First TA report for WE9XFT

[WA1ZMS]

I'd like to report what should be the very first trans-Atlantic reception report of the North American 4m beacon, WE9XFT.

Stephan, EA8/DL3GCS while on a trip to El Hierro Island was able to have solid copy of WE9XFT on 70.005MHz for several minutes on 10 June, 2010 from 2240z until 2254z, report was 419. A second reception was made on 14 June, 2010 from 2156z to 2203z, report 579 with estimated SNR as high as 20+dB.

Stephen also sent along a nice .wav file during the peak of the signal.

My congratulations to Stephan for his time and effort to monitor for WE9XFT. A QSL card will be sent to him.

I'd also like to report that several stations here in the US have heard the beacon: New Hamshire to Florida and to Texas, all on more than one occasion. (So it has good domestic coverage!)

I am hopeful that more TA reports of the beacon will be forthcoming as we now enter the peak of Es season. Please be sure to listen for the beacon and send any and all reports to me via e-mail. Feel free to e-mail me even if it's to say that you have been listening but have heard nothing. If enough data can be compiled, it might be justification for future re-licensing of the beacon since the existing authorization is set to expire 1 Sept 2010.

73,
-Brian, WA1ZMS & WE9XFT e-mail: wa1zms (at) att (dot) net

[K1SIX]

Within the previous two day period, CT1HZE has reported reception of this "very serious" NA 4m beacon, focused on TA, at least once. Please contact Joe for more details. I'm posting this because I don't see this mentioned yet.

[K1SIX]

Somewhere, VE9AA has posted a YouTube of reception of the WE9XFT/B on 70.005, at signals 599. It's pretty impressive if you can find it. So in NA, please modify the East Coast reception range to "From VE1 to Florida". Tks for your efforts! 73, Bob K1SIX

[WA1ZMS]

Joe, CT1HZE sent me an e-mail on June 26 along with an audio file of his reception of WE9XFT on 4m. This is great news and is what makes the effort to license and operate WE9XFT worth it. I also understand that K1SIX & CT1HZE had a 6m/4m cross-band QSO around the same time. Congratulations to both.

Locations where WE9XFT has been heard so far: CT, EA8, VE9, W5, W4, W3, W2, W1.

(Let's hope for even more record DX this summer from the co-located 2m signal WA1ZMS/B on 144.285MHz.)

73,
Brian, WA1ZMS trustee for WE9XFT

[VE9AA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nukkB3TL0SI
Here's my reception of the beacon back in May. I apologize for the poor quality of the video, but the audio is not bad.
Equipment at this time was a TR-751a 2m if rig, Spectrum 4m RX converter and quite literally a "chunk of wire" a few feet off the ground. My VHF tower had fallen over just a couple days prior. When recorded the beacon was barely moving the S-Meter, but later on it was 5NN+ for well over an hour.

Well done Brian WA1ZMS....