Multi-hop Sporadic E opens up again this year

I follow Sporadic E not just to have many interesting QSOs, but also to lead me to some meaty DX. Unlike some others, I do not claim to have ever worked F-layer DX on 6m. They have done well to do that, but it has never turned up at GM4FVM. At least, not anything that I can feel confident to claim as F-layer propagation. So I rely on Es to link into something else (like Trans Equatorial Propagation TEP) or allow some Multi-hop Es.

And so on 17 May I was on 50MHz having a good time working a few European stations. Around noon I worked a couple of French stations and it was notable that the "searchlight" area was very small and I could only hear one station at a time before the propagation moved on elsewhere. 

After 19:00 I had some nice QSOs into Spain. At 19:32 while trying to work Fidel, EA1HRR, who faded out, I noticed that I could hear ZD7BG. This was a fairly remarkable step up in distance, from 1387km into IN83 in Northern Spain to 7922km to reach IH74 in St Helena. And yet I still believe that this was Sporadic E and all that had changed was that I had tapped into multiple hops.

50MHz contacts at GM4FVM on 17 May 2025

I have used K2DSL's mapping above and you click to enlarge if needed. 

So why do I think that this was multi-hop Es rather than the other possibilities? Well, the solar activity at the time did not suggest that F-layer propagation was possible on 50MHz. It could have been TEP but as I am at 55.8 degrees north this would need Es linking. Possibly it was TEP, but the sudden arrival and departure of ZD7BG is more typical of multi-hop Es. A path of almost 8000km means most likely there would have been four hops. The distance is much the same as other long distance multi-hop Es contacts which I have had, for example XE2JS, definitely not F-layer in 2018, at 8200km.

ZD7 was a new DXCC for me on 6m, number 127. I had tried before but this was my first success. Some other GMs did work him that evening before he quickly faded out. That was it for me on 17 May - five European contacts, this one, and then silence.

There have been other remarkable contacts I have had over the years which defy categorisation. A notable example is the propagation to Japan and China, mostly in June each year.  Although this was initially taken to be a newly discovered mode of propagation, most sources these days suggest that it is another, unique, form of Multi-hop Es. Then there was the remarkable DX which many of us worked last October and November. This covered a large area from India, across the Indian Ocean and as far as Australia. What that was I have no idea, but it did not have the characteristics of F-layer, nor did it seem to fit the normal pattern of TEP. Now, will that happen again this year?

73 Jim

GM4FVM

Summer Es begins, but where to go on 70MHz?

I just increased my country score on the 4 metre band for this year by one. The new country for 2025 was Scotland. Although I worked my home country on 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm much earlier this year, it has taken me until May to work it on 4m. This was a tropo contact, as Dale, MM0INH, is 44km away.

Over on 50MHz the summer Sporadic E season has started and I added to countries to my annual list today, Lebanon and Algeria. That brings it to 40. No Es yet on 4m, so  the total there so far this year is now ... seven.

GM, G, EI, HB, DL, OZ and S5.

Of course working Es on 6m is easier than on 4m because the season is longer. Also, not so many DXCCs have the use of the 70MHz band. But even taking this into account, I have struggled in recent years to work much exciting stuff on 4m.

I guess that one of the reasons why I have liked 4m is that the going is hard. For about 50 years I have avoided bands like 20m because it all seems too easy. On 4m you have to use your wits to get anywhere.

And yet, having chosen this bed-of-nails path for decades, I am now getting a bit disillusioned with 4m. Possibly because I have achieved most of my goals ... I have reached 55 DXCC enities, as far flung as Western Sahara, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Cape Verde. This would have been unthinkable when I started on 4m when six DXCC was exceptionally good and eight was the maximum possible.

There is still plenty to do, with possibilities in the Caribbean and the long sought after Greenland. Possible, certainly, but very unlikely to happen.

If I have reached a fair number of countries what about squares?

Squares worked at GM4FVM on 70MHz up to 7 May 2025

I am closing in on the final squares left for me to find. For this purpose I tend to exclude the watery squares which rarely appear - if I work them, great, if not then I will press on with the likely candidates.   There is still one on the Scottish mainland to reach, plus the one covering Shetland. There is one in Ireland that looks like a reasonable possibility, plus one in Cornwall. Then there is the elusive square in Portugal and four more in Spain - these are places with low populations. Likewise, there are many in Norway, Sweden and Finland to reach, and hopefully Mek, SP7VC, will activate some of these this summer. Italy south of Milan is undone, as are Northern Sardinia and Eastern Sicily. 

Of course France and Austria are not done as they do not grant access to 70MHz, though in Austria's case I have worked all the squares except one thanks to contacts with surrounding countries. What are the chances of these and other countries will appear soon? Not much I think. I have been surprised in the past when other DXCCs arrived on the band, so maybe. I could be surprised again. But Turkey, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia? Not a hope really.

If I was to set a target for all-time new squares for 2025, I would think perhaps 5 or 6 to add to my current total of 296. Why so glum an outlook? Well, activity on 4m seems to have declined in recent years. During the last meteor shower I heard nobody on 70MHz. On the last aurora opening activity was very low. FM locally is now dead, shutting off the chance of the odd DX contact there too.

Is it just me? Have others lost interest in 4m resulting in fewer contacts? This is hard to prove but I think so. Most of us have lost the personal touch which 4m had when we used SSB and CW. Data modes are effective but rather soul-less. There was a sense of camaraderie when we had to either build our own gear, convert commercial equipment, or rig up transverters. 

There is not much scope for technical improvement. I am still using much the same outfit as I was ten years ago - Icom IC-7100, Gemini 4 amp running 150W and a five element yagi. This has much the same performance as the gear in use during the previous five years too. I cannot see any point trying to improve on it. It is not that I am unwilling to improve it, it is just that there is not much further to go, technically or in distance.

I am not about to give up on 4m. I will try to concentrate on my improving annual DXCC list rather than my all-time one. It should be easy to get beyond seven (!). All-time new countries would be very nice, but I cannot count on any turning up. I will continue to use 70MHz as a warning sign that Es may be rising up from 50MHz towards 144MHz.

However, for me somehow the recent silence has taken the edge off this interesting part of the spectrum.

I hope that the radio gods soon dispel my lack of enthusiasm.

73 Jim

GM4FVM