That's huge.

Ham radio operators are still waiting for a full direct transatlantic QSO (=confirmed both-ways radio contact) on 2m/144MHz.

That's like hunting a unicorn with a golden horn - whoever does this first will earn a lot of fame in this niche hobby.

(for other frequencies like 50MHz this is more or less daily business doesn't earn more words than "yes was a nice day with good propagation")

Beacon stations are on both sides and they are blasting with a lot of power for quite a while now. But far away from the x kilowatt powers radio stations are using.

The same author has an explainer of Sporadic-E and skywave propagation here:

https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/double-hop-drea...

I am about to release a streaming Internet radio app (Pentode) and I thought it was cool to be able to listen to FM stations far away - but when I read this I realise what really WAS cool.

Edit: downvoted comment??