AC beacon
Hi all had time to listen in on 22 meters today to escape the heat and humidity.
around 1933z on 13552.998 AC popped out of nowwhere and I got 3 good ID's then it disappeared, after a few minutes I could see it on the water fall for a bit. It continued this for about an hour and halt the I had to leave the shack. then I got back in the shack at 1900z AC was still in and out, but on 13559.725khz (usb) I had a ditter runing there, very strong but had some fades to it. I had seen this earlier in the day and it seemed to be very steady signal strength wise except for the occasional fades. I got back in the shack about 2345z and the ditter was gone as well as AC. I am using a Afredi SDR v3.0 and HDSDR software with a PAR ef-swl antenna in the usual east coast ant farm. I have argo but am not sure about setting it up for QRSS, everytime I change modes (qrss) the freq bar on the right changes and I'm not sure if it is coming up in the right area because I don't seem to be getting any displays.
Chuck K3ETD FN10of
Re: AC beacon
Posted by Gregg on September 01, 2016 at 06:10:14.
In reply to AC beacon posted by Chuck Sayers on September 01, 2016
If we get a running log of the frequency drift, perhaps we can compare temp. maps of the US and get an approx. QTH?
Re: AC beacon
Posted by Bill Hensel on September 01, 2016 at 14:18:54.
In reply to AC beacon posted by Chuck Sayers on September 01, 2016
Since I heard MTI and AC and no other beacons and that was from the little KA1103...
I suspect it was coming out of the East Coast..I could be wrong...it might be runing some power relative to the part 15 hifers...
Re: AC beacon
Posted by John Davis on September 01, 2016 at 17:32:21.
In reply to Re: AC beacon posted by Bill Hensel on September 01, 2016
Bill Hensel wrote:
it might be runing some power relative to the part 15 hifers...
That appears to be a distinct possibility, Bill. After a 36 hour weather-enforced absence from my listening post, I went back out this morning and first did a quick band scan (only NC and EH visible at the watering hole, WV barely visible and just audible befor Codar switched on, MTI ranging from poor to thoroughly audible, and FRC visible but not quite audible). Then I tuned down to 13,553.0 at just the right time to hear the last part of AC's four ident cycle.
For the next hour and a half (until I came to town to post this), there was not a time when AC wasn't audible, every 60 seconds starting on the minute, except that he seems to omit the top of the hour.
The signal is subject to QSB, so it's not a local. If he were skywave from within some scores of miles to a hundred or more, he would have to be using an NVIS antenna of some sort, which would limit his more distant skywave coverage; but that's not likely the case based on locations where he's been reported. We're just coming down from a G1 event earlier this morning, so propagation is totally dead within my first skip zone, meaning he's probably not within a radius of around 120-500+ miles from me, either. That leaves us with a more distant signal, at least on the order of distance of MTI from here. His fading characteristics are also consistent with the approximate period and depth of the QSB that affected MTI, suggesting at least the same distance; however, a fade of just over 10 dB (according to Argo) was enough to obliterate MTI, while a fade of 30 dB did not quite do the same to AC. Therefore, one could reasonably estimate that AC might be running anywhere up to 20 dB more power than the Part 15 limit. Perhaps that's why it has remained anonymous.
The signal is also flirting with disaster at the band edge. The nearest I could try to measure frequency while recording audio was around ±0.5 Hz, but it appears the signal was sitting at 13,552.9995 kHz, or 1/2 Hz outside the band. (I needed to run one more Argo instance at a slower speed to obtain more resolution, but couldn't because it conflicted with the sound card stream. I'll have to try again when I'm not recording.) Even if the actual frequency is 13,553.000 right on the nose, and even in the highly unlikely event the power is not excessive, the lower sidebands of the keying would still exceed the out-of-band emission limits.
I'd like to hope there's some explanation I'm overlooking. If not, this could be a beacon that'll draw attention which may reflect badly on the hobby.
John
Re: Temporary MM Lowfer 185304
Posted by John Davis on September 01, 2016 at 20:29:04.
In reply to Temporary MM Lowfer 185304 posted by Mike N8OOU on August 31, 2016
I gave a listen this morning, but our cold front hasn't pushed the thunderstorms far enough south yet to relieve the static levels any. They say we'll be better over the next few days, though.
John
HiFER on the West Coast
Posted by Gregg on September 02, 2016 at 18:44:51.
Hearing a really chirpy (low going high) "ditter" with a QRSS ID too slow for me to copy off the U Victoria Kiwi SDR. 13557.85. Tried looking for it on others, but there's a lot of RFID QRM this weekend.
Re: AC beacon
Posted by Ed Holland on September 02, 2016 at 19:14:05.
In reply to Re: AC beacon posted by John Davis on September 01, 2016
AC copied here in CA. Frequency 13,553.0XX
In fact, I think I may have miss reported it as "AZ" in one of my previous reports here on the board. My apologies, my Morse is questionable...
Last evening around dusk I was testing a new aerial, and it came in strongly, very audible with a little QSB. The four ID pattern was quite distinct, repeating each minute.
Re: New receiving aerial
Ed
Posted by Ed Holland on September 02, 2016 at 19:25:55.
In reply to New receiving aerial posted by Ed Holland on August 29, 2016
The new aerial was connected and some initial reception tests were made last evening.
So far it compares well across 2-30 MHz to the existing balanced antenna set up primarily for HF reception. At LF it is significantly improved, as was hoped for. Several CA NDBs showed great signal strength in the 300-400 kHz range, and it is clearly operable with manageable noise on the vicinity of the two LowFER bands. Lower still, WWV on 60 kHz was solid although IIRC, not enough signal to budge the meter on the NRD 535.
Termination is a 9:1 unun wound on a ferrite core with isolated windings. This keeps receiver and antenna grounds (presently just a short spike) isolated from one another, but changes to this implementation are straightforward and accessible.
Cheers
Ed
LF Friday (WM and XND)
Posted by John Davis on September 02, 2016 at 19:39:34.
Thought I'd better take advantage of the low QRN this morning and look for WM and MM. Only managed to see WM for certain. I was running two Argo instances simultaneously, but the QRSS60 one didn't show anything more than the 30 second instance did. Static was averaging less than S2, with variations from well under S1 to S7, occasionally a smidgen higher. That's on the R-75 with Preamp 1, which is comparable to the R-5000's sensitivity.
