2

LF news past....2000.

• On to 2001.

• December 2000

• 31/12. First "narrow" audio QSO. Markus, DF6NM and Geri, DK8KW conducted the first slow-voice contact on LF today. They compressed the audio bandwidth to 250Hz by slowing down the waveform for transmission then sped it up to decode it. For details see Geri's web-site at http://www.qru.de/slowvoice.html.

• 30/12. First GW / OZ. Steve GW4ALG had his balloon-supported vertical going well this evening when he worked OZ1KMR at 896km for a first GW/OZ contact.

• 27/12. GM / VE possible on CW? MM0ALM has been heard by VE1ZZ with marginal signals. They are trying for a normal CW contact whilst CFH is off. Good luck both!

• 23/12. VA3LK listening tonight. Larry says.. I will be listening tonight from 20 utc onwards on 136.500 from 10 after to 30 after, then 40 after to the top of the hour. I have copied a number of one, two and three letter groups of calls known to me in previous nights. This is after Jack VE1ZZ's sending periods.

• 23/12. VE1ZZ reception. Many stations reported seeing Jack's transmission last night including DK8KW , G4CNN and G3NYK. Well done to all!

• 22/12. VE1ZZ on tonight an tomorrow. Jack will transmit tonight on 136.5 from 2300 until 0200 using 3 sec dot QRSS. He will TX on the hour and half hour for 10 mins. Tomorrow (23rd) he will start at 2300 and continue until 0400. Info from VE1ZJ

• 22/12. New articles in Features section. Check out info on LF RX loops from G4CNN and the Decca TX from M0BMU. Remember the simple DDS by DK5PT too...

• 21/12. New version of Africam. Bill de Carle has published a new version of his "Africam" sound-card based BPSK decoding programme. Details on the new features and bug fixes here.

• 21/12. VE1ZZ received in UK on 136. Peter G3LDO received Jack's QRSS signnal on 136.5 at 0030 today. Jack was putting around 11 Amps into his 900ft long end-fed wire at 100ft or so.

• 17/12. Problems for OM2TW. Due to a transmitter fault, Rich was unable to get on 136 this weekend. He should be back over the holidays.

• 17/12. Good signal from F6BWO. Jeff worked into G and GW this evening, his signal is still improving.

• 11/12. Trans-Atlantic? It looks as though conditions are getting better, judging by the strength of CFH during the night. John VE1ZJ will be listening again at 2130 and 0300 each night.

• 11/12. Activity from OM. Rich OM2TW will be active again next weekend. He hopes to be on-air from 1200 on 16th until 1200 on 17th.

• 9/12. 73k NOVs issued. The new batch of NOVs is starting to appear, followed closely by some new signals on the band! Latest is G3AQC with a big sig.

• 6/12. Tests from Milano. Claudio IK2PII writes: I'm planning to transmit some slow CW beacon from 7 to 10 December. My working conditions: QRG 136.375 kHz, P. out about 100W, 30 m wire antenna. QTH locator is jn45pu 50 km north of Milano.

• 2/12. New DDS design for 136. Check out the features page for a new, very simple, design by Dieter DK5PT.

• November 2000

• 29/11. New CW distance record on 73k. It seems that GU0MRF's contact on normal CW with M0BMU, at 290km, is the new 2-way CW record for the 73k band. The QSO was made on Sunday 26th November.

• 29/11. GW to GU on 73k. Read G3XDV's report of his expedition to Wales to make the 73khz contact with GU.

• 28/11. GU report. We are back from Guernsey. The weather was terrible! 34 QSOs, 7 countires worked on 136, two on 73. Read a full report.

• 23/11. More N.O.V.s for 73k. The UK Radiocommunications Agency has issued the following announcement: Until 30 June 2003, existing NoV holders will now be allowed to continue conducting their experiments. Radio Amateurs without such an NoV, but who wish to investigate Low Frequency propagation characteristics within this band are invited to write to the Amateur & CB Radio Services Section within the Radiocommunications Agency to apply for a Notice of Variation (NoV) to their amateur radio licence. Once this is granted, the NoV permits you to operate in the UK at 73kHz. Thanks to G3XDV for the info.

