Past Longwave Messages - Oct. 1999

Subj: Beacon SY
Date: 10/31/99 7:49:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: gfh haertig (Gray Frierson Haertig)
Logged a beacon on 212 kHz last night that I can't find in any of my references. Canadian pattern ID, SY, and 400 Hz offset. Signal was very good here in Portland, OR, at approx 5:00 am, fading by 5:45 am. Am positive of the ID and frequency.
Anybody have any ideas?
Reply copies to my e-mail address are appreciated.
Thanks!
Gray

Subj: X beacon back in operation after relocation
Date: 10/30/99 1:35:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: mcarter netcommander (Max Carter)
Just wanted to let you know of some changes to the LowFER scene here in Wyoming:
1) In May of '99 I discontinued operation of my X beacon on 178.500 kHz. That beacon had operated on various frequencies for 14 years from a 50' radiator at 46 14th St. in Wheatland, WY.
2) A new beacon is now on the air at a frequency of 189.500 kHz from a location about a mile SE of the old location using a 25' radiator and the old ID "X".
3) My mail address has changed: Max Carter, 56 Cozad Road, Wheatland, WY 82201;
4) My e-mail address has changed also.
The new coil works very well, supplying 185 mA antenna base current at a legal one watt input. As with the X-beacon before, in order to facilitate some of the more exotic reception techniques, the new beacon's carrier frequency is derived from WWVB and the modulation likewise is synchronized to UTC. Other formats that may be sent from time to time include a one-baud string of all "ones" in byphase NRZ-M format (or 101010... in NRZ), and ASCII at various speeds using BPSK NRZ and NRZ-M. Myself, I'd like to try some "Longwave spread spectrum" (hows that for an oxy-moron) sometime. Who knows..
Plain 'ol CW will be the order of the day most of the time, however. And I will be interested to know how well the beacon gets out.
Thanks,
Max

Subj: Re: Tesla/Fessenden Antenna
Date: 99-10-28 23:46:35 EDT
From: ashlockw hotmail (Bill Ashlock)
This does it: I'm going to build a decent 1644 antenna if it takes all night! This long wire picks up too much garbaaage from the power wiring around the house. I'm putting together a 3+ foot diameter loop with a pvc shell stuffed with as many strands of ribbon cable as self resonance will allow. I'll connect it to my std single Fet design so that the loop will have a high Q and can drive 50ft of coax, making it possible to be raise it to 40ft if necessary.
I'm getting a signal at exactly 1644.00 that appears to have a pattern of modulation but can't quite make it out.
Later!
Bill, WA

Subj: Tesla/Fessenden Antenna
Date: 99-10-28 10:35:09 EDT
From: daveaa1a xensei (Dave Riley)
Tonight looks like I will be cw keying 1A on 1644 khz. This arrangement looks good but think there is less to loose by getting rid of the solenoid and extending the primary high Q circuit with 3/4" copper to a 10 ft. span. Pls check difference between tonight and until change takes place so we can figure best all round antenna. Use b/c station as sig strength ref.
Getting rid of losses is all I can see to do besides getting centered in the 'Q' envelope.. Power and ground conductivity are fixed.. Here not good, therefore maybe balanced antenna holds less losses.??. more erp? Am setting up absolute f/s monitor to keep checking differences.
Aim is to send coherent cw via laser to part-15 transmitter as beacon '1A' by next week.
73s de Dave

Subj: Rotating VLF Loop (by Bill Farmer)
Date: 99-10-28 01:34:17 EDT
From: evogel flash (Eric Vogel)
Lowfer DXers may be interested in a new item on my home page: a steerable, attic VLF-loop developed by Bill Farmer.
Eric Vogel
http://www.flash.net/~evogel/

Subj: E-field probe fun
Date: 99-10-25 05:38:10 EDT
From: pthomson bruderhof (Pierre Thomson)
A couple of days ago I threw together a preamp made of an AD712 Bi-FET op-amp with a parallel LC tuned input and unity voltage gain. Last night I had the opportunity to try it out, since I was up and had the rig ( IC-751A ) in the car.
First, for reference, I clipped the Icom's input directly to the end of a fence line running about 500 feet north-south. Noise levels were not very high, and I did a sweep of the NDB band with "Canadian" offset of +400 Hz RIT. I logged exactly eleven NDB's, all but one of them in Quebec. TUK/194 was about S7 on the meter with impulse noise.
Then I connected up the new preamp with a 1m whip on the input, working against the car body. Initial results were very encouraging, with TUK/194 15 dB over S9 on the meter! The tuned circuit peaked nicely and everything was set. Well, to make a long story short, I worked up and down the band for the next 2 hours, adding 62 more Canadian NDB's to the list, as well as Lowfer TH !
The preamp circuit is simplicity itself, just two 9v batteries with .01uF bypass caps, the AD712 wired as a unity-gain buffer, and the LC on the non-inverting input (specs list input impedance as 3 x 10^12 ohm!). Battery draw is about 6 mA. Schematic to follow on my web page...
Regards,
Pierre Thomson KA2QPG / RI

Reply 1: "Cool!" as the young folks say. -JHD

Subj: Geoengineering meetings
Date: 99-10-25 13:51:08 EDT
From: scioldo tinit (Giorgio Scioldo)
As it is often difficult to be informed on all worldwide events in our fields of interest, we decided to run a web site where it is possible to enter, for free, a detailed description of any geological, geophysical, geoengineering etc. meeting or congress.
Feel free to visit our meeting page at http://www.geoandsoft.com/meetings and, if you know about other events not contained in our lists, please be so kind to help us to keep the site up to date by adding information or contacting the people responsible.
Giorgio Scioldo, eng.
http://www.pasygeophysics.com - geophysical instruments

Subj: LF Field Strength Measurements
Date: 99-10-24 15:55:21 EDT
From: kballinger idirect (Keith Ballinger)
The Industry Canada (FCC equivalent) regs for LF operation permit us to use a power consistent with a field-strength of 10 microvolts per metre at 30 metres distance from the antenna, or alternatively 1 watt max. into a 15 metre max. length antenna - similar to FCC part 15. Since the field-strength measurement technique is more flexible inasmuch as it doesn't limit the tx power level, has anyone any ideas of a practical way to measure 10 microvolts per metre at 30 metres??
Regards,
Keith Ballinger VA3QF

Reply 1: Hi, Keith. There is a field strength meter project described in a link on the Longwave Home Page. It's by Dick Rollema, PA0SE. Though it was designed for 136 kHz and field strengths on the order of mV/m, it should be adaptable. However, I believe you will find the alternative power and antenna limits to be far more useful. At 30 metres, that maximum 10 uV/m will include all of the near-field induction effects of any practical antenna, so that the actual radiated signal seen in the far-field will be even less than this miniscule amount would suggest. At one km, the received signal will be well below the noise floor on LF at all but the quietest locations. (At not-so-quiet locations, 10 uV/m itself is below the noise floor.) Experience suggests that the 1 watt, 15 metre combination produces significantly greater radiated signal...probably by better than 30 db. Even with the rather poor LowFER setup I had here, a marginal Radio Shack portable receiver with no external aerial could detect its signal adequately a few km away. -JHD

Subj: R.I.P. Medfer VA 11/2/91-10/23/99
Date: 99-10-24 15:06:03 EDT
From: n4zv roanokeinfi (Bart Prater)
After many years and much enjoyment, Medfer VA is now QRT.
Lowfer VA continues 24/7 on 187.8 khz.
73,
Bart - VA / N4ZV

Subj: Beacon LW
Date: 99-10-22 02:28:25 EDT
From: ashlocks mdc (Ashlock)
I'm getting a copy tonight on a beacon with an idenifier of LW at ~187.2 . Anyone know know who this is?
Bill Aslock, WA

