[Lowfer] No beeps and no SAQ here in Friendsville

[Andy - KU4XR]

Admittedly excited, then utter disappointment..At Jays recommendation, I listened for the
Alpha beeps for over an hour.. I tried every trick on hand, but not a single beep heard....
As I expected; the static level did rise quite noticably as the night went on, but with the 
right amount of clipping, and noise blanking in Spec Labs filtering; I could almost eliminate
the static bursts, except for the strong ones..  I started listening on 17.2 KHz with a 
100 Hz BW, and filtering engaged, at 2:25 am EST, just after 2:30 am, I " thought " I heard 
a carrier come on.. From past comments, I listened to see if it drifted around as SAQ
reportedly does during tune up...  No Drift.. ( disappointment starts ) , with no drifting of 
the signal, probably not SAQ... I did not log the time, but " close to " 2:35 to 2:40-ish ,
I again " thought " I heard a faint CW signal, and heard what I thought was " 73 " ...
John Andrews - W1TAG mentioned to me in a post quite some time back, that the human
brain is quite good at trying to make order out of chaos.. Mine was in sleep deprivation overdrive..
By 2:45 am; nothing but static.. I anxiously waited for 3 am, had Audacity timer recording,
just in case I fell asleep at the mouse... 3 am came... nothing !! around 3:06 am, I thought I
heard a very faint CW note, but not above the noise enough to make out anything.. I started 
quickly changing settings, turning off the clipper, then the noise blanker.. That only clobbered
me with complete static bursts.. I turned off one bandpass filter, still no signal, then the last
bandpass filter.. I was wide open with noise.. but no signal from SAQ.. I was using my own
custom user file for Spec Lab that I have spent a couple of weeks - peaking, and tweaking..
As a last gasp attempt; I opened Spec Labs " SAQrcvr "  file, and listened for about 5 more 
minutes.. But by 3:15 am ; I knew it wasn't happening here this year either.. I turned 
Audacity off, and shut down, and went to bed... I have not listened to Jays audio file, so
This report is what I actually " didn't hear " without trying to confirm something by someone
else's reception.. Now for the Techie notes, and just for the sake of posting them..
I used my 160 meter dipole, in a " T " configuration.. ran it thru a 33 mH choke.. I had an
air variable with a total of .0012 µF.. Peaked amount for 17.2 KHz was .001 µF +/- a few pico's..
I ran this thru a 2 section Hi-Pass Filter to lower the AC buzz.. I am not " scientific " , I just
lashed up something, and then changed values until I got the best results from my viewpoint..
I ran the antenna thru a .047 µF disc cap, with a 4 mH adjustable Inductor to ground, this 
then went thru a .01 µF cap, with a 4 mH Inductor to ground.. The variable inductors were
adjusted for peak at 17.2 KHz.. L-1 had an in circuit value of 3.17 mH for 17.2 KHz...
L-2 had an in circuit value of 3.26 mH... The air variable from the antenna to ground would
move the resonant point back and forth, and adjusting the Inductors in the Hi-Pass filter
would peak the " noise level " for the frequency I was listening on.. The Hi-Pass filter gave
me a 20 dB reduction in AC Buzz,  At 6 KHz and down, it was almost gone.. the noise
level on 17.2 KHz peaked on Spec Labs graph with the settings I had, at -45 dB , and rolled 
off fairly well to about -60 dB at 10 KHz , and -70 dB at 6 KHz .. Naturally the roll off was not
that sharp above 17.2 KHz, but was quite noticable on the spectrum graph.. This arrangement
then went into the sound card mic input ...  I had mentioned in an earlier post that I have the
best VLF reception that I have had to date, and I believe that to be correct, even though I did 
not hear SAQ last night.. I know the military stations are " mega-powered " , but I have seen,
And Heard ! audibly, stations that I have not in the past... Remembering a recent comment 
from Jay - W1VD; " almost any antenna will capture enough signal, and noise ; the issue
is the noise " ... To be serious with this ; that must be my focus.. an antenna that gathers
much less noise than my 160 meter noise catcher... I need to seriously consider getting
out the wellbroop loop I have stored in the garage, and get it set up, and use it...

Thanks for reading... And I wish all of you, a very Merry Christmas, and the best year you
have ever had in 2014..

73 Friends :

Andy - KU4XR