[Lowfer] Active Whips

[ToddRoberts2001 at aol.com]

If one has the capability to run a receiver and active whip on batteries, I 
 have found
one further trick to reduce noise when  listening at home on the  lowest 
VLF 
frequencies like the Russian Alphas below 15kHz,
if you live in your own separate house and have the ability to do  it, is 
to go ahead and pull
the main breakers to the house and kill all AC current in the House. Have  
some
battery power lanterns and flashlights handy if you do this at night. This  
seemed to
reduce the last layer of AC noise during my Alpha listening sessions.
 
Main chore is  resetting all the house clocks after doing  this but it 
resulted in
marvelous low-noise sessions on VLF for me. There seems to be a haze of  
background
noise on VLF when the house wiring is powered even when all appliances are  
turned off 
and when running the receiver on batteries. Above about 60-70kHz  I could 
not hear any
improvement by pulling the breakers.
 
73 - Todd WD4NGG
 
 
In a message dated 1/23/2013 5:10:28 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
listread at lwca.org writes:

I'm glad you mentioned the separate battery power approach, Tom.  I  
thought 
I might be something of a wacko loner in using that method myself,  since 
one 
never seems to see mention of it anywhere...but it is definitely  the more 
effective way at the lowest frequencies of keeping out noise and  reducing 
signal loss.