(You will notice a difference in the format between this and most previous archived months.  Part of the difference arises from the new Message Board format itself, and part is because we're testing methods to extract messages from the board during the archiving process. We apologize, and are aware this first attempt is pretty lame, even after later revision. Your comments, as always, are welcome.)

Addresses and URLs may become outdated over time.

Posted by John Davis webmaster lwca.org
on May 17, 2000 at 03:48:17:

WELCOME

(A Note from the Webmaster)

Welcome to the new Longwave Message Board. Now it is easier to follow continuing discussions, thanks to the threaded messages feature. And, because manual editing is no longer involved, your messages will be available for others to read immediately!

This board is just one part of our new Message Center. The Message Center is where you will be able to access older messages, use chat areas or special forums, and of course, get to this board. 

I believe you'll find this board very easy to use. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) links on most of these pages will take you to the most commonly needed information, and you can also e-mail the webmaster(at) lwca.org for further assistance.

We hope you will enjoy these new tools and find them useful. Let us know what you think! 

- John

Posted by John Hoopes jdhatti hom.net
on June 08, 2000 at 21:12:49:

In Reply to: WELCOME 1
posted by John Davis on May 17, 2000 at 03:48:17:

I like the new format John. Keep up the good work and thanks for your time and effort.

Posted by Frank Reynolds 
on June 06, 2000 at 09:08:21:

In Reply to: WELCOME 1
posted by John Davis on May 17, 2000 at 03:48:17:

I think I like the new look. Just don't get any flashing advertisers, please. 

Posted by John Davis webmaster lwca.org
on June 06, 2000 at 17:39:49:

In Reply to: Re: WELCOME 5
posted by Frank Reynolds on June 06, 2000 at 09:08:21:

Thanks, Frank. Don't worry...if we manage to get any ads at all, we'll try to keep them reasonably sized and tasteful. I really hate to encounter some of the ones I see on the Web these days.

John

Posted by Dave Holder DAVEINBHAM aol.com
on June 11, 2000 at 22:29:36:

In Reply to: Re: WELCOME 6
posted by John Davis on June 06, 2000 at 17:39:49:

Your "new look" for the postings sucks. The "old" format was much more user friendly. I vote to please return to the old format.

Regards, Dave 

Posted by John Davis webmaster lwca.org
on June 15, 2000 at 20:14:04:

In Reply to: Re: WELCOME 14
posted by Dave Holder on June 11, 2000 at 22:29:36:

Thanks for your thoughts, somewhat abusive though the first sentence was. If you could clarify what's not user-friendly about it, we'd be grateful. 

I'm aware, for instance, that it requires a smidgen more effort to find which are the most recent postings when someone sends a reply to a reply to a reply, as you did. It may end up somewhere near the bottom of the list. That's something to which a person can adapt pretty quickly, though, and navigate the whole list in a few seconds. (Editor's Note: This shortcoming has since been remedied with the addition of the Chronological Message List.) 

So, I appreciate thoughts on whatever might make the board more user friendly. However, returning to the old format is simply not an option. 

It's just not possible to manually edit the list often enough to make it useful to readers in this hurryup age of e-mail reflectors. Therefore, it was being used less and less often, even though e-mail groups are highly impermanent and don't reach as many readers as this board can. In order to make it fast enough to be useful, we have to do something very close to this, if not precisely identical to the current format. 

73, John

RE: Beacon loggings - new antenna!

Posted by Dave Tomasko kdtomasko aol.com
on June 05, 2000 at 16:21:21:

Hi Tim, 

The unidentified beacons in your list are as follows: 263:YGK Kingston ON 279:OZ Oneonta NY 303:YPP Parent QC 373:2R Tyendinaga ON 392:ML Charlevoix QC 

BTW: Congrats on your new tuned loop msg0500.htm

. Looks GREAT! Loops help a lot for nulling out interfering signals. 

Dave nr Chicago

New Beacon

Posted by Gary Carlson carlsong itctel.com
on June 03, 2000 at 14:03:55:

Freq: 170.000 Call: GSD QTH: Gary, SD 

Grid: EN14 Op: Gary Carlson WØGC Sked: intmtt 

Thanks

SAQ

Posted by Karl O. Wiman sm6hcj seaside.se
on June 08, 2000 at 07:47:36:

Hi (again). Some new details.. 75 year jubilee transmission from SAQ Alexandersson alternator.

=============================================

The transmitter will be activated at the following times: 0830, 0845, 1230, 1245 UTC. If You are a radio amateur, there will be possible to leave reports of hearing SAQ directly on shortwave. 

Information about frequency will be given in the message transmitted 

from SAQ. 

All reports, written or on amateur radio, of hearing SAQ are MOST 

welcome. 

The radio amateur station will have the unique callsign SA6Q.

Best regards, Karl (SM6HCJ)

New Software: CRUNCH

Posted by Bill de Carle bill ietc.ca
on June 09, 2000 at 00:00:18:

Hi John: 

I'm very excited about this technique! (Digitizing QRS CW and "speeding it up" on playback in the computer.) Quite amazing to actually hear the CW clearly enough to get perfect copy after trying in vain to copy the same signal with other methods. 

I'm still refining the program - we can get much better results with a little post-processing - only question is whether I can do it all in real-time before running out of computer, hi! 

The results this afternoon were so astonishing I felt I just had to put this up on the web a.s.a.p. 

By all means give it as much exposure as you can.

Bill VE2IQ

(Click here to read the first announcement http://www.lwca.org/miscdocs/crunch.htm

, and visit Bill's Web site to download via the link in the announcement.)

Posted by Bill de Carle VE2IQ bill ietc.ca  

ab196 valleynet.on.ca
on June 10, 2000 at 11:53:45:

In Reply to: CRUNCH 10
posted by Bill de Carle on June 09, 2000 at 00:00:18:

Sorry, but my local ISP (ietc.ca) is having technical problems today (Saturday 2000.06.10) and probably all week-end. I drove into town but their office was locked up, nobody there. The domain name "ietc.ca" is not being recognized by most name servers. 

But all is not lost! I tried a few things and managed to figure out you can still download the latest version of CRUNCH (Ver 2.1) from my web page by telling your browser 

to go to 24.226.220.15/home/bill/bbs.htm 

In fact, service ought to be much better than usual because probably there is no one else using the ietc web server today, hi! 

Copied VA3LK's overnight message easily when I played back the .wav file this morning. He's changing 

the message, so we'll see if I can read it during the day. He is on 137.713 Khz sending ultra-slow CW (0.4 wpm). See if you can copy him with CRUNCH. 

Bill VE2IQ

Posted by Bill de Carle ab196 valleynet.on.ca
on June 10, 2000 at 12:02:41:

CRUNCH V2.1 can still be downloaded from my web page even though my ISP is having technical difficulties today. Point your web browser at 

24.226.220.15/home/bill/bbs.htm 

and click to download CRUNCH.ZIP 

Sorry for the inconvenience, hope the ISP gets their problem(s) sorted out before the week-end is over, hi! 

Bill VE2IQ

NOTE: 

Bill deCarle's Web site

has now settled down at:

http://cafe.rapidus.net/bill1/bbs.htm

Alpha Off-Air?

Posted by Gerhard Kircher gerhard kircher.at
on June 10, 2000 at 11:42:59:

Hi all! 

I am missing the sounds of the russian Alpha navigation system. Here in Europe, the sounds of Alpha are (were?) very prominent in natural radio listening sessions. When I was listening in May it was still there - now it seems to have vanished (checked several times in the last three days). Can anybody (dis)confirm this? 

-gerhard

Posted by Costas Krallis sv1xv eexi.gr
on June 15, 2000 at 04:10:42:

In Reply to: Alpha Off-Air? 11
posted by Gerhard Kircher on June 10, 2000 at 11:42:59:

In some Internet postings, it was revealed that the Russians can't pay the Alpha electricity bills.

Posted by Gerhard Kircher gerhard kircher.at
on June 20, 2000 at 15:19:50:

In Reply to: Re: Alpha Off-Air? 20
posted by Costas Krallis on June 15, 2000 at 04:10:42:

Well, since yesterday 2000-06-19 Alpha seems to be back again. Some intersting info can be found on the message board at http://web.tiscalinet.it/vlfradio/. 

-gerhard

Small Beverage Tests and UNID NDB

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 12, 2000 at 14:16:06:

Like most of us, I live in a fairly crowded suburban neighborhood. My lot is only 200 feet by 200 feet square. In an effort to put up a "serious" lowfer operation before Winter, I've been trying out some low noise antenna tests. 

Yesterday, I ran a "small" beverage antenna into an easement (ditch) that runs directly 

behind the houses on my street. After first getting my neighbors permission, I ran a #12 insulated wire approximately 840 feet using small wooden stakes to keep the wire about three feet off the ground. I terminated this with a couple of ground rods and a 450ohm resistor. Antenna is fed through a balun with 50ohm coax. 

The only negative is that this antenna is pointed for a nearly due South pickup (it's the only direction option that I have!) Making it nearly worthless for 

Lowfers... 

A quick test on LF netted these beacons early this morning around 4AM... 

KIN KINGSTON NDB KINGSTON, , JAMAICA 

Frequency: 360 

Power: 1000 watts  

ZIN GREAT INAGUA NDB GREAT INAGUA ISLAND, , BAHAMAS 

Frequency: 376 Power: 400 watts  

DDP DORADO NDB SAN JUAN, PR 

Frequency: 391  

ZIY GRAND CAYMAN NDB GRAND CAYMAN, , CAYMAN ISLANDS 

Frequency: 344 

Power: 1000 watts  

FIS FISH HOOK NDB KEY WEST, FL 

Frequency: 332 

Many of these have been logged here before on a longwire, but never during the Summer! QRM was fairly low for this time of year on the longwire, but none of these beacons were audible. When I switched to the beverage, all of them were readable though none were strong. 

I also picked up two unknown beacons: 

343khz: DIY (I checked the tape to insure that this was not ZIY, but am certain of the call) 349Khz: K (Not likely to be the one in Washington state...any clues?) 

My next test is going to be to try and homebrew a K9AY array and test that for longwave. BTW, the beverage will come down this weekend but I do have permission to put it back up after "mowing" season. 

We need more lowfers in Florida!  

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ

Posted by Tim Brannon KF5CQ arrl.net
on June 17, 2000 at 17:20:37:

In Reply to: Small Beverage Tests and UNID NDB 15
posted by Les Rayburn on June 12, 2000 at 14:16:06:

The classic Beverage antenna is at least 1 wavelength long. Although 840 ft of wire is a substantial skyhook for longwave listening and should give good results, it probably is not showing the directional pattern expected with a Beverage. As a random wire, it might do even better with the termination removed. I remember some articles by Doug DeMaw in QST in the late 80s about low noise 160 meter antennas, including one made of coax laying on the ground! If the SNR is a lot better maybe the wire is operating similar to this. 

I wish my neighbors were that cooperative!

Posted by Frank Reynolds reynoldsf rl.af.mil
on June 13, 2000 at 08:05:32:

In Reply to: Small Beverage Tests and UNID NDB 15
posted by Les Rayburn on June 12, 2000 at 14:16:06:

Les What kind of balun did you use? I'm working 620 ft into the 50 ohm input of my Drake R8A with no balun, It seems to work pretty well. I like the much lower noise floor that the beverage gives. Frank

The art of NDB Dxing?

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 12, 2000 at 14:17:32:

The link to Sheldon's "The Art of NDB Dxing" from the LWCA site appears to be broken. Does anyone know if this is still posted somewhere on the web? Or could someone possibly e-mail me a copy? 

Thanks in advance. 

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ

Posted by John Davis webmaster lwca.org
on June 15, 2000 at 15:03:17:

In Reply to: The art of NDB Dxing? 16
posted by Les Rayburn on June 12, 2000 at 14:17:32:

Unfortunately, this is one link of several that Steve McGreevy used to support that are no longer available. 

We'll see if we can get Sheldon's permission to include it here at the LWCA site. (We eventually did. It's listed there now. -JHD)

XMGR moves to new frequency

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 12, 2000 at 14:24:09:

Beacon XMGR has moved to 187.500khz. We've also made some other improvements to the antenna and ground system, and have got antenna current up to 180ma. 

Within the next week or so, we will move the loading coil to the top of the antenna (it is currently base loaded) and will hope for more improvement there too. 

XMGR is currently running CW 24/7 on 187.500Khz. We hope to be alternating BPSK and CCW by wintertime. 