• 23/11. Busy weekend. Despite CQWW, there looks like being quite a lot on LF this weekend. OM2TW and OK1FIG both plan to be on, theres the GU/P expedition and GW3XDV/P on 73kHz from GW4HXO's West Wales QTH.

• 21/11. GU expedition plans. We should be on Guernsey on 24th ready to operate over the weekend 25/26th. Read the plans.

• 19/11. CFH off air. The Canadian navy transmitter on 137.0 is off the air at present due to a fault. Alan G3NYK has sent a picture of what happens when static builds up on a big LF antenna!

• 18/11. GI activity. GI3KEV/P is active from Cookstown in the centre of Northern Ireland for the next couple of weeks. Mal says his QTH is very quiet so should be able to hear DX calls.

• 12/11. GU on 136 and 73kHz. The "GD team" of G3XTZ, G0MRF and G3YXM will be taking a trip to Guernsey this year. We should be active over the weekend of November 25th and 26th. More details soon.

• 12/11. Norway on 136. LG5LG was active over the weekend and firsts included IK5ZPV DK8KW and G3YXM on QRS and OH1TN on CW. Checkout Christer's website for full list and pictures. LA1K in JP53EK was not heard.

• 30/10. All the Windsor 2000 pictures now in the Gallery.

• 5/11. First HB9 - F QSO. Jeff, F6BWO, was active this morning and worked into G, DL, PA and HB9. His contact with Toni HB2ASB is a first.

• October 2000

• 29/10. Activity from Norway. From noon on November 11th and on 12th, Christer SM6PXJ will operate from a site 75k East of Oslo, on the Swedish border. The callsign will be LG5LG and the antenna will be an inverted L with approx 21 m vertical and 50-100 m horiz. The ground is mainly sand so radials will be laid out. The station has a web-site.

• 29/10. GB2CPM again. Peter G3LDO was on again today from the Chalk Pits Museum using their special call GB2CPM. The "underground" aerial seemed to be working OK!

• 19/10. VE beacon. Larry VA3LK in Wesport Ontario, about 1000 miles inland from VO1 has a beacon running BPSK, MS100, ET1, within 50 milliHz of 137.710 kHz. The transmissions to Europe are from 20 utc to 05 utc DAILY. The run length of the message is 4 Characters, "vlk ". Check out VE2IQ's site for reception software.

• 14-15/10. LF convention a success. A great time was had by all at the RSGB convention this weekend. I have Yet more pictures 29/10. Apologies to all those who didn't get a QSO with MB2HFC, if you've ever tried operating from a building full of computers you'll know how bad QRM can be!

• 14/10. Problems for OM2TW. Richard's proposed operation from the commercial site hit severe problems on Saturday. The 130mtr high antenna was picking up lots of RF from a nearby 750kW MW tx and this made tuning the LF tx impossible. Richard has the RF burns to prove how hard he tried....

• 11/10. Activity from OM. Richard OM2TW will be operating using a 130mtr high antenna on 14th. He has limited time and expects to be on between 1930 on 14th and 0400 on 15th. He should be contactable by e-mail at om2tw@nextra.sk Also active over the weeknd will be MB2HFC from the RSGB HF convention at Windsor.

• 8/10. F - DL QSO. Dieter DK5PT worked F6CNI today on 136kHz. Although Andy was on the band some time ago, I don't think he worked into Germany. This could therefore be a first. Welcome back Andy!

• 5/10. Conditions. Due to high solar activity recently, conditions have been poor on LF. It looks as if the coming weekend will see some improvement in transatlantic propagation. John VE1ZJ is still at his "summer" QTH listening for Europe. I hope he doesn't get snowed in....

• September 2000

• 30/9. G3LDO / VE1ZJ crossband. Peter G3LDO made a crossband QSO with John last night at 2345. Peter got an "O" report during a short opening. Peter has been seen by John before but this is their first QSO. NEW Screenshots.

