[Premium-Rx] Premium-Rx Digest, Vol 161, Issue 19

Ben Mesander benmesander at yahoo.com
Fri Apr 3 22:50:56 EDT 2020 

 Well I got everything cabled up (still no antenna though) and powered up, and passing self test. The WJ 8618 has options EM, FE, LFE, LOC, and SM which appears to mean 100kHz to 1.1GHz. So not so great for LF it seems. I do have a JRC NRD545 as well which I seem to remember goes down to 10kHz. The external speaker seems defunct however, so I will have to fix that.

For the gentleman who wanted the picture of the Marconi modem, I'm apologize, but I'm going to pass, I've had some very persistent characters in the past demand I send pictures of serial numbers and such for gear. I'm not sure what they're up to, but it kinda creeps me out. My Rockwell MDM-2001 and Harris 5254C both power up and pass self test. Still have not located my MIL-188C to RS-232 converters, so for now they just look pretty and aren't useful for decoding unless I can find that stuff - all this stuff got boxed up two moves ago, and not used for over a decade.

I'll have to locate the box with the antenna cabling and see about building an antenna. Somewhere I have a mini-circuits splitter so I can feed all the radios from one antenna. Used to have two SDR-14's but only seem to be able to find one. Perhaps I ebayed the other, can't remember. I wish I hadn't ebayed the pactor modem with all the flashy lights, I liked watching the light show. I hope I can find decent software for the SDR-14 that runs on linux. In the past I fed the IF out of the WJ into a SDR-14, and then into decoding software.

It's fun to get back into it.

--Ben

     On Friday, April 3, 2020, 08:32:43 PM MDT, <premium-rx-request at mailman.qth.net> wrote:  
 
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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Longwave Receiver Recommendations? (Brooke Clarke)
  2. Re: Longwave Receiver Recommendations? (Brooke Clarke)
  3. Re: Longwave Receiver Recommendations? (Nick England)
  4. ELF/LF Equipment (John Hafele)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 17:29:53 -0700
From: Brooke Clarke <brooke at pacific.net>
To: George Georgevits <georgg at bigpond.net.au>,
    premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
Message-ID: <64547c4c-e0a1-90bb-bed4-c12df6a65554 at pacific.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Hi George:

Years (decades?) ago I dis a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request for the manual for one of the submarine VLF 
antennas.? It turns out it's very much like a transformer, i.e. laminated iron core and maybe miles of wire.? Extremely 
heavy.

-- 
Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
https://www.PRC68.com
http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html
axioms:
1. The extent to which you can fix or improve something will be limited by how well you understand how it works.
2. Everybody, with no exceptions, holds false beliefs.

