[Lowfer] QRSS I'm Confused (Long)

[Andy - KU4XR]

Hi Bill:..... Before you give up on your folded 250 footer; let's find
out if it is capturing signals at LF... Have you tried " SIW " again ??
If not, do so... Your capture of his signal shows that you were only
2 cycles high in frequency. It looks also that you were using the default
sampling rate of 11025, and that's fine, it makes for a bigger window to
look for signals in...You were getting to strong of a Mid-Day signal
from " SIW " for the antenna to not be picking up signals. If you can
hear NDB's in the low 200 KHz region, then your antenna is getting enough
signal to work with. If you can't hear any NDB's in the 200 to 300 KHz
range; then it is possible that you may have developed a problem at 
your antenna. ie: a broken wire, shorted UNUN, or any antenna possibility.
Try the NDB's first, and determine that you can hear, then look for " SIW "
again on 185.299 KHz, you know you can get him, and at Mid-Day. That's a
good thing because you can use his signal as a means to know that you're
receiving, and a signal for a rough calibration. Just make sure that his
signal is showing up around 799 Hz, and you will be in the ballpark.
You already know how to use the Spectran settings to make the signal show
up where it is supposed to, so when you find his signal; then + or - it
to read at 799 Hz.... The one thing that I see that could possibly work
against you is the Frequency stability of the RX320D... Ten Tec lists it
as +/- 100 Hz, and with it being a PC controlled receiver; weird things
" CAN " happen. Aside from a possible broken antenna problem; I personally
feel that you are having a frequency calibration issue... Your capture
of " SIW " did not show any drifting going on, so once the radio is warm,
and you get the frequency calibrated correctly, you may be up and running.

Good luck;


Andy - KU4XR 



--- On Mon, 11/29/10, Bill & Becky <wmarvin at hickorytech.net> wrote:

> From: Bill & Becky <wmarvin at hickorytech.net>
> Subject: [Lowfer] QRSS I'm  Confused (Long)
> To: Lowfer at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Monday, November 29, 2010, 5:36 PM
> Hi Group  Over the past few
> months I've been setting up so I can receive QRSS because
> its interesting and not easy to do well and I wanted to
> graduate from NDB's
> 
> I'm perplexed that within a hour of  hooking my self
> modified TT RX320D and using Spectran for the first time I
> logged 
> SIW at noon CST here in SO. MN.........only 300 miles away
> but very strong.  I thought this setup must be
> working?? Well
> so  I thought
> 
> Since then ( 10 days) their hasn't been a hint of any QRSS
> reception even a hint. At night I've parked on key
> frequencies having Spectran record captures every 40 minutes
> throughout the night or daytime just nothing!!
> 
> Don't laugh but the antenna my bright idea.  I folded
> and strung 250' of wire, coupled it to a 9:1 magnetic UNUN
> and grounded the coax at coupler............it receives
> ALLOT of energy!! No common mode junk however I discovered
> to my dismay this antenna also receives straight up!  I
> thought I had a local noise issues at times until I
> discovered that the noise is being picked up was caused by
> minor auroral changes!!   I'm not
> kidding!  Don't make this antenna for LF-VLF!
> 
> The bottom line is I'm looking for idea's for a receiver
> and antenna for Lowfer reception for a city
> lot...........I'm abandoning
> ship with my concoction.........it doesn't hurt to
> try.  You may contact me off list at  wmarvin at hickorytech.net 
> or pummel me here. 
> 
> Best DX
> 
> Bill KB9IV
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