[Lowfer] LF noise tonight

[Ralph Hartwell]

It seems my new (and now storm-tested) MF/LF antenna picks up stuff much
better than my old one.  I notice that the cluster of thunderstorms in
the Gulf of Mexico about 400 miles south of my QTH is giving me a full
scale AGC reading on my RX even with a 20 dB attenuator in line with the
antenna.  With the old antenna I would not see a full scale reading
unless the storms were within 10 miles or so.  Much better pickup now!
Of course, now I hear thunderstorms 24 hours a day, and I suppose it
will only get worse as the weather warms up.

In case you haven't bookmarked these sites, they are handy for lightning
WX info.

http://129.13.102.67/wz/pics/weltlight.html for a worldwide lightning
hit display,

http://www.lightningstorm.com/ls2/gpg/lex1/mapdisplay_free.jsp? for a US
lightning hit display,

and http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/mosaic/DS.p19r0/ar.us.conus.shtml for
a US radar map of active WX.

I do notice that I see a lot less power line garbage and light dimmer
noise.  I suspect that the old antenna may have had some odd resonances
at frequencies that were not wanted, and that the better antenna and
tuning system does not exhibit these problems.

Now, to locate a better RX!

73,

Ralph   W5JGV / WC2XSR / 13

http://home.att.net/~shmrg

http://home.att.net/~ralph.hartwell