Another Massive 144MHz Es Opening.

[VK4OX]

On 2012-01-02 and 2012-01-03 (utc dates), another massive 144MHz Es event occurred.

I was on the Northern fringe of this opening and only worked three stations.

VK4OX: QG63kf

On 2012-01-03:
0009utc ZL4PLM in RE66dl (qrb 2553km). Opening lasted about 30 seconds, but about 5 minutes later, Simon came up to 5-5 for about 1 minute.

0048utc ZL3OC in RE55oo (qrb 2551km). Opening lasted about 1 minute.

Nothing for almost 3 hours, during which time the Band was in meltdown between vk2, vk3, vk5 and zl.

0337utc ZL3TY in RE57om (qrb 2407km). Band open for about 20 minutes, only to Bob.

That was it!

I'm sure others have much more to tell. I'd be very interested in any comments etc. Please give utc dates and times of the first station HEARD and last station HEARD via Es at ur qth.

I hope Adam can provide another animation of this event

73, Adrian. VK4OX.

[VK4GHZ]

Adrian, not wrong!



FYI, for those who have a technical interest beyond making the contact...

These images are very easy to produce yourself.

Go to VK Logger's "Mapping" page.
Select Show Historical Spots
Select the Logger of interest
Clever use of the search filters is up to you, and all sorts of combinations are possible.

This will only be a fraction of what was actually worked, so remember:
No spot - no plot
No grid square - no plot

[VK2FAK]

Hi all...

Adrian.....I wonder if this opening was also being seen in the results of you looking at the VOR transmissions....?

John

[VK5DK]

This has been a fantastic opening on 144MHz with my first contact with ZL1TPH at 2350 UTC 2/1/12 and last contact at 0307 UTC 3/1/12.

In all nine stations worked with some stations worked more than once is signals improved from original contact.

Stations worked, UTC Time & signal report sent

ZL1TPH @ 2350 @ 5 X 5 (Later worked at 5 x 9)
ZL1TPG @ 0054 @ 5 X 9
ZL2WHO @ 0124 @ 5 X 5 (Later worked at 5 x 9)
ZL3TY @ 0227 @ 5 X 5 (Later worked at 5 x 9)
ZL3AAU @ 0236 @ 5 x 5
ZL3NW @ 0250 @ 5 X 7
ZL3ADT @ 0255 @ 5 X 7 (Later worked at 5 x 9)
ZL4PLM @ 0258 @ 5 X 5
ZL3MH @ 0307 @ 5 X 5

My first ZL contact was in 1965 (VK5ZKR) to ZL3AAU with the next contact to ZL1IU in the 1990's both E's then on New Years Eve 2011 I worked ZL3TY on Tropo. so there has been poor propogations across the Tasman to this QTH until today

All in all a fantastic opening which seemed to favour VK3 & VK5s with some contacts to VK2, VK4 & vk7.

73 Colin VK5DK

Looks like the propogations have returned

[VK4OX]

Hi all...

Adrian.....I wonder if this opening was also being seen in the results of you looking at the VOR transmissions....?

John

Although I was listening for them, no VOR beacons from ZL were heard. The opening for me was hardly any opening at all, so it is not surprising that I did not hear them.

73, Adrian. VK4OX.

[VK2KOL]

Afternoon Adrian.

Certainly interesting day from QF56jf (VK2KOL).

02-Jan-12 23:18 ZL1TPH/P in RF65IN on 144.1000 SSB 59 @ 2017.6km
02-Jan-12 23:22 ZL1TPH/P in RF65IN on 144.1000 SSB 59 @ 2017.6km (I was using a vertical and 25 watts. Certainly E's into Sydney from ZL)
03-Jan-12 00:40 ZL3TY in RE57OM on 144.1000 SSB 55 @ 2024.5km
03-Jan-12 00:51 ZL4PLM in RE66DL on 144.1000 SSB 55 @ 2154.6km
03-Jan-12 01:14 ZL3GE in RE55OO on 144.1000 SSB 55 @ 2116.3km
03-Jan-12 01:15 ZL3OC in RE55OO on 144.1300 SSB 52 @ 2113.6km
03-Jan-12 01:15 ZL3GE in RE55OO on 144.1000 SSB 55 @ 2116.3km
03-Jan-12 01:19 ZL3TY in RE57OM on 144.1000 SSB 59 @ 2024.5km (20 OVER)
03-Jan-12 01:39 ZL4PLM in RE66DL on 144.1000 SSB 56 @ 2154.6km
03-Jan-12 02:28 ZL4DK in RE54EC on 144.1000 SSB 57 @ 2139.7km

[VK4GHZ]

And one last map from me (coz you can do these yourself!)

