Longwave Messages March 1997

• Subj: Beacon and mail
  Date: 97-03-31 16:04:35 EST
  From: daveaa1a
  LF beacon 1A will be off for the Summer.. Also new E-Mail address is daveaa1a@ssih.com
  Was a dull season on LOWFER but we did get connected to the BPSK folk's and have discovered Coherent Comms with them on 160-80-30-20 meters..
  A dozen years ago one could hear many beacons around the Boston area and actually get on and call CQ and get an answer.. Today almost nil..
  73 de Dave Riley AA1A

• Subj: BPSK +
  Date: 97-03-31 15:39:30 EST
  From: daveaa1a
  Was a dull season on LowFER but we did get connected to the BPSK folks and have discovered Coherent Comms with them on 160-80-30-20 meters.. My set-up is a SD board from Bill VE2IQ which is a bargain and performs very well.. It is mounted in a A/B serial port switch box along with the transmitter modulator.. The 'B' serial connector was removed and replaced with RCA jacks.. A real nice house for $9.95..
  73 de Dave Riley AA1A

• Subj: RI Beacon off air 4/1/97
  Date: 97-03-31 08:15:39 EST
  From: pthomson
  I will be taking Lowfer beacon RI off the air tomorrow, April 1, for the summer. It will be back on October 1 if all goes as planned. I will try to get a better ground system in during the summer, and hopefully a higher Q coil for a better signal. I got no QSLs yet.
  I didn't get to listen much this winter, and the only good signal I got was TH. Maybe I'll get a Beverage up this summer.

• Subj: Information on Hydronics research
  Date: 97-03-28 00:49:42 EST
  From: jeffkinges.co.nz (Jeff & Yvonne)
  I am trying to locate published technical information on Wallace Minto's research (published mostly in the 1960's in radio / electronics magazines) into what he termed "Hydronics" or underwater radio. His experiments utilised unusual dipole antennas, which supposedly picked up directional EM signals from fish. Can anyone help me out?
  Jeff King.

• Subj: Looking for NDB database help.
  Date: 97-03-27 19:25:20 EST
  From: mmans (Mark Mansfield)
  Would anyone know where I could get the NDB database via ftp on the internet? I had this at one point in the past but had a drive crash. The database had NDB/VOR etc. of all the US airports. It also had info about each beacon such as power output, hours of operation, location, etc. I'd like to get it again and print all the NDB's out. Anyone have it or know where I can get it?
  Thanks in advance! Mark

• Future Expanded Band Station
  Date: 97-03-27
  From: Gary V. Jackson, Sacramento CA
  Via U.S. Mail
  According to a local paper, KAHI, Auburn, CA - 950 kHz, has been approved to move to the expanded band on 1620 kHz. Probably a year away with permits and antenna construction.
  73s, Gary

• Subj: Canadian equivalent to Part 15 regs.
  Date: 97-03-22 00:00:43 EST
  From: huttemanintergate.bc.ca (Greg Huttemann)
  Does anybody know if Canada has an equivalent to the American Part 15 requlations. I would really like to get involved in Lowfer operating but I can't get much information on what's allowed in Canada.
  73's - Greg Huttemann VE7IGH

• Subj: Special Event Station, July, '97
  Date: 97-03-21 13:37:59 EST
  From: wa5whn (Jay D Miller)
  We will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the "Crash at Corona", near Roswell, New Mexico, July 3 - 5, 1997, 1700 UTC - 2400 UTC, daily.
  Frequencies: approximately 20 khz up from the bottom edge of the US General licensee HF band edge, 6 - 40 meters (phone - SSB) and in the CW Novice/Technician HF section of 15 & 40 meters (QRP & QRO). Listen for W5BI, WB5LYJ, NA5N and WA5WHN. The station will operate overlooking one of the debris fields, near Corona, NM. We are awaiting a special event callsign from the FCC.
  SWL reports are encouraged too. SASE required.
  SASE (9 x 12 inches), 2 units of US first class postage required. Send QSL and SASE to WA5WHN, Jay Miller, PO Box 6552, Albuquerque, NM 87197-6552 USA.
  Check the W5BI web page for further developements.
  Or, e-mail

• Subj: INSPIRE/INTMINS
  Date: 97-03-17 18:37:19 EST
  From: d.jones160 (David M. Jones)
  Project INSPIRE has returned my two audio tapes and some spectrograms of the November transmissions from the MIR spacecraft. Bill Pine noted that no reception has been found yet. The Inspire Newsletter should have more details in April.

• Subj: LowFER Off
  Date: 97-03-17 20:49:54 EST
  From: d.jones160 (David M. Jones)
  Lowfer beacon NR 186.8kHz is off since the tornado took down all of the convenient trees to brace it up. At my hamshack, all the backyard trees are down and nothing is left to hang a wire antenna on. I suppose I will build a stealth vertical. I haven't figured out the best antenna solution yet. Verticals I built in the past tended to sacrifice short and medium range coverage.

