[Lowfer] New to the list. A few questions re: Lowfers and lon gwave

Tue, 8 Apr 2003 13:25:13 -0500

Hello Jackie: There a few hams on this email list like yourself I also am a
ham who became interested in long waves;

	1: Lowfers are limited to 1 watt input power and the antenna
"length" cannot exceed 15 meters, this 	means that a normal lowfer Tx
antenna is about as effecient as a 2 foot vertical on 160 meters.

	2: Most of the activity here revolves around computer generated very
low speed cw, received visually 	using readily available software.

	3: Right now there is a debate as to the best type of antenna,
verticals with some type of capacitive 	and inductive loading vs rectangular
loops that fit into the 15 meter limit.

	4: Since the power is limited to 1 watt and the antenna efficiency
is so low (>> 1%) reception is very 	susceptible to noise, so most stop
listening when the thunderstorms show up, although there was a lot 	of
activity during last summer.

	Also there is every indication that we will be granted a ham
allocation at 137 khz some time soon.

	Anyway I have learned a lot from the people on this list and have
found information that I could not 
	get anywhere else. So just feel free to ask any question and some
one will gladly help you.

		73 de Ve4XC

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: April 8, 2003 13:05
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Lowfer] New to the list. A few questions re: Lowfers and
longwave

Hi all,

I've just signed up to this list, and hope to get some good information on 
Lowfer frequencies. I am a ham radio operator, and I've suddenly become 
interested in the sub-shortwave bands, especially longwave. I have found a
few 
good introductory websites over the past couple of days. However, I still
have 
a few questions for some of you experts regarding practical operating on the

low bands.

First, I know that Lowfer stations are limited to one watt of power; not 
knowing what type of transmitting equipment is commonly used on these 
frequencies, however, I'm not sure what the practical transmitting and 
listening range is- I've been listening for a few local Lowfers, but have
yet 
to hear anything from them. Which leads me to my second question... 

Second, what type of transmissions are normally heard on the Lowfer
frequencies 
and what form of modulation are you using? I have an Icom IC-718 radio which

has SSB, CW, RTTY and AM modes only, and I don't even know if this radio
will 
allow me to hear Lowfer transmissions. 

Third, what types of antennas do you use for transmitting? I am more
interested 
in receiving for now, and if necessary, I can obtain another receiver and
hook 
it up to a good Lowfer listening antenna, but I'm not sure what antenna
would 
be best for reception of Lowfers. My Icom transceiver's hooked up to a four 
band vertical and a three band dipole antenna now, both of which transmit on

shortwave bands only. Don't know if either of these will suffice for Lowfer 
reception, however.

Last, are Lowfer and longwave propagation affected by the season? On the 160

meter ham band, performance usually goes south quickly once the weather
warms 
up. I'm curious if this is also the case with Lowfer and longwave bands, or
if 
they are not affected by season and atmospheric conditions as much as the 
higher ham bands? 

If you can lead me to any good books about Lowfer or longwave, I'd be most 
appreciative! Thanks and 73 always,

Jackie 
_______________________________________________
From the Lowfer mailing list
Send messages to: [email protected]
To sub/unsub visit: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer

---
Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.465 / Virus Database: 263 - Release Date: 3/25/03

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.465 / Virus Database: 263 - Release Date: 3/25/03

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---