We'd also like to thank Lyle and Bill (OK) who've helped out big time in getting this thing on the air!! 

Thanks to both of them and others who've contributed tons of free advice!

search Designe Engenier for 80Khz Projekt

Posted by Kai Klein info braintecxhnology.de
on June 14, 2000 at 14:35:17:

Search a Engenier who can design a 80 Khz Sine wave Transmitter with AM/FM Option Quarz Stable only one Frquenz 

Please Contact: Kai Klein info braintecxhnology.de

Lowfer TV Documentary

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 15, 2000 at 13:41:04:

In a posting yesterday, I offered to edit a "lowfer documentary" that would allow operators to showcase their beacons and allow all of us to better share information with each other. 

It was suggested that each lowfer use a camcorder to tape this and then send them to me for editing. I would then sell VHS copies of the tape for cost (approximately $5). 

We've already gotten a lot of folks who seem to be interested in this idea, with firm commitments from at least five beacon operators! 

Here's exactly what we're looking for: 

Any format (virtually) is fine. We can handle DV, Mini-DV, VHS, High 8, and 8mm camcorder formats. What I am suggesting is that folks take nice, long steady shots of each area of their station (using a tripod if possible) and then record themselves discussing the station in detail. 

Focus on the main areas, including antenna, tophat, grounding, beacon keying, any measuring devices (RF Current meters, final amp current, final amp voltage, etc.) 

Also, feel free to send me audio recordings of your beacon or of other beacons. These can come to me on cassette or via e-mail if there are .wav files or the like. I can handle virtually any audio format and do have a ZIP drive as one person asked. 

Diagrams or digital stills are fine too. We have Photoshop 5.5 so almost any format will work. Images need to be sized for 640 X 480 pixels to fit on a TV monitor. 

A few folks suggested that we ask for people to show us their receiving set up as well, including loops, pre-amps, beverages, etc. I think this is a great suggestion. 

WA is in, and I'm very interested in his set-up, as he's running those loops instead of a vertical... 

You can ship tapes to me at: 

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ 4919 Cox Cove Helena, AL 35080 (205) 620-3473

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 15, 2000 at 13:47:11:

In Reply to: Lowfer TV Documentary 21
posted by Les Rayburn on June 15, 2000 at 13:41:04:

I forgot to mention (for those who don't 

subscribe to the lowfer e-mail reflector) that the video will be professionaly edited, with voice over narration, graphics, etc. 

I direct television commercials and documentaries for a living, so we can do it at virtually no cost. If you'd like to know more about us, please visit our web site at: www.highnoonfilm.com 

I hope we'll get videos from every active lowfer!

Palomar Engineers 1750 Meter Transmitter

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 17, 2000 at 08:01:05:

Just wondering if anyone still has one of the Palomar LF Transmitters from the 1980's? I think I have one each of virtually every commercial product targeted for the 

LF market, but have never owned one of these. 

I was going through old issues of the "Lowfer Letter" that used to be published by Vince Pinto and Hal Murken when I saw an article about these units. 

I'd love to purchase one for my "collection" if anyone has one for sale. 

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ 4919 Cox Cove Helena, AL 35080

DGPS decoding update.....

Posted by Lee Reynolds lreynolds cyberportal.net
on June 19, 2000 at 11:10:55:

....well, both good and bad news. 

RadioRaft does indeed work with the decoding of DGPS data streams. Tuning and bandwidth settings are both strange and critical. (300Hz or lower as the rough pitch of the signal and a 150Hz filter bandwidth? Ack! For a 200 Baud signal?) 

It decodes and displays type 3, 6, 7 and 9 message formats (at the very least.) 

The bad news is that it does NOT display the beacon i.d. - it displays the station reference i.d. (which is not the same thing.) This means you can see what the DGPS station is transmitting but you still can not identify the station with certainty. 

I have questions in with the appropriate people, more to follow as and when I get replies. 

Lee

Power Outages: not so bad

Posted by Bill Ashlock, WA william.ashlock edwards.boc.com

on June 19, 2000 at 12:46:24:

Hi all, 

On Saturday morning I had just begun working on a Lowfer project when the electric power for the whole neighborhood dropped out. Not much one can do without power so I decided it would be a good time to catch up on reading of some back issues of the Lowdown (I had let my membership lapse for more months than I want to admit). I was reading and article from someone who had made a rare copy of distant beacon during a power outage when it dawned on me that a similar opportunity was at hand for me. I had always wondered about the % contribution of the local TV, computer, etc noise compared to the pure atmospheric noise. Problem was - my receiving antenna downlead had broken off during a windstorm a week before. 

