Help ID NDB
Posted by Douglas Williams on October 01, 2001 at 14:33:07
I've been doing a daytime bandscan of 190-500 kHz to log the NDBs that I can hear via groundwave. I'm up to 300 kHz and I've found one that I can't ID because it's not listed on www.airnav.com . The beacon is TR and I'm hearing it on 299 kHz. It is very strong at S9+, so I'm guessing it's the beacon for the Tri-Cities Airport, which is about 20 miles from me. Can anyone confirm this? Also, is there another source for NDB IDs besides www.airnav.com ?
BTW, I'm a little amazed that I'm hearing GLS in Galveston, TX via groundwave. I'm in eastern TN, so that's a long haul. GLS must be one powerhouse of a beacon.
I have tried sending this message to the lowfer mailing list three times, but it never seems to get through. Strange.
Re: Help ID NDB
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 01, 2001 at 19:23:21
Doug TR on 299 is listed as Mocca ..I'm not sure what state that is.See John Davis reply for info on another database.Its a big download but has a bit more info..
OK de Lloyd W3NF
Re: Help ID NDB
Posted by Douglas Williams on October 01, 2001 at 22:31:06
Lloyd,
Thanks for the help. I looked up MOCCA on Google and it took me to the Airnav web page, and, sure enough, MOCCA is the
"outer marker beacon" for Tri-Cities airport here in TN. Thanks a bunch.
-Doug KB4OER
Type: OUTER MARKER BEACON & COMPASS LOCATOR
Name: MOCCA
Frequency: 299 kHz
Identifier: TR - .-.
Location: 36-33-19.670N / 082-19-04.501W
6.0 nm (36290 ft.) from the approach end of runway 23
Re: lf engineering antenna
Posted by Mike Thompson on October 02, 2001 at 11:33:19
Hmmm sounds pretty good. What are the power requirments for the L-400 Does it use a battery or does it have a wall wart? Is it all one unit, or is the antenna separate from the active componants?
Thanks Mike T.
(KG4JYA)
189.7 wolf?
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 02, 2001 at 14:54:58
I have been trying to decode the wolf beacon on 189.7 (TEXAS)with no luck. Does anyone know if this beacon is sending normal wolf? I hear some non-wolf type modulation on it from time to time. I am less than 100 mi west and can hear it quite well in my ear without any processing. It actually moves my s-meter! I think I have my ic756 calibrated as I can set it to 9999.200 usb, record the wwv beat signal, and see 800 Hz +/- 1 Hz on my own fft display and using the wolf -m switch. I set my rx to 0.188.900 and record the beacon, see 800 Hz on my fft but cannot get any joy from wolf with 10 minute recording. Can anyone tell me where there is a description of all the values displayed by wolf as it decodes? There are some that I cannot find in any of the documentation on at least four websites. Test files made with wolf all decode properly down to -43 dB.
Can anyone shed any light on all this?
Thanks ...
Re: 189.7 wolf?
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on October 02, 2001 at 15:54:39
Richard,
The TEXAS WOLF signal should be perfectly orthodox, and dead on frequency. Since you can actually hear it by ear, decoding should be a snap.
If you run WOLF with no command line parameters, other than maybe specifying a different file name, WOLF assumes that the signal is no more than +/- 1Hz from 800 Hz, and that your sound card sampling frequency is exactly 8000 Hz. With such a loud signal, you can probably duck the sound card issue for right now. Try running Wolf with a wider bandwidth than the default value:
WOLF -q filename.wav -t 9 That will permit signals that are up to +/- 9Hz from 800 Hz to be decoded. There is some loss of weak signal capability, but that shouldn't be an issue in your case.
Let me know if that works. If you have a wideband internet connection, feel free to email me the 10 minute file, and I'll pound on it. Just PLEASE send it during the evening or overnight, as my pipeline is wider at home than at work!
The most comprehensive information on the various WOLF parameters is at Stewart Nelson's site:
http://www.scgroup.com/ham/wolf.html
I've got an article coming up in the Lowdown regarding frequency calibration...not sure if it made the October issue.
John Andrews, W1TAG
Re: 189.7 wolf?
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 02, 2001 at 17:06:47
Well, I tried -t 5 and 10 and I saw different numbers. Is w1tag charter.net the address to send it to? It's about 13Mb and I'll send it as soon as I know the address is ok.
Thanks.
Re: lf engineering antenna
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 03, 2001 at 15:01:10
The antenna and active front-end is all one unit about 3 feet long with 50 ft of rg-174 coming down to a power injector which runs from a wall wart. It may have provisions for an internal battery; I don't recall. They have a small website www.lfengineering.com which has some basic information.
dave curry's 1750 transciever kit
Posted by k9wkj wayne on October 03, 2001 at 19:35:32
anyone have any experience with this kit was looking at building the SAM1 transverter but this transciever sounds like the cats meooow if we get a 136khz allocation
tnx k9wkj
Re: lf engineering antenna
Posted by Douglas Williams on October 03, 2001 at 23:17:52
The L-400B can be run from two nine volt batteries inside the control unit. The control unit also has a jack for external DC power. I run mine from my 13.8 volt station power supply.
The L-400B is a good performer. I have had mine for several years now and it's still going strong. I did disassemble mine and put it into a new PVC tube with an SO239 attached to the bottom cap so I could change out the coax whenever needed.
One thing I did learn was my rooftop was *not* a good place for an active antenna. It picked up a great deal of man made noise from the house wiring. Moving it out into the yard about thirty feet from the house and away from the power lines made a big difference. Also, grounding the coax shield at the base of the antenna seemed to cut down on noise pickup.
-Doug KB4OER
New Station - 165.000 Khz.
