Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Al,
The GMDSS antenna marketing material looks interesting, but I suspect it is not a good "DX" antenna at LF. And given that your wires are less than 0.02 wavelength at 200 kHz, maybe you should focus on the antenna and possibly a good preamp. I definitely agree with Karl's comments that the R75 should perform adequately for the job.
I don't do much NDB DX-ing, but I gather that most of the serious guys are using larger loop antennas, as do those of us who focus on weak signals in the 135-190 kHz range. Something on the order of 6 feet in diameter has been common. Do you have room for such a thing?
John Andrews
Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Posted by Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ on December 01, 2005 at 10:52:34.
In Reply to Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+ posted by Al on November 30, 2005 at 15:54:11.
Al,
Did you equip the R75 with good narrow cw filters in both the 9MHz and 455kHz i.f.'s? I second John Andrews comments about the importance of a good antenna. If you are using a random wire you should attempt to resonate or match it to the receiver. The I.C.E. baluns - aren't they rated for HF? Perhaps the balun's response falls off at LF. Also keep in mind that there are fewer NDB's these days as the technology is being gradually phased out.
On the other side of the issue, I've heard nothing but good things about the 7030+. It's a very high dynamic range receiver. Bit pricey and I think you still need to buy filters for it.
Good luck in your NDB pursuits, and keep in mind that there are a bunch of us LOWFERS and hams in the 135.9-137.8 and 160-190 kHz bands. We always appreciate a signal report!
73 Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ
Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Posted by Larry Putman on December 01, 2005 at 12:57:02.
In Reply to Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+ posted by Al on November 30, 2005 at 14:08:56.
Al, From what I have heard the R75 is an excellent lf receiver when equiped with a narrow filter. I think you should explore a better antenna like the K9AY loop. Last winter I logged nearly 700 NDB's in the US, Canada, South America and the Caribbean. The K9AY is a top notch lf directional antenna.
Just Goggle K9AY for info.
73 Larry WB3ANQ
Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Posted by Al on December 01, 2005 at 23:57:41.
In Reply to Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+ posted by Al on November 30, 2005 at 15:54:11.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Unfortunately, I don't have room for a large loop (only small active loop(s).
I'll begin to concentrate more on antennas and internal filters.
Thanks again,
Al
Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Posted by Al on December 02, 2005 at 16:52:21.
In Reply to Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+ posted by Larry Putman on December 01, 2005 at 12:57:02.
Thanks, Larry. I've salivated over the K9AY for a while... :) Just don't have the room to put one up.
73,
Al
Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+
Posted by karl on December 02, 2005 at 20:19:16.
In Reply to Re: Icom R75, Palstar R30CC and AOR 7030+ posted by Larry Putman on December 01, 2005 at 12:57:02.
Larry, 700 beacons is absolutely awesome. I have about 275 logged after 3 months, but new ones are getting harder to come by. I'm sure a directional antenna like the k9ay or a "squashed kaz" k9ay would help a lot. Some good cw filters for the R75 would be nice too.
RYCOM 2174A SEL. VOLTMTR
Posted by AL on December 04, 2005 at 14:07:07.
DOES ANYONE HAVE A SCHEMATIC AND OR MANUAL AVAILABLE FOR THIS LF UNIT?
THANKS
AL
Re: RYCOM 2174A SEL. VOLTMTR
Posted by T. Kennedy on December 05, 2005 at 08:15:46.
In Reply to RYCOM 2174A SEL. VOLTMTR posted by AL on December 04, 2005 at 14:07:07.
Al, Jason V0.99 Technotes
Try WJ Ford Surplus and Fair Radio Sales. They sell Rycom level meters.
Good luck
T.
Posted by Alberto di Bene on December 05, 2005 at 19:05:02.