After giving up on MM for the time being, I tuned down to 75 kHz to look for WH2XND. Despite noise averaging over three S-units higher (with the preamp turned OFF, in fact) there was XND WSPR, decoding in no time flat. I captured the first two decodes, which constitute the other attachment to this post, and have left the setup monitoring for more. A few minutes ago, I uploaded the preliminaries to WSPRnet. All the other reported thus far today had 7-land calls (well, one was VE7) so I wanted other areas to be represented as well. :)
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 02sepWMlf.gif
File Attachment 2: 2sepXND.jpg
Re: AC beacon
Thanks for the additional info, Ed. I continued to monitor AC up to 11 PM Central last night, when it finally seemed to be gone for the night. Shortly before sunset, it dipped in level, then came back for about an hour, faded somewhat again. All other HiFERs were gone well before dark. By 11:00, even the mid-band noise sources had diminished. Only FRC showed up briefly.
By my higher resolution frequency measurements, AC was varying from about 0.1 Hz inside the band to 0.3 Hz below all evening. That's just from a quick visual analysis of the captures; I'll do a more detailed graphical analysis later.
John
E-Field VLF to LF Antennas
Posted by Frank Lotito on September 02, 2016 at 20:26:34.
A question or two about the application of low-pass filters in E-Field antenna designs -
The E-Field antenna literature, my personal communications with a few E-Field antenna designers, and my limited first hand experience with E-Field antennas indicates a significant limitation of E-Field antennas. They are quite susceptible to overload from strong nearby signals, such as standard AM Broadcast. Additionally inserting a band-pass or low-pass filter between the probe antenna and gate of the first stage (a RF grounded common source FET) is not practical, so I thought. My recent review of two articles about the NASA Inspire VLF-3 E-Field receiver surprised me! The Inspire design does indeed have a low-pass PI-configuration filter between the probe antenna and gate of the FET first stage. In addition, the Inspire VLF-3 uses a second low-pass PI-configuration filter between the first stage's drain output and base of a RF grounded common emitter NPN transistor second stage.
I can well appreciate the second low-pass filter between the FET drain and NPN transistor's base. However I am having heart burn over the filter used between the probe antenna to very-very high impedance FET gate. I tried to use my circuit analysis software package to model this filter; I am not convinced that the input filter works to "limit bandwidth." As a lossey attenuator, yes. Or, maybe I did not properly model the filter and / or correctly use a transmission-loss to voltage conversion to determine the probe-to-FET filter's voltage gain (actually loss.) My analysis also suggests a very strong resonance around 700 KHz. In my geographic area, that's is a NO-NO !!!
Has anyone examined the NASA Inspire VLF-3 receiver's band pass characteristics below 500 KHz? Did you use a bench measurement employing a signal generator and "dummy antenna" or a circuit analysis software package? Are there other E-Field designs employing a low-pass filter prior to the first stage's gate circuit?
ref: (1) http://theinspireproject.org/downloads/pdf/VLF_Instructions_Apr2011.pdf
(2) http://theinspireproject.org/downloads/pdf/inspire%20Theory_of_Operations.pdf
73 Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA
Re: AC beacon
Posted by John, W1TAG on September 02, 2016 at 21:28:29.
In reply to Re: AC beacon posted by John Davis on September 02, 2016
JD,
AC is audible here in southern Maine, with QSB. My setup isn't presently well-calibrated, but it appears to be around 1Hz above the edge. I'll check tonight to see what happens after dark. 20 meters was shot on Thursday evening.
John, W1TAG
Re: E-Field VLF to LF Antennas
Posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016 at 05:54:41.
In reply to E-Field VLF to LF Antennas posted by Frank Lotito on September 02, 2016
Hi Frank. Active antenna design involves a lot more considerations than casual designers often take into account, as I discovered when working on my antenna buffer amp project...basically an active antenna designed for use with a 15 meter vertical mast rather than a whip. The more bandwidth one wants to cover, for instance, the more factors have to be weighed. The VLF-3 is a reasonable whistler/sferics receiver, but it's a poor role model if one desires to extend its coverage to LF for an "e-probe."
First, there's the matter of the front end. A JFET in common source configuration is not a good choice as one widens the bandwidth and increases the likelihood of more and stronger signals being available to create mixing products, due to the FET's square law characteristics. Its IM properties are much better in a lightly loaded source follower circuit, which is what the better commercially made amps such as the Clifton Labs units employ.
The better designs make no attempt to achieve voltage gain in the first stage, only impedance transformation. Additional filtering may take place after the input stage. If there's any overall voltage gain in an active whip at all--and in many units, there's not--it is achieved in a later stage that is enclosed within a feedback loop and/or uses additional methods to minimize distortion.
Your analysis of a peaked response in the VLF-3 input filter is correct, assuming an ideal inductor. But the good news/bad news of the situation is, multi-millihenry coils tend not to be ideal by the time one reaches the bottom of the AM band. A good many 3.9 mH coils show self-resonance well below the BCB. Above self-resonance, a coil acts as a tiny capacitive reactance in series with some value of resistance, both of which vary with frequency. If response peaks occur, they probably won't appear where you might expect them. And generally speaking, the other end result is less stopband rejection than one might need because the coil and the capacitor to ground form a capacitive voltage divider above the coil's self-resonant frequency more than they do a low-pass filter. The resulting good news is, no peak in the medium wave band (usually); and the bad news is, not ideal attenuation, either.
My buffer amp uses a very simple LPF augmented by wave traps tuned to our two strongest area AM stations. The arrangement was designed specifically for the 15 m vertical, though, and might not be as applicable for a short whip. I need to get some new PDF tools that'll work with my current computer so I can extract portions of my earlier articles that may be relevant and post them.
John Re: LF Friday (XND)
Posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016 at 06:05:31.
In reply to LF Friday (WM and XND) posted by John Davis on September 02, 2016
I let WSPR run at 75 kHz for a further three-plus hours, and XND decoded every single time!
1808 -20 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1812 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1816 -22 -0.9 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1820 -20 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1824 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1828 -21 -0.9 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1832 -20 -0.9 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1836 -21 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1840 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1844 -23 -0.9 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1848 -23 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1852 -23 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1856 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1900 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1904 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1908 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1912 -23 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1916 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1920 -23 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1924 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1928 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1932 -21 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1936 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1940 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1944 -20 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1948 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1952 -22 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 1956 -21 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2000 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2004 -23 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2008 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2012 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2016 -23 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2020 -23 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2024 -23 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2028 -24 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2032 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2036 -24 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2040 -23 -1.0 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2044 -22 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2048 -24 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2052 -23 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2056 -23 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2100 -25 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2104 -23 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2108 -25 -1.1 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2112 -24 -1.2 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33 2116 -24 -1.3 0.075042 0 WH2XND DM33 33
The extra noise by the 5 o'clock was enough to make WM, up at 185.3005, significantly less clear than it was at mid-day, so I switched over to examining "AC" on 22m further, then shut down a bit earlier than usual today.
