WWV query

[barchetta]

I have a cheap mag loop antenna and a new to me NRD-525 which I just received. I was trying to hear wwv and all known freqencies and could not. Is there any trick? I tried AM and SSB.
I tried last night 9p local time and could not and then I woke up at midnight and got up and tried again. I should try with my SDR tonight. Im kind of obsessed with this.. I live in an association and antenna is difficult. There is a very large pine tree near me. Im thinking lead weight, fishing line, throw it up there and hoist up the loop. I dont think anyone would see it.. Id use some real think 50ohm coax.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Mag loop unless properly installed will often not have good sensitivity. But good ones can work well. What one do you have and where (your location as well inside or outside) are you using it? Also, do you hear any signals at all with it? Height is not probably going to fix your problem.

 

[Teotwaki]

I have a cheap mag loop antenna and a new to me NRD-525 which I just received. I was trying to hear wwv and all known freqencies and could not. Is there any trick? I tried AM and SSB.
I tried last night 9p local time and could not and then I woke up at midnight and got up and tried again. I should try with my SDR tonight. Im kind of obsessed with this.. I live in an association and antenna is difficult. There is a very large pine tree near me. Im thinking lead weight, fishing line, throw it up there and hoist up the loop. I dont think anyone would see it.. Id use some real think 50ohm coax.

What loop antenna? Did you try checking all of the WWV frequencies at different times of day?

In MHz 2.5 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 and 25.0

 

[pjxii]

Although I highly doubt that this is the case here, three weeks ago there was a solar storm and I posted this in another thread:

I was just tuning around the ham bands and for a check went to 10 MHz. No peep from the guy in Colorado but the girl in Hawaii was doing fine.

 

[markclark]

Well that test shows the loop is out. You need a good longwire, dipole, or an amplified loop to get any decent reception. The Wiki discusses various antenna and I'll post links below for some reputable (not Chinese) manufacturers.

There are a ton of antenna makers out there, I can't begin to list them all. Be sure to ask a lot of questions and read the reviews. Do the wiki.

Good luck!

- MyAntennas.com

EFHW End-Fed Half-Wave antennas, BALUNs, UNUNs, CMC chokes, and OCF dipoles — engineered, built to order, and tested in the USA since 2015. Designed by Danny Horvat, E73M / N4EXA — 45 years in antennas, and the former Cushcraft design engineer behind the MA5B, R8, R6000, X7, X9, and Navassa-5...

myantennas.com

Alpha Delta

www.alphadeltaradio.com

DX Engineering DXE-RF-PRO-1B DX Engineering RF-PRO-1B® Active Magnetic Loop Antennas | DX Engineering

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Page 130

Vibroplex, Bencher, GHD and Hi-Mound Morse Code keys. INRAD headsets, microphones and filters. Par EndFedz EFHW antennas, Spiderbeam fiberglass poles. mAT-TUNER automatic antenna tuners, Easy-Rotor-Control rotator controllers, DX Patrol receivers

www.vibroplex.com

 

[N1FKO]

I have a cheap mag loop antenna and a new to me NRD-525 which I just received. I was trying to hear wwv and all known freqencies and could not. Is there any trick? I tried AM and SSB.

You might also try CHU (Canada) at 3.33 MHz and 7.850 MHz.

 

[barchetta]

Mag loop unless properly installed will often not have good sensitivity. But good ones can work well. What one do you have and where (your location as well inside or outside) are you using it? Also, do you hear any signals at all with it? Height is not probably going to fix your problem.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X6JW34Y?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_6

I drilled a hole at the top of a 8ft pvc pipe and ran the loop through it to hold the loop up.. I was just thinking, is it bad that the loop touches the PVC? Really expensive mag loops are really expensive, and I wonder how much better they are except for the spend syndrome.

I have been able to hear broadcast bands at night only... mostly lower frequencies like 7.5 khz.. a lot of 80m band ( is that the open band these days or is it because of my situation?) some 40 as well. All at night only. MW DX is ok in the day and better at night.

Im 20 miles south of charlotte NC.

The antenna is about 6ft away from my desk outside and between two buildings sadly. The buildings are about 100ft apart. There are also some trees in the area. Its amazing I can hear anything to me.

I have a 20m dipole in my attic and can hear nothing on it at all... but I recently figured out I have installed it incorrectly as it is touching my trusses and should be suspended. Is 20m dead? Dont want to waste my time and Im strongly thinking about moving now.

