On the 8th of May 2024, I noticed a distorted QRSS signal on the 28 MHz band. The signal was from FR1GZ on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, a distance of about 10,200 kms from my location.

The image above shows the distorted signal with the carrier spread out over about 6 Hz. Underneath it, I have an image captured a few weeks ago which shows what the normal signal should look like it via F2 layer propagation.

I usually hear Reunion Island on 10m in the morning or afternoon. It was unusual to hear it at 17:50 UTC in the evening time. Evening TEP signals usually peak around 8pm local time. If it was about 18:00 UTC my time and you move further east and add 2-3 hours then the time over some place like Ethiopia is about right.

Considering the timing of the signal and the distortion, I suspect I was hearing the FR1GZ signal via TEP - Trans-Equatorial Propagation.

Normally, evening TEP signals at say 144 MHz cross the Geomagnetic Equator at right angles. However as you go lower in frequency, the requirement for a right angle lessens. By the time we get to 28 MHz, the angles can be close to 45 degrees as shown above.

I suspect that it wasn't 100% TEP either. There was likely some Sporadic-E over Europe for the TEP signal to complete the journey from the Mediterranean area to my location on the south coast of Ireland.

For me, there are two takeaway messages from this...

1) I think the whole TEP zone has a huge impact on signals on 28 MHz and the lower HF bands. TEP is main contributor to propagation on the HF bands and people don't realise it is TEP.

2) The TEP distortion can result in digital signals not being decoded. I think many people fall into the trap of thinking if there are no FT8 signals being decoded then the band in that direction must be closed. It could well be that distorted CW or SSB signals will get through.

That's the beauty of QRSS signals. You can actually 'see' the signal and it gives more clues as to what is happening to the signals on the band.

As part of a challenge for 2024, I've decided to see how many QRSS signals I could capture on the 28 MHz band during the year. On the 5th of March, I got a screengrab of FR1GZ/B on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

Yvon, FR1GZ has been making adjustments to the speed and spacing over the last few days above the QRSS band and just below the WSPR segment. On the 5th, he moved his transmitter down about 280 Hz to where the other QRSS signals on 28.1246 MHz are.

The full sequence can be seen above from Yvon and he is sending his beacon callsign FR1GZ/B as well as his locator / grid square LG79RC. As you can see, Yvon is using ON/OFF keying as opposed to Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) for his transmitter.

The signal in more detail can be seen below...

I took this screengrab at about 11:15 UTC and conditions at the time were quite poor. At the moment, we're near the peak of the sunspot cycle and I usually decode my first WSPR spots on 28 MHz at about 06:30 UTC which is about 35 minutes before my sunrise.

On the 5th of March, I didn't get me first decode until 09:38 UTC which is about two and a half hours after sunrise. The recent solar flares and aurora seem to be having an impact on conditions for the last two days at least.

The 28 MHz from my location on the south coast of Ireland to Reunion Island is about 10,170kms. The propagation mode is multiple F2 layer hops and the signal from FR1GZ/B should be pretty consistent in Europe considering the roughly north-south path.

In summary... That brings the QRSS tally so far for 2024 up to 18-callsigns & 10 DXCC.