What would be a good antenna for 60kHz WWVB station?

[Boombox]

No.

Radio Station WWVB

Station InformationUpdate 11 October 2024: As of 10 October 2024, 2300 UTC

www.nist.gov

Scroll down to "Signal Description".

Looks like the computer clocking charts you see in some chip datasheets and radio service manuals. Interesting. Thanks for posting it, and the video. I can't seem to catch WWVB here on my only radio capable of tuning that low. Just a very faint carrier, which may or may or may not be RFI.

 

[KB4MSZ]

I have a 17 foot telescopic stainless whip (MFJ 1979) I can attach to my truck. Using a length of coax I connect the antenna to the cable going into the house, and this in turn connects to my RSPdx SDR. I can at least see the carrier almost 24 hours a day, but at night the signal improves considerably. Using this setup, the best signal I have had was a 20.3 db SNR at just over S4. My full size flat top 1/2 wave 40 meter dipole is no match for the whip, I assume it is due to the whip being vertical.

 

[MUTNAV]

It was - in fact too narrow on the frequency. But often I use a broadband one. But I am not sure why you said what you said as I said I never have overload issues with any loop I had.

On page 31 of this document, it says the receiver bandwidth should be plus or minus 10 Hz.

https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2422.pdf

It's unlikely the antenna was too narrowbanded.

Thanks
Joel

 

[dlwtrunked]

On page 31 of this document, it says the receiver bandwidth should be plus or minus 10 Hz.

https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2422.pdf

It's unlikely the antenna was too narrowbanded.

Thanks
Joel

Yes, I know from the data rate. But it (that one I built) had so high Q that it was so narrow banded that it had "ringing". I do not use that loop antenna anymore.

 

[KE7IZL]

I noticed a strong suggestion from posts, mentioning a magnetic coil type antenna. Is there a reason this would be better than a random long wire antenna? The coil type antenna is for picking up the magnetic field, while the long wire type of antenna is for picking up the electric field. Yet both fields are pressent in radio waves, as they are a type of electromagnetic radiation (electric + magnetic = electromagnetic). So I'm not sure why one type of antenna would really be better than the other type.

 

[MUTNAV]

I noticed a strong suggestion from posts, mentioning a magnetic coil type antenna. Is there a reason this would be better than a random long wire antenna? The coil type antenna is for picking up the magnetic field, while the long wire type of antenna is for picking up the electric field. Yet both fields are pressent in radio waves, as they are a type of electromagnetic radiation (electric + magnetic = electromagnetic). So I'm not sure why one type of antenna would really be better than the other type.

A tuned loop antenna has a narrower bandwidth, so a lot of extraneous noise is eliminated before it can even get to the receiver. A long wire antenna will pickup just about everything, especially the long wave and medium wave broadcasts.

Also a tuned loop should be MUCH smaller.

Thanks
Joel