Longwave Messages

• Longwave monitoring questions, tips and comments.
• Longwave loggings, NDB and other utilities.
• Part 15 experimental operation.
• LowFER and MedFER beacon loggings.
• Digital topics: CCW, BPSK, and DSP.
• Geophysics & Natural Radio.
• General discussions.
• Equipment exchange.
• Sources and resources.
• Comments and suggestions about this Web site.

• Subj: Zero-elevation Antenna
  Date: 97-02-11 10:12:53 EST
  From: pcrabill
  My 100-ft antenna came down some time ago, and it was not convenient to put in a new antenna support. The 30-ft antenna I was able to erect was OK for SW, but not very effective for BCB or LW DX.
  As an experiment, I unrolled my 100-ft extension cord on the ground in the back yard and used it for an antenna. It worked so well that I replaced it with a 120-foot piece of #10 insulated wire, and it worked even better. Being covered with 6 inches of snow over the weekend hasn't made any difference in its performance. It seems to pick up less manmade noise, and is somewhat directional.
  -
  Perry Crabill, W3HQX
  Winchester, VA

• Subj: converter and preamp in March '97 Popular Electronics
  Date: 97-02-06 18:56:21 EST
  From: faunt
  Joe Carr has a very simple VLF converter and preamp in the Ham Radio column of the March 97 Popular Electronics. It's basically missing coil construction details, but otherwise looks OK to me, but I'm not experienced enough to be able to critique it.
  What do the experts think?
  -
  tnx and 73,
  doug
  N6TQS

• Subj: V7AL7 Reception
  Date: 97-02-05 20:17:17 EST
  From: don.l.davis (Don L Davis)
  I really like the web site that is set up - it's a great addition to the club. Sorry to hear of the passing of Ken - he was a mainstay for years.
  V7AL7 is an unid that's been heard for ages. It's carrier is on 410, code on 410.40. The code is sent fast, with no real break between continuous IDs (ie, not like typical Canadian with carrier broken with one or two IDs). Just gave a listen 2 nights ago - no sign of it at all. I was very surprised to hear them as loud and steady as they were the other night. Especially with the band being otherwise dead. I have heard them weakly myself off and on for several months. This is what leads me to believe it is a ship or movable source. I did not try to do any DFing - my setup for that is temporarilly down.
  Speaking of DFing.... I took a couple of interesting trips into the desert last Dec to try & pin-point PYD. The results were less than conclusive - major problems trying to do this from a car. I need to get a better set-up than the Kenwood/Kiwa Loop or my crummy Ray Jeff. I went so far as to write up my first trip as an article with maps, etc. but got beaten to the punch by DT. I may submit it for fun anyhow. I tend to believe DT's account of old George AFB (new LA Int Apt.), and think that other folks are just pulling his (our) leg. My bearings and signal strengths were not inconsistent with that result - however bad my set-up was!
  Is the LW Logbook going to be updated any time soon? We are in desperate need of new data given all of the changes that are occuring. I'm making do, but having to do a lot of detective work with lots of disparate sources.
  -
  Thanks -73s -dd

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NDB/Utility Stations

• Subj: NDB VW/280
  Date: 97-02-11 10:06:25 EST
  From: pcrabill
  Perhaps others already know that VW/280, un-ID here for some time, is in Statesville, NC, according to the NAVAIDS home page.
  -
  Perry Crabill, W3HQX
  Winchester, VA

