The signal on the far right of the image above is one of my favourites. This is called an 'epsilon' echo as it twirls around. What causes such a complex pattern as opposed to the other 'smudges'?
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