[Milsurplus] VLF non directional beacon hunting

[Mike Morrow]

> Picked up 5 or 6 NDBs here in Seguin, TX. With no real problem.
> Guess It wouldn’t hurt to make a real VLF antenna,

There are no NDBs in the VLF band (3 to 30 kHz).  Most are in the upper end of the LF band (30 to 300 kHz) and lower end of the MF band (300 to 3000 kHz).  But nothing is there today like there was 50 and more years ago when many NDBs would broadcast associated terminal and weather info.  I wonder how many aircraft today even carry an ADF receiver.  In the mid-1960s NDBs were all over my BC-453-A dial, and there were even a very few of the old Adcock directional beacons somewhere that once were the backbone of US airways navigation.

Nothing below the AM broadcast band (or anywhere else) matched the interesting traffic on the MF maritime Morse band around 400 to 510 kHz, where my BC-453-A spent most of its time.  Before all that disappeared in 1999, my TS-430S, TS-50S, and R-600 spent more time listening there (especially 500 kHz at night) than on the ham bands.

I eventually acquired a USN R-1134B/WRR-3B (14 to 600 kHz), IMO the best of the surplus VLF/LF/MF receivers.  In my USN days in the 1970s there was at least one on USS Intrepid that stayed on 500 kHz watch.  There was one on USS Daniel Boone, but I don't believe it was used often.  There were other dedicated receiver systems for VLF, and submarines were not required to keep watch on 500 kHz.  I never thought I'd own one.

I really miss the old glory days of life below 500 kHz.  I can't get too interested in NDBs anymore.

Mike / KK5F