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• Subj: MedFER STLMO on BPSK/ETM
  Date: 97-02-21 20:46:42 EST
  From: k0lr (Lyle Koehler)
  I got a letter from Henry, KA0TUP yesterday, saying that he had implemented the alternating BPSK/CCW circuit I sent him for use with the VE2IQ identifier. He's running approximately 1 minute of CCW and 1 minute of BPSK/ET. At MS100, that's long enough to repeat the "STLMO" identifier six times. Last night the QRN was too rough for copy, but this evening the band is a little quieter and I started getting partial print of STLMO at about 0030 UTC. At the moment (0130 UTC) he is running better than 80 per cent copy on the average, with one string of six solid STLMO identifiers. QSB cycles are fairly long; the signal fades completely out and then back in over a period of about ten minutes. It hasn't been necessary to re-sync since the beginning of the receiving session. From time to time I listen in the headphones, but have yet to hear a definite audio signal. No frame grabbing has been used so far. The ET coding is doing a super job of making an inaudible signal printable in "real time".
  I pinpointed STLMO's frequency by using Bill de Carle's FFT program, with a length of 4096 in the integrate mode. The IC-706 is reading 1690.800. Since it usually reads 1 ppm high, my best estimate of STLMO's actual frequency is 1690.798 kHz.
  The CCW/BPSK ID cycle Henry is using is supposed to be exactly two minutes long. The cycle start time may not be synchronized to the exact second with WWV time, but it looks like STLMO is sending CCW during the odd minutes and BPSK/ET during even minutes after the hour.
  It's about 560 miles from here to St. Louis. I predict that this MedFER BPSK DX "record" should be pretty easy to break.
  73, Lyle

• Subj: Keep those cards and letters coming in
  Date:97-02-15 02:27:25 EST
  
  Thank you for posting my request for Boston area signal reports. The farthest report came from Pocasset, MA, a distance of 65 miles.
  On another topic, is there interest out there in a discussion of transmitting antenna configurations? One of the questions that comes up is the best location for the loading coil on the vertical element.
  -
  Bill Ashlock

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• Subj: logging report
  Date: 97-02-24 20:43:26 EST
  From: d4 (Drayton Cooper)
  RGQ at 2321, 2/24/97, on 1703kcs...popped out from beneath a heterodyne and was very audible for several minutes before fading back down beneath the noise.
  At 0130 (a short while ago) I heard a strong signal IDing as BX42, near 1691kcs. I was several hundred cycles away and as I attempted to find his exact frequency, he disappeared and has not returned. Been waiting now over 10 minutes near his last heard spot and nothing. Any ideas?
  American Airlines back again tonight, though don't believe as strong as last night. The 1680 frequency somewhat better than 1640 tonight.
  Thought I might have gotten a weak character or two from SEA about 0115 but not sure. Will hear you one night, I'm sure.
  - 73, Drayton Cooper, K4KSY (EM85)

• Subj: TIS stations on 1640 and 1680 kHz
  Date: 97-02-24 13:08:56 EST
  From: k0lr (Lyle Koehler)
  Both of the Dallas airport TIS stations were S9 + 5dB at 1115 UTC today in central Minnesota. With that kind of coverage, it certainly gives you ample time to determine your departure gate!
  Lyle, K0LR

• Subj: Logging report
  Date: 97-02-23 22:21:27 EST
  From: d4 (Drayton Cooper)
  Best DX so far....MPK being received with signals at times over-riding heterodyne from American Airlines' DFW station on 1640. Signal level ranging from inaudible to above the QRM from AA stn. "V V V de MPK". Official logging time is 0235Z, 2/24/97.

• Subj: medFER logging and CORRECTION
  Date: 97-02-22 20:01:41 EST
  From: dc3 (Drayton Cooper)
  In reviewing report of 19 Feb 97, I see I transposed callsign of XP and PX. Should have reported logging XP, Durham, NC, 200 miles distant, NOT PX on that date.
  Tonight, however, I have, indeed, logged PX, Berlin, MD, @ 0031Z with excellent signal, best of the four I am hearing this early evening here in western North Carolina. Hearing also XP, CSA (extremely weak on several tries) and ABC is back, though weak.
  Unknown distance to PX but sounds like a local!
  Drayton Cooper, K4KSY (EM 85)

• Subj: copied STLMO medfer with BPSK
  Date: 97-02-22 13:48:06 EST
  From: billietc.ca (Bill de Carle)
  This morning, Saturday Feb. 22nd at around 06:30 EST I successfully copied Medfer STLMO while tuned to 1690.798 Khz. I was using the new COHERENT v6.0 program, in its BPSK/ET mode.
  I understand Henry was transmitting alternating minutes of CCW and BPSK/ET. There was no sign here of his CW identifier, just the BPSK.
  The distance covered was 958 miles. I never received STLMO previously. This may be a record?
  Best,
  Bill de Carle VE2IQ