After about 1/2 an hour the repair was completed and I turned on the battery powered receiver to find the noise was 0.5uv/m (BW of 350Hz), which was over 6db lower than the lowest ever at this location (winter season included)! I was just beginning to scan the lowfer band when the power came back on --- DARN! At least this made it possible to make a controlled reading of the baseline neighbor noise + atmospheric noise without waiting an unknown period of time.  

Yesterday, on a trip north I took a noise reading in an isolated area at approximately the same time of day as my reading the previous day and found the same 0.5 uv/m garbage free noise level as I had read at home with the power outage. I envy you guys with your remote base locations!! 

Bill, WA

Web Page: Phased Array Discussions

Posted by Mark Connelly MarkWA1ION excite.com
on June 19, 2000 at 21:51:16:

I've put together a Web page with text of some recent e-mail discussions of phased antenna arrays. Much of the discussion revolves around medium wave (500-2000 kHz) but may be applicable to longwave as well. Links to other information sources are included. 

The URL for this is: "http://members.aol.com/MarkWA1ION/phased_arrays.htm" 

Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA e-mail: MarkWA1ION excite.com 

homepage: http://members.aol.com/MarkWA1ION/weblink.htm

DGPS Decoding Redux......

Posted by Lee Reynolds lreynolds cyberportal.net
on June 20, 2000 at 12:22:23:

Okay, figured it all out. 

Yes, RadioRaft 3.20 does a quite acceptable job of decoding the 50, 100 and 200 baud MSK DGPS beacon transmissions we have all come to know and love. 

It'll handle the various message format acceptably and, if the signal is clean enough, 

will even automatically set mode, transmission filter and speed automatically from its 'Scan' mode. 

And a simple zero-crossing type dongle on your serial port will do a satisfactory job as the modem/terminal unit. 

All you need to be able to determine the identity of the beacon you are decoding 

data from is either that the beacon transmit its own i.d. or a lookup chart that 

associates the reference i.d. with a given beacon. Such a lookup table may be 

found at www.starlinkdgps.com. 

....there'll be some DGPS loggings and data sent in to Dick Pearce for the 

next Lowdown now..... 

Lee

crystal radios

Posted by matthew MatGilson netscape.com
on June 20, 2000 at 19:30:03:

I am looking for information on how to make a crystal radio. can you please help me. 

Posted by Bill Ashlock william.ashlock edwards.boc.com

on June 20, 2000 at 22:07:02:

In Reply to: crystal radios 36
posted by matthew on June 20, 2000 at 19:30:03:

Hi Matthew, 

Radio Shack has a crystal radio kit for $6.99. Personally, I like to build electronic projects from scratch but this may be a good way to get strarted. There are many different ways to configure the basic crystal set components which are simply a tuning coil, capacitor, diode (crystal), and headphone, to improve performance. 

I see that there's a number of "crystal set" URLs on the WEB. Might check these out. 

Bill, WA

Posted by Lyle Koehler k0lr arrl.net
on June 21, 2000 at 11:02:08:

In Reply to: crystal radios 36
posted by matthew on June 20, 2000 at 19:30:03:

As Bill Ashlock mentioned, a search for "crystal set" should provide a number of URLs. One good reference is the Xtal Set Society homepage at http://www.midnightscience.com/

www.body-mind.com

Posted by Robert Macdonell rm16 swt.edu
on June 21, 2000 at 13:33:01:

Anyone know what happened to body-mind.com? They had "space sound" recordings from radio telescopes aimed at the various planets, etc.

I'm looking for another recording entitled "Searching for Skye" (as in the Isle of Skye) It features a star silhouette of a hitchiker ostensibly on his way to the Isle of Skye. 

