[Premium-Rx] SAQ Broadcast

[Warren Ziegler]

Tom,
     The reports I've seen from the east coast of the
U.S. indicate that SAQ today was much weaker (10dB or
so) than last January.
      I recommend piping the audio from your RX into
your p.c. soundcard and using a program like Spectran
or Spectrum Laboratory (both freeware) so you can see
signals on a waterfall that are below the audible
threshold.
73 Warren K2ORS/WD2XGJ
www.w4dex.com/wd2xgj.htm


--- Ben Dover <quixote2 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> Greetings!
> 
> Did anyone else here try for the SAQ (Grimeton,
> Sweden) Alexanderson
> Alternator broadcast at 0900 UTC? It gave my
> Premiums a workout on
> VLF, but with mixed results.
> 
> Broadcast frequency was 17.2 KHz. I've tried for it
> before, but THIS
> time I thought I might actually copy it. Propagation
> conditions are
> VERY good right now on VLF, but it appears that the
> propagation was
> going NORTHWEST and WEST rather than northeast over
> the pole to 
> Sweden.
> 
> The weather here is PERFECT; clear, and very cold
> (about 3 degrees F)
> and at 3 AM local time the overall noise level is
> VERY LOW.
> 
> I managed to get THUNDEROUS signals out of NWC
> (Harold E. Holt, 
> Australia) at 19.8 KHz, and NPM (Lualualei, Hawaii)
> on 21.4 KHz.. I was
> even copying a weak but steadily readable signal on
> 18.6 KHz (a US
> Navy TACAMO aircraft frequency).
> 
> When 0900 UTC came up, I could barely preceive a
> WEAK signal on 17.2
> KHz, but too weak to copy the CW. Another close by
> carrier made things
> difficult too (no doubt some industrial
> interference). The RA-6778C
> was producing the best results; I was cranked down
> to the 150 Hz filter
> in the IF, and BFO offset to +400 Hz. My DSP box
> didn't seem to help
> any on this one. 
> 
> BTW... re. antenna: I used the quietest antenna (S/N
> ratio rather than
> sheer physical size), in this case a short random
> wire.
> 
> This is the closest I've come yet to copying a
> Grimeton test broadcast,
> and we're almost there I think. At least we heard
> the carrier, even tho
> we couldn't make out the CW.
> 
> 
> 73's,
> 
> Tom, W9LBB
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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