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

Steve Ratzlaff ratzlaffsteve at gmail.com
Wed Mar 8 18:41:28 EST 2023 

Hi Gedas,

A N/S longwire 1200' long would be almost ideal for LWBCat your location 
in Indiana! Remember at these frequencies the wire isn't "long" but 
every bit helps. Remember I have 700' N/S which works the best for LWBC 
for me.

Steve

On 3/8/2023 4:09 PM, Gedas wrote:
> 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
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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

More information about the Lowfer mailing list