John
LF Saturday (XND and WM)
Posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016 at 20:23:00.
In reply to Re: LF Friday (XND) posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016
Decent noise conditions again this morning, maybe a couple dB better than yesterday, in fact. However, I still couldn't see anything at 1750m but WM. No challenge to see XND in Argo QRSS3, and to decode it in WSPR:
1616 -24 -1.1 0.075078 0 WH2XND DM33 33
Frequency is different today by about 35 Hz, as you may have noticed.
Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ?
Posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016 at 20:35:47.
Attached is an extended view of the watering hole earlier this afternoon, with EH's upper frequency colliding with NC's lower, USC fading into good visibility for a while, and possibly someone making a faint appearance on 13,555.415 (± 1 Hz at this resolution).
Just before this capture, nobody else was visible or audible on the band except AC, which continues to be loud quite a bit of the time and is still hovering from just above to about 1 Hz below the band edge. (I'll demonstrate tonight how I determined that. For now, let's just say I finally found a worthwhile use for That Darn Codar. ;) )
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 3sep-hf1.jpg
Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ?
Gee, I wondered how long it would take you to notice...
RY will be intermittent there, as the 20 meter vertical dipole gets used for real ham radio.
John, W1TAG
Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ?
Posted by Ed Holland on September 04, 2016 at 15:07:04.
In reply to Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ? posted by John Davis on September 03, 2016
No good catches yesterday, very flat conditions here. Even the oft prominent AC was absent.
The only thing I did catch, quite accidentaly, was some USB chatter in Spanish on 13,556
Sunday HF
Posted by John Davis on September 04, 2016 at 17:15:05.
Forgot to take the memory stick to the field this morning, so I can't yet show you any of the results, but the band is distinctly better today than it has been in some time. (At least, after I went back out to the antenna and removed the shorting strap...didn't work too well before that. That's what I get for staying up too late.)
By 8:30 AM CDT, NC and EH were splendid, and USC was rapidly approaching the strongest level that I had seen from it in months! RY seems more subject to short-term QSB than the others, but was more clearly identifiable today than yesterday. The "Y" seems to have the most trouble arriving in complete form, for some reason. No sign of WV, and only brief, faint appearances of MTI...nobody else.
By 11:30, NC was dominant and drifting downward in frequency with the daytime heat, EH had made a temporary jump 10 Hz higher then returned, and USC and RY were having a harder time making it through the increasingly strong codar racket. No WV, MTI, or anyone else except faint traces of FRC, which remained inaudible under the codar pulses.
As for AC ("Awfully Conspicuous"), it was conspicuous by its absence. It was present when I first checked the band yesterday morning, but as Ed H noted in another post, it was nowhere to be found yesterday evening. It's still absent today. To make sure I wasn't missing it because the frequency had been moved outside my CW filter's passband, I switched to SSB and searched the lower end of the band for several minutes. No go.
I hadn't intended to spend the whole morning at HF, but apparently the thunderstorms in NE Kansas were pretty noisy. They seem to have moved on away now, so perhaps I'll have a better shot at LF early this afternoon.
John
Re: Sunday HF
Posted by John Davis on September 04, 2016 at 23:16:52.
In reply to Sunday HF posted by John Davis on September 04, 2016
First, a correction of an omission: While WV was not seen or heard at 8:30 or 11:30 AM, it was present at the 9:30 AM band scan....visible, and a few times audible for a character or two.
Had a little MTI at the 3:30 PM scan, and a few characters of K6FRC were audible through the codar. Had that QRM not been present, FRC would have been 85-100% copy, I expect. At the watering hole, USC was less often visible this afternoon, but still quite good at times, and EH and USC were generally visible. One attachment is a typical screen showing the Big Four this morning.
RY was broken at times today, but quite good at others. The other attachment to this post is a capture of RY at a particularly good instant, accidentally done at QRSS3 Normal speed (I usually use QRSS3 Slow for its greater sensitivity).
No sign of AC at all here, up through 5:15 PM when I decided to discontinue for the day.
John
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File Attachment 1: 04sepb0009.jpg
File Attachment 2: 04sep-RY.gif
Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ?
Just out of curiosity, how long did it take me to notice?
Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ?
Posted by John, W1TAG on September 05, 2016 at 02:00:01.
In reply to Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ? posted by John Davis on September 04, 2016
About a week, but it's been intermittent. I had taken down the 22m dipole in May, then trimmed it down for 20m in July, and put it back up. Realized last week that a 50 ohm match at 22m could be done with an 82 pF cap. Did that, and have been putting it on 22m when I remember! At the end of October, it'll go back on 22m full-time.
JA
Sitor-B decoding software
Posted by Frank Lotito on September 05, 2016 at 11:46:16.
It appears that the YaND software for Sitor-B decoding and message archiving has been rev'd from 6.4 to 6.5. Sitor-B is the two-tone 170 Hz shift "RTTY sounding" code used to transmit Maritime weather information on the MF and HF bands. Last year was my introduction to NAVTEX and YaND. At that time the YaND rev level was 6.4. On 9/4/2016 I stumbled across the 6.5 revision level.
[ref: http://www.dxzone.com/dx25516/yand.html or http://users.telnet.be/NAVTEX/YAND for revision 6.5]
As far as I can see, YaND revision 6.5 seems to have a very well worked out pdf format "user manual" that is applicable to a number of YaND revisions. I believe rev 6.5 also has a formal UNINSTALL routine. There may also be other enhancements appearing in rev 6.5.
Does anyone know of other YaND rev 6.5 enhancements?
My computer system is the freebie Windows 10 upgrade, with the Norton 360 security suite. So far, so good - smooth as silk....no freezes or worse yet no BSOD! (I assume BSOD still exists in Windows 10?)
73 Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA Re: Sitor-B decoding software
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 05, 2016 at 12:28:24.
In reply to Sitor-B decoding software posted by Frank Lotito on September 05, 2016
Frank, that's nice that YaND has been upgraded but unfortunately for several weeks now 518 kHz Navtex monitoring has been useless due to a rogue carrier on the high (1785 Hz) tone. For a few days awhile back the New Orleans transmitter was similarly pegged on the low (1615 Hz) tone outside its normal transmit window but that has been fixed (again!). The source of the unwanted high tone is suspected to be Prescott (Wiarton), Ontario but whatever it is neither the US nor Canadian Coast Guards have fixed it.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: Sitor-B decoding software
Posted by Frank Lotito on September 06, 2016 at 02:31:01.
