[Lf] Transatlantic Tests/Frequencies/Loran]

[Andre' Kesteloot]

Yet another British amateur received in Canada, and with only 350 watts
this time
Things are looking good.
Andre'

James Moritz wrote:

> Dear LF Group,
>
> Extremely pleased to be received in Nova Scotia by VE1ZJ on
> Saturday night. This was done with the usual 350W and a piece of
> wet string, so I hope this means that many others with quite
> modest stations will have a good chance of success also. Being in
> the right place at the right time seems to have been as much a
> factor as equipment in the successes there have been so far, so
> keep trying. I think that propagation is still far from optimum, so
> further reaches of Europe should be quite feasible as the winter
> progresses.
>
> Has anyone heard from VA3LK about how his listening tests earlier
> in the week went? I fear he may have had the worst of the
> propagation upsets there have been.
>
> As far as frequencies go, I think some sort of plan is a good idea. I
> think the problem with having 2 windows as suggested is that the
> top end of the band is also used for inter-european QRSs; It will be
> hard for european stations listening for transatlantic signals when
> there are several local QRS stations in the same window. Perhaps
> setting aside a small segment purely for intercontinental listening
> near the top of the band would be an idea?
>
> It is also convenient to have a 'test' segment on the band for
> running power into antennas and doing measurements, etc. I have
> used around 135.95kHz for this - I think the bottom edge of the
> band was originally set aside for this in the 'unofficial band plan'
> that has been around for a while - but this obviously needs another
> look now.
>
> Thanks to G4CNN for preparing the lists of Loran frequencies. I did
> a survey of Loran (and other) lines I could see at my QTH, at the
> top and bottom band edges. The figure after the frequency is the
> strength on a scale 1-5. These should be within +/- 0.5Hz:
> Bottom edge (Hz):
> 135700.3        5
> 135704.5        2
> 135707.8        3
> 135711.3        3
> 135715.3        5
> 135718.0        4
> 135722.6        5
> 135724.5        1
> 135730.0        2
> 135731.3        2
> 135737.8        4
> 135745.0        4
> 135750.0        1
> 135751.2        2
> 135752.5        5
> 135760.0        4
> 135764.9        3
> 135767.3        3
> 135774.8        2
> 135778.0        1
> Above about 135780, we run into SVX.
> Top end:
> 137706.2        3
> 137711.5        1
> 137713.5        2
> 137720.9        2
> 137725.0        1
> 137728.3        3
> 137731.4        1
> 137736.0        2
> 137743.3        4
> 137745.0        2
> 137747.0        2
> 137748.4        3
> 137749.5        1
> 137750.9        4
> 137752.5        2
> 137754.9        5
> 137758.2        4
> 137764.0        5
> 137765.2        1
> 137773.1        1
> 137778.4        1
> 137780.3        2
> 137788.0        2
> 137795.4        3
> 137798.3        1
> The majority of these appear to be from the Lessay and Sylt Loran
> chains as expected (frequencies at intervals of 7.4227 and
> 6.6676Hz). The range 137743 - 137755 is a bit of a no-go area,
> with lots of closely spaced lines.
>
> I also checked around 136.508kHz, where VE1ZZ's beacon is, I
> believe:
> 136495.5        1
> 136502.7        4
> 136504.7        1
> 136510.0        1
> 136518.0        3
>
> So VE1ZZ's frequency is reasonably clear.
>
> Will be interested to see how other's observations compare.
>
> Cheers, Jim Moritz
> 73 de M0BMU