[Lowfer] SAQ TEST TRANSMISSION 2012-01-12

[JD]

Jay wrote:
>>>Ground control to major Tom
>>>Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Protein pills--THAT'S what I forgot!  ;)

And I probably put the helmet on wrong way around in the pre-dawn darkness, 
too, 'cause I didn't notice the shorting strap was still in place until well 
into the half hour.

I heard plenty of QRN, though, so "shorting" is definitely a relative term 
at RF.  Using the stations between 20 and 30 kHz as a before-and-after 
guide, there was a good 50 dB attenuation with the strap in place...which is 
to say, the static crashes pinned the S-meter without the strap, and were 
"only" about S9+20 with it "shorted."  There's no way to actually hear SAQ 
under all that, either way.  I did see a badly broken line on the waterfall 
display during the early part of the scheduled time slot, roughly 12 to 16 
Hz above the nominal frequency, but have no idea whether that was them.

Laurence, I'm delighted to hear there were no Alphas at your site either.  I 
wondered if it was them or me.

At that time of morning I wasn't copying many of the naval stations from the 
east...just Cutler at 24 khz (+60!) and Aguada on 40.7 or 40.8 kHz, so far 
as I can tell.  But the Pacific was open!  If I'm identifying them 
correctly, Exmouth (19.8), Jim Creek (24.8), Lualualei (21.4) and perhaps 
Okinawa (54 kHz) were the powerhouses, in descending order of signal 
strength.  There was MSK or FSK weakly present on 22.2 (JJI?),  25.6 (3SB, 
Datong?), and 26.6 (CAA2A, Santiago, Chile?).  And, there was a very nice 
signal on 28.4, but I find conflicting information as to which site that is.

I haven't explored this frequency range enough lately.  Can anyone refer me 
to a current and authoritative source on frequencies and modes?

73
John