Subj: TH?
Date: 99-10-22 02:28:22 EDT
From: ashlocks mdc (Ashlock)
Can anyone tell me if TH 189.3 is currently on the air?
Bill Ashlock

Subj: RH Beacon
Date: 99-10-21 17:48:16 EDT
From: bhkoehler mmm (Bruce H Koehler)
Now that Roger has heard the RH beacon in Maplewood, MN from his location in Duluth, MN I should let people know it is on, but only temporarily. The RH transmitter is the old BK transmitter and runs at 187.46KHz. I plan to let my friend Bob Hapy use it for learning the morse code by communicating with BK. The antenna is suspended between a big cottonwood tree and an oak tree and the T top is about 45 feet off of the ground. I brought the RH transmitter home to try out on the new antenna. Losses seem high, but I could hear RH from Shell Lake, WI and LEK could hear RH from Aitkin, MN. Now Roger has heard it too from Duluth, MN so his balanced loop and preamp must be working well.
After I give the transmitter to Bob, I will construct another one to use with the Maplewood antenna for the season. The ID will be YB, which is the same ID I used a couple of years ago when I was running a beacon from Maplewood. Meanwhile, BK is running on 184.700 in CW mode, but I may switch to BPSK/CW again soon.
So far this season I've heard BRO, BK, LEK, RH, SAM and RM.
73, -Bruce W0BK, BK

Subj: OK and TEXAS reception
Date: 10/20/99 10:56:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
So far this fall I've been able to copy OK on BPSK during the daytime, but hadn't heard the CW signal except before sunrise. Yesterday OK was readable on CW at high noon, and the copy on BPSK was really solid. Last night, at a little before 9 PM CDT, I turned on the receiver and was greeted by lots of static crashes. However, OK was fairly solid copy on BPSK, and at 9 PM I tried for TEXAS. Despite the static crashes, both OK and TEXAS were received without using the frame grabber. Quite a few characters were wiped out by the heavy QRN, but there's no doubt about the TEXAS AGGIE identifier. First time this season that I've been able to copy TEXAS. Things are looking up for LowFER propagation!
Tried again today for BRO and found that the reason I didn't copy last night was a frequency offset of about 0.5 Hz between BRO's signal and my receiver. That's a bit too much frequency error for AFRICA, and I didn't have the AUTOFREQ feature turned on.
73
Lyle, K0LR
http://www.computerpro.com/~lyle

Subj: New RI antenna up
Date: 10/19/99 12:58:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: pthomson bruderhof (Pierre Thomson)
Hi,
I just thought I'd pass along that I (finally) got my new vertical into a truly vertical position over the weekend. This time it's in an open field in a river valley, hundreds of feet from trees or buildings. I took some digital pictures of the setup which can be seen at:
http://frodo.bruderhof.com/pierre/ri.htm
Now I have to get the ground plane laid, measure the capacitance, tweak the inductor and mount it and the beacon. Right now I am working on a motor-driven variometer for tuning from a distance.
73
Pierre Thomson KA2QPG / RI
near Tillson, NY FN21