Posted by Hal Deitz - WB9VMY on October 04, 2001 at 21:25:47
I am in the process of putting a new station on the air on 165.000 Khz. This is a multimode, 100 milliwatt transmitter with extreme frequency accuracy. It will be operating 24 hours a day mainly in the cw mode with occassional AM, SSB, RTTY and maybe some slow scan tv. Plans for a QRO one watt amplifier are down the road.
I presently use an almost full-size dipole for receiving (not transmitting) and dual commercial receivers for listening.
These receivers are unbelievable. More on their use and what they are as I learn to use them.
The transmitting antenna is a standard CB whip attached to a commercial ship radio antenna tuner. All this should be on the air in time for Halloween. Station ID is VMY.
Hal
New Beacon 165.000 Khz
Posted by Hal Deitz - WB9VMY on October 04, 2001 at 21:40:46
Forgot to mention the location. The transmitter is in Warwick, Oklahoma. About 40 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, OK
Hal
NDB's
Posted by Hal Deitz - WB9VMY on October 05, 2001 at 20:49:51
Here is some technical information for those trying to log NDB callsigns. The ID is spec'd at
1020 Hz. For those listening with other than AM., the tone should appear 1020 Hz above and below the carrier. Those stations that have a two letter ID are used for instrument approaches and are low power transmitters. They are designed for use within 25 miles of the airport. In other words, you are not supposed to be able to here them more than 25 miles away, but we all know that lowfers can hear much farther than that because they have better equipment and antennas! The FAA in Oklahoma City tells me that these can range from 10 watts to 50 watts. Those NDB's with three letter ID's can be as high as 400 watts in the continental US and some 1KW transmitters reside in the state of Alaska. They tell me that there is no way of telling which ones are 10 watt stations as opposed to 50 watters or which ones are the big 1KW foot warmers. I am going to try to get more info on these low power transmitters. Surely there is a list somewhere of the ID's of the low power guys. Just think, 10 watts is almost as low as 1 watt. That is no different than working DX with a 100 watt transmitter instead of a
1,000 watt transmitter on the Ham bands.
Hal
New version of Spectran
Posted by Alberto di Bene on October 08, 2001 at 05:11:43
We have just uploaded Spectran V1 to the Web site :
http://www.weaksignals.com
It has many improvements wrt the previous beta 4 version, among which :
- dB calibrated display
- Named saving/restoring of the settings
- Timed screen capture (BMP, JPEG or GIF)
- Improved adjustability of the dynamic range
- Selectable palettes
- Preset modes for NDBs and QRSS
- Increased compatibility with more sound cards
- Crash-proof mixer settings handling
- Sampling up to 48 kHz
- A very smooth waterfall scrolling
Please download and test it for bugs and compatibility problems
(I am sure there will be a few, but hopefully less than with the previous beta version).
Once you have downloaded and installed this version, please refrain from executing the old version, which will probably fail, and moreover you will be forced to rerun the setup procedure.
Thanks for any reports
73 Alberto I2PHD and Vittorio IK2CZL
lowfer signals
Posted by Deitz - WB9VMY on October 08, 2001 at 09:31:57
I installed a 1200 ft. Beverage antenna over the weekend. I can pick up WWVB at about 20 over S9 and the 24 KHz Navy signal about S9, but I don't hear any ID's for lowfer stations. I do hear several carriers, but none of them are on frequencies that are listed as beacons. What should I be listening for?
Hal
Re: lowfer signals
Posted by Les Rayburn, N1LF on October 08, 2001 at 13:30:04
These days most lowfer signals cannot be "heard" at all...
but rather must be viewed using computer software like ARGO, or Spectran. In any event, these signals are likey to be MUCH weaker than signals from WWVB,
or NDB's.
Best bet is to contact the lowfer closest to your location and have them send some standard CW tests.
In "9" land, that is likely to be a California lowfer.
Hearing weak signals on the LF band is a learning experience, and not something that usually offers immediate success. You have a nearly ideal receiving set up, and assuming that the noise floor is not too high, you will likely have luck when the weather gets a bit colder and the noise goes down.
Keep trying and welcome to LF.
Re: lowfer signals
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 08, 2001 at 13:59:45
From Oklahoma, you might try the TEXAS signal on 189.7 transmitting from EM12. It is very loud here in EM02xs about 100 miles away and is currently transmitting in WOLF. I can hear it with no computer help but to decode it you'll need to go get the wolf encoder/decoder. It is linked from this lwca site.
Looking forward to hearing/seeing your new beacon.
Regards,
Richard
Re: New version of Spectran
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 08, 2001 at 14:04:58
Has anyone tried this new version using windows 2000?
I would like to hear any reports in case I'm doing something wrong here. The sp4setup program runs fine but then Spectran aborts with the message *unable to open the sound mixer* ...
It does work nicely under windows 95 and has great new features.
Re: New version of Spectran
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 08, 2001 at 14:20:22
Alberto:
I also noticed that while sp4setup is ruinng it creates a file named *MixerSave* which then it deletes after I press the exit button upon succesful completion.
Richard W5SXD
Fwd: Medfer LEA down
Posted by Michael Reed on October 08, 2001 at 15:34:22
Date: 9/25/01 5:48:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: (Michael Reed)
Medfer LEA 1704811 Hz is down indefinitely. I am hoping to get it back on before it gets cold!
Mick Reed reedmi engr.orst.edu (weekdays, regular email)
5034093896 voicestream.net (after hours, 160 chars max)
Salem, OR 97304 Grid Square CN84lw Medfer LEA 1704.811Kc
Fwd: QRSS beacon 1999.90 kHz
Posted by Mitch Powell on October 08, 2001 at 15:38:51
Date: 10/2/01 10:51:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time
For your information:
Have "revived" 1999.90 (ham radio) beacon for Fall /Winter.
Function: to allow QRSS testing and detection on HF, when LF is unavailable.
