[Lowfer] A Newbie's thanks, and a note on using Linrad for LF work.

[Roger Rehr W3SZ]

HI, Jim!

Thanks for the note!

LF Linrad seemed like a good application for Linrad, so I thought I'd give
it a try.  Works great, though I think Linrad may benefit from a synchronous
NB in front of it for LF work...another project ;)  For now for LF I run
Linrad and the conventional setup in parallel to compare them.

Thanks for the tips.  I will play around with grounds.  I did some improving
for EME, and will work some more on it.  Unfortunately the shack is on the 2
nd floor, and I should not to cut holes in anything or run thing visible
down the side of the house, so what I did for EME is to run 1.5 inch flat
strip from the shack to ground rods just outside the shack, going thru a
hole in the wall at ground level.  That seems to work pretty well, and for
now I am using that for the indoor antenna ground.  I may try the chicken
wire ground plane trick as well.

I do plan at some point to use the K0BRA active antenna with a whip outside,
but some of the hardware I need is still in the mail.

Going portable is a great idea, too.  I will do that when I have everything
in boxes (it is not yet and going portable would be dangerous to the
circuits' health) ;) .

I am steering the family towards a vacation on the Outer Banks in NC this
summer, which is an excellent LF location, I hear.  ;)

Thanks again for the note...Have a great week!

73,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ   FN20ah
2 Merrymount Road
Reading, PA  19609-1718
http://www.qsl.net/w3sz



> Hi Roger,
>
> Well I wondered who would be the first to try Linrad on Lowfer or NDB.
> I guess you did. On your antenna, I would suggest, both experimenting
> with grounds (to make sure that the power line is not the
> return for your
> antenna)
> and use a simple short whip and find the optimal quiet
> location for it. This
> optimal
> location could be anywhere and may even be counter intuative.
> If a specific
> large noise comes from a specific large direction, a big loop
> is a must
> have.
> My antenna is well elevated above everything (70 feet up and above guy
> wires).
> I think this helps to make it a low noise antenna. When you
> can readily log
> a few hundred NDB's, you are ready to log Lowfers. I hear so
> many NDB's,
> it gets boring, logging them all. A 50 foot wire in the
> attic, may be too
> close
> to house wiring to be a quiet antenna. Put something portable
> together and
> go hunting for that quiet sweet spot.
>
> 73, Jim Shaffer, WB9UWA.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Roger Rehr W3SZ <roger.rehr@verizon.net>
> To: <lowfer@mailman.qth.net>
> Cc: Leif Asbrink *SM5BSZ (E-mail) <leif.asbrink@MBOX300.SWIPNET.SE>
> Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 10:26 PM
> Subject: [Lowfer] A Newbie's thanks, and a note on using
> Linrad for LF work.
>
>
> > Thanks to all for your help to a newbie.
> >
> > Yesterday evening after work I finished the K0BRA active
> antenna and put
> it
> > up in the attic with a wire about 50 feet long.  I am not
> yet ready for an
> > outside antenna, although I know that will help a lot.
> >
> > This afternoon I was able to log some better DX than the RD
> beacon 2.7
> miles
> > away including
> >
> > IUB 404 Baltimore MD
> > CLB 216 Wilmington NC
> > RNB 363 Millville NJ
> > JF 373 New York NY ... see below for this one...only found
> with Linrad
> >
> For EME I have used a homebrew receiver with
> > Leif Asbrink's Linrad software to detect signals too weak
> for me to find
> > otherwise, and I thought the same thing might be very
> helpful for this
> > Lowfer stuff.  > 73,
> >
> > Roger Rehr
> > W3SZ   FN20ah
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lowfer mailing list
> Lowfer@mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer