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Author Topic: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?  (Read 78012 times)

KM1H

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #30 on: March 29, 2018, 02:47:23 PM »

Without AGC and real selectivity that HP can be a real challenge. Mine will be going on Fleabay soon, thanks for mentioning it as I forgot I still had it.

Carl
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WB8VLC

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #31 on: April 05, 2018, 05:46:05 PM »

While not a dedicated ham receiver, I used what was available at the time after reading this thread this afternoon so I decided to try out my Signal hound SA44B USB SPECTRUM ANALYZER.

Its rx range is dc to 4.4 GHz, and using HDSDR while connected to a 118-137 MHz AVIATION  antenna in our companies AS350 helicopter, while in the hanger, I was receiving 2 VLF BEACONS ON 237 and 348 KHz  a bit southeast of Portland Or..

Next I need to load some decoder software and try from my home qth on a better antenna  and after I get software runnin maybe try rx while in the air.

If it works in the air in the AS350 then this would be fun to try it in a Cobra helo as I think the Cobra may still have a useable, UNCONNECTED VLF ADF ANTENNA.

Does anyone have a web page listing active VLF beacon frequencies?
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WB8VLC

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #32 on: April 05, 2018, 07:25:12 PM »

oops meant our Bell helo which has a unused vlf antenna.

Also the 2 beacons that I am copying sound like or some type of rtty or fsk, what decoder software is available for ndb's as all that I have is wsjt-x at this time.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2018, 07:27:53 PM by WB8VLC »
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K0OD

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #33 on: April 06, 2018, 06:46:25 AM »


Does anyone have a web page listing active VLF beacon frequencies?

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm  is what I use to locate the NDBs I hear
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WB8VLC

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #34 on: April 06, 2018, 11:40:55 AM »

Thanks that will keep me busy for a while.
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HFCRUSR

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #35 on: April 06, 2018, 01:08:41 PM »

Using an Icom R75 and a 400' Beverage on the Ground in the desert wash behind my house in NW Tucson, just last night I listened to LW Stations: Allouis, France on 162, Nador, Morocco on 171, Europe 1 in Felsberg, Germany on 183, BBC in Droitwich, England on 198, Radio MonteCarlo on 216, and Tipaza, Algeria on 251. With the same set up, I have been able to build an NDB logs of nearly 750 from this location.
I too use an R75 that gets LW down to 30kHz but my antenna envy is because it's only on a 100' endfed #12 solid wire/9:1 trans. Wish I had your real estate you bet I'd deploy something better. Just bought a PAR BCST-LP filter to cure the MW images every 10kHz in LW I get on that wire and just in time to find LW propagation is seemingly fading off-season but do still hear lots of NDBs out of Canada for DX.
I also have an R71a that I did the "mod" to that brings it down to "zero" kHz from 100kHz minimum. That rig goes to my Wellbrook ALA1530s loop. Both Icoms do pretty good in LW.
But I still have yet to hear those elusive overseas BCs down there. I just don't have the space for a wonderful LW antenna. As it is that 100' endfed is configured in a "lazy L" just to achieve 100'!
« Last Edit: April 06, 2018, 01:11:24 PM by HFCRUSR »
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Not a ham, but an avid hobbyist in HF world. All things, short of transmit happen in this shack.

K0SBV

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #36 on: April 06, 2018, 07:14:32 PM »

Regarding the BOG in the desert wash behind my house, it is on heavily vegetated common land, which this time of year is visited only by the rattlesnakes--I don't own any of it, but am using it until the inevitable developers come in, buys the land, and then tell me I can't.  I wish I had similar antenna quality for HF/VFH, but due to severe HOA restrictions, I can only use a Buddipole on 40-10 meters and a 3 element M2 yagi for six meters, both of which I place on top of a 20' painters pole just off the back patio that I can raise when I am on the air and then lower to evade the HOA Antenna Police!
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HFCRUSR