Subject: [LW] Jason V0.99 Technotes
Date: Dec 5, 2005 4:45 PM
Steve Olney VK2ZTO has been so kind to update the technotes of Jason to the current program version, V0.99
If you are interested, you can download the PDF document from
http://www.weaksignals.com
Thanks Steve
73 Alberto I2PHD DI2AG
Posted by Walter Staubach on December 09, 2005 at 15:20:32.
Dear friends,
DI2AG on 440.044KHz will again transmit with 4W ERP and QRSS30. From 22Z Friday to 9Z Saturday, and also the following two days.
QRSS message only one time "AG", that takes 11minutes, followed by one time "DI2AG JN59NO" in regular CW 6wpm, and a pause, two minutes. Reports very welcome, also to DI2AG@fen-net.de. Probably one day DI2AG will be received on the other side of the pond ;-)
73 Walter
Low Frequency Operators Interactive Map
Posted by Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ on December 10, 2005 at 10:23:57.
Neat online map of amateur/experimental LF operators:
http://www.frappr.com/lowfrequencyoperators
73 Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ
TIS/HAR on 530 kHz ID?
Posted by Robert on December 15, 2005 at 14:26:01.
QTH: Phoenix, AZ -- Rig: Radio Shack DX370 -- Ant: Select-A-Tenna
Logged weak audio a few days ago around 1500Z, ending with "...this station is operated by the City of Los Angeles..."
Most is barely above noise level here. What agency might this be?
73 Re: TIS/HAR on 530 kHz ID?
KB7AQD Robert
Posted by Shawn Axelrod on December 16, 2005 at 19:46:49.
In Reply to TIS/HAR on 530 kHz ID? posted by Robert on December 15, 2005 at 14:26:01.
Try this FCC locator site:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/tis.html
Not LF I know! But anyone also into HF?
Posted by Clive Carver on December 18, 2005 at 12:39:38.
Sorry to be posting this question here, but this is the only forum I visit where knowledgeable radio communication types seem to be present. I've tried Google and it was not my friend today.
Please does anyone know the correct name for a HF aerial which in appearance has wire radiators, likely in log-periodic form, suspended from another cable(s) hung so that not only does the element length change in a log fashion, but also the angle of radiation vary also. Due to nature of construction, this directional aerial would appear to be for point-to-point use.
I seem to remember seeing one nearby to an Argentinian airfield back in the late 1970's but I've seen pictures of one somewhere else.
Thanks
Clive
Longtime delayed echos
Posted by Smith on December 19, 2005 at 05:52:41.
Do longtime delayed echos, which claim some people have received in the shortwave range do really exist? Re: Longtime delayed echos
If yes, how are they generated?
Posted by Clive Carver on December 19, 2005 at 07:27:24.
In Reply to Longtime delayed echos posted by Smith on December 19, 2005 at 05:52:41.
I'm guessing that by Longtime delayed echos, you are refering to 1/7sec echo?
The mechanism, as I understand it, is not really that of an echo whereby the signal has bounced back from a reflective surface/layer, but that of where due to propagation conditions for that particular frequency the signal has continued around the earth and has been heard by the sending operator. This usually being full break-in morse (cw). Re: Longtime delayed echos
I was a Radio Officer for some 20 years and I belive I experienced on one occasion. Most ship communication then was dual frequency ie transmit on freq 1 and listen for reply on freq 2. The main exceptions being 500KHz CW and 2182KHz RT. The other exception, and this being what I was doing at that time, was the company intership sked (which to be honest, I was not a great partaker of) for this you transmitted and received on a common frequency at fixed times. It was basically 10 minutes on an 8MHz frequency followed by 10 min on 12Mhz and 10 min on 16MHz. On this particular occasion I was sending morse and could distinctly hear my own transmission after a very brief delay. I had previously heard of 1/7sec echo and the circumstances seemed to fit.
I cannot remember where or when, but would have expected it to have been 12Mhz.
