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Two Successful December Transmissions from SAQ in Centennial Year
We often refer to the Grimeton transmitter plant as an "historic station," but this year it was especially true. The station was dedicated 100 years ago on 1 December, 1924. For that reason, the 17.2 kHz alternator was scheduled for a commemorative transmission at 1000 UTC (5 AM Eastern Standard in North America) on Sunday, December 1. Festivities were streamed live on YouTube.
Jay Rusgrone W1VD reported very good copy in Connecticut. "Close to best ever copy of SAQ this morning in over 20 years of monitoring; 100% solid copy throughout tune up and message." An audio clip of the message can be found at https://www.w1vd.com/SAQ120124.mp3 . Jay says he was "running the usual setup: modified Amrad e probe > LNA > Delta 44 A/D > SpectrumLab" for the reception.
Another transmission from that historic station's 17.2 kHz alternator was scheduled for 0800 UTC (3 AM Eastern Standard in North America) on Tuesday, December 24. Details of the annual Christmas Eve morning event, along with planned ham activity from SK6SAQ, was posted in this message in the LW Message Board.
For a second time in less than a month, Jay W1VD reported the signal "was received even better than the near all time best on 12/1/24, making this one the all time best reception at this
location. The SAQ receiving setup here has remained unchanged for at least the past 15 years so nothing has changed on this end. A short clip of SAQ during the 'test and tune' and a short clip of the message at:
https://www.w1vd.com/SAQ122424.mp3 Copy on a speaker from across the room was noteworthy; thought it might make a good recording on my iPhone. Poor room acoustics don't do it justice, but it does give one an idea of the signal level. Clip at:
https://www.w1vd.com/SAQ122424iphone.m4a Obtain additional SAQ information at the Alexander Association pages, and consider joining the Association to help them continue their work at the World Heritage station.
LWCA 50th Anniversary Year Winding Down; Sample LOWDOWN Issues Online
Members of the Longwave Club of the Americas celebrated a joyous 50th birthday of the organization this year. This is an unusual corner of the radio hobby, and a most unusual organization (if "organized" is the applicable word) having made it through 50 years on volunteer labor alone.
To give current non-members some idea why we are glad that it has survived, we are currently posting some sample issues of our publication, The LOWDOWN, below. We will add a few more between now and New Years day, so be sure to check back! (All are PDF files.}
The Lowdown, Issue #1 (2 MB, January 1974)
The Lowdown, Anniversary Issue (3 MB, Jan-Feb 2024)
The Lowdown, May-June 2024 Issue (5 MB, feat. "Amplified Ferrite Rod Antenna" by Ed Larsen)
The Lowdown, Jul-Aug 2024 Issue (7.2 MB, feat. "WWVB/WWV Antenna Visit" by Bruce Littlefield)
The Lowdown, Sep-Oct 2024 Issue (3.4 MB, feat. "Ask Mister Snswer Guy")
The LOWDOWN Latest Issue In the Nov-Dec 2024 edition of the LWCA publication:
"Notes from Headquarters" by Kevin Carey.
"DX Downstairs" Peter Laws presents members' LF and VLF loggings.
"On The Air" Experimenters operating on 160-190kHz and lower bands... and...
"The Top End" MedFER and HiFER beacon activity... and...
"Operator Contact List" Latest contact info for operators of Part 15 beacons... and...
"LF Notebook" compiled by John Davis.
"News From the Old World" Alan Gale with latest LF news from the "other side of the pond." LWBC today and yesteryear.
"Natural Radio" by Rick Ferranti. Unique software helps hear the unhearable..
"Noise Reduction in Receive Installations" by Jim Hagan (updated reprint from 1994).
"Member News Spotlight"
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