Subj: Mobile Whistler Receiver Project
Date: 10/19/99 10:54:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: dredbyte concentric (Philip Collier)
Hello, longwave enthusiasts. With the nice quiet winter conditions approaching, I've begun to set up my shack for exciting listening. There's a lot of line noise here, but I can copy WWVB. There's another carrier near 40 kHz coming in pretty strongly. My biggest project now is a mobile VLF / whhistler receiver. So far, so good. For the enjoyment of the list, here is the story.
It all began after reading a posting from a fellow hearing MSK near 10 kHz. On the my ATS-909 / VLF converter to that range, and heard nothing but BZZZZZZ. Turned off everything in the house except the clocks, fridge, and one incandescent light. Bzzz. Weakly, in the noise, there were indeed sferics. I then decided it was time for something new...maybe a mobile deal that can go many miles from the noise of Schenectady, NY.
The receiver would be a "junk box special," using an MPF-102 front end and a TL-082 op-amp. The first op-amp stage drives a foreward-acting diode compressor (from the ARRL handbook), then stage two brings the signal up to line level. After a few hours of soldering parts ugly / Manhattan style into an aluminum box, it was 90% complete.
Then I pondered the question of getting the signal into a recorder, sound card, or car audio system. Install line inputs on the car radios? Visions of cable birdsnests danced in my head; there had to be a better way...a wireless way. What about a nice clean FM link in the broadcast band? Before long, the baseband receiver had a one transistor transmitter operating on 91.3 MHz, plus or minus a couple dozen kHz. It is nice...the only cables going to the receiver are for DC power. There will be no problem with ground loops or noise in the transmission line. Reception is via any FM radio, and I can feed the soundcard in the shack or listen anywhere in the house. On the road, I mount the receiver by a rear window, run an E field wire over the roof, and listen on the radio...Sometime I may try an infrared link to limit the potential for self-generated RFI, but that's some other time...
Results? Well, the MPF-102 and op-amps function nicely form about 60 Hz (for sure!) up to about 18 kHz. Tweeks, sferics, and some whispering whistlers have been heard in mobile operation. The radio link works fine. In fact, there is less drift than expected and the signal is full quieting. One thing is for sure - there's a lot of 60 Hz hum in this town. Even in the more rural areas there's noise. No wonder the best sferic recordings are made in truly remote areas!
Has anyone worked with op-amps as a front-end? I think the '102 may be a bit noisy, and the TL-082 is dead quiet with the FET cut out of the circuit. My next version may use a TL-082 in the front end instead of a FET and send the signal out via infrared link.
Well, that's all for now. Has anyone else gone this route with receiving gear for VLF?
73 1/2 (just a little longer),
Phil
KG2DH

Reply 1: Most interesting observations, Phil. You may be interested in the op-amp whistler receiver in our Natural Radio file library. Perhaps it will inspire some further designs...possibly even a construction project article from you? -JHD

Subj: Reception report
Date: 99-10-18 20:42:30 EDT
From: k0mvj cpinternet (Roger Magnuson)
Hello all,
This is my first time to post on the LWCA message board. The LW beacons that I am hearing here in Duluth, Mn are: BRO, LEK, BK, SAM, and RH (new). My beacon RM is on the air on 189.8 as it has been for some time. New this year is an 8 foot loop with a balanced preamp of Lyle Koehler's design. I really like it, especially the remote tuning. (Thanks Lyle). I did hear A3O last year and have heard others in the past. Now that things are getting quieter on the band I'll be listening a bit closer for those elusive ones. I may like to try BPSK as it seems quite successful but also I am curious if anyone is trying the European QRS??? system. Seems maybe a bit easier to do.
73, Roger Magnuson

Subj: RL
Date: 99-10-18 14:04:35 EDT
From: RLLaney aol
Please change the listing for RL in the beacon list to "intermittent."
Web page is quite attractive.
Thanks.
Bob Laney

Subj: Re: BRO Beacon Status
Date: 99-10-18 10:19:00 EDT
From: ki0le cpduluthmnus (Bryce Ofstie)
Just a quick update. Beacon BRO was in CW mode for a while but since things are opening up nicely, I have put it into BPSK full time. The beacon will run continuous unless I am listening. The identifier is BRO(space) for a run length of 4 and the format is MS100, ET1. The leaves are gone now and RM says he has seen an improvement in my signal as a result. Hopefully it will keep getting better as the cold weather sets in. I hear LEK, BK and RM 24 hours a day and copied LEK in BPSK last night without any problem.
73, Bryce KI0LE

