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

Wed Mar 8 18:09:08 EST 2023

Thanks Steve. Good intel about how the long wires outperform the other 
antennas you have tried. I stick to SAM and 2-3 kHz since it is a SDR 
and I can narrow down the BW even more if need be.

I have room here for a beverage or long wires up to 1200' but the 
problem is my lot runs N-S which would be of no value at all. So I am 
stuck using shorter omni-directional wires or loops or probes.  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 3:55 PM, Steve Ratzlaff wrote:
> 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.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Lowfer mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:Lowfer at mailman.qth.net
>>> Post must be less than 50KB total for message plus attachment!
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Lowfer mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Lowfer at mailman.qth.net
>> Post must be less than 50KB total for message plus attachment!
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> Lowfer mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Lowfer at mailman.qth.net
> Post must be less than 50KB total for message plus attachment!
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html