Recent tropospheric activity

steeviebops

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There seems to be a lot of lift conditions in the last few weeks. Here on the east coast of Ireland, I have an FM dipole in the attic and was picking up BBC radio from Wales perfectly, as well as an ILR from the west of Ireland (Midwest Radio). Today I got Radio Vltava from Czech Republic fading in and out on 96.1 for a few minutes. At one stage it got strong enough to get RDS lock, hence how I identified the station.

Interesting times.
 

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Lots of 2 meter propagation (would cover the FM band as well) going on on that side of the big pond, I use this site for tracking when can I talk further then down the county.

 

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Are you sure it's Tropo from the Czech Republic? I think it might be Sporadic E if it fades in a few minutes.
 

steeviebops

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You're most likely right and I'm using the wrong terminology!
 

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Ive dug an old handhed 27/81 cb tranceiver out of the shed. Ive never heard anything on it round here but theres weak signals on 19 and possibly 14 this evening. Nobody can hear me though.....
 

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went to the local hyper,tried another radio sytation on the car radio and got FM stuff from Italy and some Slavic language coming on and off
 

Channel Hopper

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Ive dug an old handhed 27/81 cb tranceiver out of the shed. Ive never heard anything on it round here but theres weak signals on 19 and possibly 14 this evening. Nobody can hear me though.....


They can.
 

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It’s Sporadic E skip rather than tropospheric ducting for the long distance stations.

The conditions over this weekend have been exceptional for it. I heard FM stations from Algeria, Southern France and Italy on Friday, as well as a single one from Iceland at one point, and then Spanish and Portuguese ones yesterday and today. Some people have been getting central and Eastern European ones too.
 

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It’s Sporadic E skip rather than tropospheric ducting for the long distance stations.

The conditions over this weekend have been exceptional for it. I heard FM stations from Algeria, Southern France and Italy on Friday, as well as a single one from Iceland at one point, and then Spanish and Portuguese ones yesterday and today. Some people have been getting central and Eastern European ones too.
The usual limit for ducting is around 800-1000 miles. Many of the locations you have mentioned are at the limit, but not impossible, your set up may also have some advantages, a good outdoor antenna and a selective receiver.
 

Adam792

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The usual limit for ducting is around 800-1000 miles. Many of the locations you have mentioned are at the limit, but not impossible, your set up may also have some advantages, a good outdoor antenna and a selective receiver.

That's true. To clarify, I meant in this specific instance, the reception of these stations over the past few days has been due to E skip rather than tropospheric ducting. There's been E skip across large parts of Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
 

steeviebops

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Feel free to change the title, I now know I got it wrong. :) Tropo would be for UHF I assume?
 

Channel Hopper

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Feel free to change the title, I now know I got it wrong. :) Tropo would be for UHF I assume?


Not at all, tropospheric impacts on lower frequencies as well.

Have you checked there hasn't been a dual set of conditions running ?
 

Channel Hopper

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Meteor scatter might also be apparent.

 

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From Russia(Simferopol & Sevastopol) DVB-T2 muxies ch36, 37, 45, 47 PIP with analog channel 25(ИТВ) received today in Varna/Bulgaria:



 

popovp

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Russia DVB-T2 muxies ch36 & 37 from Simferopol yesterday in Varna


 

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Been a fair bit of Sporadic E this afternoon in the UK.

I was getting loads of Spanish and Portuguese stations coming in and out, some strong enough for RDS on a little portable on the upstairs window sill.

Rádio Comercial 88.1 from the Serra de Monchique transmitter in the Algarve
 

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popovp

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Stronger stable signal today of Simferopol muxies channel 36 & 37:


 

Adam792

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Again this afternoon - lots of FM stations coming in all over the band from Eastern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearics).

Ona Mar FM on 88.0 from Badalona just popped up stable enough for RDS name and radio text!
 

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