Mostly more Sporadic E

It is not easy to describe recent Sporadic E.

VHF/UHF contacts at GM4FVM, 23 to 30 June 2026

Click to enlarge the images if necessary. 

You see, Sporadic is what I am used to. Sporadic. Like this:-

It is not there - it is there - it is not there.

So it has distinct phases of happening and then not happening. You usually have time to recover and work out what has been going on.

In midsummer on 50MHz there is often Es to be noted on most days, but not always. This is manageable without a lot of frantic action. The length of opening declines and the panic rises with the frequency. On 70MHz it has occasional events lasting a hour or less, and on 144MHz sudden opening lasting maybe 5 minutes.

Because I am interested in better understanding Sporadic E I watch it across all three bands, and operate on the highest band possible. I go to the highest band I can but I do slip up and down when I see something interesting lower down.

This all works nicely because you never get long openings on the the higher bands, 4m and 2m. And you have more time on 6m for consideration. That is my plan of operation.

My plan completely fell apart recently when there were long openings on the higher bands.

For example, on 21 June 2026 there was an opening on 144MHz to Italy. However, this did not last two minutes as I might have expected, but 35 minutes. I worked 21 stations on 2m during those 35 minutes, with more attempts being made but failing. In the usual 2m Es style the opening moved around the country with stations coming and and it going at a frantic pace, but it appeared to keep going for a long time.

A 35 minute opening for Es on 2m is very very unusual. Maybe it happens that we have a longish opening, but it moves between countries, has gaps, and does not last 35 minutes. In my experience this was remarkable.

I since tried to analyse what was happening by relating the map and the timings. It seems to me that there were three distinct phases to that event. First an opening down the Adriatic Coast from Padua in the north as far as Puglia in the extreme south. Then there was an opening around Rome. Finally there was a third event starting in the north around Verona and spreading down the centre eventually ending around Naples. There was a final twist to one station near Matera in the south. 

It is hard to tell, but this looked like a succession of three separate openings, each of which would have been more like what we normally see, plus a single station at the end. Looked at that way this was in fact three large openings, rather than one huge opening.

Maybe. It is easy to look for patterns in things. But it certainly was unusual.

Just as 144MHz was going for longer openings, 6m was going the opposite ways. It was open routinely into Europe and no DX was to be seen. Then suddenly I missed XE2X on 17 June, also missed JA5AUC on 21st, worked BD7IS and BD0DLA separately on 22nd, HI3T on 28th, plus CO8LY, VO1HP and FP/KV1J all separately on 29th. These were not part of long openings, but random single QSOs separated by periods of no DX.

So, 2m Es was behaving like 6m Es and 6m Es was behaving like 2m Es.

Over a week I completed 197 QSOs to 42 countries, 12 on 6m, 53 on 4m, 115 on 2m and 17 on 70cm. There was also a moderate tropo opening from 23 to 25 June, but this paled into insignificance when the Es started. During tropo on 2m you can bank on fairly stable conditions and time to work your stations, with Es you have only minutes. You have hop around, jumping on any contact that looks likely to last the 60 seconds or so you will need. The standout aspect of these conditions was that there were long periods of continuous operation which is very usual on 2m Es.

It was after 25 June that things went really dooh-lally. There were a series of openings on 70MHz and 144MHz the like of which I have never seen before. It was like being in a continuous contest. 

On 2m: 25 June I made 20 QSOs, on 26 June 42, on 27 June I was away, and on 28 June 23 more. I worked 20 DXCC in 46 squares in 4 days on 2m. The figure for the whole of 2025 was 25. 

Austria 3, Belarus 5, Bosnia-Herzegovina 2, Croatia 6, Denmark 4, Germany 17, Hungary 6, Ireland 1, Italy 15, Kaliningrad 2, Lithuania 6, Netherlands 4, Poland 2, Romania 1, Scotland 1, Serbia 1, Slovakia 4, Slovenia 2, Sweden 2, Switzerland 1. 

Best DX was to IZ7EZN at 2885km, with 24 other contacts over 1600km. 

144MHz contacts at GM4FVM 24 to 28 June 2026

On 4m, 40 QSOs, 6 on 25 June, 16 on 26 June, none on 27 June and 18 on 28 June reaching 35 squares in 20 DXCC. These 40 QSOs were made despite the fact that France, Germany and Italy are not currently on the band.

Austria 2, Belgium 1, Ceuta & Melilla 1, Czechia 1, England 3, Estonia 1, Finland 3, Greece 6, Hungary 2, Latvia 1, Lebanon 1, Netherlands 1, Norway 5, Poland 1, Portugal 2, Serbia 1, Slovakia 1, Spain 3, Sweden 3, Swtizerland 1.

Best DX OD5ET 3766km, after that  six stations in Greece from 2458km to 2636km and then EA9IB at 2289km. 

70MHz contacts at GM4FVM 24 to 28 June 2026

I said that the start this is hard to describe. Do I think of it in terms of distance worked, number of stations or countries, or of duration of the opening, Do I try to analyse the events? Well, apart from the Italy opening I have not had time to analyse anything. It has just been a blur.

This has been outstanding. As I say, I have never experienced anything like it. 

I hope others were able to join in too. 

73 Jim

GM4FVM