The LF Notebook The Mailbag, News and Comments About LF Radio, Etc. John H. Davis, Box 367, Warm Springs, GA 31830 e-mail: johnhdavis@aol.com The Okeefenokee isn't the only swamp in Georgia right now. West Georgia (more specifically, your columnist) has been swamped with responses to the beacon roundup. Thanks, everyone. Although I may have to neglect the Notebook a bit this time, with all the information to enter in the databases, be assured that if you sent additional news with your update, we'll get it in either this month or next. Keep the news coming! I have mixed the who-heard-whom's and the Top End beacon news and all the rest into the Notebook, so be sure to browse through the whole thing thoroughly. Like a Christmas stocking, you never know what you'll find in there! News From The Amateur Front Activity continues within the ARRL and the IARU toward a possible LF ham band. Throughout, I have been cautiously optimistic that our existing efforts could be accomodated somehow, which is why I felt important to get as many reader comments into print as possible. It now appears there may be some reason for that optimism. Malcolm P. Keown (Vicksburg, MS) advised us of the agenda for the September 16 meeting of the ARRL Executive Committee, which included a report by General Counsel Christopher D. Imlay, N3AKD, on research and strategies for achieving new allocations "in the vicinity of 160 kHz and 40 MHz." Another source (who may or may not care to be named at this time, so I won't) confirms that discussions with power companies and other commercial interests are being pursued. He feels the Board members "are receptive, but not well informed about 1750 meters." However, this individual also feels that our concerns and interests "will not only be considered, but will probably significantly determine the final arrangements." This is logical. Much of what we do in this band is the same sort of experimentation and research for which licensed amateurs are justly famous; we have the experience to know what sort of operation is practical here; and many of us are already licensed amateur operators as well. Supporting this view are contacts we've had over the past several weeks with frequency management consultant Richard L. Wilder, K3DI, who has been retained by the ARRL "to search for suitable LF spectrum (as well as HF and VHF spectrum) and am to prepare my recommendations in a report for considera- tion by the ARRL board. My search for LF spectrum is not limited to the 160 - 190 kHz band recommended by the NTIA. I will be gleaning information from the Lowdown and look forward to any additional comments." His total output goes to the ARRL Board, "for their use as they see fit," he adds. "I am particularly interested in the years of monitoring done by LowFERs that could serve to both identify usable spectrum, and as a basis to show that some assignments I see documented in U.S. and international files are not being used and should not be a basis for denial of our allocation." This is nothing less than a chance to put our experience, our gear, and our endless hours of listening to practical use in an effort that will shape the future of our hobby for years to come! I encourage all LF enthusiasts to do as many of the following as possible: *Listen and carefully log as much of the spectrum below 190 kHz as you can over the next few months. *Assemble and review your past loggings. *If you operate a LowFER station, redouble your efforts at QSOs and technical experimentation this winter. Hard facts count, so document and report on your results. That's the key, really. Get word to us on what you're doing, be it loggings or station operating, so we can get it into print. Mr. Wilder joined the LWCA in November, in part to inform himself of what goes on in this part of the spectrum, and partly because of a long-time interest: "I am excited about going LF again--I was first on about 197 kHz in 1947 and 1948 in Baldwinsville, NY, before I became W2ZCZ." You are welcome to contact him directly by the means mentioned below. But I cannot over-emphasize the value of getting your work published here as well. Consider--of all the hobby and specialized interest organizations in the world, the LWCA occupies a unique niche. On this continent, the number of people who have ever listened to longwave probably numbers in the low thousands. While some members come and some go, it's safe to say the vast core of active listeners and experimenters keep in touch with each other through the Lowdown. I don't know when this club last had officers or a formal structure. Everything is done on a volunteer basis. And yet nearly everybody gets along, the membership rolls are stable, the publication gets in the mail every month, and the organization has thrived for over 20 years in this loose alliance. Who ever heard of 50 people keeping a group together under these conditions, let alone 500-plus? I think this speaks volumes about our depth of interest in this part of the spectrum. Now we have the opportunity, through our very own publication, to express that sincerity and enthusiasm before the ARRL, the FCC, the NTIA, the IARU and who knows who else. Let's make the most of that opportunity. More than ever, this is the time to send in your news and comments. If also wish to contact Richard Wilder directly, these are his addresses in order of decreasing preference: wilder@clark.net, NE-USA-DXcluster > W3LPL, richard.wilder.