What was spotted from ZL's.

[VK2ZT]

Stations in the log today ,From QF57WF
ZL1TPH/P5/2 Tropo
ZL1IU 5/5 Tropo
ZL1TPH/P 5/9 E's
VK4MJF 5/5 Tropo
VK4CRO 5/4 Tropo
VK4VDX 5/3 Tropo
VK7DD 5/9 +40 E's
ZL2TAL 5/7 E's
ZL3TY 5/5 Tropo
ZL2IP 5/9 E's
ZL4PLM 5/9 +30 E's
ZL4JY 5/2 Es running 2 watts
ZL3OC 5/7 E's
ZL3GE 5/7 E's
ZL3TY 5/9 +40 E's
ZL3ADT 5/3 E's
ZL3THQ 5/9 E's
ZL2TAL 5/1 Tropo
ZL1IU 5/5 Tropo

Was a great day

[VK4FB]

Wow!
Long day, for us in VK4, waiting for some action. We did see it all unfold on the VK Logger. But we never gave up hope, specially when Adrian logged his first contact with ZL. When I saw the spot of VK4MJF working ZL3TY Bob on 144.110 I was hoping for my first SSB contact with ZL, having worked Bob last year on CW there was my chance. When Bob came out of the noise that was the first time I heard a ZL station today utc 03.57 and it was only open enough for me to make the exchange of reports and that was it for me. I got my big fish for today!

Well done to VK2BCC Colin for his contact on 70cm with Steve ZL1TPH/P 2068.2km

[VK2XSO]

There was an opening on 2m FM this morning. I caught a ZL2 repeater identifying, but didn't catch the last couple of letters. I was just dumbstruck by the
ZL2 id. dah dah dit dit - dit blah blah dit - dit dit dah dah dah - blah blah blah ...... I never was good with "L"s

I put a call out, but nobody came back.
I heard it a couple more times driving around town but couldn't key it up. The local repeater easily swamped it.

Plenty of 6m activity as well this morning and of course 10m to.

[VK4HJ]

The opening looked great on the logger.Here in VK4 action was lite.
I copied ZL3OC at 00:48 working VK4OX. I copied ZL3OC at 5X2,Called after Adrian, OO:49 and the
path had closed.
It was at least encouraging to copy my first ZL from this QTH on 2m.

Good DX, Chris.

[VK2KRR]

It would appear to me that Brian VK5BC/p at Corny Point has broken the VK5 - 2m band distance record again today, resetting his previous record set in 2008.

03-Jan-12 01:09 VK5BC/P in PF85MC >> ZL2OK in RE89EX 144.1200 SSB 58 3493.8 Km

Previous record -

VK5 VK5BC to ZL1TWR 09/01/08 3483.2 Km.

If thats the case, congratulations Brian, well done

[ZL4PLM]

Pretty amazing opening!

reminds me of some of the big Es openings in EU I worked when I lived in GM (IO75TL).

First indication was this morning when 6m was wide open to OA on 6m. Shortly after I walked into the shack and looked at the logger and could see some VK activity then followed by ZL1TPH working VK.

Some bdct spots indicated that E's was possible further south and I warmed up the amp and started listening.

Further big waves in noise was heard about 1150 indicating the band was open somewhere and I started calling CQ randomly on .100

Station is an IC9100 + 0.3 db preamp + GS35B amp running about 800W with 2 x 12 DK7ZB's at 22m

First QSO was at 0001utc with VK2DVZ (2164km) - short sharp and quick QSO just out of the noise and then gone.

10 mins later VK4OX again short sharp - as the ionization was just touching 144 MHz - again in and out real quick.

A little quiet until 0028utc with VK2AMS

I thought the opening was done ..... how wrong I was !


0050 utc wkd VK2KOL and the the world went mad after!

Between 0001 and 0350utc I worked 38 QSO's with 28 unique calls (some worked twice or more as propagation improved and paths rechecked or re-affirmed as open.

