[R-390] RECEPTION OF SAQ 17.2 KHz SUCCESSFUL AT HOME LOCATION

[ToddRoberts2001 at aol.com]

Hi All,
       Wanted to report I had successful reception of SAQ 17.2KHz Sunday 
morning at 12:30 UTC! Somehow I overslept the 09:30 UTC transmission but it may be 
just as well as I was able to really dial-in my receiving setup before the 
12:30 transmission.
        SAQ was about RST 329 and copy was good - light static on the band 
and the signal was not too strong but very readable and clear. My CW is a bit 
rusty and I was only getting bits and pieces of their copy - it sounded like 
they were sending about 18WPM. If they had sent about 10WPM I think I would have 
gotten solid copy. Sorry I didn't have a battery tape recorder to use so 
wasn't able to record the transmission. If I had recorded it I could have gone over 
it a few times and I am sure I would have gotten solid copy of the message. 
The transmission lasted 5 minutes. I did send them a reception report - not 
sure if anyone else in the USA heard them but now I have a good idea of exactly 
what to listen for and what kind of signal strength to expect. If anyone else 
in the USA East Coast has a reasonably quiet location they should have been 
able to copy them also.
       I owe my successful copy to using a Hagan large ferrite-core loop 
receiving antenna with converter and using a battery-operated receiver. The R-389 
would have done a good job but I had to be able to divorce the receiver from 
the power lines in order to get reasonable copy down at 17.2KHz. I ended up 
using a Drake R8A on batteries. After cutting the main breakers to the house I 
found that by carefully aligning the loop I was able to null out about 80-90% of 
the awful power-line harmonics and noise that was normally running about S-7 
on the Drake R8A S-meter. I was able to null the power-line hash down to about 
S-2 - S-3 on the meter and I don't think I would have been able to copy SAQ 
if I wasn't able to null out the noise. When I switched the house power back on 
I was unable to null the noise and it was a constant S-7 on the meter which 
would have made copy impossible. I sent them a signal report and mentioned that 
I hope they would be able to make another transmission sometime during the 
winter when conditions are best.  73 Todd WD4NGG