In reply to Sitor-B decoding software posted by Frank Lotito on September 05, 2016
Maybe NAVTEX has out lived its usefulness? If it was still a critical asset to the greater maritime community I would expect the agencies responsible for its operation would be riding herd on its every minute of operation. What about my question "does YaND version 6.5 offer any enhancements over the prior versions?" Re: Temporary MM LowFER
73 Frank Lotito K3DZ / WH2XHA
Posted by John Davis on September 08, 2016 at 16:55:28.
In reply to Re: Temporary MM Lowfer 185304 posted by John Davis on September 01, 2016
Too stormy to listen today. It may be Saturday before there's another good opportunity. There have been three relatively quiet days over the past week when I managed to copy WM reasonably OK, but so far only random unmodulated carriers have been seen around where MM should be.
John
Re: Temporary MM LowFER Ipdate
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 08, 2016 at 16:56:16.
In reply to Re: Temporary MM LowFER posted by John Davis on September 08, 2016
I installed the PA this evening on Lowfer beacon MM. I am not convinced yet that the antenna tuning is complete. I will do further checks on it tomorrow. My remote receiver shows a good increase in signal strength compared to just running the exciter barefoot.
Mike Lowfer SIW QRV
--
73 de N8OOU
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 09, 2016 at 17:59:56.
Put lowfer SIW back on the air yesterday afternoon, a bit earlier than expected. The location is EN51uq, home of Bob, NK9M. It sends a QRSS30 then QRSS60 pattern on 185.2993 kHz Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. On the other days it sends WSPR-15 on 185.185 kHz. Switch time is noon local CDT (1700Z) so it is currently sending WSPR-15.
To decode WSPR-15 use the wspr-x software available for download at http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wspr.html. The monitored frequency range is audio tones between 1600 and 1625 Hz, so tune your radio to say 183575 Hz, USB so the signal appears at 1610 Hz.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: HiFER on the West Coast
Posted by Gregg on September 09, 2016 at 18:00:59.
In reply to HiFER on the West Coast posted by Gregg on September 02, 2016
Hearing again today. Wicked signal into Victoria, BC!
Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
Posted by John Davis on September 09, 2016 at 18:45:24.
In reply to Lowfer SIW QRV posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 09, 2016
That's good news, Gary. We currently have a couple of hours' break between storms, so if the QRN is not too bad and Lake Inferior hasn't surrounded the barn already, I may venture out to give it a try. Are you using the 100% transmit cycle?
John
Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 09, 2016 at 19:35:21.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by John Davis on September 09, 2016
John, yes, transmit is 100%. There's only a brief power down of around 15 seconds between 15 minute windows. Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
73, Garry, K3SIW
Posted by John Davis on September 10, 2016 at 00:46:07.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 09, 2016
No luck this afternoon. Noise turned out to be S9+20 most of the time, even considering how far away the storms were at that time. Couldn't see anything of the signal on Argo at QRSS30, either. Will check again over the weekend.
John
LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM
Posted by John Davis on September 11, 2016 at 20:44:49.
1815 -37 0.1 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0
1830 -38 -1.3 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0
Per the announced schedule, I was looking for SIW at the watering hole along with WM and MM late this morning, but saw only WM. On the off chance SIW might still be testing WSPR, I opened another Argo instance at QRSS30, centered 135 Hz lower, and found a surplus of RF about 1/2 Hz wide at 185.185.
That prompted me to crank up WSPR-X and see if I could persuade it to work with my narrow CW filter; the point being to avoid needlessly compromising the receiver's dynamic range by passing a much wider band than is needed for the desired signal. Also, in this case, I didn't want to have to interrupt my capture of WM and have to relocate it at some higher audio frequency.
The reduced bandwidth technique works just fine with WSPR2.1, whether I use CW at 800 Hz BFO or use USB with the CW filter pass-band shifted to center on WSPR's nominal 1500 Hz "final IF." However, I've had trouble with X at times when attempting to run the CW filter in USB mode, which apparently messes up X's internal automatic gain control and/or SNRr calculations; its waterfall goes to red, and all kinds of weird stuff comes out.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to mind narrow mode if I manually enter a lower BFO value to match the receiver's normal CW audio output and then calculate a new "dial frequency" that makes the displayed frequency match the RF. Unfortunately, it's a lot trickier to remember what lie to tell the software for WSPR-15 mode. Unlike WSPR-2, which simply decodes whatever's within ±100 Hz of 1500 Hz or whatever other frequency you tell it is the BFO, -15 still considers 1500 or the stated alternate BFO to be the center frequency for frequency calculation purposes, but only attempts to decode signals in the range from +100 to +125 Hz above that stated BFO!
Since I wanted WM to appear at its usual place on the Argo display, I told WSPR-X to use the equivalent USB "dial frequency" that corresponds to CW tuning of 185.3 kHz with 800 Hz BFO, namely 184,500 Hz. That would have meant the audio corresponding to SIW would fall 5 Hz above a nominal BFO of 680 Hz for WSPR2, so I first entered that--but recalling that it must fall 100-125 Hz higher for WSPR-15, I further lied and told the software to use 580 as the BFO frequency. Then I finally started getting decodes, and showing the correct RF frequency as well.
Alas, by the time I double-checked myself, took it out of Idle that I'd inadvertently put it into at the start of the 1845 time slot, and made sure WSPR had a reasonable chance of working in that mode all afternoon, the QRN levels were on the rise again. They started out in the morning averaging below S2 with occasional peaks to S7 or a little higher, but were above S2 average with frequent excursions to S9 by 2 PM CDT. The QRSS60 display of WM was still acceptable, but the QRSS30 and 20 displays I was running on SIW began to show impairment. Only time will tell if there have been any more decodes since I left to prepare this report.
Pictures later today.
John
Sunday the 11th HF
Posted by John Davis on September 11, 2016 at 20:53:21.
In reply to Re: Saturday HF -- sneaking onto .415 ? posted by John, W1TAG on September 05, 2016
Today's session has primarily been at LF thus far, due to lower QRN now that the past two days of flooding downpours are over, but I did do a scan of 22m around noon CDT. USC was the strongest signal, with a nearly equal EH in a brushing collision. NC was strong and consistent, as was MTI. WV faded in and out over about a three minute cycle, with three or four audible IDs at a time and marginal visibility some of the rest of the time before fading entirely into the background. Had reasonably good copy of RY during a short session Friday afternoon, but none today. Nobody else seen or heard yet.
John
Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 11, 2016 at 21:06:50.
In reply to LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM posted by John Davis on September 11, 2016
John, sorry WSPR-15 is so complicated for you to set up but thanks much for the decodes. And obviously the intended schedule isn't properly programmed in the sequencer. I'm sure I had it right on the bench but perhaps the backup battery lost something other than just the clock setting when I moved it to EN51uq. I'll try to figure out what the schedule currently is and then contact Bob, NK9M to set it as intended.
