Past Longwave Messages - Jan. 1999

Addresses and URLs contained herein may gradually become outdated.

• Subj: Low-cost CW keyer/beacon identifier
  Date: 99-01-28 12:13:07 EST
  From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
  To: LWCANews (Longwave Message Board), lowfer qth.net (LowFER reflector)
  Steve, K1EL, offers a programmed PIC keyer chip for $8.00 ($10 including the PC board). One of the options available on the chip is a beacon mode, which looks like it might be suitable for LowFER beacon keying.
  There are options for three pre-programmed standard message sets. I'm not sure if any of the pre-programmed messages would be exactly what a LowFER beacon operator would want, although Steve does indicate that he will custom-program chips for a nominal fee. You can program in your own message, but that requires connecting a keyer paddle (and learning how to use it!). I expect that the user-programmed message would also disappear if the power to the chip is removed.
  If there's enough demand, maybe Steve would offer a special beacon-only keyer. There would not necessarily be a reduction in price, but it's already about as simple and inexpensive a keyer as you can find.
  Details are at members.aol.com/k1el/k8info.html
  Lyle, K0LR

• Subj: longwave reception with ICF7600G
  Date: 99-01-27 06:58:00 EST
  From: milos calda
  Dear friends,
  I wonder whether this is the right place to ask about my problem. I live in Central Europe, Czech Republic. There are several hi/power longwave stations to be heard, one of them is the 750kW facility in the east of my country bringing RADIOZURNAL, the general service of the Czech public radio. This program' is brought on FM and longwave only. On my frequent trips to places like Hamburg, Germany, or toBudapest, Hungary, I would love to stay in touch with my country listening to the longwave transmitter. However, there are problems with the connection of an antenna. The reception using a built/in rod is far from satisfactory, marred with protracted fadeouts, etc. My tiny SONY ICF7600G does have an antenna plug, but it is effective on SW/FM only, disconnecting, at the same time, the internal ferrite rod.
  My questions: is there a commercially made loop antenna that could cover the longwave band? There is a "Pocket KIWA" but it is advertized as covering the bands from 530kHz up. Is there any antenna do/it/yourself design which a person with only limited skills could follow (but I can solder!)? An alternative would be to forget the 7600G and get some other set, perhaps Sony 2010D. In the old days, in the 70' s and 80's, there were reasonably good Soviet radios offering very good longwave reception available here, like Riga 104 or Selena brands, where you just inserted a length of wire using a banana connector, and the reception was ok.I understand that the production is discontinued and moreover, these sets were too heavy and bulky for an aging train traveller.
  I hope you will not find the above mailing bothersome. I would greatly appreciate any tips. In return, I could send you the details of longwave stations available here. At night, there is a station from Algeria, I believe, that is mighty and strong.
  With regards
  Milos Calda
  Political Science
  Charles University
  Prague
  Czech Republic
  
  • Reply 1: Very good to hear from you, Milos. If any of our readers know of a commercial LF equivalent of the KIWA MF loop, or a do-it-yourself version, I hope they will write to you with the information. Or, if one has a sufficient length of wire for an antenna and an earth connection, it is often possible to couple signal into a rod antenna by wrapping a turn or two of the wire around the radio, or by inserting a ferrite rod between the wire antenna and ground connection, then placing the additional rod near the radio. Additional ideas are welcome. -John

• Subj: LF: Projects site
  Date: 99-01-23 18:52:40 EST
  From: G0MRF aol
  I've set up a (very basic) Web Site which contains details of some amateur radio construction projects. The site includes general LF information and other amateur radio related subjects.
  It includes a copy of the "Quarter kilowatt amplifer for LF" article which appears in the LF Source Book. The page includes photo's updates and kit information.
  http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk/projects/
  73
  David

