VA3LK received at M0BMU.
This screen grab was taken over the night of Jan 19/20 2001.
VA3LK received at M0BMU.
This screen grab was taken over the night of Jan 19/20 2001.
You can see a very clear Q and D, and if you use your QRSS deductive powers, you can read "(part of) C, Q, D, E, (part of) V" being a bit of the "CQ de VA3LK" message.
Jim writes:- I monitored VA3LK's signal again last night; conditions were slightly better than last night, and signals were visible several times between 2230 and 0800. The attached file is edited together from 4 successive screen shots between about 0030 and 0210, and shows (C)Q DE VA(3) pretty clearly - I got fed up of editing after this, but it gives the general idea.
I think this eliminates any doubt that it is the real signal. I re-checked the frequency using the Loran lines as calibration markers - it is very close to 137.7894kHz as before. On the basis of the limited experience available, the propagation fades in and out quite quickly and deeply. Often the duration of a propagation peak is only long enough for a few dots & dashes, and 1 - 2 hours seems to be an upper limit for a good signal so far.
Periods last night when the signal was clearly visible were 2230- 2300, 2345 (1 dash), 0030-0220, 0430-0530, 0615-0730. These times are just estimated off the screen. After 0650, several chunks of trace were blanked out by a local QRSS signal on an adjacent frequency. I think this shows that propagation comes and goes while both ends of the path are in darkness. Weak traces of signal were visible at other times as well; the difference between 'clearly visible signal' and 'weak trace' is probably about 10-15dB.