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM
Posted by John Davis on September 11, 2016 at 23:28:28.
In reply to Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 11, 2016
No problem, as the "you want fries with that" generation says when you thank them. :)
I was quite glad to have the opportunity to look for the WSPR signal today, since it was so thoroughly buried under the noise Friday afternoon, and there was no good way to get in the field yesterday morning after the overnight downpours. Now that I've learned the technique for using WSPR-X with narrower audio bandwidths, the most I have to do for future attempts is try to remember where I wrote down the settings.
Apparently, those two decodes were the final instances with adequate S/N for the day. The front that pushed through here yesterday morning spawned a whole line of storms across the Gulf and Southeast states this afternoon, along with some that developed in New Mexico, so the noise level just kept rising. The WSPR-15 signal on Argo 30 second slow gradually merged into the background, and WM at 60 sec slow eventually became two undecipherable broken lines.
There'll probably be another good shot in the morning after daybreak.
John
Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 12, 2016 at 01:16:06.
In reply to LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM posted by John Davis on September 11, 2016
John
Thanks for the pursuit of the MM Lowfer. It's interesting that the loop signal is arriving at your location, but not the vertical. I was expecting the loop signal to show up weaker, now that I have the PA going on the vertical. Me wonders if there is some difference in the "Take Off Angle" between the two, or maybe there is more of a horizontal component in the loop signal than expected.
My remote receiver captures, and my onsite captures both show the vertical much stronger. I put an onsite capture on dropbox at this url;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f4omeosr282j03c/sep110001.jpg?dl=0
Remote capture;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/x5dgtbd6awwrw31/sep060095.jpg?dl=0
The remote site is 5 miles due South of the transmitters, which should be in the null of the loop. I am sure the onsite receiver is under the near field influence of the transmitters. It's RF gain is turned wayyyyy down.
73 Mike - OOU
Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM
Posted by John Davis on September 12, 2016 at 02:28:02.
In reply to Re: LowFER SIW WSPR-15 and WM posted by Mike N8OOU on September 12, 2016
Oops. I may have at least one explanation for why I didn't see MM today
I just went back to review this afternoon's captures and realized I'd set up Argo at QRSS60 to include 185.2993, with a little safety margin below, and that left .304 just above the edge of the window. (See attached sample.) I neglected to reset it after I discovered SIW was actually down at 185.185, so I missed my opportunity today!
Friday was the first time I'd been to the field since you put the PA in service on the vertical, but it was too noisy to see anything at 1750 m that day. Neither WM nor SIW were making it through then. Today was better for a while, but I wasn't looking in quite the right place.
I hope tomorrow morning will be quiet enough to try again.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 11sepd2.gif
Re: Sunday the 11th HF
Another band check around 5 PM CDT had EH, USC, and NC very strong again, this time with EH drifted safely above USC. WV also came in quite a bit more consistently. However, MTI was absent this time, as was everybody else other than those already mentioned.
LowFERs SIW/WM/MM
Posted by John Davis on September 12, 2016 at 18:17:05.
Mid-morning was nice and quiet in the field. Static at 10 AM was averaging well below S1, with peaks no more than S3. By noon, activity had increased. It was averaging S2 with peaks to above S9, but still SIW WSPR-15 was decoding, WM was pretty clear at QRSS60, and so was MM now that I'm properly including it in the Argo window. I'd like to show some of the results, but neglected to take the memory stick with me.
One thing is a bit puzzling, though...sometimes MM and WM are equal strength, but other times MM is distinctly weaker. For a few IDs just before noon, the second M was stronger than the first. Earlier, the pattern was random. This will bear watching...assuming Mother Nature cooperates and doesn't obliterate it entirely this afternoon.
Re: LowFERs SIW/WM/MM
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 12, 2016 at 19:37:51.
In reply to LowFERs SIW/WM/MM posted by John Davis on September 12, 2016
John,
I am happy to hear that you are receiving MM, and that the problem was just a simple turn of the knob (or slide of the scale). If one M is strong, and the next is weaker suggests the period of fluctuation is in the two - three minute range.
My new support method for the vertical allows the wind to move it around a little both up/down and sideways. Winds today are SE at 6 mph - a kinda light breeze. I will go and observe the movement to see if anything coincides to cause some de-tuning.
73 Mike - N8OOU
Re: LowFERs SIW/WM/MM
Posted by John Davis on September 13, 2016 at 03:25:35.
In reply to Re: LowFERs SIW/WM/MM posted by Mike N8OOU on September 12, 2016
When I returned to the field after my earlier report, the QRN was still gradually rising, with an average of S3 and excursions to S9+20. As a result, the 1900 UTC transmit slot was the last one that made it through. Argo was still able to distinguish excess RF between 185,185.0 and 185,185.5 Hz (as did WSPR-X's waterfall), but when I shut down 90 minutes later, there were no further decodes.
160912 1530 3 -37 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 2 0 160912 1545 2 -38 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 403 0 160912 1600 2 -40 -0.9 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 53 0 160912 1615 3 -37 -1.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 9 0 160912 1630 3 -38 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 2 0 160912 1645 3 -38 -1.3 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 4 0 160912 1700 2 -37 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 2 0 160912 1715 4 -37 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 12 0 160912 1730 3 -37 -0.9 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 84 0 160912 1745 3 -38 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 6 0 160912 1800 2 -37 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 8 0 160912 1815 3 -39 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 18 0 160912 1830 2 -39 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 532 0 160912 1845 2 -40 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 1629 0 160912 1900 2 -38 -0.6 0.185185 K3SIW EN51 0 0 37 0
During the same time, WM deteriorated gradually, becoming broken up enough to be unreadable but still clearly present. Surprisingly, MM dwindled away even faster and was barely visible.
My recollection of the previous vertical is that it behaved a lot more like the present loop is doing in the presence of similar noise. If we can have a similarly quiet day when SIW is at the watering hole, that will make relative comparisons a lot more meaningful.
Recent HiFERs
Posted by Ed Holland on September 15, 2016 at 00:47:49.
Hi Folks,
I had a chance to listen on the last two mornings. Typically circa 15:00 UTC
13th Sept brought in AZ, GNK and AA0RQ as audible copy. At the watering hole, I think I had instances of SIW and USC.
14th Sept netted more watering hole copy, A possible WM, SIW USC, and a couple of other traces that I cannot be sure were real or artifact.
This is better than I've seen for a good few days, during which conditions have been extremely flat. I have a sneaking suspicion that were I to rise earlier, openings to our East may be better, but this takes a conviction I seem to lack!
