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

[Steve Ratzlaff]

I know a guy in Michigan who hears LWBC very well using a decent active 
whip antenna. At my AZ location I have not had much success with 
anything except the longwires I mentioned. My location is too noisy for 
an active whip to work very well. I've tried 3 to 10 foot diameter 
active loops, and the 10 foot size was able to hear some LWBC but the 
longwires worked better. Unless you can narrow an AM mode bandwidth to 
about 3 kHz, using SSB modes with their narrower bandwidths just work 
better for the very weak LWBC. It takes a stronger signal, generally, to 
demodulate the audio in AM mode since the bandwidth is usually wider.

Steve

On 3/8/2023 1:36 PM, Gedas wrote:
> Hi Steve, very very interesting. You have had much better success in 
> receiving these LWBC stations. I wonder if you had any luck with any 
> of them with non-long wire antennas (loops or probes etc)?
>
> Also, forgive my ignorance here but I was scratching my head why 
> certain stations used LSB and others USB given they are transmitting 
> AM? The only reason I could think of is that you were trying to avoid 
> strong NDB's on one side or the other. Are there any other reasons why 
> you did?  TU 73
>
> Gedas, W8BYA EN70JT
>
> Gallery at http://w8bya.com
> Light travels faster than sound....
> This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>
> On 3/8/2023 1:50 PM, Steve Ratzlaff wrote:
>> In Oregon I heard the Europeans and Africa LWBC in the evening just 
>> after sunset to a couple of hours later. Of course there all 
>> reception was "over the pole" which isn't the case here in AZ. But I 
>> listen at the same times as before. When conditions are poor 
>> sometimes only the carriers are heard just after sunset then fade 
>> away. For good conditions signals can peak an hour or so after 
>> sunset; for really good conditions they can last for 4 hours. I have 
>> not seen any decent conditions so far this season, unfortunately. I 
>> use a variety of radios--old Icom R75; Perseus SDR, etc. They all 
>> work well. For SSB one uses USB or LSB depending on the 
>> frequency--198 BBC and 189 Iceland would use LSB; 171 Morocco and 252 
>> Algeria would use USB. 162 France of course has no audio but 
>> continues to run the low pitched data signal for the "atomic clocks". 
>> One uses CW mode with a lower bandwidth and when the signal is 
>> halfway decent you can easily hear the low pitched warble. I use 100 
>> Hz bandwidth. Sometimes conditions will favor one direction such as 
>> only 171 and 252 for awhile, then an hour later 162 or 198 will be 
>> heard. Sometimes 151 and 252 are absent and only 162 or 198 are 
>> heard. Sometimes only 162 is heard and I've had it at good level at 
>> times, and is the only thing being heard. My location of course is 
>> very different from yours, but these are general guidelines that 
>> should work any where in North America.
>>
>> Good luck!
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> On 3/8/2023 9:57 AM, Gedas wrote:
>>> Hi Steve and thank you very much for that excellent summary. I think 
>>> your long wires have a lot to do with it !  I saw a YT video of a 
>>> SWL in the Midwest that used a huge beverage (I think about 1/2 
>>> mile) and was switching around to several LW AM frequencies......it 
>>> was really, really  impressive !  But this was some years ago when 
>>> many stations were around and prop was quite different.
>>>
>>> I have several followup questions based on your reply, I hope you 
>>> (and the group) do not mind.
>>>
>>> When you said you lived in the PNW were you able to pickup the 
>>> European LW stations from there or were these Asian LW stations?
>>>
>>> For Morocco, what (local time for you) did you usually find signals 
>>> the best for Europe? I seem to see the strongest carriers starting 
>>> about 3 hrs before my SR up until about an hour before SR.
>>>
>>> I also do not understand why, with carriers peaking 20 dB out of the 
>>> NF I am not able to detect any modulation. Even if I did have a 
>>> local birdy on that frequency I should be seeing some signs of the 
>>> modulation in the waterfall but I am not. I usually listen using 2-3 
>>> kHz AM (usually SAM) and 2-3 kHz USB or LSB. In either case it's a 
>>> no-go.  I will concentrate on Morocco although it is probably too 
>>> late in the season.
>>>
>>> What do you use for a receiver?
>>>
>>> TU again, most helpful. 73
>>>
>>> Gedas, W8BYA EN70JT
>>>
>>> Gallery at http://w8bya.com
>>> Light travels faster than sound....
>>> This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>>>
>>>
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