@itu.ch, K3DI@KA3RFE.MD.USA.NOAM, fax: (410) 757-6720, voice: (410) 757-6706, or mail: 913 Shore Acres Road, Arnold, MD 21012-1724. The BBS -- And More? It has been a while since I last gave the Longwave BBS a plug on this page, so here's the pitch...more files than ever, including the latest COHERENT.ZIP (now up to version 4.4), and a new UPDATE.TXT with the latest beacon changes every week or two at this time of year. It's there and waiting if you've got a computer and modem. The number is at the top of the page, and it's free except for the phone call. In connection with modems (no pun intended), the BBS supports up to 9600 baud. But unfortunately, if you connect at 2400, it seems to have trouble transfering plain text. The welcome screen may be scrambled, and if you try to transfer ASCII files as text (such as ALLFILES.TXT, the master file list for the board), it's a slow and error-prone task. Even with .TXT files, it's best to use your X-modem, Y-modem, or other binary transfer protocols. There's less trouble at higher baud rates. The Longwave BBS is pretty economical to access if you're able to call it in off-peak hours in the U.S., and not too terrible from Canada. But elsewhere in the world? Woof! Wouldn't it be great to have a presence on the Internet, too, where a broader audience could be exposed to longwave? This month, Robert Schneider sent e-mail from Germany to ask if I knew of any ftp or World Wide Web sites with LF resources. I didn't know of any, so-- to greatly condense the story--he created one on a server there! You can check it out at ftp.uni-wuppertal.de /pub/lowfer (the dash is part of the address). It should be available as you read this. You can contact Robert at schneide@wrds1.urz.uni-wuppertal.de . I hope this will be the start of a substantial longwave presence on the 'net. I've often drooled at the thought of tying the BBS in, but the cost of hardware and data lines remains out of sight. There are now services that will host Web and ftp sites on their servers for nominal monthly fees. This is much more reasonable, but would still entail asking for monthly contri- butions or seeking out commercial support in some way. I think it would be great to have a longwave Web home page, though, and would be delighted to consider suggestions for what to put there and how to fund it. The Periodical Shelf Be watching for an upcoming Popular Electronics article by Karl Thurber, W8FX, on the mediumwave band, including information on MedFER operation. Scientific American has two interesting news items in the December issue, including fascinating discoveries by the Ulysses spacecraft about the solar wind (it's stronger at high latitudes than it is at the sun's equator, and there's an oscillating dividing line between the velocities), and about the sun's magnetic field (the lines of force are spread out, not concentrated near the poles), and more. The other interesting item is about acoustic resonances in subterranean structures associated with earth tremors. The concept of periodic rumblings called "harmonic tremors" has been around for a while, but seismic recordings made near a volcano in Java in 1992 were highly regular. The magazine reports, "The researchers' instruments recorded ground motion that contained a series of evenly spaced harmonic frequencies--like a musical instrument playing a single note rich in overtones. The fundamental frequency of these subaudible vibrations would often shift slightly up or down, as might a struggling singer trying to stay on key. The frequencies were restricted to below eight hertz...." There are several uncertain theories at this point as to the origins of the "music." It's interesting to think such regular motions might also have peizoelectric effects in rocks, resulting in possible detectable electrical effects. Digital Mode Progress Cliff Buttschardt (C, W6HDO; Morro Bay, CA; cbuttsch@slonet.org) had quite a bit of correspondence this month, which I will try to summarize. I may not be able to do justice to the whole situation this time, because of the crush of updates. Of course, we'll continue next month. One of the topics