[ARC5] 600 meters

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

Listening to the maritime CW traffic helped me build my Morse 
proficiency. I have several of the R-23/BC-453 receivers here. I use or 
used them in the Q5er role and for beacon hunting (NDBs). When we get an 
amateur allocation at 630 meters I hope to get on the air with one of 
those in the receiver position.



On 11/04/2015 10:03 PM, Mike Morrow wrote:
>
> You can look up by ID or frequency or location those NDBs at
>   6 http://airnav.com/navaids/ .
>
> Unfortunately the frequencies below 530 kHz are a bare remnant of what was there more than 50 years ago.  I put my first BC-453-A on the air in 1965, and it was amazing how much AM voice traffic in the form of weather info and airport info was broadcast on many NDB signals.  I started too late to be listening to the various Adcock A-N directional beacons, which I think were all history in CONUS by 1961.  In the mid-1950s the common 278 kHz tower and 3023.5 kHz (formerly 3105 kHz) aircraft comms were history.  I'd have loved to listen on those frequencies when they were active.  (Today 3023.5 kHz is reserved for SAR use, I believe.)
>
> However, my favorite use of my BC-453-A and its BFO by far was copying merchant marine telegraph comms on the MF Morse band from 410 to 535 kHz.  Lots of coast stations and ship stations worldwide came in at night.  I kept the receiver on 500 kHz most of the time...listening especially during the mandatory Silent Periods 15 to 18 and 45 to 48 minutes of each hour.  I didn't get my commercial Second Class Radiotelegraph licence until I left active duty in the USN 15 years later, but a few months later a medical condition permanently disqualified me for SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) duties.  Regardless, I kept a Kenwood R-600 tuned to 500 kHz bedside until maritime Morse ceased in July 1999.  There's nothing in radio that I miss as much as the merchant marine MF Morse band.  The R-23A/ARC-5 was top dog for command set receivers for this band.
>
> Mike / KK5F
>
>