 

[dlwtrunked]

A couple things:
1. What is the construction material of the buildings?
2. How well do you hear WWV with just a long( 30 ft?) of wire
3. Touching wood or PVC will have no effect.
4. Do you hear anything on *any band* with the 20 m dipole.
5. I keep suspecting the problem is the receiver.

 

[pjxii]

Does your SDR receive all these things equally or better/worse than the NRD-525?

 

[GlobalNorth]

Loops are rather directional. 5 MHz at night should be rather easy - turn the loop slowly until WWV or WWVH comes in.

 

[RufusDawes]

^^^ what he said, the loop is directional, rotate the loop until you hear a signal on 10 Mhz

also, make sure the RF is turned to max

 

[W5KK]

I’ve used these for AM broadcast reception and they work ok. The price is good and all you need is a piece of pvc pipe. I haven’t tried these for anything above 2 MHz. but it should work ok (specs are 100k-30M). They do require a source of power for the preamp.

Amazon.com: MLA-30 Loop Antenna Active Receiving Antenna 100kHz - 30MHz for Short Wave Radio : Electronics

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www.amazon.com

 

[pjxii]

Tonight's another night where WWV is not heard but WWVH is very strong and clear into SW USA on 10 MHz but just the opposite on 5 MHz.

 

[krizanek]

I have a cheap mag loop antenna and a new to me NRD-525 which I just received. I was trying to hear wwv and all known freqencies and could not. Is there any trick? I tried AM and SSB.
I tried last night 9p local time and could not and then I woke up at midnight and got up and tried again. I should try with my SDR tonight. Im kind of obsessed with this.. I live in an association and antenna is difficult. There is a very large pine tree near me. Im thinking lead weight, fishing line, throw it up there and hoist up the loop. I dont think anyone would see it.. Id use some real think 50ohm coax.

I live in an Hoa. Luckily, the builders used radiant OSB for the roof sheathing. I have 250 sq feet of radiant OSB in a dipole arrangement pointed at 40 degrees Northeast. In the morning, I can pick up, WWV and WWVH fairly welll. s9 on the Airspy HF + AT 10 mhz. NY aero is coming in pretty good through out the day on 8-13 mhz. I also have a 150 foot efhw at 10 feet high. I get a higher noise but also a higher signal noise. Same situation on WWV and WWVH.

 

[ratboy]

I can almost always hear WWV on some frequency. A lot of the time, with the insane level of RFI I have in my apartment, it's one of the few things I can actually get at all. On my 525 last night, on a hunk of about 6 feet of wire, I got it at 5 and 10 MHZ. The announcer was barely understandable, but it was there, under the BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! About all I can get are a few AM BC stations that are very strong. My portables get the same thing. I can drive a block away from my apartment and listen to just about anything I want. I sometimes watch trains and I have a cable made up that I just toss near the fence or just take the insulated end and loop it through the chain link at the place I park at, and the signals blast in. The pine tree thing is not a bad idea, but a wire would probably be more stealthy then a loop in a tree, which you wouldn't be able to adjust anyway.

 

[dlwtrunked]

REMOVE all light dimmers and florescent lights. Check all LEDs to see if any are a cause...some are much worse than others. I wrote an article about that when LED bulbs first came out. ARRL turned it down for publication and told me not to approach them again about that...they are to blame.

 

[ratboy]

It's an apartment building, and a lot of it is coming from the old folks home next door. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[dlwtrunked]

It's an apartment building, and a lot of it is coming from the old folks home next door. Thanks for the suggestions.

I have always told myself in a similar situation I would pay to change the lights.

 

[ratboy]

It's the ambulance entrance at the home next door that generates about 50% of it. The rest is probably flourescent lights in my building.
I don't know for sure what's the buzzing's from, but it's really bad, and basically wipes out everything from about 0KHZ to 60Mhz. Hasn't changed in the 8 years I've lived in the building. FM BC is totally fine, as is VHF.

 

[pjxii]

It's an apartment building, and a lot of it is coming from the old folks home next door. Thanks for the suggestions.

I have the SV3ORA NR-1 noise blanker which is supposed to take out the noise before it enters the receiver. I haven't used it yet because this location has very little RFI. Most NBs in the radio don't do much (I don't see any improvement with the 525's) but when you get one that works it's amazing. These things get great reviews.