Subj: Can you help me?
Date: 10/17/99 6:17:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: AlanMelia btinternet (Alan Melia)
I wonder whether you have any listeners who are within a couple of hundred miles of CFH on (137.0 kHz 80Hz shift data) in Halifax, Nova Scotia that I could correspond with by e-mail. I wish to start monitoring it as a long term project, but since I got the software to do it....I haven't heard the station (Murphy strikes again)! I really need to know if it is transmitting continuously through the hours of 2200z to about 0700z every day. When I listened early in the year it seemed to be 'there' every night. I did not hear it much through July and August until the last weekend in August. Then not again through September. If it is transmitting all the time there sould be some interesting correlations to be made about transatlantic LF propagation, which could have an impact on amateur activities.
Thanks and 73 de Alan G3NYK

Subj: Reception
Date: 99-10-17 00:10:22 EDT
From: okbill brightok (William Bowers)
Well things are beginning to open up. TEXAS is now coming in both CW and BPSK almost every day. I cought LEK in BPSK on 10/14/99. Where is ARK ?
Bill Bowers

Subj: Interesting detection
Date: 10/16/99 4:33:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: wa5whn mailcity (Jay Miller)
A few weeks ago, I had ordered 2 G8317 EMF detectors from The Electronic Goldmine in Scottsdale, AZ {1-800-445-0697}. I think they were less than $3.00/each. I did not get the time to test and profile the circuit board. I had plugged a 9VDC battery into both of them and they both seemed to function. While walking in front of my son's audio system, the lights began to light up & modulate with the change in audio frequencies. This little device does have a directional antenna. Figuring if it was sensitive enough to pick up my son's stereo speaker magnets, when turned on, I had placed the device into a clear plastic case, wired up a 9 VDC supply & had left it on facing east-west. Sort of a green LED night light in the bedroom.
Well, this morning 4 AM MDT, the detector was flashing 3 Green LEDs consistently. I had noticed the flashing lights, and had awakened my wife to show her. I had moved the detector up & down, and no change. The only time it would change was while facing North/South or vertical, the indicator LEDs would turn off. However, when I would return to facing the little antenna west, the same 3 LEDs would light up. I had gone outside to see if I could spot anything visually. Nothing. When I had turned on the radio, I had heard there was a 7.0 earthquake in the Mojave Desert. I think this little detector may have picked it up.
http://www.goldmine-elec.com/
Part # G8317 EMF detector, less than $3.00
Did anyone else have a similar experience?
73...Jay, WA5WHN Albuquerque, NM

Subj: LEK BPSK test
Date: 10/13/99 4:50:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time
lyle mlecmn.net (Lyle Koehler)
At the request of Bill Bowers, LEK will be running in continuous BPSK mode for two days starting today. I'll switch back to alternating half hours of BPSK and CW sometime Friday evening. The BPSK format is MS100, ET1. I was sure my run length was 4, but Bill tells me he was copying me last season with the frame grabber run length set to 5. So I just checked, and Bill is correct. The identifier is actually LEK(space)(space) rather than LEK(space). It's slowly coming back -- I used that identifier sequence so that 30 minutes would be an integer multiple of the ID interval, and the identifier provides part of the clock divider chain. That's a strange way do do things, but I must have run out of room for another divider chip on the circuit board. Anyway, for whatever reason, the LEK BPSK beacon has a run length of 5, not 4 as I previously indicated. Thanks for setting me straight, Bill!
Lyle, K0LR
http://www.computerpro.com/~lyle

Subj: Good daytime conditions
Date: 99-10-11 15:33:26 EDT
From: smerriga compusmartabca (Shaun P Merrigan)
I finally got my outdoor loop back online, and I was pleasantly surprised by the decent daytime conditions.
I have logged 11 Montana NDB's in the last couple of hours, and the signals are all quite stable. It will be interesting to see what happens after sunset.
Good listening.
Shaun P. Merrigan
Edmonton, AB, Canada
53.55 N   113.47 W