• 29/9. Pictures from OK1FIG. Petr has published some pictures taken over the weekend when he and his father (OK1ARN) operated from a commercial site with that big antenna.. Petr's pictures.

• 29/9. Trans-Atlantic propagation study. Check out G3NYK's plots of CFH (137.0 kHz) in Halifax Nova Scotia as received in G. Alan has been doing this regularly over the past month or so as conditions improve. The plots are on Rik, ON7YD's web-site.

• 25/9. New URL. The World of LF is now at http://www.wireless.org.uk please bookmark the new address.

• 23/9. VE / OK crossband! OK1FIG using QRS on 136 from the big antenna, worked VE1ZJ on 14MHz tonight at 2245gmt. Distance is over 5300km. Congratulations to both stations. They seem to have hit the conditions just right. See Spectrogram scan and G3NYK's CFH plot.

• 23/9. Big signal from OK! Petr, OK1FIG and Jirka, OK1ARN have got the big T tuned up and are 599 into the UK this morning. They should be able to receive e-mail at "OK1FIG@volny.cz" whilst on-site.

• 22/9. LF meet at the Donington show. There's a picture..

• 19/9. Trans-Pacific tests. ZL and VK LF stations will be trying for trans-Pacific reports again this coming weekend. West-coast American stations are invited to listen. Check the schedule.

• 18/9. Big signal from OK 23/24th. Petr. OK1FIG will be using a 150mtr high T antenna next weekend. He will have QRS and normal CW and is keen to work some new countries, including VE! For skeds, e-mail him at p.maly@gmc.net

• 16/9. Latest report from VE1ZJ. Another test last night and John identified signals from M0BMU and G3LDO. Tests continue... Screenshot.

• 13/9. Another G signal received in Nova Scotia. John VE1ZJ received an "M" copy of G3LDO last night. Peter was running about 1kw from an ex-Decca TX. Unfortunately conditions were so bad on 14MHz that a crossband could not be made.

• 11/9. Telford Rally report. Myself and John G4GVC operated from the Telford rally at RAF Cosford on Sunday. Full report with pictures.

• 10/9. Transatlantic crossband! G0MRF/P on 136kHz worked VE1ZJ on 14MHz at 0008 Hrs utc today. David was operating from a tower block in Feltham, West London and had the sloping antenna wires ran down from the 15th floor. Later he detected signals from VE1ZZ so a full 2-way QSO is certainly on the cards! NEW! Screenshots..

• 10/9. And a report from CT. During the tests David's signals were heard in Portugal by Brian CT1DRP. Not a bad night's work!

• 1/9. OK1FIG on this weekend. Petr will be on 136 from his country QTH this weekend until Sunday midday. He has QRS facilities.

• August 2000

• 31/8. Transatlatic test update. Larry VA3LK has posted some updated information on the November tests at http://www3.sympatico.ca/kayser/TA_II_August.html .

• 28/8. Report from F/G0MRF/P. What a mouthful of a callsign! David and Tony operated near the town of Wissant (between Calais and Boulogne) and worked 14 stations using QRS and normal CW. As the weather was good, they couldn't erect the 13mtr mast on the beach... too many people.. so they set up about 500m inland. Best CW DX was GW4ALG and they worked ON4ZK and ON7YD on QRS.

• 23/8. EI0CF returns. Finbar is now operational from his new coastal QTH with a 55ft high antenna. He is seeking reports.

• 23/8. Spanish permits for 136. EA2HB and EA2BMD in San Sebastián, IN93 have permits for the 136 Khz band as of 17 of August 2000. (Information from EA2HB)

• 26/8. French /P activity. David G0MRF and Tony, A45ZN (G4KLF) will be opertaing on the coast near Cap Gris-Nez using CW and QRS. Time of operation is hoped to be Sunday from 12.00 - 16.00 UTC They will be using about 150 Watts from the car's 13.8V supply. The antenna will be a 40 ft vertical mast supporting either a T or inverted L.

• 20/8. More Portable activity. DF2BC was active from Campen Lighthouse again today. I worked Ali from GM with fair copy despite QRN.