Any info will be appreciated

HAARP & ULF

Posted by Eric Vogel evogel flash.net
on June 22, 2000 at 13:00:38:

Just ran across this posted letter. Thought it might be of interest to folks since a few are interested in ULF. 

http://elfrad.org/2000/haarp.htm

Posted by John Davis on June 22, 2000 at 23:43:48:

In Reply to: HAARP & ULF 40
posted by Eric Vogel on June 22, 2000 at 13:00:38:

Thanks for letting us know about this, Eric. Anyone know who the "Teddy Speaks Foundation" really is, though? 

The author of the letter seems to have an agenda for furthering the "if we didn't know about it, they must be hiding something" school of thought. The ELFRad folks head the page "It has come to our attention, the HAARP project in Gakona, Alaska is perhaps being used for much more than is publicized." And, Mr. Smith himself starts off one paragraph with, "The HAARP project 'ostensibly' is for short-wave, VHF and UHF ionospheric research...." 

In point of fact, it was publicized as a multi-purpose project from the beginning, and the Navy never hid the fact that they hoped to excite ULF and perhaps SLF emissions for possible communication purposes. Naturally, they're not going to tell us very many details of that! 

That's why Mr. Smith's letter is interesting to read, even though it cannot be taken as gospel. I found a few things correct, a few in error (it does not just transmit on the two common test frequencies, and the pulse power is not a terawatt...though it is a worthwhile fraction, it's been around longer than he says, etc.), plus a lot that cannot be verified or discounted. 

But the notion that this is a "hidden" aspect of the project is simply wrong. LWCA members read about it in The LOWDOWN almost five years ago! 

The Navy still discusses ELF openly at the HAARP Web pages. Go to: http://server5550.itd.nrl.navy.mil/projects/haarp/haarpIndex.html Then, click the General Info link, and you'll find one called "About ELF." Spend some time exploring the whole site, in fact; it's pretty interesting. 

73, John

Posted by Eric Vogel evogel flash.net
on June 28, 2000 at 09:37:46:

In Reply to: Re: HAARP & ULF 41
posted by John Davis on June 22, 2000 at 23:43:48:

John et al, 

More HAARP observations, comments, and opinions have been posted at http://elfrad.org/2000/Haarp2.htm - interesting stuff. 

(I have been getting this from the ELFRAD list.) 

Eric

Further Followup:

Since that time, ELFRAD has been adding more responses that remove some of the supposed mystery, but are also interesting in their own right.

AIR MILE CALCULATOR

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 23, 2000 at 10:34:53:

Found a very useful web site that will calculate air miles between any two points in the world just by typing in the names of the cities. It's at: 

http://www.indo.com/distance/ 

It also provides Lat/Long, elevation, etc. It even gives beam headings so that you can point those loops or beverages right at them. Very nice! 

For instance, my QTH (Helena, AL) is: 

1071 Miles from WA beacon. 124 Miles from YWK beacon (Does anyone have contact info for Will Payne?) 983 Miles from LEK beacon 608 Miles from TEXAS beacon. 589 Miles from OK beacon. 

Later today, I'm going to sit down and produce a listening guide that will list all of the Eastern/Central Beacons with their distance and elevation. I may even post it on the web. 

Hope someone else finds this useful. 

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ XMGR 187.500Khz

LFCC Award Proposal

Posted by Les Rayburn, KT4OZ les highnoonfilm.com
on June 23, 2000 at 17:39:51:

PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH A LOW FREQUENCY CENTURY CLUB AWARD (LFCC) By Les Rayburn, KT4OZ June 23, 2000  

Objective: To outline a set of suggested guidelines for the establishment of an award targeted at the users of the Low Frequency (Below 500Khz) spectrum. This award would  encourage more activity on LF, and spur users to pursue multiple endorsements. 

Governing Body: Ideally, an LF organization like the Longwave Club of America. Failing that alternate bodies might include AMRAD, RGSB, or ARRL. 

Award: Certificate, with endorsement stickers. 

Program Brief: This award would be open to amateur radio operators, lowfers, longwave listeners, and maritime operators. Operators would be required to submit QSL cards, or other verification proof to the governing body to be checked for completeness and accuracy. The decision of the governing body would be final and not available for review. 

Certificates would be numbered beginning with LFCC #1 (* See Note Below) 

Certificates to be awarded according to the guidelines below:  

0-100Khz (VLF Endorsement): Award would be granted to those operators who could verify 

reception of stations in 25 Maidenhead grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 25 stations.  