• Subj: PYD Found!!!
  Date: 97-03-15 18:45:44 EST
  From: dxguy (Don L. Davis)
  Mystery of PYD solved! I just returned from a conference in Las Vegas, where I was able to conclusively RDF the site of PYD 414. It is located (as was briefly alluded to) near Groom Lake in Nellis AFB, Nevada. This is the supposed site of UFOs in hangars, aliens, and the usual bunch of brain-dead ideas about classified areas. I took 8 distinct bearings around the periphery of Nellis (about 300 miles of driving!), and was able to pin-point the location to an area about 5 miles West of Groom Lake. My last two bearings were from about 20 miles from the site, and were quite loud, with distinct nulls.
  I spoke with Don Tomkinson regarding his DFing to George AFB. He had a high gain RX @ night, close to the car, and close to the fence. I duplicated his measurements during the day, and found no trace of PYD. I assume that he was coupling into the periphery fence, and had gain pumping from the AGC. Also, the close proximity of many high-tension lines gives a large noise floor, which makes nulls appear very shallow.
  It was a grand adventure - will write up more of what I found (maps, techniques, equipment, etc.) in next month's LWCA Lowdown. In the meanwhile.... 73's
  - don davis

• Subj: BPSK and sync
  Date: 97-03-15 18:48:50 EST
  From: microres (Stan Wilson)
  I have been working on my 800 hz BPSK generator. I went the way of a simple X-OR gate but did not like the discontinuity of switching at other than the zero crossing point of the signal. SO have reworked my circuit to include a couple of D Flip-Flops so that I can now switch at the zero crossing point.
  I am an OLE rtty operator and we really tried to maintain a coherent signal and never switching at other that the zero crossing. Always believed that it helped to maintain sync on the receiving end.
  Anyway it now appears to work on paper and have a few more wires to connect to prove it works correctly and I will have a BPSK generator running. Hope to get enough time this week to prove it all out. WIll send you the circuit or post it on the 3591 message page when I have verified it works ok.
  I am cleaning up the 800 hz square wave bpsk signal by filtering with a W3nqn 800 hz filter. Again want a nice clean signal for the SSB input on the xmit. Hopefully the high Q circuit does not go nuts when it sees the phase reversal.
  I also pulled one of my old RTTY CRT scopes off the shelf and plan on modifying it so I can use it for BPSK tuning and hope to be able to watch the nice keying pattern on the scope tube. I will feed one set of plates with my local 800 hz oscillator and drive the other set of plates with the incoming BPSK signal from the speaker circuit.
  As you can see I am an experimenter. :-) Do not work very fast, but usually by the time I get a signal on the air it works correctly. hi My work bench looks like the mad scientist's workshop. Only thing modern is the test equipment. Newest ham radio I have is a Cubic 103BX which is about 15 years old.
  Anyway that is what is happening here in COLD missouri. Freezing last night and never got above 32 all day.
  Cheers, Stan AK0B

• Subj: RBA-3
  Date: 97-03-13 04:53:59 EST
  From: bdieser (Barry Dieser)
  Does anyone else own an RBA-3 radio? I just powered mine up after it had been off for a very long time. It is still quite an impressive receiver. I have been listening to the Hartford WI beacon ( HXF, about 30 miles from where I am ) for the last 2 hours, and there has been absolutely no drift at all. The frequency range of the receiver is 15khz to 600khz. It has very nice filters for CW reception.
  If anyone knows anything about them, I would like to know where I could get the cable that connects the power supply to the radio. I have been wiring it directly sticking solder tinned wire ends into the plug connectors. Don't know how many of these radios were made, mine has a serial number of 664.
  I have some manuals for this receiver, and could make some copies for anyone who is interested.
  -Barry

• Subj: Beacon IDs for Europe?
  Date: 97-03-12 16:15:03 EST
  From: sasdgb (David Bass)
  Greetings!
  As I've recently returned to LW monitoring (mainly NDB chasing) after long absence, I was looking back through my old logbook the other day. I came across some beacon loggings I made several years ago while I was on a business trip to Sweden...all un-ID'd, of course. Does anyone know of a source for European beacon information? The last issue of the Beacon Guide I have only covers foreign beacons likely to be heard in the US (South America and the Pacific Rim mainly).
  Any help would be most appreciated! Thanks!
  David

• Subj: MedFER freq change
  Date: 97-03-08 15:13:36 EST
  From: Todd Roberts (via amateur radio)
  Dave Ross has moved beacon W down to 1648.5 kHz for the remainder of the season.

• Subj: insects and e-field receivers
  Date: 97-03-06 15:13:36 EST
  From: d.jones160
  I sent a .wav recording of a mosquito to someone at Georgia Tech Research Institute. I suppose he intends to explain how a VLF receiver receives an insect. Do you have a hypothesis?
  - David

• Subj: Vanity call keyed to longwave.
  Date: 97-03-02 20:55:28 EST
  From: W7LW
  I've been a ham for 34 years. When I upgraded to extra class 10 years ago I elected to go for a new callsign; I received WK7U. It reminded me then (and now) of a part number off of a motor bearing. The Vanity call program provided the oportunity for me to change this and to express my affinity for a portion of the radio spectrum near and dear to my heart.
  73's - W7LW (E. L. "MAC" Mcknight. Boise, ID)

• Subj: TIS and MF beacons
  Date: 97-03-02 22:45:52 EST
  From: PowellMclaven.fanshawec.on.ca (Mitch Powell)
  Logging 1640 kHz and 1680 kHz every night here in London, Ontario. Some nights peaking to S9 and solid audio copy. Also good copy 569 of MER E, Mercaderes, Colombia at 0155Z.
  Unid is 1683.2 signing cw 9W133 with a 3 second dash.
  73 de Mitch

• Subj: DFW Airport TIS Stations
  Date: 97-03-01
  From: Gary V. Jackson (via US mail)
  New TIS/HAR from Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. Power is 60 watts. 1640 and 1680 are being heard in Oregon and Montana. I only hear 1680 here (Sacramento), probably because of KXBT, Vallejo, CA.
  Address for QSL: Joe Blair, Dallas Ft. Worth Airport, Dallas TX 75261.
  73's - Gary

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