[ARC5] BC-453 On The Air

[Hubert Miller]

>Here is a website with a list of beacons and other VLF trransmisisons heard in Newport, OR:

LF Communication & Navigation Stations Receivable in Newport, Oregon<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smeter.net%2Fnewport%2Fstations%2Flf-nav-com.php&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2b0e902302ab4998948b08d7b950f8a4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637181629719754024&sdata=Ls826kKpIZC%2BwdZzrVrFpOS3Df7Xm0j7sYdII7e4xaE%3D&reserved=0>

Joe, this list is very suspect. There is NO LF beacon existing still near Newport, either at the airfield or at the lighthouse.
Wiki says this about Loran C :
"In 2010 the United States<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> and Canadian<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada> systems were shut down, along with shared Loran-C/CHAYKA stations with Russia. "

A new system, eLoran, was discussed but apparently never built.
I was surprised the list didn't include the lower VLF stations. NLK up north of Seattle is still on the air, I'm pretty sure, on
24.7 kHz. If anyone up there has a frequency selective voltmeter, tune it across that frequency, and the meter pointer will peg.
I always thought that maybe NLK's megawatt signal could be used in a "passive" ( crystal ) radio circuit, to provide power for
the AM station you listen to.

I have an article in the Navy electronics magazine "ELECTRON" about the building of NLK. When I see the photos of cars and
trucks parked in the area, I wonder how well their electrical systems worked in that massive electric field, not to mention the
electrical systems of humans. The article said there was some kind of metal stairway up to the top of a peak where an antenna
was anchored. At the end of the stairway there was a gap you had to step across, and below this open gap there was nothing
but the ground, and it was way, way, way down there. Made me sweat just thinking about that.

In the 1960s and 1970s you could actually DX the low frequencies right in the city, with a wire antenna. Best at late night after
the TVs were turned off. I recall when I was listening to NLK or NSS or NPM on the one-tube ( 6J5 ) VLF receiver I built, if my father
was playing on the HiFi a jazz record, I could hear the jazz percussion on the receiver too.  The Modern Jazz Quartet's percussionist
mixing in, providing a rhythm background for the Navy high speed Morse. Now, digital noise runs strong and  24 x 7.

I recently found a couple "degaussing coils" I took out of an old CRT monitor. I was surprised when I measured the inductances
at 3 and 7 Henry. I measured them because I had this wild thought I might use them with a high gain audio amp, go down to
the beach – to get away from noise fields – at early morning to try to pick up the "natural radio" ELF sounds, like the "dawn
chorus" and the other tweets and chirps and sliders. ( Popular Electronics said you could even hear electrical signals from
missile launches – I don't know about that. ) But I decided  I don't need another project.
-Hue




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