-------- Original Message --------
> Gentlemen,
>
> What an excellent discussion on such an interesting topic!
>
> I have always been interested in VLF. I own a few of the receivers mentioned (Racal 6790GM, 6217 etc.) and have had fun fooling around with tuned loops and long wires. I can't say that any one receiver that I have used particularly excels.
>
> I recall talking to a  group of guys at a hamfest here in Australia a few years back. The name of their club escapes me, but their hobby was to have weekends away in the countryside with their LF radio gear. They would run around the paddocks, laying out miles of telephone jumper wire on the ground and then proceed to see how many overseas AM stations they could log.
>
> I am also the proud owner of a rather large boatanchor, the AWA CR3D, which I lovingly restored many years ago. It has two RF stages, a giant 12 position turret for the front end coils, tunes from 30MHz down to 14KHz and boasts 28 tubes.  It can vary the IF bandwidth by varying the coupling between each pair of IF coils using a ganged mechanical arrangement. Local AM stations sound really good at 15KHz bandwidth. If I was an engine driver, this Rx would be the equivalent of the 4-8-8-4 loco! See:
>
> https://www.google.com/search?q=AWA+CR3D&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjxuvGW58voAhV97XMBHYenDt4QsAR6BAgHEAE
>
> I found the discussion on ELF and Terry's article of particular interest. Given the lengths they had to go to (pun intended) to transmit the signal, I wonder what aerial the submarine used to receive it?  Surely not a very long wire towed in the water??? I also wonder what Rx equipment they used, that is, before the days of SDR? A quick search on the Internet drew a complete blank on this subject, even though the 76Hz system was decommissioned (and presumably declassified) in the early 2000's.
>
> A very interesting discussion on the associated STANAG5030/MIL-188-140 and its modulation schemes can be found at:
>
> http://i56578-swl.blogspot.com/search/label/STANAG-5030
>
> and includes links to pages on associated topics.
>
> Cheers,
> George Georgevits
> VK2KGG
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Terry O'
> Sent: Friday, 3 April 2020 12:29 PM
> To: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
>
> The data rate was ridiculously slow.  3 characters in 15 minutes.  I
> wrote an article for Popular Communications on it, which, now they are
> out of print, is on my website.
> http://blackradios.terryo.org/documents/publications/e-ELF.pdf
>
> Terry O'
>
>
> On 4/2/2020 8:14 PM, Jeremy Nichols wrote:
>> Is that the receiver the Navy used with a transmitter somewhere in the
>> upper Midwest? Michigan or Wisconsin? For communicating with subs under
>> water anywhere in the world. Very low data rate.
>>
>> Jeremy
>> N6WFO
>>
>>
>>
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>



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 17:36:27 -0700
From: Brooke Clarke <brooke at pacific.net>
To: Nick England <navy.radio at gmail.com>,    George Georgevits
    <georgg at bigpond.net.au>
Cc: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
Message-ID: <5739cf07-84f9-2e62-78a1-4e8396935c17 at pacific.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Hi Nick:

I didn't see TACAMO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TACAMO
One source for EAMs.

-- 
Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
https://www.PRC68.com
http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html
axioms:
1. The extent to which you can fix or improve something will be limited by how well you understand how it works.
2. Everybody, with no exceptions, holds false beliefs.

-------- Original Message --------
> I have consolidated info on the USN ELF system at
> http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta-elf.htm
>
> Best regards
> Nick
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 6:51 PM George Georgevits <georgg at bigpond.net.au>
> wrote:
>
>> Gentlemen,
>>
>> ....I found the discussion on ELF and Terry's article of particular
>> interest. Given the lengths they had to go to (pun intended) to transmit
>> the signal, I wonder what aerial the submarine used to receive it?  Surely
>> not a very long wire towed in the water??? I also wonder what Rx equipment
>> they used, that is, before the days of SDR? A quick search on the Internet
>> drew a complete blank on this subject, even though the 76Hz system was
>> decommissioned (and presumably declassified)
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> George Georgevits
>> VK2KGG
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:
>> premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Terry O'
>> Sent: Friday, 3 April 2020 12:29 PM
>> To: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
>>
>> The data rate was ridiculously slow.  3 characters in 15 minutes.  I
>> wrote an article for Popular Communications on it, which, now they are
>> out of print, is on my website.
>> http://blackradios.terryo.org/documents/publications/e-ELF.pdf
>>
>> Terry O'
>>
>>
>> On 4/2/2020 8:14 PM, Jeremy Nichols wrote:
>>> Is that the receiver the Navy used with a transmitter somewhere in the
>>> upper Midwest? Michigan or Wisconsin? For communicating with subs under
>>> water anywhere in the world. Very low data rate.
>>>
>>> Jeremy
>>>



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 20:57:08 -0400
From: Nick England <navy.radio at gmail.com>
To: Brooke Clarke <brooke at pacific.net>
Cc: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
Message-ID:
    <CAB55hNeCG3T0gXPv1bL-xqYRmT0x6GWxYHyjdLZV95mVmMLvTg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I made a separate page for ELF.
The LF/VLF transmitter page (including TACAMO) is at
http://www.navy-radio.com/xmtr-vlf.htm
LF/VLF receiver info at
http://www.navy-radio.com/rcvr-vlf.htm
And antennas at
http://www.navy-radio.com/ant-shore.htm