76Khz (Amateur VLF Endorsement): Award would be granted to those operators who could verify two way contacts with or reception of stations in 10 Maidenhead grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 10 grid squares. 

Amateurs who operate in the 76Khz range would be required to provide proof of either reception of their station, other stations, or two way contacts to qualify. No contacts with non amateur stations can count towards this endorsement. LF Listeners would receive the Amateur VLF DX Endorsement.  

136Khz (Amateur LF Endorsement): Award would be granted to those operators who could verify two way contacts with or reception of stations in 25 Maidenhead grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 25 grid squares. 

Amateurs who operate in the 136Khz range would be required to provide proof of either reception of their station, other stations, or two way contacts to qualify. No contacts with non amateur stations can count towards this endorsement. LF Listeners would receive the Amateur LF DX Endorsement.  

160-190Khz (Lowfer Endorsement): Award would be granted to those operators who can verify reception of their LF beacon in at least 10 Maidenhead grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 5 grid squares. 

LF Listeners (including beacon operators) could also receive the Lowfer DX Endorsement for reception of lowfer beacons in at least 5 grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 5 grid squares. 

100Khz-500Khz (LF Endorsement): Award would be granted to those operators who could verify reception of stations in 

at least 100 Maidenhead grid squares. Endorsements for each additional 50 grid squares. 

This stations could include any combination of NDB, TWIB, Maritime stations, broadcasting, etc.  

Basic Rules: Verification could be in the form of a QSL card, verification letter, or other supporting documentation. The 

governing body would appoint a chairman to inspect and return these verifications. Any operator submitting false or suspect documentation will have those cards marked by the Chairman and their application of LFCC returned. There is no appeal. Operators must resubmit application without those documents judged to be false or suspect. 

Basic costs would be covered in the application fee (Suggestion $10-$20). 

Contacts and receptions must have occurred on or before 1980 (I doubt that reliable frequency listings exist much before this date.)  

Comments: Many LF operators would already qualify for this award. In the case of veteran NDB dx'ers they might even qualify for several endorsement stickers! But for many of us, it would represent a goal that was realistic and achievable...but difficult enough to encourage effort. 

There are many out there who object to "paper-chasing" of any kind on the low frequencies, and this is understandable. However, if we hope to see amateur allocations grow and foster in this band, activity is what we need. Also many of us Lowfers do not have even a single serious LF listener within the normal range of our stations, growth is important in these areas too. 

I would further suggest that honorary LFCC's be granted to recognize those pioneers of the band who are no longer living or inactive. For example, Ken Cornell, or Vince Pinto.  

Comments are welcome.

Posted by Tim Brannon KF5CQ arrl.net
on June 24, 2000 at 23:26:07:

In Reply to: LFCC Award Proposal 43
posted by Les Rayburn, KT4OZ on June 23, 2000 at 17:39:51:

Great Idea! The only problem is finding a living "saint" who would be willing to serve as the administrator. This would be a major task for anyone to take on. But I agree it would create an objective goal to shoot for, in addition to encouraging more 2-way LOWFER contacts. Tim 

Posted by Les Rayburn les highnoonfilm.com
on June 27, 2000 at 12:31:43:

It is my understanding that the French version of the ARRL has already copyrighted an award called the "LFCC". However, the rules address only amateur activity on the LF bands. 

We could simply change the name to LWCC and proceed as suggested. I would be willing to act as administrator for a period of at least two years while the program got started. 

However, it would still require a sponsoring organization. The LWCA has never seemed to "lean" towards this type of activity...some interest has been voiced by members of AMRAD... 

I'd love to hear more comments on all aspects of this proposal. 

Les Rayburn, KT4OZ

Posted by Mike Troy, CA Carmelink aol.com
on August 13, 2000 at 09:51:21:

In Reply to: LFCC Award Proposal Update 48
posted by Les Rayburn on June 27, 2000 at 12:31:43:

For Lowfer work within our own club, I had in mind a certificate for a confirmed or observed 2-way Part 15 contact...it declares the honoree to be a Certified Low-Life. Figgered we'd start small. 