Comparisons of the new longwire against the dipole suggest that the latter really has the edge at 22m. It is a different story at lower frequencies though, and the intention was that these installations should compliment each other.
Cheers
Ed
Re: Recent HiFERs
Posted by Bill Hensel on September 15, 2016 at 13:59:24.
In reply to Recent HiFERs posted by Ed Holland on September 15, 2016
Ed, Belarus
Thanks for posting your report. I had a nice report from Texas Tuesday.
Posted by Mike Terry on September 16, 2016 at 14:49:46.
Belarus is reported to have closed all LW, MW and SW transmitters (WRTH)
Re: Recent HiFERs
Posted by Ed Holland on September 16, 2016 at 17:43:22.
In reply to Re: Recent HiFERs posted by Bill Hensel on September 15, 2016
Nice clear AA0RQ signal coming in this morning ~1500 UTC Audible above the minimal noise on the JRC, and the Lowe HF225 using the dipole aerial.
Re: Recent HiFERs
Posted by Bill Hensel on September 16, 2016 at 22:46:14.
In reply to Re: Recent HiFERs posted by Ed Holland on September 16, 2016
As fall approaches 22 mtrs will get get better...TU for the post on AA0RQ. Considering the pinched in valley it is located inside, I'm pleased with the little beacon.
Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
Posted by John Davis on September 17, 2016 at 18:04:17.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by John Davis on September 10, 2016
Garry, have you been able to establish with any certainty what the transmission schedule of LowFER SIW is now? I'm readying the list for publication, but haven't been able to track it often enough in person to determine for myself. (We've been too near, and sometimes right under, thunderstorms all week. Flood warnings on the river right now as a result.)
John
Pixie on vlf
Posted by Mark on September 18, 2016 at 01:38:43.
I wrote earlier about using a pixie in kit on 160 kHz. Although not recommended
I'm going to try it. A couple of reasons. I found a low cost 170khz xtal and a 1 watt pixie in kit. The pixie in kit was three bucks and the xtal was ten.
Any ideas on any components that would need changed? It looks like some of the inductors need increased to increase the blocking impedance. I can do that.
The oscillator used is colpitts. Would the capacitor values also need changed?
The receiver is supposed to be wide as a barn door. I think the audio will be fed into a sound card and something like sdr#.
Any suggestions?
Thanks for the help.
Regards
Mark
Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
Posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 21, 2016 at 17:43:07.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by John Davis on September 17, 2016
John,
Sorry for the delayed response. I spent the weekend playing microwave radio in NE Michigan for the 10 GHz & Above contest. I think the actual schedule now is WSPR-15 on 185.185 kHz Su,M,W,F and QRSS30/60 on 185.2993 kHz the other days. That's a one-day shift from what I intended but might as well stay that way. Switch time is noon CDT (1700Z) and since the clock probably won't be adjusted when we go back to standard time 1700Z will remain the switching time. So to be clear, the lowfer just switched from QRSS30/60 to WSPR-15 about 40 minutes ago (it's currently 1240 CDT, Wednesday).
73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
WM Lowfer
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 21, 2016 at 18:01:27.
All,
I have moved the WM Lowfer back to the vertical antenna and put it on the air. I am transmitting the WM Graphic on an intended base frequency of 185300.5. I will get the web pages updated soon to reflect the configuration I am running for the 2016/2017 season.
Thanks for listening. Re: Lowfer SIW QRV
-- 73 de N8OOU - Mike Meek
Posted by John Davis on September 22, 2016 at 05:40:37.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 21, 2016
Thanks for that update, Garry. I had good copy of the QRSS30/60 late Wednesdayday afternoon, and again for just a few minute Thursday morning, but static started picking up pretty dramatically right after 11 AM CDT.
I was also simultaneously capturing on 185.185 in anticipation of seeing the changeover. Unfortunately, the noise was so bad by noon that I could barely detect the absence of the signal on 185.2993. While I thought I saw a possible WSPR header just above 185.185 at noon, WSPR-X apparently did not agree, because it made no effort to decode at the end of the time slot. It only took a cursory look at the end of the next time slot, too, and I never could see anything else on Argo that looked like WSPR. By then, the noise was pretty steady at S9+20.
Bet you didn't have that problem on 10 GHz.
John
One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Ed Holland on September 22, 2016 at 17:55:13.
Since I was awake early, I thought to switch on the receiver and scan 22 m circa 14:00 UTC. There was very little to report except USC rising briefly above the noise. Nothing from my "local" friends in AZ and CO. I may try again later.
On other radio matters, I'm assembling parts for a restoration project. Years ago we acquired a Philco Console that I've pinned down as a 1934 model, 5 bands including 530 kc/s to 23 Mc/s. As a result of time, and less than optimum storage (nothing we could do there unfortunately..), there's much to do, capacitors of course (mostly inside Bakelite blocks) frayed cloth wiring, etc. etc. and of course the cabinet needs work. Ten years ago, I patched it up enough to test and ensure it played. Now it is most definitely a project. Having survived 82 years, it deserves to live well again :)
Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22)
Posted by John Davis on September 22, 2016 at 19:02:14.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW QRV posted by John Davis on September 22, 2016
Much quieter day today. I was a little slow getting set up, but did manage to get the last WSPR 15 decode of the morning and capture the transition to QRSS. See attached files.
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 22sep-transition.jpg
File Attachment 2: 22sep-WSPR15.jpg
Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22)
Thanks for the report JD. I see in your transition image what I've been seeing here - a rather solid carrier where WM had been. Wonder if Mike has the modulation off for test purposes at the moment?
73, Garry, K3SIW
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Pat Bunn on September 22, 2016 at 22:07:40.
In reply to One beacon in the darkness posted by Ed Holland on September 22, 2016
I own the USC beacon and it has been operating over a year without being shut down. I read these reports on pretty much a daily basis and am puzzled that there is a very significant difference in reports betwen USC and NC even though we are only 75 miles apart. For several weeks this summer, ,USC was not present or was very weak with UNC boomin. In several reports it was stated that perhaps USC had antenna problems. As far as I know - there has been no change in USC or it's antenna since the last time it was down for repairs which has been at least 15 months. Strange propagation , I guess?
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Ed Holland on September 22, 2016 at 23:45:01.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Pat Bunn on September 22, 2016
Hi Pat,
It is interesting/perplexing. USC is often accompanied by NC, but not today. Especially to CA, the propagation paths ought to be very similar, yet differences are still quite apparent.
Regards,
Ed
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by John Davis on September 23, 2016 at 00:46:31.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Ed Holland on September 22, 2016
Very strange indeed. USC and NC used to both be regulars pretty much at the same time as each other, if not always at the same levels. That hasn't been the case for some months now.
