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

Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:31:51 -0500

Hey Jackie,
You will be able to hear my beacon on 185.3026kc in CW and QRSS-30 as your
about 20 miles SE of me. My signal is audible out past 162 miles day or
night if the static isn't too awful. Lyle is 75 miles north of me and you
should hear his as well but I don't know his freq right off hand maybe
182.2kc. Welcome to the group. These are the best people you could hang out
with on here.

Mike>WE0H
http://www.we0h.us/lf
"WEOH" on 185.3026kc
QRSS & -.-.  .--

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 1:05 PM
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