CALLSIGN OF THE BEACON: VE3OT FREQUENCY: 1999.90 kHz LOCATION OF THE BEACON: London, Ontario GRID SQUARE: EN93ja MODE OF OPERATION: QRSS 0.4 wpm + 12wpm HOURS OF OPERATION: 24/7
Power: 1 watt output Antenna: inverted L
73 Mitch VE3OT
LEK in WOLF mode
Posted by Lyle Koehler on October 08, 2001 at 15:41:15
LEK is now running in WOLF mode at 186.700 kHz.
Lyle, KØLR
Beacon GL Silent for a While
Posted by George KI5GL on October 08, 2001 at 15:43:41
John,
Decided to turn off my beacon "GL" which had been running on 13,555.3 kHz, in consideration of recent events.
W1TAG, operator of "RY," makes a good point on page 10 of the October LOWDOWN.
Regards,
George, "GL" ki5gl Austin, Texas
Wolfing now OK
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on October 08, 2001 at 16:04:39
Just for the record -- the issue here turned out to be at the transmitting end, and has been happily resolved.
Tune into TEXAS while you can, as Bill will be moving in another month or so.
John Andrews, W1TAG
Re: Fwd: QRSS beacon 1999.90 kHz
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 08, 2001 at 18:36:59
Mitch, Have copied your beacon very loud here near Baltimore, Md.-Would be nice if some Wolf mode could be sent once in ahile to checkout Wolf ???Just a thought de Lloyd W3NF FM19MH
Re: Wolfing now OK
Posted by Lyle Koehler on October 08, 2001 at 19:40:47
Apparently the TEXAS transmitter is working properly again. The clip below is the decoded result from a .wav file recorded before local sunset, at about 6:15 PM CDT in Minnesota. There were lots of static crashes, although the QRSS signals from RM in Duluth (100 Hz above TEXAS) were well above the average noise level.
D:\wolf>wolf -q tx10-08.wav WOLF version 0.61 t: 24 f: 0.898 a: 1.4 dp:120.9 ci:13 cj: 45 XZN???O88*OD58F ?
t: 48 f: 0.580 a:-0.5 dp:116.6 ci: 7 cj:421 2JKQWWL1YMB6B5X ?
t: 96 f:-0.903 a:-0.1 dp:114.3 ci:10 cj:351 RME???AV7IWE798 ?
t: 192 f: 0.596 pm: 743 jm:351 q:-14.3 -8.7 VT9RZF4/P???M O ?
t: 288 f:-0.244 pm: 944 jm:571 q:-12.5 -6.1 023NTCAVLUGW1G5 -
t: 384 f: 0.049 pm: 2332 jm:676 q: -3.5 -5.6 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 480 f: 0.049 pm: 3709 jm:676 q: -1.9 -3.1 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 576 f: 0.049 pm: 5339 jm:676 q: -0.6 -2.2 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 672 f: 0.049 pm: 6629 jm:676 q: 0.1 -1.1 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 768 f: 0.049 pm: 8095 jm:676 q: 1.3 -0.5 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 864 f: 0.049 pm: 8801 jm:676 q: 1.9 -0.1 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t: 960 f: 0.049 pm: 9181 jm:676 q: 2.0 0.7 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
t:1056 f: 0.049 pm: 9508 jm:676 q: 2.2 1.0 TEXAS AGGIE 79 -
Thanks to Bill Cantrell for getting things going again, and to John Andrews for letting us know the problem was fixed.
Lyle, K0LR
Re: Beacon GL Silent for a While
Posted by Mitch on October 08, 2001 at 22:37:10
Same here Lloyd - QRT here on 13 MHz about two weeks ago agreeing with John's comments, and antennas also down.
73 Mitch VE3OT
Re: Fwd: QRSS beacon 1999.90 kHz
Posted by John Andrews on October 09, 2001 at 08:52:16
Lloyd,
Lyle Kohler did some WOLF experiments on 160m last winter. I had pretty good luck copying his signal on two dates, and trouble on others. In fact, the signal was audible by ear on one evening.
The catch is that propagation is quite different at 10 times the usual Lowfer frequencies. WOLF appears to be happiest with stable or slowly changing phase, and MF/HF skywave signals are nasty in that regard. In particular, the "jm" timing values that I depend on during LF work were quite unstable.
My conclusion at the time was that 160 meters didn't make a really good training ground for WOLF, though it did offer an opportunity to at least copy such a signal.
The other issue is that the abrupt phase transitions in WOLF and other BPSK modes are not spectrum-friendly if done with XOR gates and similar methods. That's not really an issue for our LF work. It might be in a ham band, however, though the power level Lyle was using would have restricted anyone's ability to hear the farther-out sidebands. BPSK signals CAN be shaped to reduce the bandwidth -- PSK31 is an example. I believe that the 136 kHz tests from the U.K. last March involved some shaping at the phase transition points.
John Andrews
Re: NDB ID help
Posted by Dave Tomasko on October 09, 2001 at 16:46:30
Hi Paul,
Think that I can ID 2 of your unids:
290:DOH Jacksonville AR (AF)
395:XEN Xenia OH (SMA is negative key of XEN)
Not sure about your others
Dave
Re: NDB's
Posted by wayne johnson on October 09, 2001 at 21:18:51
funny i found GLS the other night looked it up its a 2K watt trans and it is very easy ear copy here in wisconsin it is at 203khz in Galveston texas i was superised
Re: New version of Spectran
Posted by Albreto di Bene, I2PHD on October 11, 2001 at 16:39:14
Richard,
sorry for the delay in answering, but I am out of town, in a business trip, and am writing this in the hotel room.
As a matter of fact, Spectran V1_106 has been compiled and tested on a PC running Windows 2000, so the reason why you are having problems is not strictly related to the version of the operating system.