(Today: Around mid-afternoon, even NC was absent. Only EH and RY were present. NC showed up by 5 PM, right on top of EH, but no sign of USC. No WV today, no PBJ or MTI (but a strange keyed carrier wandering around nearby that mimicked slow QRSS but turned out to be totally random), and no GNK. In late afternoon I could see a faint trace of a keyed carrier drifting in an ocean wave pattern around 13,554.090 that's consistent with AZ. A little later (near 5:30 CDT) I could see and occasionally hear FRC.)
John
Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22)
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 23, 2016 at 00:53:20.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22) posted by Garry, K3SIW on September 22, 2016
Garry, John,
Farmers are starting up the grain dryers around me, and our rural
electric coop is having trouble keeping things up. Yesterday, my next
door neighbor was out for about 5 hrs. My house stayed on. Our power
comes off of 1 of the 3 phase distribution line, hers is off one of the
other which went out.
About noon today (local time), my farm had a couple power glitches.
After reading this message, I checked WM, and it was flat lined. I power
cycled the Arduino about 3:50 this afternoon, and it restarted properly.
I suspect the power glitch earlier caused WM to lock up.
73 de N8OOU - Mike Meek
Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22)
Posted by John Davis on September 23, 2016 at 02:07:06.
In reply to Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 22) posted by Mike N8OOU (fwd) on September 23, 2016
Sure enough, 3:50 PM! Unfortunately, the flat line carrier itself was just barely visible at by then because the noise was at least two S-units higher than it was before noon. With the frequency shift diluting the amount of energy in each FFT bin, the signal effectively disappeared at that point.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 22sep-LF-later.jpg
Re: Pixie on vlf
Can't really make any suggestions until we know exactly which 1 watt kit you bought. There seem to be quite a few versions out there now.
Re: WM Lowfer
Posted by Mike N8OOU on September 23, 2016 at 16:17:53.
In reply to WM Lowfer posted by Mike N8OOU on September 21, 2016
(UPDATE - 09/23/16): I altered the timings in the graphics this morning to try to make a better display on Argo at the QRSS 30 - normal speed.
Mike N8OOU 73
XNI, QRS30, 185.296 khz, tonight
Posted by Mark AB0CW / WG2XNI on September 23, 2016 at 17:03:55.
I will be dusting off the XNI beacon tonight; 185.296 khz, QRS30...from 9 pm to 12 am or so MST.
Using a new variometer arrangement for tuning.
Should be about 75 watts or so to the antenna, a simple top-loaded vertical.
73 ! Re: XNI, QRS30, 185.296 khz, tonight
Mark AB0CW / WG2XNI
DM79kv Westminster, CO ( near Denver )
Posted by John Davis on September 24, 2016 at 06:35:28.
In reply to XNI, QRS30, 185.296 khz, tonight posted by Mark AB0CW / WG2XNI on September 23, 2016
Also XIL tonight, who apparently started coming in about 2100, but not solidly enough to recognize until about the time XNI started up at 11 PM CDT. This is the first reasonably good capture of both IDs. I may try for a few more before I pack up for the night.
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 23sep-pt5.gif
Re: Lowfer SIW (Sep 23)
I caught today's transition from QRSS to WSPR 15, with the former stopping pretty close to 1700 UTC, but WSPR not beginning until 1715, according to both Argo and WSPR's own waterfall. Noise was reasonably cooperative at first today, but gradually increased as the afternoon progressed. No more decodes after the 2100 slot, and the signal itself was swamped in the noise by 2300.
1715 -40 -0.9 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1730 -37 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1745 -38 -0.2 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1800 -36 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1815 -36 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1830 -36 -1.3 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1900 -38 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1930 -36 -0.9 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 1945 -37 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 2000 -38 -1.3 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 2015 -37 -1.3 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 2030 -38 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 2045 -38 -0.6 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0 2100 -40 -0.9 0.185185 0 K3SIW EN51 0
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Interesting read about your Philco! FYI- My actual hobby is restoring old radios. Although I greatly thinned down the collection about 10 years ago, I still own over 100 antique radios, all but a few in perfectly working order.
Have probably restored over 1,000 radios (yes, that is right) over my 47 years on Earth. I started when I was 10 so, have been doing it for 37 years.
I especially like the 1930's era radios, like yours. That is when we started to see some real advances in design, such as automatic volume control (AVC), the almost universal implementation of superhets, beautiful large dials, single knob tuning, etc.
If I can be of help to you in your restoration, let me know.
73, PS Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Paul on September 26, 2016 at 17:30:30.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Ed Holland on September 22, 2016
I have noticed this also, and set up two 10m beacons about 100 miles apart to monitor the difference in reception reports between them. At first, they were both 10 watts, but later I gave one a 10 dB boost, and have been fascinated by the variance in reports, even though they are not all that far apart. There is such a thing as 'micro cell' DX. It it quite amazing.
73, PS Re: XNI, QRS30, 185.296 khz, tonight
Posted by Mark AB0CW / WG2XNI on September 26, 2016 at 18:40:10.
In reply to Re: XNI, QRS30, 185.296 khz, tonight posted by John Davis on September 24, 2016
John, thanks for the captures, it looks pretty good ! Hopefully we will have better conditions with the colder wx, and I plan on having the beacon running a lot more this season. Of course I will announce it here and on the reflector.
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Ed Holland on September 27, 2016 at 03:19:37.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Paul on September 26, 2016
Thanks Paul,
Nice to hear your background in radio restoration, and what sounds like an amazing collection. This project is a first for me in terms of age - I have worked a couple of UK made postwar sets. The Philco is something else entirely, in a good way. I am learning fast, and just starting on rebuilding the pitch filled Bakelite blocks. Cloth covered wire ordered for the rework, and I am starting to get into it. The cabinet is in fair shape, with a little regluing underway as time permits. The finish is decent and I will save as much original patina as possible. To me it is about saving what it is, not just fixing it.
cheers
Ed
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Bill Hensel on September 27, 2016 at 14:06:13.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Ed Holland on September 27, 2016
Bringing the old ones back from the dead is an ART a craft in its self, Geomagnetic Opportunity
Tinkering of the finest level.
Posted by John Davis on September 27, 2016 at 14:47:55.
Although I'm currently doing extended monitoring at LF and will only be able to take limited advantage of the opportunity, here's word that could mean possible enhancements for difficult paths at HF over the next two days; especially for those problem stations within one's skip zone. From NOAA's SWPC:
The geomagnetic field is expected to be at (G1-Minor) storm levels until near the end of day one (27 Sep) as CH HSS effects persist. Isolated periods of G1-G2 (Minor-Moderate) storm levels, with a slight chance for G3 (Strong) conditions, are possible late in the day on day two, as well as day three (29 Sep), with the continued effects from the CH HSS.