Cliff and I have been discussing is the need to distribute more news of digital modes, especially BPSK. These days, CCW is an up and coming technique in the ham bands, and is covered extensively by Peter Lumb's column in the Digital Journal. Cliff observes, though, "WB6RIJ and I have pushed for BPSK which really is a ham radio novelty and has even greater significance for LOWFERS. Peter is in Europe where there is no 1750 meter band, and therefore is not reporting what we are doing. What do we do?" At this point, I suppose, stand-alone articles and columns on digital modes here in the Lowdown would be the best bet, but there is need for wider exposure. The BBS is available to any and all for exchange of timely info, and the new Internet ftp site (mentioned elsewhere in this column) may become a good repository for articles and program files. Perhaps down the road we can manage something more, too. Suggestions are welcome. In such news as we have time for here, I believe Cliff mentioned the PC boards are about ready. Some development on exciters continues, and the group working on digital modes continues to expand. Dedicated experimenter Todd Roberts (ABC) has been enlisted (drafted?) here in the southeast. Although software has made prior knowledge of absolute frequency a little less critical than before in CCW and BPSK, frequency stability remains as important as ever. In ham band tests between WB6RIJ and W6HDO, with digitally modulated subcarriers modulating the 75-meter transmitters, Cliff reports, "Bill Lake made a transmission on LSB which I was able to copy perfectly but the results could not be duplicated, which I found later on to be my LO drift of only one cycle on 10 MHz WWV!" However, perfect copy was obtained in AM mode. "W6VKP made tape recordings of the AM signal since we are all curious if the wow and flutter might prevent detection." Bill de Carle's COHERENT software has been continually updated this past month, and is in version 4.4 at this writing. Beginning with 4.1, some major improvements were added. As Cliff says: "Bill Lake (WB6RIJ) and I have daily QSO's on CCW or BPSK and are having better results by the hour. With DeCarle keeping pace with the results, we are embarking on CRC protocols far in advance of anything done in the past. If we simply do not put any restrictions on DeCarle such as 7 or 8 bit ASCII, etc, he will surely come up with error correcting improvements." From a later communication: "The last issue abandons conventional detection methods for a highly complex protocol that I simply do not understand but works like crazy! WB6RIJ and I now have daily skeds using one character per second BPSK with signals so close to noise as to be non-existent!" Bill has prepared an article describing a data coding method that is less sensitive to phase errors resulting from noise hits and such, and it may appear in this issue. He has also developed a program called TUNER, which Cliff describes as a potential "godsend for us guys with plus/minus ten hertz transceivers." Both COHERENT.ZIP and TUNER.ZIP are on the Longwave BBS, as well as on Bill's BBS. Loop the Loop Randy Lott (Plano, TX) was curious whether the Kiwa loop antenna, a well- crafted air core loop with regeneration, and highly regarded among BCB DXers, could be modified for LF work. He called the manufacturer and found out it couldn't. But there is good news. Randy reports, "He said he is working on a low-frequency version that should be done in 6 - 9 months. I asked him if he had any input from the LWCA, and he had not heard of the LWCA. I know he consulted with the BCB DX clubs when he designed the existing Kiwa loop, and he acted on their feedback and prototype evaluation comments." Randy recommends we LWCA members consider contacting the manufacturer "and working with him in a consultant mode to produce a premier LF loop antenna. Nowhere will he find a better pool of experience in designing this antenna than the LWCA. He was impressed when I told him about the LWCA, and seemed very keen on how many members we have." "The only issue with the Kiwa loop is the price. It is around $300, and I suspect the LF version will be too." The address is KIWA, 612 South 14th Avenue, Yakima, WA 98902. The phone number is (509) 453-5492, and kiwa@wolfe.net is the e-mail address. Beacon Bits Not a garnish for salads, but a section in which to fit a few brief notes: *Eric Mildebrath, W0OBF: "ERM is only on the air whenever the antenna is erected, and that is infrequently due to my XYL's disapproval of that 'messy looking birdcage' in the back yard. You may as well call me off the air until I can get a more invisible xmtg. antenna design constructed." Hope that won't be long, Eric. *Ken Cornell, W2IMB: "I will have my beacon KEN back on most evenings. Being