When back home, I will prepare a version that prints a more detailed message on the screen when that error happens, and will send it to you to have a better diagnosis.
The MixerSave file is a temporary saving of the mixer settings done while the program runs, and it is erased when the program terminates normally. In case of abnormal termination, it doesn't get erased and the next time Spectran starts it finds that file and knows that it previously did terminate abnormally. This allows to avoid a mixer settings corruption as it did happen with a previous version of the program.
73 Alberto I2PHD
Beacon RM
Posted by Roger Magnuson on October 12, 2001 at 10:05:11
Beacon RM (189.8 Khz) is on the air with new chicken wire winter ground screen. Hope this helps a little. Modes are QRSS(10) and CW alternating.
Roger, KØMVJ
Wanted; 75-5kHz antenna
Posted by Greg Miller on October 12, 2001 at 21:39:34
I would like to purchase a portable antenna(s) and front end electronics to monitor the naturally occurring vertical and horizontal electric fields from 75-5000 Hz. Alternatively, if you know of any instructions or papers on this topic, that would be of great help.
Active Antennas and Electrostatic Fields
Posted by Les Rayburn, N1LF on October 12, 2001 at 22:03:53
To: Lowfer List Subject: Electrostatic Field and Active Antennas
In his article in the September issue of the QST, Frank Gentges, K0BRA mentions that active antennas will perform best if they are placed above any nearby objects that are conductive.
In his example, he states that you should imagine a plastic sheet pulled over your house and yard, and to make sure that the antenna is placed above this imaginary line. He discusses that anything below this line would have a 0 volt field potential and thus
0 or nearly zero LF field strength.
In my case, the tallest objects in my neighborhood are the twin supports of my flattop vertical antenna. Both of which are 45 feet in the air.
At this point, I am leaning towards trying to mount my tuned active whip antenna on top of the "far" support. This end of the flattop is at the rear of my back yard,
furthest away from power lines.
The downside to this, is that it will require long runs of coax and tuning cables, and will involve having to lower the far mast...no easy feat.
So, my questions are:
1. Has a percentage, what kind of increase in performance might I expect mounting the active antenna higher vs. mounting the antenna at the back of yard at a lower height? 10%, 15%?
2. What steps, if any can I take to avoid picking up noise in the long coax cable run back to the shack? The run will be about 150 feet.
3. Should I attempt to install a ground plane of some type under the active whip? The article suggests a "mat" of chicken wire.
I hope to tackle this project during the coming weekend, so if you have tips, suggestions, etc. I'd love to hear them now. At this point,
it appears that this active whip will be my main DX antenna for the coming season.
The 10 foot loop is mounted too near my home, picking up large amounts of man made noise...relocating it before the season hits high gear is unlikely. I'd have to dig a very long trench, and just don't have the time.
73,
Les
LW Broadcast
Posted by Barrie Smith on October 12, 2001 at 22:25:32
Hello:
I'm new to LW. Been having some fun listening to NDB's. Also been trying to hear LW broadcast stations, but no luck.
Once in awhile I "think" I hear something on 162 and 198 KHZ, but otherwise nothing.
For an antenna I'm using a 400' doublet fed with 600 ohm open wire line, which I can split by using one or the other wire of the feed to form an inverted-L pointed either NE or SW.
This antenna seems to work very well for NDB's and general SWLing.
The receivers are either the AR-7030, or better, the Yaesu FT-1000MPV.
I live in a relatively electrically-quiet area, with underground power lines.
I listen early in the morning before sunrise, and late into the evening.
Perhaps I'm attempting to do something that can't be done from the mountains of Missoula, Montana?
TNX, Barrie, W7ALW
Re: LW Broadcast
Posted by Jacques d'Avignon on October 13, 2001 at 08:13:53
Hi:
You are doing very WELL if you think that you can hear something on 162 and 198 from your QTH.
162 is France Inter and 198 is the BBC. Try 189, that is a power house from Iceland.
I doubt if you will be getting much that far inland, but LW propagation is still a mystery!
Take care and enjoy the weekend.
Jacques VE3VIA
Re: Wanted; 75-5kHz antenna
Posted by Clint Turner, KA7OEI on October 13, 2001 at 15:29:19
There are a few antennas covering this frequency range described on the "Radio Waves below 22 KHz" siteL:
http://www.vlf.it/
Several possible antenna systems are described there - active and passive - that will allow one to even detect the Shumann resonances in the 6-60 Hz range:
http://www.vlf.it/Schumann/schumann.htm
It is worth exploring this site and its links as it not only covers the types of signals on these frequency ranges, but techniques to detect them.
73,
Clint KA7OEI
MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Steve McDonald on October 13, 2001 at 19:00:46
This Sunday night I will be activating a new West coast MEDFER beacon. It will run during week nights only and will be turned off on Friday / Saturday night so that I can use the 160m station when on the island. I can also turn the beacon on by request on Friday/Saturday nights if anyone wants.
Built and tested during the summer, the beacon runs a 2N2222 osc driving a pair of 2N2219's in parallel. The antenna is a half sloper with extensive ground radial system. At present I can hear the beacon on ground wave easily out to 70 miles with my Sony 2010.
Reception reports would be very welcome via e-mail at:
jsm gulfislands.com
CALLSIGN OF THE BEACON: VE7SL FREQUENCY: 1997.755 KHz LOCATION OF THE BEACON: Mayne island, B.C.
GRID SQUARE: CN88 MODE OF OPERATION: QRSS 0.4 wpm HOURS OF OPERATION: Sunday night 2000 PST - Friday night 2000 PST Power: 1 watt output Antenna: 1/2 Sloper
73 / Steve VE7SL
Re: MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Barrie on October 15, 2001 at 00:11:25
Steve:
At 04:18 your beacon is Q5 copy in Missoula, Montana.