Subj: LF: HF Convention
Date: 10/11/99 8:41:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: mikedennison rsgb uk (Mike Dennison)
To: rsgb_lf_group blacksheep.org
I have just spent two most stimulating days at the RSGB HF Convention. Since I was attending both as a professional for RSGB and an amateur as G3XDV, I worked hard, but also played hard too.
Congratulations to all concerned, especially to John, G3WKL, David, G0MRF and Graham, G3XTZ, for all of their hard work and to Dave, G3YXM and Andre, N4ICK, for their interesting lectures.
The company was very good, I spent a lot of time with N4ICK and DK8KW, as well as the Gs. It was also great to see lowfers from Holland and Portugal, too.
Geri (pronounced with a hard G like "good"), DK8KW, was sporting a tee-shirt with a Spectrogram of his callsign and the slogan "Longwave enthusiasts do it extremely slow". We talked until about 11 Saturday night, then he flew back to DL at 7am Sunday, getting on the air for a sked with GB4RS at midday.
The work that went on behind the scenes to get the two 73kHz contacts was amazing. The FETs on G0MRF's transmitter died after a few minutes of operating - one by one. By the time we went into dinner on Saturday evening, the Tx was useless and we did not know why it kept blowing FETs. During the meal, David went quiet for a few minutes, then waved a piece of paper, saying "I have redesigned my PA for Class D". He left the convention very late in the evening, went home, rebuilt the transmitter and returned at 0630 local to put it on the air, this time successfully! This was just one example of the huge amounts of ingenuity used to keep things working.
I am convinced that we will have intrigued several HFers enough for them to venture onto 136kHz. And we certainly gave a boost to future activity from Portugal.
Lastly, the memory of Peter Bobek was very much kept alive in various conversations and in something more formal to be announced soon.
I will post some pics on my web site later this week.
See you next year.
Mike, G3XDV (IO91VT)
http://www.dennison.demon.co.uk/activity.htm

Subj: LF: Re Convention & 73kHz
Date: 10/11/99 7:02:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: g3ldo zetnetcouk (Peter Dodd)
To: rsgb_lf_group blacksheep.org
It was good to meet all the LF'ers at the HF Convention. I found Andre's talk and slide display on the activity in the USA very interesting. I find the display of equipment at the LF station inspiring - I paricularly liked the remote controlled variometer with the Leggo motor and gear drive mechanism.
On Sunday I fired up the transmitter on 136kHz at around 0715 local only to find the remote control keying was still faulty (it has never been the same since it got caught up with the electric hedge cutter a couple of months ago). Transferred to local control in the garden shed. At around 0800 fired up on 71.68kHz and then went back to receive using the old R4-C. Heard G0M?? - I was expecting GB4RS. I tried another call and received a telephone message from Dave that I was being received by the Convention station. I conected up the D2155 level meter and received G0MRF 10dBm above the noise at 20Hz selectivity. We exchanged reports at 549 both ways. Toward the end of the QSO went back to the R4-C and copied G0MRF qute clearly above the noise at 250Hz selectivity.
Regards,
Peter, G3LDO

Subj: LF: RSGB Demonstration station
Date: 10/11/99 3:06:16 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: G0MRF aol
To: rsgb_lf_group blacksheep.org
The LF demonstration station at Windsor made its final QSO yesterday (Sunday) at 14.30 UTC.
The following stations were worked on 136k.