• Subj: LF: QRP - SLOW CW
  Date: 99-01-23 13:13:20 EST
  From: BOBEK compuserve (Peter Bobek)
  I am back on the air - but with my own call (DJ8WL). Have applied for "DA0LF" and it looks promising. Hope to get this previously assigned call again in the near future which is so much associated with LF-work in DL. The German licensing authority kindly reserved it for that purpose.
  Licensing regulations currently limit the TX power in DL (20 watts) - have no idea why since DA0LF had permission to run 100 watts.
  DK8KW did hear the signals last night.
  Dot length will be 10 sec. sending "DJ8WL". IŽll be in the "beacon" mode till about 06.00 UT Sunday morning. Afterwards listening for calls. Hope to have time to set up skeds later. We can discuss this during the 160m net on Sunday evening (20.00 UT on 1875 kHz).
  Did work EI0CF and G4GVC crossband last Sunday evening after the net. Hopefully Finbar will be able to use SLOW CW soon. I told him on 80m how long to hold down the key to produce a SLOW CW dot... Finbar has got a PC and SLOW-CW software.
  Worked DF2PY this afternoon. He has a good/strong signal but no SLOW CW capability yet. You might run into him as well.
  Greetings,
  Peter / DJ8WL (ex: DA0LF)

• Subj: R-389 Value
  Date: 99-01-20 13:50:33 EST
  From: ErikDyce
  Greetings!
  I have a Collins R-389. I am not sure of it's value. If you have knowledge, please advise. Thank you.
  73 de W0ERX
  Erik Dyce
  Denver

• Subj: QYV, A30 heard at Shell Lake, WI
  Date: 99-01-20 18:06:48 EST
  From: bhkoehler mmm
  Saturday morning 1/16/99 at about 6:10 AM CST I copied QYV and A3O with good signals along with the local LowFERs BRO, LEK, SAM and RM. 15 minutes later, A3O and QYV were both gone. I have heard A3O several times so far this season, but QYV is a new one for me.
  Last night and today I have Lyle Koehler's BPSK/CW transmitter circuit with its nifty frequency synthesizer operating on 181.7 KHz in BPSK mode from Maplewood, MN. It is sending the ID string BK(space) at MS100 ET1. I'm just using my 80 meter dipole as an antenna with the loading coil in the basement so I didn't expect it to work very well. However, today Lyle copied solid BK's using AFRICA with the Coherent decoder and no frame grabber at a distance of about 100 miles. Meanwhile, the real BK keeps transmitting in CW mode from Shell Lake, WI.
  73, -Bruce W0BK/BK

• Subj: Germany QRV again on 137 kHz !
  Date: 99-01-18 16:40:03 EST
  From: BOBEK compuserve (Peter Bobek)
  I just received an email message from our publishing team ("CQ DL" = official magazine of the DARC) saying that we are allowed to transmit again !!!
  All class 1- ticket holders will be entitled to use LF. Further details will follow as soon as I have read the appropriate informations.
  Cheers ! (one bottle of Champagne is already empty...)
  See you all on THE band we have been fighting for since July 1998 when the permits for DA0LF/DA0VLF expired.
  
  Peter / DJ8WL (ex: DA0LF - to be heard again in the near future!)

• Subj: SSB sked
  Date: 99-01-18 05:57:19 EST
  From: mustang kickit pgh (Mike Lamanna)
  QYV, GIR and A3O are having regular LSB contacts on sundays at 12:00pm and at 10:00pm on their beacon freqs (We will be running close to our regular beacon freqs... It's hard to tell exactly.. we are running transverters that are vfo controled so we will +/- 1 kc).
  We invite any reception reports
  thank you
  Mike A3O

• Subj: BK on BPSK
  Date: 99-01-15 23:59:56 EST
  From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
  Looks like BK has his beacon running on BPSK as planned tonight. The screen has been filled with solid "BK BK BK BK", etc for the last hour. His frequency is 187.500 and the mode is MS100, ET1.
  Lyle, K0LR

