Low Band 30 - 50Mhz: high power stations useful for DX monitoring
- Thread starter g8tzl2004
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mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Have you tried listening to SnoTel, 40.670MHz?
en.wikipedia.org
Most of the sites are in the Western US/Alaska, so maybe not much help for Europe.
SNOTEL - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Most of the sites are in the Western US/Alaska, so maybe not much help for Europe.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
There should also be some 6 meter beacons.
You could also try the 4 meter band for 70MHz:
G3USF's Worldwide List of 50MHz Beacons
comprehensive and daily maintained list of beacons in the 50mhz band. Listed under the DX Resources/Beacons/Beacon Lists category that is about beacon lists.
www.dxzone.com
You could also try the 4 meter band for 70MHz:
RFI-EMI-GUY
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29.620 Ham repeater KQ2H Catskill Mountains. Reportedly 1300 watts. I heard it here on my test bench with a ~ 3 foot test whip on a Syntor X9000. It is also heard in Europe. Has a distinctive door bell courtesy beep.
Marauder
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I love the KQ2H system. I think there's 11(?) other repeaters from Manhatten to lake george that connect to the 10m repeater.
30 - 50 megs is pretty much a crapshoot these days for hearing anything but I agree with the previous comments, checking the 10m amateur repeaters (29.6 - 29.7 MHz FM) and the six meter band (50 - 54 MHz) for activity is the way to go. I guess you could also check the CB band, especially Channel 6 for openings. Or, set your scanner to search and let it run.
VHF Propagation map http://aprs.mennolink.org/computer to decode.
Hepburn Tropo map https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_eur.html
Various maps and info N5PA Website - VHF/UHF Page
FT8 activity on 50.313MHz SSB can tell you a lot. FT8 is a digital mode and requires a computer and WSJT-X software (free) to decode. It is sideband, so it requires more than the standard scanner. You can use the mike in your computer to listen to the signal of the SSB receiver, so you don't need any special connection cables to decode strong signals.
Joe, K1ike
Hepburn Tropo map https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo_eur.html
Various maps and info N5PA Website - VHF/UHF Page
FT8 activity on 50.313MHz SSB can tell you a lot. FT8 is a digital mode and requires a computer and WSJT-X software (free) to decode. It is sideband, so it requires more than the standard scanner. You can use the mike in your computer to listen to the signal of the SSB receiver, so you don't need any special connection cables to decode strong signals.
Joe, K1ike
I have a Motorola 29MHz - 47MHz HT which I plan on programming with 10m 29.6 MHz FM freqs but I also want to include other high powered FM "VHF low band" RX freqs to check on conditions and also to see what other DX I can hear on a HT with an 18 inch helical antenna. So when the band is open I want to listen to both amateur 29.620 FM repeaters etc as well as VHF low band FM users between 30 and 47 MHz.
Thanks for all the other excellent suggestions for monitoring for DX signals.
Thanks for all the other excellent suggestions for monitoring for DX signals.
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I find that using an SDR and looking at CB is the best indicator. When you see that tall grass look you know the rest is likely hot.
nd5y
Member
Link is no good. Try VHF Propagation Map but remember that their data is from APRS stations mostly on 144.39 MHz so it's useless for VHF low band.
I keep a receiver scanning Ch5 and Ch6 - the former is used by LatAm truckers and is a good propagation indicator into the equatorial zone.
n1nte
Member
The 33 MHz fire frequencies used to be a great indicator. They were low enough in the band to indicate the start of an opening and many of them were very busy. I know some of the depts. no longer use them but many still simulcast on them. Worth checking out. Used to program a scanner with just those freqs in it to get a heads up on an opening.
Texas and the Midwest FDs were the norm during an opening up here in Massachusetts.
- Rob
Texas and the Midwest FDs were the norm during an opening up here in Massachusetts.
- Rob
I don't know much about the high power stuff, but I'm reminded of when a few engineers I worked with at Motorola did some development of some commercial equipment in those frequencies: they were located in a northern 'burb of Chicago doing a test when a fire dispatcher in California heard them and asked what was going on. Point being that if propagation's right you might not need a high power station in order to hear something...
Back in the 1980s, when propagation was seemingly always great, and on just a handheld first generation programmable scanner with the stock rubber ducky antenna, I used to always hear Pennsylvania FDs and a lot of other townships and city FDs down in the 33 MHz range. I eventually bought a Police Call frequency guide for that region just so I could more easily confirm who I was hearing if I wasn't sure. I was living down in the Houston, Texas area and those stations would come booming in. I was with the Spring VFD and we used 33.8 MHz. Some days I would hear much more traffic from multiple agencies up towards the northeast and it seemed like that frequency was used by a lot of FDs up that direction. I always enjoyed DXing with the scanner back in the day when there were so many VHF Lo band users across America
Brian
COMMSCAN
jhooten
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I have worked that machine from Central Texas using a Motorola MT1000 hand held. It is a beast.
Marauder
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Are there any other like it across the country? I scan the 10m band constantly and all I ever hear is the brilliant KQ2H system, I always considered myself to be privileged to live across the river from it lol
nd5y
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Marauder
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Oh man what a list, thank you ! I'm definitely giving them a shot this weekend
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