Last QSO was at 0350utc with VK7DD QE38EL

last signals heard - weak VK4's ... around 0420 utc - with some bursts on and off but hard to identify

Full call list:-

VK2DVZ
VK4OX
VK2ZT
VK2AMS
VK2KOL
VK2BDR/M - huge sig 59+
VK2BCC
VK2FLR
VK2ARA
VK2TS
VK2AH
VK5BC/P - best ODX 3166km
VK3DUT
VK3GHZ
VK3OE
VK2MJW
VK3AMZ
VK3LN
VK2BDL
VK2AFW
VK3XPD
VK3NQ
VK3AKK
VK5DK
VK3KTO
VK3ALB
VK3AMK
VK3QK
VK3PY
VK7DD

also heard at least 2 more VK5's but no QSO made due to poor operating practises by some ... grrr!
(in Es please do not send yr life history, name here is... locator.... , nice to work you, blah blah....... oh dear you have faded.. what was that report? ) - very frustrating!

.100 became a zoo at one point with VK5,3,2 and ZL all calling at once!!

The opening followed what I would see as normal ..... big rise in noise - some odd long weak signal level QSO's made then intense periods of strong closer stations followed by sharp drops, followed by cycles of the same.

Seemed to be 2 distinct peaks for me in RE66.

Interesting to note that KP and A indices are very low today - SFU was 132 at 0001utc when I looked - so geomag condx were v quiet.

Very happy with overall performance of the station here - the 2 x 12 worked very well ... the IC9100 did a great job and handles strong signals and close in blocking very well.

I got some audio from VK4OX which sounded great! thanks Adrian!

One note: got some strange performances from the logger today ... maybe it was overloaded ... some spots logged did not appear despite having valid data (grids included etc) - plus some long delays between spotting and appearing as an updates - plus stutters in looking up calls in the dist/bearing calcs etc ... some times it would say not found but then relooking it would come up with the right info. Prob overloading? Anyway an absolute valuable tool for data collection - quite a few logged didnt have details in the database though ... really need to encourage all VHF and up to get entries in it - looking on QRZ.com etc found the missing info.

very happy afternoon - def needed a beer after

Nice to be home for once when the bands jumping!

73 Simon ZL4PLM RE66DL

[VK2KRR]

Hi Simon, its interesting that you mentioned 'two distinct peaks'.
I found these two E peaks on a AIS receiving station down the road from you. Peaks appear to roughly be indicated at 0100 and 0300 UTC on the 2 day distance graph as indicated.

Station 169 Es peaks

[VK5BC]

Hi all

Well what can you say, just a massive 2m E opening which I was fortunate enough to be involved in.

The day for me started with checking the Crayfish pots (got 1) and returning to a cup of coffee around 2230z. Then checked the radios and found 6m alive with short skip from vk3 so called CQDX on 144.1 at 2300z and back came ZL1TPH/p at 5/5. I guess my day was ruined from that point on (depending on how you look at it), I didn't move from the garage until about 0230z and it was hot in VK5.

It then became a challenge whether to listen for Central America on 6m or ZL's on 2m. At about 2342z found Mark Zl2WHO on 6m 5/9++, gave him a call & suggested he should get up to 2m and then worked a couple of VK3's short skip 6m. Things were quiet on 2m but heard Steve VK3OT working TI5/N5BEK and to my amasement could hear the TI5 (I only have 3el & 100w at Corny Point). With some persistant calling I cracked TI7/N5BEK at 0036z with 5/5 reports followed by TI5XP at 0044z. I thought my day was made at this stage but next thing at 0104z there's Mark ZL2WHO calling CQDX on 144.1 with sigs up to 5/9. Shortly after at 0107z Dave Zl2OK comes in on 144.120 and we complete at 5/8 both ways. This could be a new VK5 record of approx 3493Kms, great contact.

ZL's signal were then heard popping in & out over the next hour on 2m and contacts were completed at 0204z with ZL4PLM at 5/3 both ways and I heard & exchanged stronger reports with Simon a couple of minutes later. Then at 0205z I completed with Bob ZL3TY at 5/1 both ways, I had heard Bob stronger earlier working Phil VK5AKK and Bob could be heard for another 1/2 hour so on 144.110.

Did hear a couple of other ZL3's working Roger VK5NY but by 0230z signals had gone.

Did I ever think I work ZL1, 2, 3, & 4 in one day on 2m , impossible, but with our modern technology and communications with applications like VKlogger where everyone can be aware of what conditions are prevailing, maybe what once was thought as impossible is now feasible.

73's & thanks to all
Brian VK5BC

[ZL1TPH]

GM Brian,

You were my first contact that day on Es. It was midday ZL, parked up at my Cape Reinga portable site, had a quick bite to eat and then thought to go for a walk. I was just about to take the headphones off and bang “VK5BC” was all I heard and loud. I just went straight back to you as had the mike in my hand. I never went for that walk that day as the Es keep coming that day.

