[Milsurplus] CW VLF Frequency ID

[David Stinson]

Good Morning.
Your local Fredricksburg Non-Directional Beacon, used for aircraft 
navigation, is on 237 KC and will continuously send the callsign EZF.   
Try running the RAK just below regeneration and see what the signal's 
modulation sounds like on AM.
There are still a lot of these MF-LF NDB transmitters around- many 
people enjoy chasing them as DX targets- but they are dropping fast as 
we become more and more reliant on the fragile web of GPS navigation.

Look for these NDBs in your area, assuming they are still on the air:
351  MSQ  Culpeper
382  IQK Louisa
396 APH Ft. A.P. Hill, God rest him.
400 NHK Patuxent River
223 DA  Ft. Belvoir
332 DC Washingtoilet

You can find a great map of NDBs with locations and IDs at:
http://www.fivegulf.com/ndb/

If you decide to chase NDBs, you will need something better than a 
random wire or an HF dipole.  Such antennas pick up common-mode and 
other noise, which will bury most signals.   On LF, low-noise is much 
more important than sensitivity.   A simple ferrite loop antenna with 
amplifier will allow you to null-out local noise sources.  My first "dx" 
reception on 630 meters (473 KC), the receive antenna was a Palamar LA-1 
ferrite loop- a little box and coil sitting on the desk.   Recently 
built a big open loop, 5 feet on a side in prep for 630 meter operation 
this fall.

GL OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S

P.S. Many people use "E-Field Probes" and think they are the best thing 
since sliced bread.  I've been working with great success on LF since 
1983.  E-field probes are "good" if one has compared them only to random 
wires or HF dipoles, just as a man dying in the desert from thirst would 
think water from a pig-wallow was "good." E-Field probes are noise 
magnets and will bury signals in the hash.  If these folks ever used a 
well-designed amplified loop, they'd throw rocks at E-Field probes.

On 8/17/2019 7:13 AM, mike christie via Milsurplus wrote:
>
> Good Morning to all
>
> I got my RAK 7 running last night and was tuning around and found a 
> continuous CW signal around 233 Kc.  (Band 5 on the RAK)  I listen for 
> a long time for a station ID but nothing came through.  The station 
> continually sends Z F E Z .  Anybody got an idea who this station is 
> and what it’s purpose is?  I’m in Fredericksburg, Va. listening to this.
>
> I tried using one of the SDR sites to see if I could find it on there 
> for a better frequency but couldn’t find it on the one SDR site  I tried.
>
>


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20190817/d51607e2/attachment-0001.html>