On a similar note, once when off New Zealand, I could clearly hear at a reasonable strength Portishead Radio's sitor telex service simultaneously on 4MHz, 8MHz 12MHz 16MHz & 22MHz New Zealand of course being virtually the direct opposite position on the earth to UK. The Antipodeon Islands just being to the south east of New Zealand. Again this not really unexpected as daylight and night time routes would all be similar distances.
Posted by Smith on December 19, 2005 at 11:06:31.
In Reply to Re: Longtime delayed echos posted by Clive Carver on December 19, 2005 at 07:27:24.
No, I mean echos, which are delayed by several seconds.
Re: Longtime delayed echos
Posted by Scott NM8R on December 19, 2005 at 21:53:58.
In Reply to Longtime delayed echos posted by Smith on December 19, 2005 at 05:52:41.
Do a search for the term LDE or LDE's. QST has printed several
articles on the phenomena, over the years. You can find a link to
one of the QST articles at the end of this link:
http://www.vhfdx.net/lde.html
I can't vouch for the content of the link above - gave it only a quick
glance. But it may give you a starting point. I've never heard an
LDE, nor even an echo of my own ham radio signals, but I have often
heard the 1/7 second delay of a normal full transit of the globe by a
SW signal. Seems most prevalent (for me) in the morning when
listening to the Far East.
The previous poster (Clive) had some pretty neat experiences during
his service as an ocean-going Radio Officer, didn't he?
BTW, in regard to LW (and most certainly not echo related), R.
France was strong on 162 Kc last night (19 DEC). And on Sunday
(18 DEC) I could actually hear a het on 162 Kc about 1 and 1/2 hours
before my local sunset.
Scott Re: Longtime delayed echos
NM8R
Michigan
Posted by J. Jason Wentworth on December 20, 2005 at 03:31:16.
In Reply to Re: Longtime delayed echos posted by Smith on December 19, 2005 at 11:06:31.
I have also read of radio echoes being heard after delays ranging from seconds to minutes.
Some scientists, including Radio Astronomer Dr. Ronald Bracewell, have posited the hypothesis that an automated space probe placed into orbit around our Sun long ago by an extra-terrestrial civilization has repeated these transmissions back to us to get our attention. I'm not saying I believe this, I'm just repeating what I've read.
According to Dr. Bracewell, ancient and stable civilizations might send probes such as these to stellar systems that appear promising for life. The probes wait for signs of intelligence such as artificial radio transmissions to emerge, then signal their home worlds and attempt to contact the local emerging civilizations. Even the inner solar system is a huge volume of space, in which even a large interstellar probe could go unseen indefinitely. One never knows... -- Jason
unlisted beacon
Posted by karl on December 20, 2005 at 03:38:10.
At 0315 EST I was copying "SHI" on 276 khz. It was about the same level as LAH and YEL. It was constant and fairly rapid. Has anyone else logged this? I live in Mass.
Re: Longtime delayed echos
Posted by Smith on December 20, 2005 at 05:41:18.
In Reply to Re: Longtime delayed echos posted by J. Jason Wentworth on December 20, 2005 at 03:31:16.
Can such echos also be explained as a natural phenomena, or is this not possible? Re: Longtime delayed echos
Otherwise why do radio astronomers not care about these signals?
Posted by J. Jason Wentworth on December 20, 2005 at 07:32:49.
In Reply to Re: Longtime delayed echos posted by Smith on December 20, 2005 at 05:41:18.
Apparently these incidents are not terribly common, and they are usually received by people (often ham operators) who don't have the equipment to determine the direction the echo came from. Also, the echoes are seldom if ever recorded because they are unexpected.
Right now, these long-delayed radio echoes are in the same category that the elusive, short-lived red sprite and blue jet thunderstorm plasma phenomena were in until a few years ago, when they were finally captured photographically. They had/have been observed/heard by enough credible witnesses/listeners to establish that they're real, but until an echo is pinned down as to its origin, they will remain among the "strange, inexplicable subjects that hams discuss during ragchew sessions late at night," just as professional pilots saw and knew of the red sprites and blue jets long before science became aware of them.
