Homebrewing and Operating Adventures From 2200m To Nanowaves
Thanks to May (VA7MAY) and Mark (VA7MM) spending the time to scan my 630m QSL card collection, I have now been able to complete their work by posting a dedicated page for the cards.
If you've ever wondered what can be worked on this 'below the broadcast band' MF amateur band, then viewing the cards and reading their comments may give you some insight into its character.
Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?
For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.
Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.
Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.
All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.
From CLE organizers comes the following info:
Hello all
Here are the full details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.
It is open to everyone including CLE new-comers:
Days: Friday 27 Oct. - Monday 30 Oct.
Times: Start and end at midday, LOCAL time at the receiver.
NB: Most of us are changing our clocks by one hour this weekend.
However UTC time (as shown in our logs) continues unaffected.
Range: 335.0 - 349.9 kHz
Wherever you are, please join us and log the NDBs that you can positively
identify that are listed in this busy frequency range (it includes 335.0 kHz
but not 350 kHz), plus any UNIDs that you come across there.
Short and long logs are welcome (in-between ones are good too!)
Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email
(not in an attachment) with ‘CLE297 FINAL’ in its subject line.
Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:
# The date (e.g. '2023-10-27' or just the day no. '27') and UTC
(the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
# kHz (The beacon's nominal published frequency)
If you don’t know it, please visit https://rxx.classaxe.com
where you will find all the details.
# The Call Ident.
Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc. If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete, log.
Always make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of your listening location (the 6-character Locator) and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc., that you were using.
We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC
on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest
by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 1 November. We will then hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.
You can find full information about current and past CLEs from the
CLE page https://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.
You can also find your relevant seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW by visiting https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.
Good listening
Brian and Joachim
(CLE Coordinators)
(Reminder: You could use any ONE remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner - with their permission if required. A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE)
This summer’s Sporadic-E season has pretty much wound-down once again. As E seasons go, this one ranked right up there with the worst of them but this comes with some provisos.
Over the past several years, my only interest has focused on Europe and Asia, looking for any DXCC entities that I have not yet worked and I tend to ignore most domestic openings unless the MUF appears to be climbing into the range of 2m.
YZS-362 Coral Harbor, NU (ve3gop.com) |
Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?
When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.
For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.
Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.
Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.
All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.
From CLE organizers comes the following info:
Hello all,
Our 294th Co-ordinated Listening Event is almost here.
First time CLE logs too? Yes, please!
Short logs are always as welcome as long ones.
Days: Friday 28 July - Monday 31 July
Times: Start and End at midday, your LOCAL time
Range: 350.0 - 369.9 kHz
Please log all the NDBs you can identify that are listed in this range (it includes 350 kHz but not 370) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.
Send your final CLE log to ndblist@groups.io, preferably as a plain text email, not in an attachment and - important - with 'CLE294' and 'FINAL' in its title.
Please show the following main items FIRST on EVERY line of your log:
# The Date (e.g. 2023-07-28) or just the day (e.g. 28)
# The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
# kHz - the beacon's nominal published frequency, if you know it.
# The Call Ident.
Optional details, such as Location and Distance, go LATER in the same line.
Please make your log useful to everyone by including your listening location, its 6-character Maidenhead Locator if you know it, and brief details of the receiver and aerial(s).
We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.
To be included in the combined results, do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 2 August at the very latest.
We hope to make all the combined results within a day or so.
You can find full information about current and past CLEs from the CLE page https://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.
You can also find your relevant seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW by visiting https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.
Good listening
Brian & Joachim
(CLE coordinators)
(Reminder: If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner - with their permission if required.
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE)
CLE's provide several purposes. They: