However, sporadic E propagation, whereby radio signals bounce off ionized clouds in the lower E region of the ionosphere, is common on the band in summer.
[5][6] After World War II, from 1955-1959 the 8 meter band (38-40 MHz) was allocated to USSR amateurs.
[7] For the International Geophysical Year on 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union launched Earth's first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 and set up to broadcast a beep on 20 and 40 MHz.
[10] In March 1993 the European Radiocommunications Office (now ECC) of the CEPT launched Phase II of a Detailed Spectrum Investigation (DSI) covering the frequency range 29.7–960 MHz.
As noted in the report, the requested narrow spectrum allocations for propagation tests need to be studied for compatibility with current users of the frequencies.
However any action on a CEPT or ITU allocation is considered premature and explicitly ruled out at this stage.