• Subj: LEK report for January
  Date: 99-01-15 19:43:26 EST
  From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
  So far this year, the LF band conditions haven't recovered to the level they reached on the night of December 23rd, when I copied 18 LowFER beacons. Too bad we don't have conditions like that more often! Daytime conditions were very good on January 5th. While monitoring for BPSK transmissions from OK and TEXAS (alternating between their respective frequencies every half hour), it was possible to pick out a few correct identifier sequences in almost every half-hour interval. As an added bonus, I tuned across the band and heard RM calling me on CW. We're less than 75 miles apart and can hear each other's beacons almost any time, but this was our first LF QSO.
  LowFERs heard during December: XJ, ARK, TH, BA, SAM, RM, BRO, GIR, A3O, QYV, JDH, BOB, RB, YHO, KRY, X and NC (all on CW). In addition, OK, TEXAS and BK were copied in both BPSK and CW modes.
  Lyle

• Subj: W9RB web page up and running
  Date: 99-01-11 17:36:50 EST
  From: bicking mwci (rbicking)
  To: LWCANews and others
  If you're short on entertainment you might check out my web page at:
  http://www.qsl.net/w9rb/
  Bernie: I will be operating from Treasure Cay, Abaco, Bahamas from Feb. 15 thru 21 including the ARRL DX Contest. I will be on 10M thru 80M, mainly CW.
  73.

• Subj: Weird night on LF
  Date: 99-01-11 11:49:06 EST
  From: bhkoehler mmm
  I listened on LF at about 9:30 PM CST Friday 1/8/99 From Shell Lake, WI and the static crashes were very bad, even the local LowFERs were difficult to copy. Strangely, A3O was coming in very well through the QRN, stronger than RM and SAM. Later that evening, I could no longer hear A3O but I heard LEK turn off so I tried calling him. We tried to have a CW QSO but static crashes were forcing us to send each word twice and copy was still difficult. We then switched to BPSK, and had almost perfect copy at MS25 ET2. That's pretty good for how bad the static was. After the BPSK QSO with LEK I tried listening for OK on BPSK, and got an occasional O and and occasional K, and once a OK . Then I set GRAB to 3:21 and soon after COHERENT started printing solid OK OK OK..... Then I tried for TEXAS on BPSK and had no luck. On Saturday at about noon, I tried for OK again with GRAB set to 3:21 and I copied one solid line of OK before I started getting garbled characters. I only tried listening for about 10-15 minutes. It was another weekend of poor LF conditions, but the strong reception of A3O through heavy QRN Friday night seemed worth noting.
  73 -Bruce BK/W0BK
  Note- next weekend I'll try running BK in BPSK MS100 ET1 on 187.500 KHz with a run length of 3 (BK) continously from 9PM through 9AM Friday and Saturday night except when I'm listening.

• Subj: 1750 meter stations
  Date: 99-01-08 23:48:10 EST
  From: EWER44 aol
  Hello. I just started listening for signals in the 1750 meter band with a home built ssb receiver and a CB whip on the roof. I know, pretty low tech, but, I can pickup all the TV sets in the neighborhood. Does anyone know if there are any stations operating near southeast Washington State that I might listen for? I'll check here in case anyone has time to answer or you may reach me at ewer44 aol.com. Would appreciate the help. All I've heard so far is some kind of machine chatter above 160 khz and TV sets.

• Subj: VA Improved
  Date: 99-01-07 20:34:18 EST
  From: n4zv roanoke infi (n4zv)
  Evidently for the first part of the season, lowfer beacon VA, on 187.8 Khz, was suffering from a lossy top loading coil. After removing it, and rewinding the base coil to compensate, the antenna current increased from 100 to 130 mills.
  Mobile (above ignition noise) copy increased much more than it should have, from 3 to nearly 10 miles.
  I'm afraid I don't understand all I know about this hobby, but that's what keeps it interesting!
  73,
  Bart