• Subj: medFER loggings
  Date: 97-02-19 22:05:33 EST
  From: dc3
  Hrd CSA, 1638kcs, with weak (S-2) signal at 2330Z and later;No signal hrd tonight from ABC which was very good here last night.Increasing QRN from approaching frontal system.
  73, Drayton Cooper, K4KSY

• Subj: medFER logging
  Date: 97-02-18 20:32:26 EST
  From: dc3
  At 0125Z, 19 Feb 97, have been listening to ABC @ 1643.5 kcs for past 15 minutes. Signal QSBing into noise, but generally quite readable. QTH here is Green Mountain, NC, EM 85, about 10 air miles from Tennessee state line, near the town of Burnsville, NC. Gear Ten-Tec Paragon/225-foot doublet, 75 feet above ground at feedpoint, fed with open-wire line. Distance to Hilton Head Island estimated @ 300 miles.
  73, Drayton Cooper, K4KSY (ex-N4LBJ)

• Subj: MF's
  Date: 97-02-17 07:49:47 EST
  From: CBernth
  Greetings;
  Thanks to PX, MPK & RGQ for QSL's received. I can't report further receptions of these or other MF's since late January. Have only heard MER & PCH twice since that time. Thanks again.
  Charles R. Bernth
  Eastport, NY

• Subj: MF reception reports
  Date: 97-02-14 11:41:48 EST
  From: k0lr (Lyle Koehler)
  A couple of days ago I received a reception report and audio tape recording of my MIN MedFER beacon from Dick Pearce, N1XKH in Brattleboro, Vermont. He also heard MedFER STLMO. Nice going, Dick!
  -
  Lyle, K0LR

• Subj: LEK
  Date: 97-02-12 15:39:45 EST
  From: okbill (William E. Bowers)
  After 2 years and hundreds of hours of trying I finally got a copy on LEK. I do not know what Lyle has done, but at 7:00 PM the noise was unusually low and LEK drifted in through the noise. I have been working on LEK and BA for many hours this year, and now I can concentrate on BA.
  -
  Bill Bowers

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Digital Topics: CCW, BPSK, DSP

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SlowBPSK

• Subj: Slowbpsk ascii and varilength coding
  Date: 97-02-02 14:52:17 EST (Posted here 97-02-08)
  From: paulstraxs4all.nl (Paulus)
  Hello there,
  My name is Paul, PA0OCD and I live in an small village Diemen nr Amsterdam. I was looking for articles and so for VLF and came across ur fb website. I think I will join the american long wave club hi. Here in Holland we do not have an permisson for long wave yet, but we expect soon to be allowed on the 136-143 khz part with abt 1 watt erp !! (hi), and till now no restrictions on antennas.
  With G3PLX and G0TJZ we have experimented on 40, 80 and 160 mtrs with slowbpsk. This is not the bpsk used with the coherent program from VE2IQ. The slowbpsk runs on an TMS320C50 ( will run soon also on an dsp56002evm) and is 31,25 baud. It can be used for 7 bits Ascii but also with varilength coding ( invented by g3plx and g0tjz). This varilength coding uses lesser bits for more used chracters like the huffman coding used by pactor. The bw of slowbpsk is abt 50 hz or less and tuning has te be done on 1hz , but the results are very good. When you do not hear the signal in 500 hz bw anymore it still will write on the screen.
  By the way I used also CCW, with programs from VE2IQ and DJ7HS using the VE2IQ concverter, mainly on 7 mhz with G3IRM. The results were also good but the slowbpsk ascii /varilength is an bit faster and I got more stations to work with - hi.
  Thank for your fb website and let me know if i can be of any help,
  -
  73 de Paul
  paulstra@xs4all.nl

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Geophysics Research & Natural Radio