Using FT-1000MP V and 400' doublet fed with 600 ohm open-wire line.
73,
Barrie, W7ALW, DN36
Re: MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 15, 2001 at 07:43:40
Steve, copied your beacon here in Maryland(FM19MH) this morning(Monday) at 1045z.Will send you an Argo of the copy de Lloyd W3NF
The Wolves of October
Posted by John Andrews on October 15, 2001 at 10:15:21
Got my first WOLF copy of the season this morning (15 Oct), with two clear lines from LEK from 0500 - 0530 UTC. The distance is around 1100 miles, on an east-west path. My last copy of LEK was on April 8th.
John Andrews, W1TAG
Re: MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Mitch VE3OT on October 15, 2001 at 12:48:50
Hi Steve:
Copied at 5AM EST (0900Z) and will send pictures under separate cover. Using inverted L, 40 feet up and 40 feet horizontal, so was very pleased to copy.
73 Mitch VE3OT
Re: MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Steve McDonald on October 15, 2001 at 23:08:52
Thanks for all the great reports guys! I was very surprised and delighted to receive anything,
let alone some reports from Eastern Canada as well as the east coast of the USA!
For the record, the beacon puts out just a shade over 900mW, using a pair of
2n2219s (2n2222s in a bigger metal can!). The antenna is a half-sloper up about
45' with an extensive ground radial system. The beacon is located on the eastern shores of Mayne Island, with the antenna about 40' from the ocean and facing towards North America across about 20 miles of salt water.
Thanks again for the reports and if you haven't had a look for the beacon yet, it is on 1997.775 KHz / QRSS 3 sec dots. Hours of operation are Sunday night from 2000 hrs local through to Friday night at 2000 hrs local; shut down for the weekend but available by request during this shut-down time.
73 / Steve / VE7SL
Re: MEDFER Beacon - VE7SL
Posted by Steve McDonald on October 15, 2001 at 23:20:24
Ooops...frequency should read: 1997.755 KHz
Re: The Wolves of October
Posted by John Andrews on October 16, 2001 at 13:16:17
Successfully copied two lines and some fragments from TEXAS this morning (16 Oct) from 0630 - 0700 UTC. There clearly was a signal there, but some considerable tweaking was needed to produce the correct copy.
Last reception of Texas here at my central MA QTH was in March, on 187 kHz. Bill had moved there to give me a shot clear of interference from the Iceland LW station on 189 kHz.
Distance is 1532 miles.
John Andrews, W1TAG
XM into Texas
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 16, 2001 at 23:28:56
#2 for me! This one was a bit harder (649 mi)
than TEXAS (40 mi) ...
Recorded about 0030Z 17OCT01 (Tuesday night)and many decode attempts later. I got the frequency and constants jm:294 early on but it took the
-o 1 to finalise the decode ...
C:\wolf>wolf -q xmgr3.wav -f 799.632 -t .03 -o 1 WOLF version 0.61 t: 24 f: 0.005 a:-0.1 dp:109.8 ci: 0 cj:298 3 8.XB1G4 ARC2. ?
t: 48 f: 0.004 a:-0.1 dp:108.4 ci:11 cj:316 XLO3Q5Q4JSN88IC ?
t: 96 f: 0.005 a:-0.2 dp:105.1 ci: 2 cj:287 ???U8OJL.862LRY ?
t: 192 f:-0.029 pm: 184 jm:793 q:-14.5 -8.5 PLOB92X535PU??? ?
t: 288 f: 0.039 pm: 279 jm:916 q:-13.0 -9.1 OPQ4ZJN0V/.CB4Y ?
t: 384 f: 0.000 pm: 371 jm:294 q: -9.5 -5.8 EG04EYR7KPPO7I2 -
t: 480 f: 0.000 pm: 452 jm:294 q: -8.6 -7.0 QNFGSCK4HT/ KDJ ?
t: 576 f: 0.000 pm: 485 jm:294 q: -8.3 -7.6 WRJF3MN1M/AUU7C ?
t: 672 f: 0.000 pm: 548 jm:293 q: -7.9 -6.9 9.93FU*0C622X21 ?
t: 768 f: 0.000 pm: 569 jm:293 q: -7.3 -7.6 K.8//02EL57MCD0 ?
t: 864 f: 0.000 pm: 613 jm:294 q: -7.1 -7.5 EZNWLNVG M17QTK ?
t: 960 f: 0.000 pm: 693 jm:294 q: -6.6 -6.5 N4T6GR4H*66R HT ?
t:1056 f: 0.000 pm: 787 jm:294 q: -5.8 -5.6 DE XM XM XM -
t:1152 f: 0.000 pm: 844 jm:294 q: -5.5 -5.7 DDGZY2FPHXM -
t:1248 f: 0.000 pm: 891 jm:294 q: -4.9 -5.5 DE XM XM XM -
t:1344 f: 0.000 pm: 938 jm:294 q: -5.1 -5.9 DE XM XM XM -
t:1440 f: 0.000 pm: 1015 jm:294 q: -5.0 -5.3 DE XM XM XM -
t:1536 f: 0.000 pm: 1068 jm:294 q: -4.9 -5.6 DE XM XM XM -
t:1632 f: 0.000 pm: 1089 jm:294 q: -4.9 -5.6 DE XM XM XM -
Richard W5SXD
Remote LF reception
Posted by Dick Goodman on October 16, 2001 at 23:42:11
In the last year, my QTH has had an incredible increase in man made noise (Line Noise, cable buzz, electric fences, etc). It has made my receiving setup almost useless. Antenna that I use is the "Monster Loop" from last years QST ... It is a varactor tuned, preamplified multi turn loop that covers about 60 KHZ to 400 KHZ. Receiver is the Ten Tec RX320 (modified). Also built Andre's "Synchonous Noise Blanker". There are too many noise sources for it to handle now.