CALL                RST SENT        RST RX

G4GVC                   599         599
G3XDV  (QRS)              O           O
G3GRO                   589         599
G3YXM                   599         59+10 9
PA0SE                   449         589
G3BDQ                   579         59+10 9
G8RW                    579         59+15 9
DF3LP (QRS)               M           O
DK8KW (QRS)               O           549
OK1FIG (QRS)              O           O
G6NB                    569         589
G3YMC                   459         599

Sunday

07.15 - 07.40.      G3LDO       549  sent     549 received    71.7k    CW   
apx 78km
10.30 - 11.00       G3WSC      459  sent     569 received    71.7k    CW   
apx 52km

Subj: LF: HF Convention - 73kHz
Date: 10/10/99 1:53:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: sergeantd compuserve (Dave Sergeant)
To: rsgb_lf_group blacksheep.org (rsgb_lf_group)
From Dave G3YMC
Firstly may I say how nice it was to meet many of you at Windsor on Saturday, and I am sure we all gained a lot from it. We also had most interesting discussions over dinner and it was nice to discuss experiences with our continental and USA visitors.
I can report that I heard G0MRF/P on 71.7kHz on Sunday morning 10th. October between 0645 and 0730z. Hash from Rugby was horrendous and David's signal was copyable with difficulty through this, at 379. Had the noise not been there the signal would have been perfect copy. I was unable to detect Peter G3LDO however during David's QSO with him. The distance of Beaumont from my QTH measured directly off the map is 11.25 km, hardly likely to break any records!
73s Dave G3YMC
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sergeantd

Subj: FDK
Date: 10/9/99 11:10:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: ollaneg zeta au (Steve Olney)
G'day All,
Have just finished putting up some information about FDK (Frequency Difference Keying). If you are interested use the link in the sidebar on my main page at:-
http://www.zeta.org.au/~ollaneg/lowfer.htm
or go directly to:-
http://www.zeta.org.au/~ollaneg/FDK.htm
Any comments would be appreciated.
73s Steve Olney (VK2ZTO/AXSO - QF56IK : Lat -33 34 07, Long +150 44 40)

Subj: RSGB HF Convention
Date: 10/8/99 8:15:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: G0MRF aol
To: rsgb_lf_group blacksheep.org
The RSGB HF convention commenced today ( Friday) at Windsor apx 20 miles west of London. The convention features a number of lectures aimed at the LF community and has a LF demonstration station operating on 136 and 73kHz LW. It was particularly good to see Andre' N4ICK and Geri DK8KW making the long journey to the Berkshire countryside.
After erecting a 100 metre wire antenna, operators of the LF demonstration station GB4RS, began testing at 17.00 UTC.
First into the log once again was John G4GVC followed by Dave G3YXM. A QRS contact using spectrogram with G3XDV (North London) must rate as one of the shortest distance QSOs using this mode. O reports were exchanged both ways! However, it made an excellent demonstration of the mode and Mike's "callsign" will be returning to Russia on film as several visitors watched the QSO progress.
GB4RS will be active throughout the weekend but particularly on Sunday when we will be starting at 05.30 UTC.
The output power on 136 is around 1kW and the station should provide a good signal across the UK and the near continent.
Should you hear the station in the next two days please call in and add your call to the log.
From 07.00 Sunday, for around 2 hours, the station will be operating on 71.7kHz using my call, G0MRF. Both CW and QRS will be used. As QSOs on this band are rare, any reception reports or QSOs would be very welcome.
Vy 73
David G0MRF

Subj: RE: Active Antenna Problem
Date: 10/6/99
From: Bill_Cantrell-QA0057 emailmot (Cantrell Bill-QA0057)
Hi William,
I'll take a stab at it. You have a very high impedance E-field probe. This probe has a certain antenna aperture, so to speak, which is proportional to 20 log (D2/D1) in dB. So if you double the length of the E-field probe, you should see a 6 dB increase in signal strength (double the voltage). Your E-field probe also has shunt capacitance from its high impedance whip to ground and other surroundings. As you raise it in height, you are reducing this shunt cap divider effect between the incoming signal, your probe, and the shunt capacitance to ground. Capacitance is nearly always a logarithmic geometry effect, so I would expect to see a lot of signal improvement at first, but less and less improvement as you continue increase its height.
The important thing to remember with these sorts of antennas is not to overload them or your receiver. Once you have taken over the noise figure of your receiver, any additional signal does not buy you anything. Your signal to noise ratio is set by the external QRN & QRM environment and not by your receiver or your antenna.
About the only way to get further improvements is to go to a directional antenna in order to null out QRM sources.
Regards,
Bill
"TEXAS" & WD5CVG