• Subj: Natural Radio
  Date: 97-02-28 13:03:28 EST
  From: dlevit (Dan Levit)
  Hey...
  I'm looking for some SERIOUS investigators for doing coordinated Natural Radio listening. It would involve doing recordings at specific times. If ANYBODY is interested, contact me at dlevit@cin.net.
  Thanks, Dan Levit

  • Note: Dan Levit is Natural Radio editor for the Longwave Club of America. Anyone interested in participating, whether a member or not, should contact Dan.- John Davis

• Subj: W6OBB/HAARP/CW/March 8, 1997 UTC
  Date: 97-02-24 09:36:51 EST
  From: wa5whn (Jay D Miller)
  While driving home last night, I was tuned to a local 50KW blow torch (KKOB-770 KHz, AM-Albuquerque, NM). Every Sunday evening, @ 8:06 PM MST (Monday morning, 0306 UTC), W6OBB has a syndicated show called "Dreamland". I am usually paying attention to the road, trying to dodge drunk & idiotic drivers in the "Catatonic State" (New Mexico). W6OBB, Art says "Standby all Hams & prepare to copy". Whoa ! I pull off to the side of the road & (I wish I had my tape recorder) copied the following;
  HAARP (Gakona, Alaska) will have test broadcasts on March 8, 1997 UTC (late March 7 in the Americas):
  ( * Note: See details in the message posted 3/3/97 JHD * )
  If You need detailed information about W6OBB's show, point your Browsers to the following URL: http://www.artbell.com/
  If You are interested in HAARP, point Your Browsers to the following URL: http://www.altavista.digital.com/ Type in "HAARP" , without the quotes, and You will see a list of references to HAARP.
  Art had also mentioned one other URL...http://www.earthpulse.com/
  Talk about QRO (emphasis on the Big O).
  ...Jay, WA5WHN, Albuquerque, NM

  • Reply 1:
    Thanks for the fascinating information, Jay. On several of the sites located with the Altavista search, expect to find a lot of conspiracy theorists. Do check out the HAARP home page for factual data and pictures.
    In addition to SWLs, earthquake researchers and other ELF and ULF listeners should make it a point to have their gear cranked up at times when CW is scheduled, since one of the objectives is to generate ELF waves by stimulating the ionosphere with high-power HF signals!
    Also, hams active in VHF/UHF work...especially those with experience in auroral propagation...will want to take advantage of these tests. The cones of heated plasma resulting from these transmissions should be fairly efficient reflectors.
    -John Davis

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General Discussions

• Subj: Silent-Key W2IMB
  Date: 97-03-13 04:11:57 EST
  From: LABORJmail.firn.edu (Jim Labor)
  Very sorry to hear that Ken Cornell,W2IMB has been added to the list of Silent-Keys... Definitly inspired by his "Scrapbook-Publications". May he live on in the experimental-endeavors of all VLF enthusiasts.
  Sincerely Yours, Jim Labor KE4NZG, EL-99 LWCA member.

• Subj: Thanks to K0LR
  Date: 97-02-25 16:21:22 EST
  From: d4 (Drayton Cooper)
  ...my thanks to Lyle Koehler, K0LR, for his splendid advice given me via e-mail after I queried him yesterday about trouble I was having with receiver sensitivity in the LW portion. The solution Lyle suggested was quick, simple and extremely helpful, and I'd recommend it to other newcomers (and "returners") to LW DXing.
  I had been having a SERIOUS drop in sensitivity below about 1600 kcs (kHz...excuse me, but I'm an old-timer) with my Paragon-tuner-antenna combination. I knew it couldn't be a too-short antenna (225 feet), and the receiver seemed "hot" enough on all other frequencies.
  Lyle's suggestion was to bypass the tuner since it was probably acting as a high pass filter. I clipped the two leads of my open-wire feeder together, then clipped one of them to the center pin of the RG8 coax jumper from the rig to the tuner, and instantaneously, I was able to read clearly NAVAID beacons below 500 kHz!
  In the past hour, I've logged 14 identifiable beacons (and several too weak to ID) across North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia! And it is only 4:00 PM EST! The furthest of the stations appears to be CLB at Carolina Beach, NC, well over 300 miles from me.
  I couldn't let this opportunity go by to thank Lyle publicly (I've already e-mailed him) and to suggest others try this very simple fix. Now, we'll see what the night brings forth!
  73, Drayton Cooper, K4KSY

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Equipment Exchange

This area exists as a place for longwave enthusiasts to acquire and sell their LF-related electronic equipment non-commercially. It is presently being tried on an experimental basis. There is no charge.

