Longwave Band Hopping Tonight

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spongella

spongella

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Winter and cold temps are the best time to listen to aeronautical beacons and tonight the band is in ship shape. Some beacons heard:
F8 - 383 kHz - Quebec
SJX - 382 kHz - MI
GMA - 387 kHz - NH
YPQ - 379 kHz - Ontario
FIS - 332 kHz - FL
JV - 331 kHz - IN

Have not seen such great conditions in a long time. Take a listen, each beacon id's in slow CW continuously. The ones from Canada will send a continuous tone in between identifications while the US beacons do not.

Try it, lots of fun and a good way to practice CW.
 
KC5AKB

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Yea 7mhz was odd a hour ago heard two Zl stations in qso I am in Texas /// I could hear the MI beacon you posted that's the only one I can hear Spongella.
 
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WA8ZTZ

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It has been a wild week on longwave. NDBs being heard 3 and 4 at a time. Hearing beacons from the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean, Maritimes to BC, and everything in between. If you want to give LW a try, now is the time, it doesn't get any better than this.

btw... nice catch guys on SJX, that can be elusive here in Michigan.
 
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WA8ZTZ

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AZ645 said:
Any advice for a good small portable with built in ferrite antenna for LW beacon DXing?
Click to expand...

You really need an external antenna.

Unfortunately, most portables have the internal ferrite you mention with no provision for an external antenna for the LW and MW bands. You will need to come up with some sort of a means of inductively coupling an antenna to the radio. Something like the Grundig AN200 will do it for the AM broadcast band but it will not tune down low enough for the LW beacon band.

My Tecsun PL-600 works fairly well on the LW band but had to fabricate a loopstick style inductive coupling device to connect it to external antenna and ground.

The Grundig Satellit 750 is rather large for a portable and a bit pricey but it does have provision for external antenna connection for LW/MW. With an external antenna it performs fairly well tuning in LW beacons.

Do an internet search for how to build an inductive coupling device. Most will be for AM broadcast band but with some experimentation can be made to work on LW (mostly involves adding more turns of wire ).
Most are quite easy to build requiring nothing more than some wire and a form to wind it on.

A portable with some means of connection to an external antenna will get you started on LW. If you find you like it, you can always graduate to a communications receiver and exotic antenna arrangements.
 
mmckenna

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AZ645 said:
Any advice for a good small portable with built in ferrite antenna for LW beacon DXing?
Click to expand...

If you can find an old Radio Shack DX-440/The Sangean 803 receiver, they work fairly well on AM and LW for DX listening. They are a bit old, but can often be found pretty cheap. They have an external antenna jack as well as a fairly large ferrite antenna. There is also a few modifications you can do to them to make them a bit more DX friendly.

I occasionally like to play around with AM Broadcast DX as well as LW beacon searches. A year or so ago I picked up a used Frequency Selective Voltmeter off e-Bay for about $40. It's a Rycom unit with an internal rechargeable battery. These are actually a piece of telecom test equipment used for checking signaling on old copper inter-CO/long distance systems. They work well as radio receivers. The IF is kind of narrow, so they are not ideal for any sort of entertainment type listening.

Hook either of these up to a beverage antenna or a loop antenna, and you've got a good low buck system.
Loop antennas are pretty easy to build, and small enough to use indoors. Beverage antennas need a lot of space to work well, as in several hundred feet or more of wire stretched out.
 
ridgescan

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WA8ZTZ said:
Nothing here. Local spur perhaps ?
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Definitely not a local thing as it has fade. I have a feeling I'm hearing something off the coast and wish someone here could give 164kHz USB a listen. I'd shoot a video but my camera's at the girl's home waiting for me to upload Christmas stuff into her computer.
 
mmckenna

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ridgescan said:
Definitely not a local thing as it has fade. I have a feeling I'm hearing something off the coast and wish someone here could give 164kHz USB a listen. I'd shoot a video but my camera's at the girl's home waiting for me to upload Christmas stuff into her computer.
Click to expand...

I've got a receiver in Santa Cruz, and I'm not hearing it down here.
 
spongella

spongella

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Checked 164 kHz the other night, nothing. Note that the LowFer band is on 160 - 190 kHz but that is a long shot if it's the one you are hearing.
 
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pjxii

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The past couple of weeks were very good for longwave NDB hunting. Here in Florida I was pulling in from Oregon to Bolivia. Been too busy this week to search, but have some time off now so hopefully conditions are the same.
 
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Boombox

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AZ645 said:
Any advice for a good small portable with built in ferrite antenna for LW beacon DXing?
Click to expand...

Sangean 909 or DX-398. I have one and it's excellent on Longwave. Just off the loop antenna I've heard beacons from 900 miles away. I'm certain that with an external loop I would be able to hear even more.

Any other Sangean radio you would need an external antenna -- which you want, anyway, if you really want to DX the LW or MW -- but a radio that is capable without an external antenna is a good indicator of its ability to DX.

The newer Sangean 909X is probably also good. But there have been issues with some of the firmware running the radios -- not sure if Sangean has straightened that out yet. If they have, it undoubtedly would be just as good on LW -- if memory serves, the circuitry looks identical to the 909/DX-398 in MW and LW.
 
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