I was on the phone with Bob Riese, K3DJC in York, Pa. and we discussed possibly locating a LF receiver at a remote, quiet site and transmitting the audio passband on an unused frequency on the 221 MHz band. We could transmit an audio passband of about 4 KHz. We could use a standard, Hamtronics 5KHz Deviation 221 MHz FM transmitter. This would be received from the shack on a FM receiver. Appropriate spectral analysis reception techniques (Spectran, Argo, etc) would be applied to the audio output. Many stations could use this "LF receiving system" .... of course the 221 MHz link would need to be controlled!
Is anyone doing this?
J-Pole just for grins
Posted by Hal Deitz on October 17, 2001 at 19:17:34
Here are the dimensions for a J-Pole for the middle of the Lowfer band, 175 Khz:
Long Section = 4,028.57 feet Short Section = 1,337.14 feet Feed Point = 131.43 feet Spacing = 125.71 feet
Let me know if anyone manages to build one of these. I would like to know how it works.
Hal - WB9VMY
wolf LEK into Texas
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 17, 2001 at 22:06:05
Wolf beacon LEK on 186.700 was good copy at 0100Z tonite here in Mineral Wells, Texas, EM02xs. I am using an LF Engineering L400b e-probe at 20 feet height into an Icom 756 at cw 500Hz. LEK is in Minnesota and 971 miles north of me.
Thanks for the signal, Lyle.
TEXAS wolf copy in Maryland
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 18, 2001 at 08:51:49
Had a nice copy of TEXAS on 189.7 this morning(10/18/01) at 1100z. Guess the chicken wire worked good.....Now to try for LEK de Lloyd W3NF FM19MH
XM(GR) Copied in WOLF mode in Minn.
Posted by Les Rayburn,N1LF on October 18, 2001 at 09:21:04
Lyle Koehler, K0LR was able to copy XM(GR) last night in Atkin, MN after only a few minutes of decoding. The distance is 967 miles.
Last season, Lyle also had the first reception of the XMGR beacon on Halloween. Static levels appear to be a bit lower earlier in the season this year...
with lots of DX receptions already this month.
Get those beacons fired up boys! We're back in business!
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
Re: Remote LF reception
Posted by Tim Brannon on October 18, 2001 at 23:40:20
If memory serves, amateurs no longer have priveleges for transmitting at 221 MHz. Assuming you could do this at 222-225 MHz, I don't think it would be legal to re-transmit the NDB signals, since this is another radio service (radio-location). However, since LowFER transmissions are unlicensed, would this be considered re-transmitting another "service"?
Re: Remote LF reception
Posted by Geri, DK8KW (W1KW) on October 20, 2001 at 01:11:49
Hello Dick,
the following message was recently posted on the RSGB LF-Reflector.
Derek, G3GRO and some friends of the Crawley Radio Club run such a system, re-transmitting the European ham band between 135.7 and 137.8 kHz on 2m.
Best 73
Geri, DK8KW (W1KW)
------------------------------------
"From Derek Atter G3GRO,
Many thanks for the many messages of support received via the LF Reflector and also for the support given at the well attended sessions of the LF Forum at the recent HF/LF Convention at Windsor regarding the establishment of the remote receiver system GB7LF.
I regret that one or two LF operators have expressed objection to the basic idea of the LF relay. The derogatory response from G3KEV was predictable and about par for the course and is just one more in a long line of similar outbursts. I was however more sorry to read the views expressed by Steve GW4ALG and Dave G3YMC with whom I have had many a enjoyable QSO. I hope perhaps Steve you will on reflection not say farewell yet to the LF bands -
that would be such a pity. The 136kHz band can ill aford to lose such an active operator and experimenter. To clarify things would like to emphasise the following points :
(1) The system should not be regarded in the same light as a 2m FM repeater.
It is an experiment to provide a remote receiver whose main function is to overcome the problems of local noise and not to act as an intermediate repeater intended to extend the range coverage. A second objective is to encourage more interest in LF activity locally and there are already signs that members of other clubs have started monitoring activity on 136kHz via the relay receiver. The fear that somehow this will encourage more "black box" operation seems to me to be irrelevant since most of us use commercial receivers already and a 136kHz transmitter and antenna system is still needed to make a QSO. We did not have in mind its use in achieving awards or records when establishing the remote receiver but to avoid any confusion as to the signal path, we will be encouraging the practice of adding "RX via MB7LF" to outgoing signal reports on 136kHz.
(2) The licence is held by the RSGB and delegated by them to the relay keeper. At the end of the first year of operation we will review it and if the general consensus of LF operators (perhaps after discussion at the next HF Convention) is that it is not a good thing, then we will shut it down.
(3) The system is not yet optimised since it was put together in a very short time in order to support the LF special event station MB2HFC at the HF Convention at Windsor. As has been said elsewhere on the reflector, without its use it would not have been possible to operate a viable demonstration station as was found last year due to the local noise level. Or should we have just sat on our hands and missed the opportunity to encourage more LF interest among a wider audience? We opted to use initially an active antenna with only a 1.2m whip only 30ft AGL operating in conjunction a fixed loop to null out Loran to demonstrate the potential of active receiving antennas in support of the talk by Andre' N1ICK on the AMRAD antenna.
Although the antenna system maybe not yet be optimised, it was clearly working reasonably well since we managed to work as far as Finbar EI0CF at Malin Head at the northern tip of Eire and down to F6BWO in the opposite direction in Chaumont, SE of Paris, both being in the region of 600km distance. As part of the experiment it is planned in future as an alternative to the active antenna, to patch in to the Crawley Club 360ft inverted "L" antenna which is up at around 60ft AGL. We also plan to experiment with a very long terminated half-loop antenna similar to that being currently being used so successfully by Laurie G3AQC pointed at Lessay to null out Loran.
