Longwave

Has anyone ever heard anything on longwave?

Not current and a lot probably no longer active but FWIW:

NDB's heard week of 2/14/06 between 2200 and 2330
IC-703PLUS and 40M - 10M multiband dipole running N - S at 25 ft inside.

362 AK Akron, OH
524 AJG Mt Carmel, IL
248 BF Tabey, Burke Lakefront, OH
414 BC____ Baie Comeau, QC, CAN
416 BKL Burke Lakefront, OH
379 BRA Broad River, Asheville, NC
344 CL KCLE Cleveland, OH
394 DTE Mark Anton, TN
391 DDP Dorando San Juan, PR
426 FTP Fort Payne, AL
521 GF KCGF Cuyhoga Co, OH
408 HBD Hubbard, OH
429 IKY Springfield, KY
432 IZN Lincolnton, NC
263 LQL Lakeland, Willoughby, OH
403 MRT Marysville, OH
392 ML____ Charlevoix, QC, CAN
423 PCW Port Clinton, OH
353 QG____ Winsor, ON, CAN
332 QT____ Thunder Bay, ON, CAN
419 RYS Grosse Ile, MI
363 RNB Millville, NJ
378 RJ____ Roberval, Ont, CAN
362 SB___ Sudbury, ON, CAN
521 TVX Greencastle, IN
326 VV____ Wiarton, ON, CAN
400 XW Flemingsburg, KY
395 XEN Xenia, OH
394 YB____ North Bay, ON, CAN
272 YQA____ Muskoka, ON, CAN
516 YWA____ Petawawa ON, CAN
341 YYU____ Kapuskasing, ON, CAN
409 YTA____ Pembroke, ON, CAN
413 YHD___ Dryden, ON CAN
340 YY____ Mont Joli, QC, CAN
335 YLD____ Chapeau, ON, CAN
351 YKQ Waskagnish, QC, CAN
382 YPL____ Pickle Lake ON,CAN
346 YXL____ Sioux Lookout, ON, CAN
329 YHN____ Horne Payne, ON, CAN
366 YMW____Maniwaki, QC. CAN
245 YZE____ (LONG DASH) Gore Bay, ON, CAN
398 ZQG___ LaSalle Winsor ON, CAN
404 ZYB____ Yelleck, North Bay ON, CAN
407 ZHU____ St Hubert, QC, CAN

Dennis - I'm unsure of what you want to hear, but there is no US based broadcasting on LW at all. While there are some European stations, they are slowly but surely dying out. They can be heard here in the US when conditions are right, and you have a very good setup.

Apart from some ham activity (recently opened up, in fact) there are beacons like W8SQY reported, a number of heavily encrypted data signals used by the military, and other beeps and boops - some atmospherics, too.

Most US marketed radios have their LW sensitivity cut back, in part, due to the lack of any US broadcast usage.

Mike

Thanks guys. Sounds like a losing proposition.

I've logged a bunch of NDB aircaft beacons as well... I sometimes listen to WWVB down at 60 Khz just to see how it's coming in, but it's kind of boring to listen to. It's a phase modulated signal used for setting 'atomic clocks', There's no voice. I've listened for ham activity on 135 Hhz, but have never heard anything.

There are a few military VLF stations. Station NAA in Cutler Maine at 24 Khz is a well known one... I don't know if it's still operating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLF_Transmitter_Cutler

DennisKink said:

Thanks guys. Sounds like a losing proposition.

Click to expand...

Dennis, were you just curious or interested in something specific? Mike

My personal experience is that LW comes through best in winter/early spring. I occasionally scan LW now and it's a weak band here currently. I tried it last night before bed and still caught a few Canadian NDBs and a few here in the US but even they were not as strong as they would be in winter/spring.

W8SQY said:

Not current and a lot probably no longer active but FWIW:

Click to expand...

Most of those beacons are still on the air, especially the Canadians.

jwt873 said:

I've logged a bunch of NDB aircaft beacons as well... I sometimes listen to WWVB down at 60 Khz just to see how it's coming in, but it's kind of boring to listen to. It's a phase modulated signal used for setting 'atomic clocks', There's no voice. I've listened for ham activity on 135 Hhz, but have never heard anything.

There are a few military VLF stations. Station NAA in Cutler Maine at 24 Khz is a well known one... I don't know if it's still operating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLF_Transmitter_Cutler

Click to expand...

Still operating. And NLK Jim Creek WA on 25.2 kHz and LaMoure ND on 24.8 kHz. As well as others else where in the world. Note that it is "kHz" not "Khz". "Hz" has the H capitalized and see for example:
https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/prefixes.html
But MHz is for 1000000 Hz. The caps start there (decaherz or 100 Hz is 1 dHz.

I have no idea what radio the OP has, but even if he has a Sangean portable, it should bring in some beacons and DGPS stations (DGPS stations -- some of which are still apparently on the air, sound like RTTY and the signals go a long ways).

Add an external box or spiral loop for LW and he could hear even more. I've heard Canadian beacons 500+ miles away with just my DX398 / Sangean 909 -- just off its own internal loop antenna.

Some guy in Maine or Massachusetts claimed to hear European or African LW stations on his Sangean ATS505, without aid of an external loop. He probably lives near the water, though.

This is DGPS, courtesy of the Digital Decoding FAQ and the SigIDWiki...

https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Differential_Global_Positioning_System_(DGPS))

Mike

ka3jjz said:

Dennis, were you just curious or interested in something specific? Mike

Click to expand...

Just curious because it's a band on my radio.

Even in Europe, I think longwave is getting hard to hear. I've taken a portable radio on my last few trips and in the big cities all you get is noise. From what I understand, you can sometimes get European longwave broadcasts on the east coast, but I certainly havent ever got anything out west with my measly lw/sw portable and the stock whip.

As for English language programming, it looks like BBC at 198khz and RTE at 252khz are all that's left, and RTE is closing summer 2019. I think the BBC will survive a bit longer as fishermen in the Atlantic and North Sea count on it for the shipping forecast.

Hello,

There are still some NDB left.
LW Radio Beacons

Also DGPS.
DGNSS Stations

Longwave Broadcast Stations
https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Longwave_Broadcast_Stations

73 Eric

Still lots of NDBs out there. Logged 60 this morning in 60 minutes... sometimes hearing 2,3, or 4 at a time. Band was quiet and should get better as winter approaches (less T-storm static).
IIRC, the DGPS stations are scheduled to be phased out over the next 2-3 years.
Have heard longwave broadcasting from northern Africa here in Michigan but conditions have to be excellent (long winter night dark path in between).

Dennis, whatever radio you have will require a good antenna if you want to hear much on longwave.

DennisKink said:

Just curious because it's a band on my radio.

Click to expand...

Would you mind telling us what radio you have and where you're located? I'm sure someone here has the same model and can tell you what to expect with it.

I'm in Florida and in winter months can receive a couple of longwave broadcast stations from northern Africa very well quite often. Occasionally a European station come in though not as good. Lots of airport beacons here as well.