• 19/8. Portable activity. GM3YXM/P will be operating from IO75WC for the next few days (Sunday to Wednesday) and G0MRF/P will be on next weekend. Both stations will have QRS facilities.

• 13/8. DJ4WS. A new station reported today is DJ4WS with a good signal from Munster. Look out for Wolf on 136.

• 12/8. Signals from France. F5MAF (JN03PP) has been testing with slow CW and today his signals were received by G3AQC on the South Coast of England. I work that out as 813km. Nothing heard or seen up here in the midlands as yet.

• 2/8. New pictures. There are a few more pictures in the LF gallery, PA0SE and OH1TN being the most recent additions. If you have any good shots of you or your LF station and antennas I'd like to add them too.

• July 2000

• 27/7. Portugal on 136. Brian CT1DRP has permission to operate in the CEPT band from both his QTHs until November 2001. Although this is on a temporary basis it does give hope that Portugal will eventually allow all amateurs to use the band. By the way, Brian is over 3000km from OH1TN....

• 23/7. First VE QSO on 136. Mitch VE3OT worked Larry VA3LK on 22nd July over a distance of 431km. They used QRSS with manual sending by counting the seconds for dots and dashes!

• 16/7. Conditions. The poor weather in Northern Europe meant little static hence a nice quiet band this weekend. A major solar flare is supposed to be affecting conditions but the low activity made it hard to judge. The weather also caused the OEs to postpone their activity until next weekend.

• 10/7. OE active again. On Saturday July 15th (re-scheduled to July 22nd) OE5ODL / OE5PGL will be active from their club field-day site. They hope to be on from 0800 - 1600 utc.

• 2/7. Grimeton on air... a bit late! Listeners at 08:30 were disappointed when no signals were heard, evidently there were problems with the vintage equipment. By 11:40 the alternator was turning and a fine signal was heard just above 17.2kHz. More info, sounds etc.

• 1/7. How low can you go? Three German stations; DJ2LF, DF6NM and DK8KW have been issued with permits to operate between 8.9 and 9.0 kHz. TX power is limited to 20W so don't expect any DX..... SM6PXJ is also experimenting with VLF though, you never know!

• June 2000

• 29/6. New version of the 1kW TX published. Check it out in the "Build a TX" section. David, G0MRF has a kit for a 500W version at http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk

• 26/6. New Spectrogram program. Petr OK1FIG has built a new front end for the Spectrogram engine. "EasyGram" has some extra features useful to us. Give his Alpha version a try, its at: http://mujweb.cz/www/ok1fig/EasyGram.htm

• 19/6. Weekend activity. Conditions were surprisingly good over the weekend with little of the expected static. OK1FIG and OK1DTN were both active and LX1PD put in a rare appearance. DF6NM worked OK1FIG using slow Hell. See Petr's web-site for a screenshot.

• 12/6. More Hellschreiber. G4JNT has written an article on his Hellschreiber system which uses a class D tx. dds_hell.doc

  DF6NM has also been trying "Hell", check http://www.qru.de/df6nm-hell.html for a picture of his transmission as received by DK8KW.

• 10/6. What the "Hell" is that?? A mystery signal has been running on 137.6kHz for the last day or so. It sounds like QRS but makes no sense... or does it? See here for the solution!

• 6/6. Trans-Pacific tests. The ZLs and VKs will be transmitting Friday night / Saturday morning California time on June 16/17th in the hope that some signals will be heard on the West coast of America. Read the full schedule.

• 2/6. SAQ to transmit again. The vintage LF transmitter at Grimeton will transmit on its usual frequency of 17.2kHz on July 2nd to mark its 75th anniversary. Times will be 08.30, 08.45, 12.30, 12.45 UTC. It is well worth listening to hear the "musical" note of the alternator-generated carrier. Grimeton web-site.

• May 2000

• 22/5. Puckeridge report from M0BMU/P. Jim spent the weekend at the LF site getting comparison reports between a small inverted L and the big mast. He is still analysing the data and thanks all those who gave reports. He also found time to make some DX QSOs on 73kHz normal CW when he worked SM6PXJ, DK5PT and PA0BWL cross-band to 136.