VFO controlled, I will normally operate within the 1685-1690 kHz range. I will be experimenting with various types of antennas, so if I am logged by anyone, I would appreciate the date. So far, my best confirmed (QSLed) DX is Hudson, NH; Richmond Hill, ON; and Chardon, OH. This was on 1652. Here's hoping for a real good LowFER and MedFER season!" *Dexter McIntyre, WA4ZIA: "I plan to have the ZIA beacon back in operation about mid November. Will again be on 189.000 kc from EM95TG, a few miles from Stanfield, NC, 30 miles east of Charlotte. Looking foward to working the Lowfer gang on 1750 and 160 meters again this winter." *Doug Williams, KB4OER: As of Oct. 24, "LF beacon OER is not on the air yet....I have moved the antenna, but haven't done any work on the ground system yet. I will let you know when and if I get it working." *Frank Cathell (K3YAZ; former H2 and SD), has headed east from southern California, and is settling in Tucson. He hopes to be on again late next month, with MedFER TSN at 1687.4 kHz. No room for a LowFER antenna, but his new address (eff. Jan. 1), 36998 South Golf Course Drive, Tucson, AZ 85737, sounds pleasant. *Len Engstrom put ARK back on the air from Leslie, AR, on November 1, and was heard on the afternoon of the 4th by both John Reed in Ponca City, OK, and Bill Bowers in Davenport, OK. *Last minute LF loggings from Brice Anderson (BA): YHO, WI. Static is still bad there. He says the following are also definitely on: BA, BK, JDH, MEP, NI WI, TH, KRY, LEK. Bart Prater (VA) has heard NI recently, but says the ID sounds more like "TEI." Bart also hears ZIA on the LowFER band. And, Of Course, The Mailbag... - Jim Ericson (MB, KG6EK; 9624 Mt. Baker Hwy., PO Box 5262, Glacier, WA 98244-5262. Email: jderic@pacificrim.net) sent word of his new MedFER station. "We are the farthest northwest county (Whatcom) in the [contiguous] US! The station is running FSK, with the main carrier on 1610 kHz being modulated with nice clean music (Christmas tunes, presently!). The FSK CW modulation sends a slow (Maybe 5 wpm) MB at plus/minus 75 Hz from the main carrier. 'MB' stands for Mount Baker, which is a spectacular glacier-decked mountain and ski resort in the area. The CW will run 24 hours/7days, but I may have to run the AM modulation on a catch-can basis depending on how cold the weather gets and how it affects my tape player out in the barn with the transmitter! We are 33 miles east of Bellingham, WA (a town of about 60,000 people located 60 miles or so south of Vancouver, Canada)." "The transmitter is a synthesized unit designed and used by Mark Mallory several years ago in Utah. He was kind enough to loan it to me and help set it up during a recent visit to Washington. Getting this thing on the air required some very 'primitive engineering,' to quote Mark. My scope and signal generator are antiques, and I live an 80 mile roundtrip from the nearest Radio Shack. It seems to get out pretty well, and the local residents don't seem to mind the continuous Christmas music (this is October mind you)... at least so far. It's driving my wife and kids nuts, though." - Conrad M. Phillippi (AA8ON; e-mail: phillipc@dmapub.dma.org ) answers Will Payne's questions in the Nov. 95 LOWDOWN. "I have literature references from the early 1970's about using 45 and 75 Hz as propagation test frequencies. But the two Navy sites near Clam Lake WI and Republic MI both now use 76 Hz according to the Site Administrator. I explored these areas last summer. The 'underground' antennas are actually loop antennas (Discover Magazine, Jan 82), half above ground, which look like miles of ordinary powerlines (but with 1, 2 or 3 conductors) on wooden poles. Public opposition was still evident at the Clam Lake site." - Lyle Koehler (LEK, MIN, K0LR; Aitkin, MN) updates us from the frozen north: " I just came back from checking out the wildlife pond to see if it was OK for skating. The ice is 2 to 3 inches thick in most places but there is still a little patch of open water. One more cold night should fix that." As of early November, "the storms down your way are still evident on LF. I was pleased to hear BA between the static crashes at about 0500 CDT on October 19th and again on November 5th. Brice's signal was the only skywave LowFER to make it up here until this evening. KRY finally appeared about two hours after sunset today." "On the local scene, BK's new antenna is performing very well. (Drawing & description next month. - JHD) BK's signal strength is already better than its best level last winter, and is still improving with the arrival of below- freezing temperatures. SAM's signal is also returning to winter levels. 