Finally, it's early days yet. We believe that the project is in the amateur tradition of experiment as several of the mesages posted on the reflector have already said. We would also like to pay tribute to the UK Radio Licensing Authority and the RSGB for the speed with which they processed the licence application and their helpful comments on the way
Vy 73, de Derek Atter G3GRO"
www.vlf.it upgrade
Posted by Renato Romero, IK1QFK on October 21, 2001 at 04:24:19
vlf.it was upgraded yesterday with an article about "STORM MONITOR" by Russell E. Clift, AB7IF.
Thanks for the collaboration.
73, Renato.
XM copy in Maryland
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 21, 2001 at 21:57:59
I had 10-11 lines of good solid copy on XM at 0130z 10/22/01 here in Maryland-FM19MH.Just decided to give it a try tonite and got nice copy.Will try again in the morning.
Re: XM copy in Maryland
Posted by lloyd Chastant on October 21, 2001 at 23:24:27
Forgot to mention I show distance to be 694 miles..
Re: TEXAS wolf copy in Maryland
Posted by lloyd chastant on October 21, 2001 at 23:25:49
distance shows to be 1222 miles..
Re: XM copy in Maryland
Posted by lloyd chastant on October 22, 2001 at 08:36:45
Also had copy on XM this morning in Maryland at 1100z with 5-6 lines.Tried LEK and TEXAS but had no copy but may have been getting too late...
frequency stability for wolf
Posted by Brian Helms on October 24, 2001 at 13:09:10
I am currently building a new transmitter which is a 11.875 MHz oscillator being divided by 64. This gives me pretty good stability and I plan on adding an oven at a later time. At some point I plan on playing with wolf on this setup and I wonder what is the minimum drift that a transmitter can have and still be successful with wolf? These figures may be published somewhere but I havn't ran across them.
Re: frequency stability for wolf
Posted by John Andrews on October 24, 2001 at 13:59:14
Brian,
There appear to be two issues with frequency stability when transmitting in WOLF mode:
1. Long Term. If you tell everyone that you're transmitting on 185.547 kHz, you should at all times be within +/- 1 Hz of that frequency, which corresponds to WOLF's default receiving setup. If you are farther off than that, most of the guys will miss hearing you. The only way they will find you will be to use the "-t" parameter, with some number greater than one. This deafens WOLF up a bit, but it works. Probably most of the crew won't bother to do that, though. So, your transmitter must sit within that window between your frequency adjustments. If you check the frequency often, you can make the tweaks as needed.
2. Short Term. Regardless of exactly which frequency you're transmitting at a given time, the frequency should not change by more than a couple of millihertz during a half hour recording period. That works out to about 1 part in 10E6, assuming a steady drift. An oscillator could be subject to short-term temperature variations that would complicate this, but if it's in a relatively slowly changing environment, that shouldn't be an issue.
That being said, you might want to look at Lyle Kohler's article on using PTC thermistors to heat the crystal. That is a simple method that may get you out of doing a more complicated oven. See:
http://www.computerpro.com/~lyle/all-in-one/all-in-1.htm
John Andrews, W1TAG
VLF CW on Cable Ch. 11
Posted by Blanchard Smith on October 25, 2001 at 07:48:53
My TV cable system (Cox) ch. 11 in the DC area has a weak audio background CW Morse tone sending 5-number code groups at 40 wpm. Cable channel 11 would be at 47.5 MHz (assuming 4.5 MHz spacing like VHF TV). As an ex WWII ham, I can read the CW messages, which all end with de VERISON. My question is:
Is this a harmonic or intermod on the cable system of a true VLF station sending
5-number code groups continuously? What is the VLF fundamental RF?
Re: VLF CW on Cable Ch. 11
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG on October 25, 2001 at 09:11:25
Blanchard,
Most cable systems would have channel 11 on its normal over-the-air frequency, which would be 198-204 MHz.
I have not heard any VLF cw code group activity in many years. It was common back in the '60s when I first listened down there. Used to use NAA and NSS for code practice. I doubt very much that the source of what you're hearing is from VLF.
That pretty much leaves HF as the only possibility, and there certainly are code group stations active there. 40 wpm sounds awfully fast for such activity, though.
John Andrews, W1TAG
Medfer Beacon SOLAR now using WOLF mode
Posted by Bill de Carle on October 25, 2001 at 19:27:35
The SOLAR beacon is now transmitting in WOLF mode, and will probably stay that way over the winter. The beacon turns on automatically at dusk and runs until sun-up. Location is FN25uw, about
70 miles north of Montreal in the Laurentian mountains.
The oscillator is not as stable as I'd like, but it *should* hold within +/- 1 Hz of its nominal frequency of
1690.591 Khz. The osc is oven-stabilized but I have to shut it off during the daylight hours in order to conserve the battery so it can operate during the long winter nights. When the Tx turns on at dusk it sweeps around quite a bit for the first half hour or so until the oven gets up to temperature.
If you send me an e-mail saying what time you'll be listening, I'll try to measure the exact freq just before that time and let you know.
Receiving this signal won't be easy! - there is horrendous QRM from nearby broadcast stations.
Good luck!
Bill VE2IQ
Re: VLF CW on Cable Ch. 11
Posted by Clint Turner KA7OEI on October 26, 2001 at 19:18:51
One possibility for hearing background CW might be from the ATIS on a satellite downlink.
The ATIS subcarrier is required to be sent on analog satellite video transmissions in order to aid in identifying the station uplinking the program.