• 20/5. More Puckeridge experiments. Jim M0BMU is back at Puckeridge this weekend and will be running comparative tests between the big mast and a typical "amateur" inverted L antenna. Give M0BMU/P a call if you hear him.

• 16/5. France on 136kHz. Official! The French authorities have at last clarified the situation and all HF licencees in call areas F, FG, FY, FM and FP are now allowed to operate on the 135.7 to 137.8kHz band with 1 Watt ERP. The possibility of 136kHz stations in Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique and the Saint Pierre and Miquelon Islands gives scope for some interesting DX QSOs!

• 13/5. LF meet at Nuremberg. Markus DF6NM reports: "There is a ham fleamarket on Saturday, May 20th in the Nuremberg trade fair centre. This might be a nice opportunity to meet others active on LF! Geri, DK8KW, Walter DJ2LF and myself intend to meet at 16:30 at the exit gate to go for a couple of beers or perhaps a bbq. If you'd like to join, perhaps you could send a notice to my adress: MarkusVester@aol.com".

• 12/5. DQ0KBM. Look out for this special station (DF2BC operating) over the weekend. Ali is on Borkum Island NW of Emden on the North German coast. A good signal here on Friday night despite the static.

• 12/5. German 500kHz band? The RTA, a joint organisation of German amateur radio societies, has applied for an amateur radio allocation on, or just below, 500 kHz. This is part of a large document with other requests to the German authorities but it will be interesting to see if anything comes of it. Info provided by DK8KW.

• 5/5. 73kHz for another year! Thanks to the efforts of the RSGB access to the 73k band has been extended (to NOV holders) for another year. The end date is now 30th June 2001.

• 3/5. HB0 report. The Liechtenstein expedition had some problems with the earth system but HB0/DL1SAN did make the first HB0/DL (DF0WD) and HB0/HB9 (HB9DFQ) contacts. Full report is at http://www.qsl.net/dl1san/hb0work.htm.

• 2/5. OM2TW back on 136. Look out for OM2TW next Saturday from 1200z until Sunday 1600z. Rich will be operating from a 50m telecomms tower near Sitno in JN98KJ. Power will be only 50W or so to avoid problems with the commercial stuff. The station will also be on 2m, 70cm and 23cm in the contest.

• April 2000

• 29/4. GI Decca report. GI3PDN and MI0AYZ made some good QSOs on 73k from the disused Decca station near Loch Neagh in Northern Ireland yesterday and today. Unfortunately they had serious noise problems on 136kHz preventing any DX contacts.

• 29/4. IK1ODO DFCW beacon. Marco is running a QRP beacon in DFCW this weekend. Frequency 137.792 / 137.793 kHz with a shift about 1.03 Hz. The ERP is estimated at about 10mW and it has already been seen in G, ON and DL. Any reports welcome.

• 28/4. New country on 73k. MI0AYZ worked G4GVC 2-way on 73k for a new one. They have receiver overload problems on 136 but will try to rectify for Saturday afternoon.

• 27/4. "Decca" station from GI. GI3PDN and MI0AYZ intend to operate from an ex-Decca station with a 55mtr high T aerial on Friday and Saturday. They intend to use 136 and 73kHz but operation may be erratic due to difficulties setting up generators etc.

• 26/4. HB0 on 136. A group of six germans will be QRV from Liechtenstein 28.4 - 1.5.2000 including activity on the 136kHz Band. Note: 29/4. HB0/DL1SAN has been worked by DJ2LF, this may be the first HB0/DL contact.

• 24/4. GI/GM on 73kHz. MI0AYZ used 73kHz to work GM3YXM/P (I was on 136k) this weekend. Signals were very good over the mostly sea-path. They also worked EI0CF cross-band to 136. Rugby interference was not bad at the low end of the band.

• 23/4. New OK station on 136. OK1DTN was a good signal in GM and GI over the weekend as well as being spotted by many closer stations on the cluster. No QSOs with G yet reported.