'RW' Beacon now on 480 kHz

Posted by Paul Signorelli w0rw aol.com
on June 26, 2000 at 18:48:45:

The 'RW' Beacon is now on continuously at 480 kHz. Please listen for it and send reports to w0rw aol.com. It is sending CW at 15 wpm. Easy to ID .-. .-- The old 166 kHz transmitter is now inactive. Listen for NDB 'COS' at 407 kHz for propagation to Colorado Springs. Best time for DX is 2 hours after Colorado sunset. Thanks Paul w0rw PO Box 6069 Colorado Springs, CO 80934 6/26/00

Need VLF Receiver - ~$300 Any ideas?

Posted by Erik Dyce erikdyce aol.com
on June 30, 2000 at 20:25:11:

Hi, 

I am very inteterested in VLF and would like to find a solid state receiver in the $300-400 or less range. I have had an R-389 and own an RAK, but trying to hear SAQ in Colorado is too noisy! 

I am also intereted in hearing earth sounds.....Thanks for any help! 

73 de W0ERX

Posted by DAC Crowell / KB9TKS dacc soltec.net
on June 30, 2000 at 21:35:41:

In Reply to: Need VLF Receiver - ~$300 Any ideas? 54
posted by Erik Dyce on June 30, 2000 at 20:25:11:

A suggestion I would make is to find one of the Hewlett-Packard Selective Voltmeters. I use a 312A myself as a receiver for LF/VLF work, and it appears to be a pretty successful unit for this (as well as MW and HF to 18 MHz) purpose. It's a robust solid-state design, built like a tank, has ultra-cool nixies for the frequency display, and allows for multiple bandwidths in AM or SSB/CW modes. 

I will point out, though, that while this has  excellent sensitivity as compared to your average communications receiver when used in the LF range, it also has the drawback of having to manually switch RF gain levels in decade ranges, and if you jump from very low-level signals to, say, LORAN-C, the receiver overloads like you wouldn't believe. And you will have to run this unit's audio output into an amplifier; it only has line- level output. We've used some Rat Shack adapters to go from the BNC connector here to stereo 1/8" to use some powered computer speakers for this. 

When we've had this receiver on a good piece of wire (about 700+'), the NDB segment of the LW band just comes alive with a wash of beacons; it sounds like one of those 'graveyard' channels on MW. With a loop, it should be a monster performer. Plus being able to snap the bandwidth down to 1 kHz is a major plus...it also has 3.1 kHz and 200 Hz, the latter being really nice for CW beacon work.

As noise goes, though, that's probably best dealt with through the usual noise aversion methods discussed on here and elsewhere. Often, it's not the receiver's fault, but location,  nearby garbage sources, etc. We'll possibly be taking the 312A out to a nearby communications test range this weekend for the 17.2 kHz tests in order to escape the urban noise-sink, as we know we won't hear that in town with all of the AC line hash, computer noise, etc etc ad nauseaum. If you can do something like this, I'd suggest it.

AMRAD report

Posted by Mark Kahrs kahrs caip.rutgers.edu
on June 30, 2000 at 21:40:40:

As all LWCA members know, AMRAD recently had a 25th anniversary technical session. As it so happened, I was visiting the DC area and so decided to drop in. The LF session was in the afternoon. 

It began with a talk by Richard O'Neill on winding high Q coils. His talk was accompanied by many nice pictures demonstrating basket weave. He gave out many tips. He claimed Qs of over 700. (measured by a classic Boonton Q meter) 

Henry Lee gave a brief introduction of LF listening and passed out a brief one page blurb. 

Then, Frank Gentges gave an overview of LF difficulties. This included the usual: propagation, antenna design and siting. 

Finally, Andre' Kestleloot presented a slide show of AMRAD's many experiments, including some cold winter experiments at the beach. I had to leave before the slide show was over --- this was too bad, there were lots of entertaining stories. 

Personally, I found AMRAD's approach different from the LWCA in the following aspects: they assume high power and no antenna height limitations. They are interested in high power amplifier design for the LF region as well as winning a prize for Trans-Atlantic Morse code. 

Andre' seemed to think that the LWCA was not interested in communication (just beacons). I don't think that's right but maybe I misunderstood him. 

Overall, it was interesting and I enjoyed eating Korean food right around the corner (one of my FAVORITE foods) A proceedings was published and is available from AMRAD.

www.lwca.org