[Lowfer] More on lowfer SIW

[Garry]

Hi Gedas, thanks for looking. I'm copying SIW sending QRSS30/QRSS60 at 
185.2993 kHz on the Edinburgh, IN kiwisdr right now. Was surprised not 
to see WM also coming through but in a companion note Mike indicates he 
shut it down temporarily so he could listen too.

The schedule calls for SIW to shift modes and  frequencies around 1800Z. 
Currently that's 1 pm CDT. So today at local 1 pm it switched from 
sending wspr15 and opera32 on 185.185 kHz to sending a repeating 
sequence of QRSS30/QRSS60 at 185.2993 kHz. Switching occurs daily except 
Saturday and Sunday stay at 185.2993 kHz sending QRSS30/60. I figured 
potential listeners are more likely over the weekend and tuned to the 
185.3 kHz watering hole to maximize the chance of seeing something. But 
EAR is an excellent 24/7 lowfer that's always in there at 188.830 kHz.

There is a wide assortment of receive antennas for the active kiwisdr 
stations but not many perform very well at LF. The best combination of 
performance/size/cost may be a simple eprobe. The probe is just a short 
whip (I use 4' but that's really overkill). Jay, W1VD has a nice 
schematic for building one at https://www.w1vd.com/modifiedeprobe.pdf. I 
thought that the higher the unit was mounted the better it would perform 
but found that atop a 10' pole mine did better than when it was up 30'. 
The key seems to be exploring a number of locations to identify what 
performs best for you. Typically you don't have to move the probe all 
that far to see a difference in sensitivity.

Good luck and 73,

Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
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