I’m going to send a QSL card (via postal) out to all VK stations worked from RF65IN once I get home.

73 – Steve, ZL1TPH

[ZL4PLM]

Hi Simon, its interesting that you mentioned 'two distinct peaks'.
I found these two E peaks on a AIS receiving station down the road from you. Peaks appear to roughly be indicated at 0100 and 0300 UTC on the 2 day distance graph as indicated.

E station 169.JPG

HI Leigh

yes that kind of roughly fits .... hard sometimes to note the exact drop off - you suddenly become aware the qso rate has dropped to nothing and tuning around reveals just glimpses of signals . ... then time for quick coffee and then wait for it to return.

I have noted this peak and trough effect many times before on 6 and 2.

The key to knowing its going to open is that noise rise ... as soon as you hear that background level rise ... and it rises very suddenly ... then you know ... somewhere its open !

The key (and fun!) is finding the path!

really handy having data you can compare against 144 though - v nice!

Missed you yesterday - I worked a few VK2's .,.. one even mobile and he was a massive signal

fingers crossed for more openings soon!

73 Simon ZL4PLM

[ZL3TY]

Without doubt my best Es opening on 2m. Total of 57 stations worked

VK1 1
VK2 11
VK3 32
VK4 4
VK5 7
VK7 2

The morning brought marginal tropo QSOs with VK2, the first Es QSO here was VK2MAX at 2352z. Initially only stations from VK2ZT up to VK2MAX, then at 0032z VK5AKK appeared with VK5NY and VK5ZK (this is very similar to the Es opening last year on 13/1/2011 with VK5 worked and VK2s strong). Last VK5 at this time was VK5ACY at 0047, then no more VK5s for more than an hour. By 0040z the opening extended south to Sydney area, then worked south of Sydney reaching VK1KW at 0128z.

At 0153z VK3GHZ, I also had a partial QSO with VK3AMZ. Over the next few minutes the VK3 signals built up and by 0214z many of the VK3 signals were extremely strong. VK5s appeared again around 0200z, signals 59 at times, last VK5 heard here about 0310z. At 0311z VK7DD and VK7JG were worked. Then for a while I couldn't find any new stations too work so pointed the beam at VK4 and called CQ CW. At 0338z VK4OX replied, weak at first but rapidly hit S9, worked 3 more VK4s, last being VK4VDX at 0357z. At 0407z VK7DD called and we exchanged 59 reports for my last QSO.

At times stations were audible over a very wide range, eg VK4 and VK7 simultaneously.

I didn't hear any beacons during the opening, surprising as I have had the VK3RED beacon audible here the past three nights. It seems I can hear it on tropo but not Es!

Thanks to all & 73

Bob ZL3TY

[ZL4DK]

Yes one of the best Es openning I have heard. In the morning I found that 6metres was full of huge signals from North Island stations many working VKs (which were only faint here, possibly backscatter). I worked one VK station via the Auckland 6metre repeater. In the early afternoon I noticed I could hear the Christchurch 6 metre beacon and intially thought this may have been tropo, difficult here due to the high hills to the north (in hindsight this was also likely to be backscatter). I pointed my 2metre aerial north and called CQ on 144.1 thinking I might catch the attention of a ZL3 perhaps. A local replied (ZL4IS) and told me I was being "hopeful". However we were both shocked a couple of overs later to hear Steve ZL1TPH break-in from Cape Reinga. This made my first ever 2m internal ZL Es contact and possibly a New Zealand first. This contact was quickly followed by Ralph ZL1TBG in Walkworth (with a signal strength well over S9) and then a weaker contact with ZL1BK in Auckland.

I would be very interested if anyone has previous knowledge of 2m Es contacts with-in ZL. The distances involved are certainly not unheard of but what makes it difficult is the narrow nature of the country requiring a very intense E cloud at exacly the right position, and stations lucky enough to be on the air at the time.

Later in the afternoon the Es in the Tasman built up and I worked a total of 6 VK2s and 2 VK3s however I was well on the southern edge of this openning and the stations further north were doing much better.

73 David ZL4DK

[VK2KRR]

Missed you yesterday - I worked a few VK2's

Simon, I was at work Luckily the AIS gave me some interesting recorded data to look at later on.

Glad those that were available had an exciting day on radio all the same well done.