• Subject: New Frequency for "TEXAS" --> 189.700 kHz
  Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1999 20:33:58 -0600
  From: "William Cantrell" (QA0057 email mot )
  Hi Y'all,
  I just shifted TEXAS down to 189.700 kHz. I have changed the ID back to TEXAS(space) with a run length of 6. The purpose of the frequency change is to avoid QRM between "OK" and "TEXAS" and "RM". I will be running the shorter BPSK-only message for a few more weeks -- Bill VE2IQ and Dave AA1A are trying to copy it this season. So far, no luck...
  189.700 kHz, MS100, ET1, BPSK-continuous mode, TEXAS(space) with a run length of 6.
  --
  Regards,
  Bill Cantrell TEXAS & WD5CVG

• Subj: BPSK recepion of OK
  Date: 99-01-04 11:08:07 EST
  From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
  I tried for OK in BPSK last night but must have been too sleepy -- was listening during the wrong half hour. This morning at 0530 CST, I printed TEXAS on BPSK using a GRAB setting of 12:15. No problem with interference from OK.
  Time stamps on the attached TRACE files are Central Standard Time, which means that the signals were being received about two hours after local sunrise. The first file was obtained with the test version (2.2) of AFRICA in COH mode with a GRAB setting of 3:31, and the second file was obtained in AFR mode; no frame grabber.
  Thanks to Bill Bowers for braving the windchill and getting OK running in BPSK/CW mode!
  Lyle, K0LR

  --------------------
  COHERENT log opened: Mon Jan  4 1999  at 09:32 
  09:32:32 c
  .mo'CCb[1A]L ;P?;Ae
  sVS"^[1E]"VG"V"">"">s";*h[0A]Gh[0A]Nh6Nh<
  09:33:51 Gh?Nh^Gh[16]Gh>Gh>Gh>vh>_s[14][0F]=[0D][09]=[07][09]=O[09]=[0D]
  09:34:49 [09]=[16]
  =[16][09]<[16][0D]mW[12]N[03] OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  09:35:52  OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  09:37:33  OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  09:39:14  OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  09:40:54  OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  09:42:35  OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  --------------------
  COHERENT log opened: Mon Jan  4 1999  at 09:44 
  09:44:24 LK O[08] OKBOKDO[1E] OKVpK V OK -K O8 OK Ow Oo Oc OK OK OK_OK O
  09:45:55 K OK OK OK OK OK OK OK O_ OK OK OK OK OK OK OH&O={LK6O= [08][03]
  09:47:28  OK5OK XKXI) OK W=QwYBRKuOE[13].K[02]L[03] HLBOMXNU OL XK[14][1C]
  09:48:48 N !\+N[1D] O[15] OK OK OK O)[09]!K O{ b[03]2^K[0A]tbKOJ:s3 OK O
  09:50:05 [07]r-L[11]LL LJ c[ 87[07]gly[0C]B[04][16]] (E\mKkmJ[1C]n[0E]X[15]
  09:51:07 [14][17]:[01]X[07][0C]Pq.[01]g2b[10][1A]-}z'$ryYj:[18]h[1C]
  --------------------

• Subj: OK
  Date: 99-01-03 23:34:02 EST
  From: okbill brightok (William Bowers)
  Well thanks to the considerable help from Bill Cantrell and Lyle Koehler radio station " OK " is now transmitting on 189.950 KHz in CW and BPSK. The first 1/2 hour is CW and the second is BPSK at MS100, ET1, and a GRAB of 3.
  Except when DXing for other LOWFERS OK will be on 24 hours every day.
  For the record TEXAS has been coming in here any time of the day or night. Bill is really putting out a nice signal. Also ARK comes in every day from 4:00PM to sunset. LEK is a late night visitor arriving at 1:00 AM and until sunup.
  Bill Bowers

• Subj: Reception of OK in BPSK (& CW)
  Date: 99-01-03 23:25:14 EST
  From: QA0057 email mot (William Cantrell)
  Success!
  I received "OK" on 189.950 kHz, MS100, ET1, no grab, using COH & AFR decoders. COH worked best (full copy) at this time of the evening (9:30PM local).

