[ARC5] Strange signal on ~3595 kHz

[Dennis Monticelli]

Heard this morning on 3597.0 KHz at 8AM local time, SF bay area.  Also
copied by my friend further north in CA.  The signal was rather weak but
above the noise.  There was QSB but no flutter on the path at my 37 deg
lattitude.

*V 3JWV 3JWV 3JWV DE QH4P QH4P*   repeating

It was well after dawn so the angle of arrival must have been low with the
final refraction taking place a time zone to the west.  I did not listen
earlier this morning when the prop may have been better.

Dennis AE6C

On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 5:29 PM Tim <timsamm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Ken,  Interesting...Just looking at propagation. Irrespective of the
> call sign formats heard, at 0700 local time in Idaho the signal could be
> following the great circle Gray Line route in from the northeast.  The line
> follows the short path near the pole from central Europe and east Africa.
> If the call signs somehow indicate Chinese gov, perhaps the big new Chinese
> naval base in Djibouti or their other "holdings" in Mombassa/east Africa?
>
> If the signal had some auroral flutter it would most likely indicate it
> was coming in via that Gray line path.
>
> A bit later in the morning the great circle short path passes right
> through east Asia/China..(is the signal getting stronger or weaker at 0700
> local?)
>
> I had access to a PRD-1 but it is gone now...From a clear location, their
> null bearings were reasonably useful on skywave signals arriving from low
> angles.  You could tell which main path it was taking anyway..
>
> Tim
> N6CC
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 11:12 AM Dennis Monticelli <
> dennis.monticelli at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Small loops have sharp nulls on ground waves.  Skywaves give broad weak
>> nulls, though still useful.  Another hint is simply propagation.  What
>> paths were coming through well at the time?  From the SF bay area eastern
>> China is best pre-dawn.
>>
>> Dennis AE6C
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 10:51 AM howard holden <holden7471 at msn.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The July 1980 QST has an article on simple loop direction finders, both
>>> open wound and ferrite bar. Back in the 80s I built one for 75M using a
>>> ferrite rod with coil and cap for tuning,  and a sense antenna to give
>>> the received signal a cardioid pattern, when a numbers CW station often
>>> came on an early morning net I participated in. I and another fellow
>>> determined by triangulation that the station was in Cuba, thus ending
>>> our pursuit. Was pretty simple, but as long as the signal you're hunting
>>> can be heard, crude location can be determined.
>>>
>>>
>>> Howie WB2AWQ
>>>
>>> On 1/4/2019 10:32 AM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>> > Any sort of loop will work, the Adcock is really a sort of loop. Since
>>> > great precision is not needed a small loop would do. Its a matter of
>>> > getting readings from a number of separated stations and plotting
>>> > them. I would give at least an approximate location. At higher
>>> > frequencies a beam antenna could be used but at 4 Mhz a beam is too
>>> > large but a loop is quite practical.
>>> >    If a fairly large number of stations hear the signal plotting
>>> > relative strength might also give a clue as would daytime vs: night
>>> > time strength. All crude but might at least tell if it were coming
>>> > from the U.S. or somewhere else.
>>> >
>>> > On 1/4/2019 10:24 AM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
>>> >> On 3 Jan 2019 at 20:45, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >>>      3J would be China but Q has always been reserved for
>>> >>> operating signals (Q signals) so there are no call signs
>>> >>> beginning with Q. Probably not real signs. Be interesting if
>>> >>> anyone with directional antennas could get a fix on it and
>>> >>> triangulate with someone else.
>>> >>
>>> >> Wouldn't that sort of DFing require an Adcock array?
>>> >>
>>> >> Ken W7EKB
>>> >>
>>> >
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