LONGWAVE--MODES?..

[ve6pg]

...tuning thru the longwave spectrum, i hear different types of transmissions..does anyone know what they  might be?...some sound like rtty, or packet, amtor, etc...any software to detect this stuff?...

..tnx..
..tim..

..sk..

[w4bfs]

some is power line carrier signaling .... signaling between generation sites and load switching centers to send those jigawatts of power your way ... helps keep the home lights burning ...73 ...beefus

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You'll hear FSK or PSK in that area. Very narrow shift. Antenna bandwidth too narrow to support anything wider.  Good example is NSS on 21 kHz. You should also hear aeronautical Non-Directional Beacons (NDB) running modulated CW too.

Some more info here.

http://www.qru.de/beacons2.htm

[W3NP]

You should also hear aeronautical Non-Directional Beacons (NDB) running modulated CW too.

I can usually pick up CBE on 317 from the Cumberland, Md airport on any cheap LF receiver with just a piece of wire for an antenna (about 13 mi away).
I used to work on that old TX back in the 70's when I was with a Two Way Radio company. If I remember correctly, it used an 807 and had a HUGE loading coil.

With my 160 meter dipole and Drake R8B, I hear quite a few NDB's.

[Sam KS2AM]

...tuning thru the longwave spectrum, i hear different types of transmissions..does anyone know what they  might be?...some sound like rtty, or packet, amtor, etc...any software to detect this stuff?...

..tnx..
..tim..

..sk..

The lwca is a good resource for this info.

List of beacons/modes:

http://lwca.org/sitepage/part15/index.htm


Long wave sound bytes:

http://lwca.org/library/sound/index.htm


And one of my favorites, longwave broadcast stations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fAjoqEJO_w

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/lw.htm

[W2JBL]

I heard SSB "down there" for the first time tonight: Bob W2ZM, Jay W1VD, and Warren K2ORS on the experimental license at 510KC USB. ZM was the channel master at 20 over 9, follwed by Jay at S-9 and Warren at S-7. receiver was an R390A to 180 foot flat top with the feeders tied together. after that copied a few Euro AM BC stations at 170 and 189 KC on the Drake SPR-4.

[ve6pg]

..interesting...but i'm not speaking of the mcw beacons, although they are cool...i've been hearing the european broadcast stations rather well here as well..this stuff i'm hearing is some kind of digi stuff...sending some kind of data..fades in/out, so i doubt it is power line stuff..sometimes, you will hear a responding station as well..
...sk..

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You'll hear FSK or PSK in that area. Very narrow shift. Antenna bandwidth too narrow to support anything wider.  Good example is NSS on 21 kHz.

Some more info here.

http://www.qru.de/beacons2.htm

..interesting...but i'm not speaking of the mcw beacons, although they are cool...i've been hearing the european broadcast stations rather well here as well..this stuff i'm hearing is some kind of digi stuff...sending some kind of data..fades in/out, so i doubt it is power line stuff..sometimes, you will hear a responding station as well..
...sk..

[WA1GFZ]

Huz,
Can this stuff be decoded? My 3090 tunes down to 500Hz. There is lots of stuff down there.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Dunno. Never tried. I would imagine some of the gov stuff would be encrypted.

[flintstone mop]

If you want to be a part of LOWfers, you might be able to get an experimental FCC license to actually make contact with other Hams running on 500khz and 137khz. You have severe power limitations, though, 1 or 2 watts EIRP. And antenna restrictions, but contacts possible over many miles, sometimes thousands of miles.

Fred

[w4bfs]

Steve (HUZ) said  - You'll hear FSK or PSK in that area. Very narrow shift. Antenna bandwidth too narrow to support anything wider.  Good example is NSS on 21 kHz.

When I was in the military in the 1970's, we had a VLF transmitter that re-resonated the antenna system when going from mark to space freq. when tx FSK.   Yes, the antenna Q was that high.

[ve6pg]

...steve.. i cant tune down that low, in the spectrum..the stations i'm hearing are between 200-520kc...that audio clip i posted, was a station on 519kc...

..sk..

[W4EWH]

And one of my favorites, longwave broadcast stations...

In 1978, I was the tech at KRUZ-FM in Santa Barbara, CA. The owner had bought a Volkswagen "Thing" which had been imported by a returning GI, and the radio had LF broadcast reception.

I used to listen to Deutsche Welle broadcasts, which I assume were from Germany, while on the way up to the transmitting site after midnight. They came through amazingly well.

73,

Bill W1AC

[kb3ouk]

Tim,
I listened to your clip, there is some cw in the background of that signal.
Shelby KB3OUK

[ve6pg]

..YA, THAT IS A AERO BEACON..TONS ON LW...THE RTTY/PACKET, WHATEVER THAT I'M HEARING IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DE-MODULATE...JUST WONDERING WHAT TRAFFIC THEY ARE SENDING...