Interestingly, the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) community is now formulating search options for interstellar probes that may be in our solar system. Several scientific papers have pointed out that human technologies will soon make very small (just a few kilograms or even grams!) artificially-intelligent interstellar probes possible, so older technological civilizations would have developed this capability long ago. Googling "Bracewell probe" will turn up interesting links on this subject. -- Jason
New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz?
Posted by Ben Mesander on December 20, 2005 at 10:30:07.
Hi - I downloaded Spectran last night, and after some fighting, got it to coexist with my SDR-14 radio on the same soundcard. I ran it overnight in QRSS30 mode with the SDR-14 set to 137kHz USB with a 1kHz filter overnight.
Typical results are http://dick.jymis.com/~ben/img0007.jpg
I have something a little below 137.772kHz that sends a pattern of dashes on two closely spaced frequencies and something else above 137.774kHz that might be sending morse.
Can someone help me id these?
Thanks, Re: New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz?
Ben
Posted by Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ on December 20, 2005 at 10:58:11.
In Reply to New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz? posted by Ben Mesander on December 20, 2005 at 10:30:07.
Ben,
Congratulations on your new setup and welcome to LF. You are receiving experimental stations WD2XDW in Oklahoma (lower trace in Dual Frequency CW) and WD2XKO in North Carolina upper trace. For more info see their respective web sites:
http://myweb.cableone.net/flow/
http://www.w4dex.com/wd2xko.htm
73 Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ Re: Longtime delayed echos
Posted by John Davis on December 20, 2005 at 11:13:56.
In Reply to Re: Longtime delayed echos posted by J. Jason Wentworth on December 20, 2005 at 07:32:49.
>>> Can such echos also be explained as a natural phenomenon, or is this not possible?
Yes, they can. The earth's magnetic field extends quite a way out into interplanetary space, especially on the night side, and there are charged particles within it.
One manifestation of this extended field is a form of ducting that occurs at VLF and ULF, producing the whistlers that natural-radio listeners enjoy monitoring. The lower frequency components of whistlers travel out along the curved lines of magnetic force and loop back to earth. They return several seconds later than the higher frequency components of the lightning discharge that triggered them, resulting in the long downward-sliding note.
Even at these low frequencies, only a fraction of lightning pulses encounter a duct extending all the way through the ionosphere and back. At HF, an open long path duct should be even more rare, which is consistent with the rarity of LDE reports.
Even if we imagine alien space probes as the source of LDEs, they would face the same problem of having to wait for an opening through the ionosphere to (a) receive an HF signal, and (b) re-transmit it. On the occasions where such ducts exist in the first place, the more reasonable explanation is that the echo has simply traversed the length of the duct.
If there were space aliens with nothing better to do than parrot our own Morse code back to us during these rare opportunities, one wonders what the point would be. To taunt us? If so, surely it would be a lot more hilarious to transpose a character now and then, and imagine the look on the face of the operator when he receives it.
:-) Re: New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz?
Posted by John Davis on December 20, 2005 at 11:44:49.
In Reply to Re: New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz? posted by Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ on December 20, 2005 at 10:58:11.
Just to expound a tad on what Warren said, the dots on two very close frequencies are indeed DFCW. This is a mode invented over a hundred years ago, but developed in its present form by LowFERs, for sending Morse Code characters in a different way.
In standard aural Morse, the dit is distinguished from the dah by making dahs three times longer.
Thus, if you hear dah-di-dah-dit, you think of the letter C.
Problem is, when using very slow visual modes such as QRSS60, where a Morse 'dot' is 60 seconds long, that makes a 'dash' very long indeed--three minutes! And remember, the time between any two dots or dashes in the same character is equal to the dot length, too. Also, the spacing between characters is three dot lengths. Taking all that into account, the same letter C would require 14 minutes to send by standard Morse format in QRSS60. It thus takes an impractically long time to send a real message that way.