• 21/4. GW/P on 73. Mike G(W)3XDV will be in West Wales next week and intends to get on 73kHz (and probably 136) from Wednesday 26th until Saturday 29th. Kite operation is envisaged so activity is weather-dependant. He will transmit around 71.7kHz.

• 19/4. Rugby back on 73.3 After a few weeks of peace and quiet and some excellent QSOs, the 73kHz band is full of QRM again. The data transmitter appears to have resumed full operation. It was fun whilst it lasted!

• 16/4. Puckeridge report. The tests from the ex "Decca" station are now over. Best DX was a UA5 at a distance of 2200km, crossband 136 / 40m. The report was 429 so there wouldn't have been much chance with 1W erp... 61 QSOs were had in all, both on 136 and 73kHz. Unfortunately, there were no transatlantic reports on the overnight beacon transmission. Mike G3XDV has taken some pictures over the weekend. There are also some pictures of the mast and the loading coils taken when the station was operational.

• 14/4. Puckeridge goes +20dBW. G3WSC and G3GRO have a special permit to radiate 100W erp from the Puckeridge LF site this weekend. ERP will vary between 1W and as close to 100W as they can manage and will be announced on air. QRS facilities will be available on Saturday. A transmission for transatlantic test purposes will be radiated overnight on 137.710.

• 14/4. 73k still quiet. The 73.3kHz TX is still off the air. It's unlikely that it will return over the weekend so there's still a chance of some new records on 73k.

• 11/4. Big signal from Decca site. G3WSC/P came on 136kHz from the ex Decca station this evening as planned. They were running a calibrated 1W erp (the efficiency of the antenna is known) and the signal put most amateurs to shame. A big pile-up resulted and many stations were worked. 72kHz was not such a success with difficulties tuning the antenna. They will try again later this week.

• 10/4. "Decca" sites on amateur LF. From Tuesday a 300ft tower at Puckeridge will be activated by G3GRO and G3KAU. They hope to radiate 1W erp on both 136 and 73k bands, this should only need 8W tx power on 136! They should be active at the weekend. Other sites may be activated later.

• 10/4. EI0CF, MM0ALM and GW4ALG have been working crossband to 73 from 136. G4GVC now has first EI, and GW on 73k crossband. Rugby is still QRT on Monday evening.

• 7/4. Canada on 136! Larry VA3LK now has a special permit to operate the 136kHz band from VO1. This is with a view to what he has called "Transatlantic II", an attempt at the first transatlantic QSO on amateur LF next November. Read Larry's message. Also, a beacon on 137.1 will soon be operational from Eastern Canada.

• 7/4. Seaside operation. G0MRF, G0AKY and G4KLF will be attempting to operate with an LF antenna of about 160mtrs supported by a 90mtr high cliff on the South coast of England over the weekend. They will be on 73 and 136kHz with QRS and normal CW. Mobile phone number for David (G0MRF) is 0958 502540.

• 3/4. LA1K, more tests. Club station LA1K will be testing again on 3rd and 4th from 1830utc on 136.3kHz CW. If they are heard and don't respond to a reply, there are some telephone numbers: +47 73 89 96 63 is the club station and Magne's mobile phone is +47 93 00 99 34.

• 3/4. Weekend report. Not much to report over the weekend. A new OK station, OK1MRS, was spotted on Sunday by DL1SAN. Over in VK/ZL, the Wellington club was active from Quartz Hill (ZL6QH) where there are some good antennas. They were hoping to get a two-way CW QSO across the Tasman Sea with AX2TAR (VK7ZAL's special experimental call). Signals were heard both ways at various times but no QSO took place. With winter conditions on the way it shouldn't be too long before they do it .

• 2/4. World of LF on WAP. No need to miss out on the news when you're out and about. This news page is now available to those with a WAP browser on their mobile phone at http://www.wapdrive.net/g3yxm . Please note that this new address only works with a WAP browser.