..SK..

[k4kyv]

Tim, after talking to you on 3705  last night, I tuned my R-1000 down below the AM broadcast band and connected it to the beverage.  The low end of the broadcast band on the receiver extends down to about 150 kHz.  I was able to hear at least four AM broadcast stations from Europe. A couple were pretty strapping, but that receiver has no front-end  selectivity other than wide bandpass filters, so there were all kinds of domestic AM broadcast and other types of images and birdies all mingling together with the QRM from the domestic beacons.

I quickly dug through my junk collection and threw together a passive pre-selector using a large coil, salvaged from some piece of low frequency surplus equipment, wound with litz wire, and some variable capacitors, everything held together with JS-clips.  By the time I got it working and was able to find a resonant point, it was 0600 GMT, and the signals had substantially faded, but I was able to hear the station in Iceland, the BBC in Droitwich, a French station, and Europe 1, the 2-magawatt French-speaking station that is actually located in Germany.

I'm going to try again to-night, between 0300 and 0600 GMT.  I think with the pre-selector in line to filter out some of the crud, a couple of those stations might approach entertainment quality if condx are as good as last night.

I have always wanted to hear the European longwave band at this QTH, but had never before been able to hear a trace.  Thanks for the heads-up.  It simply hadn't occurred to me to try using the 900-ft beverage on longwave since I put it up several years ago.

With the historic lull in the sunspot cycle, we may now be experiencing once-in-a-lifetime conditions for longwave reception.

Click here for a list of some of the most widely heard longwave broadcast stations.

Here is some more information on longwave broadcasting.

http://www.angelfire.com/mb/amandx/longwave.html


But better listen soon - listenership is dwindling and these stations may not be around too much longer.  One in Sweden was shut down in 1991

Swedish Telecom decided to make a study how many persons who really listened to the station.

In 1989 the result came – approx 200 listeners and in 1990 the reserve power plant crashed – a piston went right through the top block. Swedish Telecom asked for 3 million SEK to repair the reserve power plant and maintain the stays on two of the remaining antennas.

The Swedish Telecom didn’t find any economy to continue broadcast on long wave with only 200 listeners. The congress and the government had no objections to draw back the money for maintain, 1.1 million SEK annual, and the date for the final shut down was decided to 30.th November 1991.

http://www.hermanboel.eu/radiohistory/profile_motala227.htm

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Look up those NDBs here.

http://www.airnav.com/navaids/

[WU2D]

Most exciting lately is the range between 505 and 515 kHz where a group of hams has secured an FCC experimental license. http://www.500kc.com/  This is a full blown ham sub-culture. I had a 187 kHz beacon on the air in the early 90's with 1 Watt input power. All of that baloney has changed now that the FCC is granting experimental licenses. These guys use 250 Watts and up.

You can hear two-way CW qsos Beacons and experimental modes like WOLF, QRSS and other low signal data modes.

The Longwave Club http://www.lwca.org/ has always been a great resource.

They can not accept new members on the licence but they do take signal reports.

Every winter night I listen I have copied several of the beacons on a simple ARB military receiver from WW2.

Mike WU2D

[Tom WA3KLR]

Last night the A-rab broadcast station on 171 kHz was coming in as best as ever for several hours. 9 - 11 p.m. Eastern time.   Antenna used was my 75 meter dipole with Drake R-7 receiver.

[KM1H]

The ARRL sponsored group is low power but other individuals and groups have been granted 250W and above. Lots of transcontinental and international DX being worked as more countries grant permission in the 500 kHz area.

Ive no interest in the Slooooooow CW and digital stuff and will be on regular CW/SSB as soon as the license comes thru. An ancient RAK or RAL do a great job on CW; I also use a R-390A and HRO-500/LF-10 for comparisons.

Carl
KM1H

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Quite a few AMers are part of that group, includeding W2ZM, W1VD, K2ORS, KW1I.

[WU2D]

There is a whole other group of Hams around the world who are trying to secure legal commercial licenses for reviving ship to shore coastal CW stations on historical sites using existing and reproduction shore stations on 500 kHz. WA1HUD Steve, well known AM'er is part of this group.


Proposal

We the community of merchant radio and coast station operators propose that the historically unique 500 kHz (plus/minus 5 kHz) frequency should be designated as a Virtual Radio Memorial. This aim can at best be achieved by an official assignment of 500 kHz as a Museum Frequency for the purpose of demonstrating historical equipment and methods of radio communication, in particular those of the maritime mobile services.


  http://www.radiomarine.org/