[ARC5] MF and the BC-453

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 10 Sep 2013 at 23:50, Dennis Monticelli wrote:

> Nice going, Ken.  We do have to work hard for our VLF reception.

Yes, we certainly do. I really wish we lived outside of town on even a small 
acreage.

>  I
> don't even try until past midnight when both my house (which at least
> I can control somewhat) and the rest of the neighborhood settles down.
>  If my wife is up late watching the big screen TV right under my
> second floor shack, I can forget about it.

Well, we don't have a big-screen TV, but we sure do have a lot of other 
"noise makers" around here. At one time, our middle son had built a 
computer. The power supply in that thing was HORRIBLY noisy. I finally 
replaced it for him and used the other one for a target for my Mosin-Nagant. 
That was VERY satisfying.

>  BTW, I just use my 160M
> long wire.  I took the BC-453B on FD once and ran it off batteries. 
> Gel cell for the filaments (mine was 12V converted when I took
> custody) and a string of used 9V batteries netting about 60V with 10mA
> draw.  Reception was good at this remote Sierra site but summer
> thunderstorm activity pounded the ears.  VLF field operation is rough
> in the summer.  Better to bundle up and engage those long winter
> nights.  Have you ever tried a VLF SWL DXpedition?

After reading what you had done in a much earlier e-mail, I have planned just 
that. I have several of the Stoddart 3 foot diameter shielded loops here, with 
their tripods, and planned to use one of those. They are fed with twin-ax, and 
I can couple one directly to one of the BC-453s I have here with the loop 
connections. It should work very well.

I want to use an original dynamotor with my receivers. Nostalgia, you know. 
:-)

> You should be able to hear Lanai City, Hawaii from your QTH.  It comes
> in pretty well down here on 353 when there's propagation to the west,
> even though the power level is under 50W.  I think the 1000' elevation
> of that particular beacon may help provided there is a good ground
> screen.

Well, as I said, I was quite pleased to be able to copy that NWT beacon. It 
also outputs only 50 watts, but was easy copy here.

Ken W7EKB