0KVL apparently has a temperature problem in his LF transmitter that takes it off the air whenever the temperature is below about 40 degrees F. Unless he gets it fixed we won't hear much from him over the next few months. ART and RM have been operating intermittently; I haven't heard either of them for about a week." Bruce's new beacon, YB, "is now on the air, and although it doesn't boom in like BK it is readable here at a distance of just over 100 miles." "Summary of LowFERs heard during the past month: ART, BA, BK, KRY, RM, SAM, YB and 0KVL." "On MF I've heard D, STLMO and 0KVL. STLMO has been readable almost every night since I first heard it about a month ago. Eventually the 'pipeline' between here and St. Louis may shut down, but it has been a surprisingly consistent path. Brice has reported hearing MIN but I haven't heard IE yet this fall." "My latest attempt at an equipment modification was a little more successful than the Autek RF-1 episode. I installed a variable-frequency clock oscillator in my DSP-59+ audio filter. Details of the modification are contained in the file DSP59MOD.ZIP (Windows Write format, now on the BBS). I've sent a copy to Bill Oliver for possible use in the LOWDOWN." Regarding the photograph of Lyle and Tod Olsen in last month's Field Day report in QST, he explains, "Fortunately we only needed 5 QSOs to get the 'natural power' bonus points. The field winding of the car alternator we were using took more power than the home-brew transmitter, and the V belt around the bicycle rim probably burned up more energy than the transmitter and field winding combined. Anyway, I was glad to hear that fifth 'QSL'. W0AA did OK this year, finishing ninth in the single-transmitter class. Now if we could just get the ARRL to give a 100-point bonus for a 1750-meter QSO!" -Robert R. De Vaughn (K3NBD; 829 Estelle, Pittsburgh, PA 15210 ? ; e-mail: robertd804@aol.com) turned up in the Ham Radio Club VLF message board on America Online recently. In September, he mentioned he was "just getting my station to gether, but have been interested for a long time. Xmitter is built, converter is working, antenna is up and currently building IDer." Robert was a former Western Update subscriber, and I passed along some information on the LWCA. Robert should be able to pursue his LF activities when he has his ATV station completed. He's interested in suggestions for a good frequency for his LowFER beacon. -Steve McGreevy (RR, San Rafael, CA) advises: "my 1637.93 RR (dash after ID) is back on, running nightly from approx 0830 until 1130 UT. I added a relay which switches out the antenna when power is switched off by timer, thus no more annoying intermod products causing spurs up from LF past 3 MHz HF!" "The N beacon on 1678 (a transmitter of mine loaned a few years ago to Carle Bumpus is transmitting from Lake Wildwood, about 15 miles northwest of Grass Valley, CA, in the sierra foothills, and is not in San Rafael. This has been the case for at least 2.5 years now--he keeps it runnin' for all to hear!" Steve says repeat geomagnetic disturbances were expected around Halloween and first week of November "due to a well placed and recurrent coronal hole. Has spawned GREAT aurora first week of Sept. (while I was in AK) and also 27- 29 days later up there, as well as high A and K indices, and major magnetic storms at high and middle latitudes. October 19 saw great aurora in Alaska, per info from a friend up there, plus a large expansion of auroral zone southward. Missed out on probably great Natural Radio sounds--had to travel to Milwaukee, WI, Oct 4-7th, but did catch some interesting auroral-related MW BCB recpetion of Colombia 1100 strong, battling WWWE Cleveland, plus enhanced Cuban station reception. Started to sound normal on Saturday night, Oct. 7th there. Always fun to check out another location's DX even if just casually." - Robert Laney (RL, Herndon, VA) reports progress on his new antenna. "I have the telescoping mast erected and I have two sections extended at the present time. I will be raising the mast a section at a time (four sections in all) and making a round of tuning measurements with each extension. Currently the top hat is at 25 feet. Raising a section at a time over a week or two give my next door neighbor a chance to get used to it. It doesn't just shoot up to 40 feet in one afternoon. Actually, I have a very understanding neighbor and I am doing it in this manner more to make the measurements than worry that he will complain. Today I purchased a water tight plastic storage box to house the loading coil and amp." The final section should be up and RL may be operating now, assuming the wind let up long enough to finish. Footnotes. Sure enough, we're out of time and space, and there's still more good material to start next month's column with. I apologize to those who were postponed, but keep that news flowing and have a very happy holiday! 73. - - -