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #37 on: April 06, 2018, 07:43:15 PM »

Regarding the BOG in the desert wash behind my house, it is on heavily vegetated common land, which this time of year is visited only by the rattlesnakes--I don't own any of it, but am using it until the inevitable developers come in, buys the land, and then tell me I can't.  I wish I had similar antenna quality for HF/VFH, but due to severe HOA restrictions, I can only use a Buddipole on 40-10 meters and a 3 element M2 yagi for six meters, both of which I place on top of a 20' painters pole just off the back patio that I can raise when I am on the air and then lower to evade the HOA Antenna Police!
Well, do enjoy it while ya can-you really have something there.
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Not a ham, but an avid hobbyist in HF world. All things, short of transmit happen in this shack.

WD4ELG

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #38 on: April 08, 2018, 01:32:05 PM »

While not ideal, my SDRPlay RSP1A does receive OK in the range.  I hooked it up to my HiZ array and starting picking up NDB signals from as far away as the Cayman Islands.  Also, I monitored WSPR and JT9 for awhile.  Interesting prop.
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KC6RCM

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #39 on: May 13, 2018, 10:26:38 AM »

My Ten-Tec RX-340 works great for NDB DXing in the Longwave spectrum.
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W7AIT

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #40 on: June 01, 2018, 08:25:53 AM »

I own a TEN TEC RX-340 too and its excellent down there.  Logged NDB's as low as 202 kHz.  Also WWVB 60 kHz, in Ft. Collins CO.  The WWVB is very strong here.  Antenna is PAR End FED EF-SWL at 25 feet.  The antenna is 45 feet long.
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W2JUV

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #41 on: June 04, 2018, 02:39:33 PM »

My 7300 seems quite noisy on LW. Sensitivity not so good when compared with an older 756 ProII. With a 130ft end fed antenna, connected to each rig one at a time, a broadcast station about 200mi away on 550khz can be heard on the ProII reasonably well, not there on the 7300
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M3TZJ

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #42 on: June 10, 2018, 11:59:34 AM »

My beloved Yaesu FT-990 hears well on LW and MW bands
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W3RSW

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #43 on: July 17, 2018, 01:03:55 PM »

I remember listening all the way down ((up  ;D)) to 0 Hz back when I got my TR7 in the ‘70s.
From about 2 or 3 kHz to zero I heard a mysterious and ghostly, increasingly noisy whistle.
Really awe inspiring to a budding ham. — Approaching zero in real life after learning some of the fantastic limits via calculus was a good part of the awe.

I heard many beacons and three letter identifiers particularly around 200 kHz.  It seems like I heard many more compared to what’s available nowadays.  I even tried 88mh toroids  in series to try and load up my longwire for lower frequencies. Didn’t make much difference since it wasn’t matched. I learned why some time later.
So the TR7 gave me my first look at VLF.

Oh, nit picking and probably already mentioned, but the very first  post used MHZ instead of KHZ.  ;D
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Rick, W3RSW

W3RSW

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RE: Ham Receivers on Longwave. How's your's?
« Reply #44 on: July 17, 2018, 01:16:56 PM »

Not quite on topic but I used my TR7 for lots of experiments, one of which was making it into a radiometer later on, by picking off the AVC line with a diode thence through an RC integrator and on to a Rustrac 1ma recorder. Had to have an op amp follower as I remember for that.
When I started experimenting  I just picked off the audio, then to the diode and integrator, etc. Learned about what not to do that time. Should have turned off the AVC among a lot of other things.

Used this on 18 MHz too for rudimentary radio astronomy. I think I recorded Jupiter transit but too many variables, natural QRN variation, drifting circuit constants, etc.

But what fun.  I could clearly see VLF and LF diurnal variations. Like who couldn’t but I was thrilled.  ;D


« Last Edit: July 17, 2018, 01:19:34 PM by W3RSW »
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Rick, W3RSW
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