However, if one chooses to distinguish the coding elements not by duration, but by frequency, that saves a great deal of time. The lower frequency of the pair represents the 'dots' and the upper frequency represents the 'dashes.'
This typically saves 50% or more transmission time. It is even possible to omit the interelement dot-length intervals within a character, and save even more time. However, in situations where noise or fading may be present, having at least a short gap between successive dots or dashes does seem to give the eye-brain system a better chance of decoding characters correctly.
John
Re: New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz?
Posted by John Andrews, W1TAG/WD2XES on December 20, 2005 at 13:03:36.
In Reply to New to QRSS: What am I receiving on 137kHz? posted by Ben Mesander on December 20, 2005 at 10:30:07.
Ben,
The frequencies you noted are about 3 Hz lower than the actual ones. You can adjust Spectran's calibration accordingly. Here are some frequencies for experimental stations you might theoretically see in that range:
137.7751 kHz WD2XDW in Bartlesville, OK
137.7767 kHz VE3OT in London, Ontario (sending "MP")
137.7770 kHz VO1NA in Newfoundland
137.7777 kHz WD2XKO in Stanfield, NC
137.7790 kHz WD2XES in Holden, MA
137.7796 kHz WD2XGJ in Wayland, MA (not on air at present)
Of these, you have already copied WD2XKO and WD2XDW, as Warren noted in his message. Congratulations!
There are additionally a couple of western Canadian stations that use that segment from time to time. The best source of up to date information is the LWCA Lowfer email reflector, where changes generally are posted. Operation in modes with wider bandwidths are done on other frequencies, so some of the above operators may actually be on the air when they don't appear in the narrow window around 137.777 kHz.
John Andrews, W1TAG/WD2XES
Re: TIS/HAR on 530 kHz ID?
Posted by n8ye on December 21, 2005 at 08:09:04.
In Reply to TIS/HAR on 530 kHz ID? posted by Robert on December 15, 2005 at 14:26:01.
This sounds like a broadcast to the general public via car radio at a road construction site. It's probably a local agency, maybe unlicensed due to low power sent through leaky coax.
PYD appearance
Posted by Jon M. Schumacher, K1NV on December 22, 2005 at 00:33:03.
I caught PYD on 414 KHz. late last week. It was gone when I listened yesterday and today. This one is located about 60 miles north of Mercury, NV when it is operational. MCY on 326 KHz. at Desert Rock airstrip (Mercury) continues to operate faithfully with a strong signal in the southern Nevada area.
Tallest tower in USA standing on insulators
Posted by Henry on December 22, 2005 at 15:47:02.
Which is the tallest free-standing tower and which is the tallest guyed mast in the USA, which is insulated against ground? Technical data of former OMEGA transmitters
Which is the tallest free-standing tower and which is the tallest guyed mast in Canada, which is insulated against ground?
Which is the tallest construction in the world since the collapse of the longwave radio mast in Gabin, Poland ( http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0000672 , Webmaster please activate link! ), which is insulated against ground?
Posted by Yonathan on December 23, 2005 at 07:30:34.
Does someone know more data over the following former OMEGA transmitter?
- OMEGA transmitter Chabrier ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEGA_transmitter_Chabrier )
- OMEGA Transmitter Shushi-Wan ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEGA_Transmitter_Shushi-Wan )
- OMEGA Transmitter La Moure ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEGA_Transmitter_La_Moure )
If yes, then please add the data to the articles, which are part of the Wikipedia. Re: WWVB decoder problem
Posted by Eric Lawson on December 24, 2005 at 14:37:58.
In Reply to Re: WWVB decoder problem posted by chris waldrup on November 14, 2005 at 15:36:59.
Does the selective level meter have an output that will drive a strip chart recorder? If so, that would probably work quite well.
Eric
potrzebie