What occasionally happens is that the uplinker will have the injection of the ATIS subcarrier too high and/or the deviation too wide. Another possibility is that the satellite receiver's audio demodulator channel (usually the 6.8) is mis-tuned or unable to reject the ATIS signal. This can happen if the ATIS is too strong or its deviation is wide, and/or if the receiver isn't very good or is mistuned.
If it is an ATIS, an earth station callsign (often usually a group of numbers beginning with an E) as well as a telephone number, and often some abbreviation of the uplink's name will be sent in the text.
If you have ever been watching a syndicated television program and though you heard CW (at about 15-20 WPM, typically) in the background - you probably did...
Clint KA7OEI
Re: Medfer Beacon SOLAR now using WOLF mode
Posted by Lloyd Chastant on October 26, 2001 at 19:50:18
WOW!! you are so right about the AM station..Sure is strong--This is gonna be tough I think..Will try Bill and see what results are...de Lloyd W3NF FM19MH
Extremely Low Frequency Transmitter
Posted by "Erik" on October 27, 2001 at 00:39:38
Can someone email me or respond back if the have any idea how to design a transmition circuit able to transmit between 0 - .5 Hz?
Re: Extremely Low Frequency Transmitter
Posted by John Davis on October 27, 2001 at 21:42:11
Depends on what you mean by "transmission," I suppose. To actually radiate any signals across open space at these frequencies would require an utterly ENORMOUS antenna...so huge that it'd be far cheaper to just extend a wire all the way to the receiver, even if it's on the other side of the continent.
The only experiments of which I'm aware that have actually produced anything like radio waves at these frequencies were done with the HAARP Project, in which the Navy beams megawatts of pulsed HF signals at a region of the ionosphere, causing it to emit ELF electromagnetic waves.
John
JDH on the air
Posted by John Hoopes on October 28, 2001 at 06:14:34
JDH is on the air on 184.514 KHZ (+/- 2HZ). Mode is CW at 8 WPM (30 reps) and QRSS at .4 WPM (3sec dot, 9sec dash for 5 reps). I was going to try WOLF this season but I accidentally burned up my synthesizer when I inadvertently applied 12 VDC to 5 VDC circuitry. I'm using the Xtal transmitter instead which drifts and would not be suitable for WOLF
JDH will be on 24/7 until the noise picks up or the grass starts to grow again. Which ever occurs first. Happy listening!
73 John AB4MS/JDH
Re: JDH on the air
Posted by Dex on October 28, 2001 at 18:06:58
It's working John! Blooming QRSS on ARGO and audibly Q5 CW.
I see your signal presently on 184.510 kc.
Dex
RLD back on the air 185.555
Posted by Brian Helms on October 28, 2001 at 20:12:49
I've just finished my transmitter and got the antenna tuned to resonance. The frequency is derived by dividing 11.875 MHz crystal by 64. The amplifier uses a 2n3904 and 3906 transistor in the circuit that Lyle has on his webpage. I am also keying the beacon w/t a computer using Lyle's program. It sends rld three times at 7 wpm and rld once at .3 wpm. The beacon will be on 24/7 until spring or Murphey breaks it. Dex has verified my frequency stability today and also I have listened for the beacon out to 10 miles and it is pretty easy to copy. I was using an hf rig w/t vlf converter and a legnth of wire threw into a tree.
Brian Helms KD4RLD
Re: JDH on the air
Posted by John Andrews on October 29, 2001 at 08:32:07
John,
I copied JDH this morning at 4:22 AM EST. The signal was shaky, but the JDH ID was plainly there. Frequency was just where you said it would be, 184.514 kHz. The distance between us is 934 miles.
Good to see you back on the air!
John Andrews, W1TAG
Re: JDH on the air
Posted by Brian Helms on October 29, 2001 at 09:37:05
I heard JDH around 9pm Sunday night. It was fairly easy to pick out but not enough to copy by ear.
New hifer "AZ" on 13.5545
Posted by Jim Mandaville on October 29, 2001 at 14:25:06
I have a 2 mW hifer up now on 13.5545. ID is "AZ," repeated in 12 wpm CW. Antenna is a ground plane with base about 19 ft. above ground. Operation is 24/7 except during thunderstorms and brief listening/experimenting periods. I expect to have QRSS capability soon with ability to shift to 3-sec. dits on request. Any reception reports appreciated.
Jim Mandaville, KF7A, Tucson, AZ
zygo azstarnet.com
510.500 KHz MedFer NC on the air
Posted by Dexter McIntyre on October 29, 2001 at 15:45:39
After removing several mud dauber nest from the medfer coil the antenna is once again resonant. Now transmitting 7/24 on 510.500 KHz QRSS
3 second dots. QSL #2 is still available. Mitch Powell snaged #1 last January.
Dexter
Re: New hifer "AZ" on 13.5545
Posted by Richard Allen, W5SXD on October 29, 2001 at 15:57:30
Copy 519 in EM02xs, Mineral Wells, Texas, at
21:06z 2001OCT29 ...
XM(GR) in QRSS Mode
Posted by Les Rayburn, N1LF on October 30, 2001 at 13:56:47
In responses to numerious requests, beacon XM(GR) is currently transmitting 24/7 in QRSS mode. 30 second dot length. Frequency is 184.8988. Antenna current is around 240ma...so signal coverage should be good.
We will operate WOLF mode on request; and may switch to 60 second dot length QRSS in the future. Special new QSL cards are available. Reception reports are welcome.
XMGR
184.8988 Helena, AL EM63NH QRSS mode. WOLF mode on request. 24/7
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
Re: XM(GR) in QRSS Mode
Posted by Dexter McIntyre on October 31, 2001 at 23:45:52
XM QRSS 3 dot sec copied in North Caroina. Les, I believe your signal is much better received here than it was last year.
73,
Dexter
www.lwca.org
potrzebie