(Their day refers to UTC, meaning the new day starts early evening US time.)\
John
Terminated inverted U for longwave?
Posted by Robert on September 27, 2016 at 17:12:58.
http://www.crosscountrywireless.net/terminated_inverted_u.html
do you all think this would be good for longwave beacon reception?
i still have all that longwave / medium wave gear i got from a gentlemen on the forums here and was curious if this antenna would be useful in monitoring for part 15 longwave beacons?
i was never successful in receiving anything on that equipment but still have it and have not given up on beacon listening yet.
i live in a apartment so it would need to be a hidden antenna but it is doable while still being hidden if proximity to walls / porches won't affect it too badly.
thanks
Robert
Re: One beacon in the darkness
Posted by Ed Holland on September 27, 2016 at 21:30:40.
In reply to Re: One beacon in the darkness posted by Bill Hensel on September 27, 2016
Here's a picture or two of the starting point on this old wonder...
Bear in mind my research unearthed an advertised price of $175 in 1934, equivalent of around $3000 today!
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 20160910_085937_resized_1_resized.jpg
Re: One beacon in the darkness
And the electronics...
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File Attachment 1: Philco_wiring_small.jpg
File Attachment 2: Philco_Chassis1_resized2.jpg
Re: Geomagnetic Opportunity (Gee, G2!)
Around 3 PM CDT it became clear that storms developing in the Southwest and Southeast today were going to increase the late afternoon QRN levels as they did yesterday, rendering moot another attempt to monitor 1750 meters into the evening hours. So, I switched to 22 meters to see what the high speed coronal stream might bring. No relief thus far from the skip zone doldrums as I was hoping, but there have been nice (and surprisingly long duration) enhancements to some signals I've been hoping to see/hear better.
Right at 3:00, RY was all alone at the watering hole, and blazingly bright. A band scan turned up WV, quite loud at times and barely visible at others, but nobody else. Back at the watering hole a little later, RY was joined by NC. Did another band scan after that, with a little WV, hints of FRC visually but not aurally, and AZ waving around 13554.1 visually but not aurally. Returning to the watering hole a third time, there was USC as well, at the best level in many months! Both USC and NC were strong enough this time to produce IM products in the external audio chain, and RY was still doing nicely as well. See attached!
John
---------------------------------------------------------------
File Attachment 1: 27sepb14.jpg
Re: Geomagnetic Opportunity (Gee, G2!)
Wrap-up of the 27 September monitoring here in SE Kansas:
Today's "big three" at the watering hole began to thin out during the 5 o'clock hour, CDT, disappearing in the reverse order from their appearances earlier this afternoon. USC continued pretty reliable until nearly 5:45 PM, but then faded into oblivion over about two minutes and never reappeared. NC made a similar fade by 6:20 PM, but returned faintly from 6:33-6:36 before vanishing entirely. RY held out alone, with only a few typical brief QSB gaps, until disappearing abruptly several seconds past 7:53 PM.
There were two, sometimes possibly three, Codar transmitters audible until 9:50 PM, then they also disappeared rather abruptly.
The 3-day space weather forecast continues to include intermittent episodes of G1 and G2 activity, so further reception opportunities may lie ahead this week.
John
Re: Terminated inverted U for longwave?
Posted by John Davis on September 28, 2016 at 05:51:28.
In reply to Terminated inverted U for longwave? posted by Robert on September 27, 2016
Hi Robert. I think it's worth a try, especially if you can do so economically in a proof-of-concept way before having to invest much cash and effort in a permanent version.
The author of the article seems to be a bit confused about the nature of this antenna. It's a terminated, grounded loop in the form of an inverted-U, certainly, but not really a wave antenna in that configuration and over most of the specified frequency range.
Having said that, I've known folks who used similar arrangements with some success at LF, and I have employed a similar antenna at MF and HF. The instances I recall in connection with LF, though, were located away from manmade structures.
A wall or porch by itself is not automatically a problem with such an antenna, but if electrical wiring is present, then there's definitely a potential for both electrostatic and magnetic noise pickup by this antenna, contrary to what the author believes.
You would face two particular challenges at LF, too. The antenna would need to have all its dimensions scaled up by a factor greater than 10 to exhibit similar properties at 1750 meters as it does at 160 m, for instance, and I suspect that won't be practical where you are. It may be best to simply overlook this challenge and hope for the best. The other concern is with the "9:1 current balun" the author recommends. I think I'd prefer a ferrite toroid transformer with a 3:1 turns ratio in this case, making sure the coax shield cannot have any path to ground at any frequency. Winding a toroid for LF is not my personal idea of fun, but whether it's homebrew or a transformer from MiniCircuits, ample isolation of the coax shield from ground at the antenna end is essential to minimizing noise pickup.
John
Re: Geomagnetic Opportunity (Gee, G2!)
Posted by Ed Holland on September 28, 2016 at 18:23:47.
In reply to Re: Geomagnetic Opportunity (Gee, G2!) posted by John Davis on September 27, 2016
Last night circa 3:00 UTC turned up AZ, just audible and USC and NC back strong enough to hear for a while.
This morning was very quiet, except a possible brief encounter with KC7MMI - a trace at the correct frequency, but no positive ID by any means.
It was nice to see some moderately favourable conditions again.
report from Pine, Colorado
Posted by Bill Hensel on September 29, 2016 at 22:48:36.
At 2244 UTC GNK and FRC solid copy...very little fading
Beacon JAM 187.015khz Scedule
Posted by Lee on September 29, 2016 at 23:01:41.
Beacon JAM 187.015khz is back up. It is up 24/7 UFN. My cheap Chinese counter reports 187.015khz. Actual receive reports indicate I might be 187.0155khz or 187.016khz. Good luck. After all the mods and upgrades better current this year. Lee. KE6PCT
Re: Beacon JAM 187.015khz Scedule
Posted by Lee on September 30, 2016 at 01:40:08.
In reply to Beacon JAM 187.015khz Scedule posted by Lee on September 29, 2016
Oh I forgot. The letter J at QRSS60 with a 5 WPM message to follow the letter J.
Re: Pixie on vlf
Posted by Mark on September 30, 2016 at 22:48:55.
In reply to Re: Pixie on vlf posted by John Davis on September 23, 2016
There are a number of options. The one referenced here is on eBay and sold by cskwin2015. The description is 9-14v diy radio 40m. You can usually recognize these radios by the BNC output connector. These radios typically have 1 watt of output at 12 v.
There are many other versions of the pixie. Some are on eBay, some not.
Any help would be appreciated.
Regards.
potrzebie