Historic First Trans-Atlantic Contact Made on 432 MHz

On Tuesday the 7th of April 2020, a remarkable contact was made on the FT8 digital mode on the 432 MHz band between D4VHF on the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa and FG8OJ in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

This was the first 70cms trans-Atlantic contact without using satellites or the moon. The most likely mode of propagation was marine ducting with the signal being trapped close to the ocean.

FG8OJ in Guadeloupe was also coincidentally the first to work across the Atlantic on 144 MHz when he worked D41CV in Cape Verde on the 16th of June 2019.

The trans-Atlantic distance was almost 4,370 kms which is about 500 kms further than the first contact to Guadeloupe on 432 MHz a few days earlier.

To put the distance into context, 4,370 kms is the same as say St Johns, Newfoundland to Frankfurt in Germany!