  COHERENT log opened: Sun Jan  3 1999  at 21:21
  
  21:30:56  OI NK OK O+-OK OK OK+/E OZ OK OK OK OF OK OK O[0A]q[0F]6 PT9 A
  21:32:37 K OK OK OK OK OK PT[0A]w[1C][09]POK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  21:34:15 OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
  21:35:56 OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK

  
  (OK is also audible in CW using 500 Hz IF BW or using a 20 Hz audio filter...)
  --
  Regards,
  Bill Cantrell
  "TEXAS" & WD5CVG
  (near Ft. Worth, TX)

• Subj: VA 187.8 KHz Q5 in NC
  Date: 99-01-03 22:54:02 EST
  From: dmcintyre att (Dexter McIntyre W4DEX)
  Bart has made recent changes to his VA beacon antenna. For the first time I was able to copy VA Q4 during daylight and Q5, about 10 db above noise, a few hours after sunset.
  73, Dex, LF Beacon "NC" 187.050 KHz

• Subj: 1.4 miles per milliwatt
  Date: 99-01-02 11:25:14 EST
  From: n4zv roanoke infi (n4zv)
  A great start to the New Year. I was able to copy NC, at 100 mw Q3 New Year's morning at 140 miles.
  Hats off to Dex, for his very efficient installation.
  This is the kind of stuff that makes it all worth while!
  73
  Bart VA/N4ZV

• Subj: (no subject)
  Date: 99-01-01 20:00:41 EST
  From: cbuttsch slonet (Cliff Buttschardt)
  Happy happy new years to the entire low frequency experimentation group. We are a very unusual bunch expecting unusual results. Let us hope 1999 will find us more tuned to the frequencies of interest. Cliff
  Buttschardt K7RR/W6HDO

• Subj: More unidentified top end signals:
  Date: 99-01-01 18:09:33 EST
  From: Palmer RD aol
  A few more unidentified signals heard this month which most people believe to be marker buoys.

  1728	92W159	12/10  0942
  1731.7	KA90432	12/6  0840
  1737	92W170	12/6  0842
  1740	IS1HT  loud and strong most mornings, first heard 12/3 1123
  1772	3SV  (ID??weak)	12/4  0740

  
  Picked up WM from Prescott, AZ on 12/09 at 0850, this time on 1704 KHz. QSL says he has moved frequency again to avoid QRM from the new broadcast stations.
  Regards,
  Dick Palmer
  Green Valley, AZ 85614-4701

• Subject: BPSK software upgrades
  Date: Fri, 01 Jan 1999 12:58:38 -0500
  From: Bill de Carle
  The following programs have been upgraded on my web page at:
  www.ietc.ca/home/bill/bbs.htm

  o  AFRICA Version 2.1
  
  Main difference is that V2.1 will produce a BLOCK.nnn file whenever its
  TRACE mode is activated.  That is in addition to the usual TRACE.nnn file.
  To stay compatible with COHERENT's block files, the BLOCK files generated
  by AFRICA 2.1 will be derived from the COH decoder, regardless of whether
  COH or AFR decoders are used to actually obtain the stream of characters
  which appear on the screen and get written to the TRACE.nnn file.  This
  feature lets us use COHPLAY to analyze overnight runs in an effort to
  determine the optimum parameter settings.
  
  o  COHPLAY Version 2.0
  
  The updated version generates TGENx.nnn files in the same format used by
  COHERENT/AFRICA for their trace files.  E.g. each line starts with a time-
  stamp.  That lets us use SEARCH to check the statistics on an overnight
  run after the optimum parameter settings have been applied.  You can also
  specify a starting timestamp value of 00:00:00 - to get elapsed time down
  the left side of the screen.
  
  o  SEARCH Version 2.3 - this was previously available, you may have already
  downloaded it.  I find it is quite handy.

  
  73 de Bill VE2IQ

www.lwca.org

potrzebie