Subj: TEXAS Beacon Fall '99 Schedule
Date: 10/5/99 2:39:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Bill_Cantrell-QA0057 emailmot (Cantrell Bill-QA0057)
Hello All,
LowFER Beacon "TEXAS" (Haslet, TX grid EM12) is back to transmitting alternate BPSK and CW on 189.700 kHz. BPSK is sent during the *first* 30 minutes of each hour, and CW (6 wpm) is sent for the last 30 minutes. The BPSK format is MS100, ET1, and the identifier is TEXAS(space)AGGIE(space), with a run length of 12. The CW ID is "TEXAS AGGIES". Frequency and baud rate accuracy are +/- 0.3 parts in 1 billion. EIRP should be good at ~ 5 mW.
(Later in December, I will go BPSK-only for a while, with the ID shortened to TX(space) with a run length of 3. This will hopefully allow Bill de Carle the chance of copy at 1500 miles in Canada. Maybe Dave AA1A too.)
Regards,
Bill Cantrell
"TEXAS" & WD5CVG

Subj: Active Antenna Problem
Date: 10/5/99 1:26:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: WilliamAshlock edwardsboc (Ashlock,William)
I have been experimenting with E-field antenna heights and find the results somewhat confusing. I am using a typical MPF102 amplifier that has an input resistance of 1 meg and input capacity of less than 3pf. The output feeds a 50 ft length of 50 ohm coax that connects to the 50 ohm input impedance of my receiver located at ground level. The length of the antenna rod connecting to the input of the amp is 3ft.
I have a 40 ft high rope the stretches between two trees that has a pulley at its center. A rope through this pulley allows me to raise the active antenna to any height up to 40ft. My signal strength measurements on TUK (100miles) indicates a signal strength that is proportional to the height of the antenna and the signal at the 40ft level is approximately 2.5 times the strength of my reference readings in an open field with the antenna mounted on the car roof. To prove this effect is not related to the trees surrounding the antenna, I tried a similar antenna elevation experiment in a field clear of trees and found the results the same.
Here is the confusing result: If the antenna is lengthened from 3ft to 16ft the signal strength values at each elevation (height of the tip) match the 3ft antenna values.
Can anyone explain what is going on here? I'm sure there is no overload of the amplifier. Also, has anyone else run similar height experiments?
Bill Ashlock

Subj: LEK fall schedule
Date: 99-10-05 11:31:41 EDT
From: lyle mlecmn (Lyle Koehler)
LowFER beacon LEK has been running in the CW-only mode all summer, but is now back on an alternating CW/BPSK schedule. CW at 12 WPM is sent during the first half of each hour, and BPSK is sent during the second half. The BPSK format is MS100, ET1, with a run length of 4. LEK's frequency is still 186.750 kHz.
Lyle, K0LR

Subj: New LowFER Beacon
Date: 10/3/99 6:00:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: larryp dataserv (Larry Putman)
Just wanted to let you know that I intend to have a beacon IDing as "LP" on 189.100 Khz. within a week or so!
The transmitter & antenna will be located on my boat on the Chesapeake Bay. The transmitter is ready to go so I just need to build the antenna system.
I will email you more details as I progress!
73's
Larry Putman WB3ANQ

Subj: Submarine communications and Schumann resonances
Date: 99-10-02 09:17:30 EDT
From: reromero tinit
Hello,
My web site on "RADIO WAVES below 22 kHz"
www.vlf.it
has been updated with news pages about ULF and ELF signals: Schumann resonances and submarine communications.
Comments, suggestions, contribution are wellcome. Thanks!
73, IK1QFK Renato
Reply 1: Thanks for letting us know about this, Renato. A most interesting site! -JHD