• March 2000

• 31/3. More 73k News. John G4GVC worked PA0SE on normal CW, crossband to the 136kHz band for another first... Similarly, Peter G3LDO worked ON4ZK on Friday morning about 0620. It looks as though the Rugby transmitter will be off the air for another week or so whilst they carry out their annual maintenance. THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO USE THE 73k BAND WITHOUT QRM!!

• 28/3. Norway on 136. Look out for LA1K tonight. QTH: Trondheim / JP53EK with an inverted-L (of sorts) 10-13 meter vertical, 150m horizontal. Power: 100W output (legal limit :-) Mode: A1A (normal + slow) Later note.. nothing heard.

• 27/3. Rugby off! Rugby radio ( 73.3kHz) was off all day giving a rare chance for some normal speed QSOs. John G4GVC managed a first when he worked Ray GI3PDN crossband to 136kHz.

• 27/3. New on the band. Look out for a couple of new calls on 136. Helmuth, DF7VX has been on the band for a couple of weeks and has already worked 5 countries. Meanwhile in West Wales, Mike GW4HXO has tuned up his topband dipole and is looking for contacts.

• 25/3. DL0UL/P. Wolf DL1SAN will be operating portable this weekend from JN48VM. The antenna should be quite good, he will be using the call DL0UL/P.

• 20/3. OK1FIG on 136 this weekend. Petr intends to operate from his cottage and hopes to work some new ones. He should be on-air on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

• 20/3. G4GVC on 73k. John is now active on 71.735kHz and would welcome skeds.

• 18/3. Finland on 73kHz.Reino worked G3YXM crossband 73/136 QRS on Friday evening. He was also seeing Peter G3LDO's signal clearly on QRS and they worked the next evening on both QRS and normal CW!. I think this must be around 1600km.... Screenshots.

• 14/3. Italy worked on 73kHz. Peter G3LDO worked Valerio IK5ZPV this evening cross-band QRS to 136kHz. This is the first LF/LF 73K QSO over 1000km, the distance being about 1144km. Congratulations to both.

• 13/3. New OM QSOs. OM2TW managed to get on the band on Saturday afternoon and worked HG6N, HA6PC, HA6PX and OM3ZAS (KN08PQ). On slow CW he worked I5TGC and OK1FIG then had to QRT due to a thunder-storm. ( Firsts in red).

• 9/3. OM2TW back on 136. Richard hopes to be on the 136 band around the same time as HA6PC (Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday morning). He may be equipped for QRS this time.

• 9/3. Sweden worked on 73kHz. SM6LKM had a crossband QSO with G3YXM this morning, a distance of about 1100km. Johan replied on 80mtrs normal CW to G3YXM's QRS transmission on 71.8kHz. Screenshot How far can we go on 73....?

• 8/3. First OM/HA QSO. The first Hungary to Slovak republic QSO took place last week (8th) between HA6PC and OM3ZAS, both stations quite new to the band. Congratulations.

• 8/3. Hungary on 136 this weekend. HA6PC will be QRV on 136 for the first time on the afternoon of Friday 10th until Saturday morning. He will be using 120 Watts and 500m wire antenna. They will operate from HG6N's QTH, locator JN98VE, about 150m from Slovak boarder. Information from OM2TW.

• 7/3. It's all happening on 73kHz! First Tuesday of each month sees the maintenace period for the commercial tx on 73.3kHz. When it goes off, the LFers come on! Today G2AJV, G3XTZ, G3LDO, G3XDV, G3YXM and M0BMU were transmitting on the band. DF6NM (on QRS) and PA0SE (on normal CW) were worked crossband to 136kHz. ON7YD worked G3YXM the previous evening and some of my signal was seen by SM6LKM. The QRS crossband record now stands at 970km between DF6NM and G3YXM, the normal speed record must be between PA0SE and G3LDO.

• 4/3. 73kHz tests. Markus, DF6NM spent a fruitful time listening around 71.8kHz whilst several G stations put out calls. You can see his spectrum plots Here. More tests are to be done on Sunday morning, starting around 0700 when a crossband to 136kHz will be attempted.