There is info about the big VLF transmitter sites at
http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/lualualei.htm
http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/cutler.htm
http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/jimcreek.htm
http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/holt.htm
And some others at
http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta.htm

Cheers
Nick


On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 8:35 PM Brooke Clarke <brooke at pacific.net> wrote:

> Hi Nick:
>
> I didn't see TACAMO.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TACAMO
> One source for EAMs.
>
> --
> Have Fun,
>
> Brooke Clarke
> https://www.PRC68.com
> http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html
> axioms:
> 1. The extent to which you can fix or improve something will be limited by
> how well you understand how it works.
> 2. Everybody, with no exceptions, holds false beliefs.
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> > I have consolidated info on the USN ELF system at
> > http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta-elf.htm
> >
> > Best regards
> > Nick
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 6:51 PM George Georgevits <georgg at bigpond.net.au>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Gentlemen,
> >>
> >> ....I found the discussion on ELF and Terry's article of particular
> >> interest. Given the lengths they had to go to (pun intended) to transmit
> >> the signal, I wonder what aerial the submarine used to receive it?
> Surely
> >> not a very long wire towed in the water??? I also wonder what Rx
> equipment
> >> they used, that is, before the days of SDR? A quick search on the
> Internet
> >> drew a complete blank on this subject, even though the 76Hz system was
> >> decommissioned (and presumably declassified)
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > George Georgevits
> >> VK2KGG
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:
> >> premium-rx-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Terry O'
> >> Sent: Friday, 3 April 2020 12:29 PM
> >> To: premium-rx at mailman.qth.net
> >> Subject: Re: [Premium-Rx] Longwave Receiver Recommendations?
> >>
> >> The data rate was ridiculously slow.  3 characters in 15 minutes.  I
> >> wrote an article for Popular Communications on it, which, now they are
> >> out of print, is on my website.
> >> http://blackradios.terryo.org/documents/publications/e-ELF.pdf
> >>
> >> Terry O'
> >>
> >>
> >> On 4/2/2020 8:14 PM, Jeremy Nichols wrote:
> >>> Is that the receiver the Navy used with a transmitter somewhere in the
> >>> upper Midwest? Michigan or Wisconsin? For communicating with subs under
> >>> water anywhere in the world. Very low data rate.
> >>>
> >>> Jeremy
> >>>
>
> --
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com


------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 22:32:06 -0400
From: "John Hafele" <jhafele at optonline.net>
To: <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Premium-Rx] ELF/LF Equipment
Message-ID: <000001d60a29$3cc775d0$b6566170$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"

Greetings to all -

Wow !  What a bevy of information and member participation over the last two
days.

Great to see all of this activity during such a troubled time that we are
all enduring.

Being an avid LFer back in the late 80s and 90s, I am also familiar with the
old R-389s, HRO-500 and its companion LF-10 low frequency preselector, and a
number of other LF units described over the past couple days here. A 30`
vertical antenna insulated from ground with (5) 40` radials worked for me
extremely well. Many will remember the old WW2 and Korean War vintage
surplus LF transmitter variable caps and roller inductors etc. which made up
my matching setup at the time. All pleasant memories now.

I just wanted to get my two cents in here and also thank Nick for all of his
fantastic historic presentations and links here. I have perused his sites
many times over the years and still do so on occasion. Also, we must not
forget Terry whose contributions to this reflector have been commendable. As
well as his various sites and massive documentation collections that have
fascinated and helped so many avid hobbyists and collectors over the years
including me. Kudos to these truly dedicated guys !

Best to all  - and - stay well.

Regards --

John  WA1NLJ  Fairfield, CT.

 



------------------------------

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