Caution: All transactions are solely between the person offering equipment for sale and the prospective buyer. Neither the Longwave Club of America, nor the Longwave Home Page, nor anyone affiliated with them, have any knowledge of the gear's condition or fitness, or the reliability of the seller or buyer. Always exercise reasonable prudence!

WANT TO BUY:

• Subj: WTB: VLF/LF Receiver
  Date: 97-02-03 10:32:07 EST
  From: (Mark Mansfield)
  I'm looking for a VLF/LF receiver such as the Watkins/Johnson R1401 or CEI 357. Other types with similar performance would be okay as well. Let me know what you have, what condition it's in, what accessaries you have, and last (but probably most important) what you want for it.
  Thanks! Mark

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Sources and Resources

• Subj: Toroid Supplier for VLF Projects
  Date: 97-02-01 15:58:00 EST
  From: corey (Corey Abercrombie)
  The ByteMark Corporation 1-800-679-3184 located in Orlando, Florida is a distributor for Amidon Associates. ByteMark's price is typically 5 to 15% below Amidon's price. You can check out their website at www.bytemark.com.
  • Reply 1:
    Thanks for the information, Corey. Just a note to anyone trying the Web site above...be sure to click on the Amidon logo to get the Amidon pages. Likewise, click on the Wave Guide logo to find out about their line of experimenter modules. These logos may not show up as hypertext links on some browsers, but that's what they actually are.
    - John Davis

• Subj: Measuring output on 73kHz
  Date: 97-02-01 15:39:36 EST
  From: Dave.Ackrillwestwood45.powergen.co.uk
  This may be of interest to those on 73kHz, using QRP, or both.
  I've been looking for a way of measuring the output of a very low power 73kHz transmitter as I had problems with the ordinary in-line wattmeters that are normally used on the HF and VHF bands. In fact, mine is intended for use between 1.8MHz and 1300MHz, but was not very useful at 73kHz. I suspect that this was because the power from the transmitter was too low to be detected by the diodes in use in my power meter.
  I came across a milliwatt meter from Kanga Products, which I thought might be able to help. The design needs a digital multimeter and is calibrated by applying known RF powers, up to 5 Watts, and plotting the input power against the number of millivolts or volts measured by the DMM.
  On trying my very low power 73kHz transmitter I measured about 80mV on my DMM and I think that the output from the transmitter is somewhere near 20mW. However, it did prove that the milliwatt meter could detect the output of the transmitter and I hope to be able to calibrate it against the display on an oscilloscope.
  The system should be useable into the VHF region, with careful construction techniques, and anyone who can read a simple circuit diagram and transfer it to a PCB should be able to make up the milliwatt meter.
  A kit, less a metal enclosure, DMM and one variable resistor (I used a small preset which could be found in a junk box, or very cheaply at a rally or electronics shop) is available from Kanga Products. They advertise in many of the QRP magazines, or try their email: dick@kanga.demon.co.uk, or web site: http://www.kanga.demon.co.uk
  I'm not connected to the company, in case anyone wonders, and this has been the first kit that I have bought from them. I know others have used them in the past and have heard many good reports of their service. I can vouch that delivery was very quick after ordering.
  -
  73 de Dave (G0DJA)
  • Reply 1:
    Thanks, Dave. Most helpful. It turns out Kanga also has a U.S. distributor, who can be reached at http://qrp.cc.nd.edu/kanga/.
    - John Davis

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Comments and Suggestions

. . . (None in this category this month.)

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