[Lowfer] Whatever happened to our old Lowfer band?

[Lee]

I was playing around with some receivers in the garage last weekend and also heard some very hot local QRM.
The garage is my only sorta quiet RF spot without putting an E-Probe 33ft in the air. Specifically I heard an
S5 carrier at 195khz. My area is in the process if getting "smart power meters". My guess is that 195khz
carrier was from my local Power CO.
-----Original Message-----
>From: Bill de Carle <ve2iq at magma.ca>
>Sent: Feb 23, 2011 5:43 AM
>To: "Discussion of the Lowfer (US, European, &amp;
>	UK) and MedFer bands" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Lowfer] Whatever happened to our old Lowfer band?
>
>It must be at least a year now since I've done any listening on the 
>160-190 Khz Lowfer band.  Yesterday I set up two loops to favor a 
>NE-SW line and tuned a preamp for 188.83 Khz, which produced good 
>copy of EAR's QRSS30 beacon for most of the day.  When nightfall came 
>however, all hell broke loose!
>
>First thing I noticed: a high power pulsed signal appeared spreading 
>RF all over the place.  This was not accidental radiation, it was a 
>deliberate transmission right in the band.  Shortly afterwards I 
>observed someone sending sequential tones - very strong signal 
>appearing out of nowhere.  Guess it could have been WSPR or fast 
>Jason, something like that, but definitely much too loud for 1 watt 
>DC input to the final and a 50-foot antenna.  All the while having to 
>contend with the broadcast station on 189 Khz (Iceland?) obliterating 
>the top of the band with its music.  My S-meter climbed up, up until 
>the AGC suppressed EAR's signal below visibility.  Admittedly I had 
>too much gain before the Rx for those conditions but I didn't feel 
>like going out in the dark with a flashlight to change the 
>configuration at the antenna so I gave up.
>
>I don't remember things being that bad in years past.  In particular, 
>those pulsed and tone transmissions don't seem to be coming from any 
>amateur station - they're way too strong and obviously designed to 
>punch a message through on a crowded channel.  Like when 11 meters 
>degenerated into a shouting match where the game was to see who could 
>run the most power without getting into trouble.  I've seen 
>similar  pulsed and tone signals on the hifer bands: 13.553-13.567 
>Mhz and especially around 6.777 Mhz in the Canadian unlicensed 
>band.  I'm wondering if some company is selling uncertified 
>transmitters to the general public or what else might have 
>happened.  There was no significant static (QRN) last evening, it was all QRM.
>
>My rant for the day.
>
>Bill VE2IQ
>
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