[Lowfer] LW AM Stations Heard in N.A.

[Gedas]

New member here, TU for allowing me to join in.

I have a question regarding the ability of N.A. SWL's being able to 
receive the few remaining LW AM stations from Europe and N. Africa.

I have a not so horrible VLF-MF SWL station consisting of a RSPdx and 
several wire antennas. My usual best is a 75m band Inv-V at 70. At times 
a pure 40m elevated vertical works well. I am in a fairly quiet rural 
area and keep my antennas several hundred feet away from the home and I 
like to use VLF CMC at both ends of my coax cables for insurance.

In any event, I have been trying for several years to at least hear some 
modulation from a station like BBC-4 on 198 kHz. I can always see it's 
carrier, at times 20 dB above my NF but never able to detect any 
sidebands or hear any modulation. I have monitored many times (sometimes 
right from my sunset to sunrise in the UK) and can see the several hours 
of peak propagation but even then it's a no-go for any actual reception.

I am located in Indiana which I know is going to make it a lot more 
difficult compared to stations along the east coast of the states.

I have absolutely no issues detecting all of the dozen of so FSK/MSK 
military signals from various parts of the world and can nicely hear the 
ticks of DC77 and digital data from TDF on 162 kHz. TDD and Negev are 
easy to spot as well. Alphas no problem etc, etc, etc.

So what is the issue with me not being able to hear any LW AM stations? 
I realize as of today only a few remain and I am hoping I can nab one 
before they are all retired. Are others able to hear BBC or Algeria from 
N.A. and if so what is the secret ?

TU 73

-- 
Gedas, W8BYA EN70JT

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