Anyone Here Into Longwave?

[KG4CGC]

So I got my Rycom back out 'cause, tis the season. I'm trying to catch longwave from across the pond and so far I have all the navigation beacons from as far as Willmington NC. About 405' of wire in the air (yeah, could use more) and my usual counterpoise, an 80' steel building bolted into the ground in 36 spots.

Anyone else do longwave monitoring?

[N2CHX]

I used to, but not in a long time. There's a lot of cool signals below 500 kHz. Check out http://www.lwca.org

I actually have a totally homebrew 1 watt LowFer transmitter on 187.600 kHz. It uses a 6.000 mHz crystal and a CMOS divider. Hasn't been on the air in 10 years, but it worked well when it was. It takes a lot of patience to tune up a 50 foot antenna on 187.6 kHz.

[KG4CGC]

It takes a lot of patience to tune up a 50 foot antenna on 187.6 kHz. I bet!

[XE1/N5AL]

Is your Rycom a selective level meter?

[KG4CGC]

Is your Rycom a selective level meter?

Why yes. Yes it is. Model 2174A.

[N8YX]

I got started in longwave listening during high school, courtesy of a DX-160. Logged a fair amount of NDBs with the thing.

Traded the Realistic off for some other gear. Next iteration of a longwave listening post was an HQ-180AC with a tunable LF converter ahead of it. Logged still more NDBs then the Hammarlund disappeared, traded off for some other gear.

Etc.

Fast forward to several years ago when I finally got my hands on receivers which were actually capable of slicing through the atmospheric and man-made garbage to reach those often-in-the-mud LF stations...namely, the Drake R7 and the ITT Mackay Marine 3030AR/3031A. The latter two have a tunable preselector which can be bypassed on demand and excel at sub-5MHz reception duties, as do the Drakes.

Although a number of my HF amateur transceivers offer LF coverage, I simply find them too noisy to use for general sub-500KHz work though they're fine elsewhere.

Haven't gotten a chance to try the Paragons out on anything below 160M, as there's a 20dB attenuator which needs bypassed first. It's set to activate automatically when the rig is tuned below 1.7MHz; this to keep nearby broadcasters from desensing the front end. We don't have a 'powerhouse' within a few miles so out she comes...

[N2CHX]

The key to VLF listening is the antenna. You'd be amazed at what you can hear with a crappy receiver and a 4' loop antenna.

[N8YX]

The key to VLF listening is the antenna. You'd be amazed at what you can hear with a crappy receiver and a 4' loop antenna.
Yep.

One future project involves a remotely tunable, rotatable 6-8ft loop with a PVC frame. Just have to find the right place to site it.

[NY3V]

It would help if we could use the JT65 mode to pull signals out of the mud.

Who will be the first to score DXCC on 136 khz? ;)

[N7YA]

I used to do this as a kid when i lived in Alaska, i heard all sorts of stuff from the south and Mexico...i would like to try this again when i have the room.

[KG4NEL]

The key to VLF listening is the antenna. You'd be amazed at what you can hear with a crappy receiver and a 4' loop antenna.

Yeah, I'm thinking of going the active vertical route sometime...because it's there, something else to listen to :-D

Hearing foreign broadcast would be pretty cool, though.

[PA5COR]

I made several active antenna's this winter, mostly for 160 reception, varying from the stick or probe versions active with J 310 and 2N3866 transistors, to a 4 foot loop anyenna with dual amp fed by the ends of the loop.
Combining the signals with ferrite transformer to coax, for 10 KHz up to 5 or 6 MHz.
All working fine, one ( the loop) better as the others, using the null to depress the noise from the houses.

Working like a charm on the low frequencies, easy to build, and construct.
Just listening there, and for 160 to get a bit less noise.

[KC2UGV]

One of my first projects in the new digs will be a VLF antenna... Just don't have the space for a proper one now. I love listening near the 60hz region. There's lots of signals buried there.

[KK4AMI]

I started listening with a SP-600 JX-17. Had to get rid of that when I got married. I've been sitting on a Dave Curry 1750m CW/SSB kit since. The Transceiver is tiny, but putting up a 50 ft vertical with a loading coil the size of a trash can was something else. So I have had it on hold for many many years.

[KG4CGC]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/RYCOMLWR.jpg

[XE1/N5AL]

The Rycom 2174A is a cool receiver! It goes down to 300 Hz, if I remember correctly. Do you ever listen to whistlers and other 'spherics in the low kHz range?

As a kid, in Dallas, I used to listen to the LW beacons on my trusty Heathkit GR-54. I imagine there were a lot more beacons back then than there are now. I always wanted to hear a European LW broadcast station, but it never happened.

The FT-1000 I have here goes down to 100 kHz; but below 1800 kHz, its sensitivity specifications drop by an order of magnitude. Possibly, this de-sensing is to prevent overloading on the AM broadcast band. Below, 500 kHz there are no receiver sensitivity specifications listed. I do have some more sensitive HP selective level meters I could use: a HP3486B, a HP3486C and a HP3746A. I bought them several years ago at bargain-basement prices. But, I'll have to lug one of them from the house, in Atlanta, on my next visit to the U.S.

[kf0rt]

They actually called it a selective voltmeter?

[NQ6U]

Charles, do you care to comment on what equipment to use for VLF work? I noticed that there are a number of selective volt meters for sale on eBay at the moment, some of the going for not much money, and I'd be interested in experimenting.

[NQ6U]

They actually called it a selective voltmeter?

I looked into that. Turns out that they were designed to be used by telcos to diagnose problems on multiplexed lines when everything was still analog. Hams have re-purposed them into VLF receivers.

[KG4CGC]

Charles, do you care to comment on what equipment to use for VLF work? I noticed that there are a number of selective volt meters for sale on eBay at the moment, some of the going for not much money, and I'd be interested in experimenting.

I took a gamble on mine and it arrived in 100% working condition. The guy on ebay is called AMDXER and it was the only one he had. I think he has since put up some 160m gear for sale. http://myworld.ebay.com/amdxer&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533

I like the HP stuff but it's expensive as hell. I've seen some stuff that looked iffy, needed work etc. If you can work on older stuff, I'd say go for it. Mine came with a manual that includes service instructions.

[KG4CGC]

The Rycom 2174A is a cool receiver! It goes down to 300 Hz, if I remember correctly. Do you ever listen to whistlers and other 'spherics in the low kHz range?

As a kid, in Dallas, I used to listen to the LW beacons on my trusty Heathkit GR-54. I imagine there were a lot more beacons back then than there are now. I always wanted to hear a European LW broadcast station, but it never happened.

The FT-1000 I have here goes down to 100 kHz; but below 1800 kHz, its sensitivity specifications drop by an order of magnitude. Possibly, this de-sensing is to prevent overloading on the AM broadcast band. Below, 500 kHz there are no receiver sensitivity specifications listed. I do have some more sensitive HP selective level meters I could use: a HP3486B, a HP3486C and a HP3746A. I bought them several years ago at bargain-basement prices. But, I'll have to lug one of them from the house, in Atlanta, on my next visit to the U.S.

I've not listened to spherics etc. That would require me leaving it parked on a frequency and the temptation to turn that giant knob is just too much.