  5/3. Update. Geri worked myself and Graham G3XTZ crossband this morning. No sign of Markus. Geri's Spectrogram of my 73k signal. I also had a nice QSO with HB2ASB at 2005 this evening. At 910km, is this the new 73/136 x-band record?

• February 2000

• 26/27/2. More OM firsts. Rich OM2TW was active last weekend and added S57A, OH1BS and IK5ZPV to his list of firsts. He also heard G3AQC and G3LDO and had some crossband QSOs with other OM stations and OK1FIG.

• 26/2. First OE/EI, OE/GW, OE/PA. Good conditions on Saturday saw Ossi OE5ODL working Finbar EI0CF, Dick PA0SE and Steve GW4ALG for more firsts. I had a 559 copy of Ossi at the GM QTH but he did not hear me.

• 25/2. 73k DX. Jim M0BMU was seen sending QRS on 71.9kHz by DF6NM. The distance is about 845km, well done both! It shows how useful it is to have "activity times" on the band. Remember to listen next week on Friday evening.

• 25/2. Kites up. I took a trip to the sea whilst in GM and flew the kite by the shore. Around 1530hrs I had good QSOs with HB9DCE, OZ8NJ, DJ5BV and several G stations. I need a sea-side QTH! Picture.

• 22/2. GM QRS activity. I will be in GM for a few days from tomorrow and intend to try some QRS activity. Once the aerial has been re-erected I will call "on the hour", especially in the evening.

• 22/2. French position still unclear. This message appeared on the LF reflector today regarding the situation in France.

• 22/2. Conditions. The band was exteremely active last night but signals did not seem exceptional. G signals were up but I and OH stations were no better than usual. Tonight HB2ASB was very strong so maybe the flare is still active.

• 21/2. Aurora warning. There is an aurora warning for tonight (Monday) so it will be interesting to see how this affects LF propagation.

• 19/2. EI0CF back on 136. Finbar has returned to the band with a new, mostly horizontal, antenna and a nice low noise level. He is hoping to work some dx before the summer noise builds up.

• 17/2. More solar flare reports. John G4GVC worked SM6PXJ on Thursday 17th with signal reports about 6dB better than they had exchanged before. Jim, M0BMU also worked Christer for the first time. It turned out that these QSOs coincided with a solar flare. More proof that it's well worth monitoring solar activity.

• 15/2. First S5/HB9. Toni HB9ASB (trading as HB2ASB for the millennium!) worked S57A on Sunday evening. I5MXX reports that S57A's name is Boris and his locator is JN65TW. Marzio also reports that Boris' signal seems to be improving, look out for him!

• 13/2. 7S6SAJ pictures. SM6CJJ has posted some pictures of the Karlsborg trip at: http://radio.se-swed.net/136khz/ The text is in Swedish but the pictures are good. We'll have to wait until Christer's write-up for an English version.

• 7/2. France on LF soon? There seems to be some confusion over French licensing in general at the moment but it is hoped that the permission to use the 136 band will be given in the next few weeks.

• 7/2. First OM/G OM/SM, OM/DL, OM/OE. Rich - OM2TW, the first LF station from the Slovak Republic, had a good weekend. He worked 7S6SAJ, G3KEV, DJ2EY and OE5ODL (all "firsts") on Saturday. On Sunday he worked DJ2EY, DK8KW and OE5ODL. He heard a few others but with the present 150W could not get a QSO.

• 5/2. 7S6SAJ, big signal. Christer and Johan made it! Big signals from the former LF TX station. They worked into Italy and much of the rest of Europe. The pile-ups were quite large... Johan has some pictures of the station on his web-site Karlsborg Pictures.

• 2/2. 7S6SAJ, another try! Johan SM6LKM and Christer SM6PXJ will have access to the big transmitting antenna at Karlsborg this coming weekend. They hope to radiate a considerable erp from the 210 metre tall antenna. If they get going I doubt if we'll miss them!

• 2/2. OM2TW activity. Rich will be on 136 this weekend with a bit more power and is hoping for some more QSOs. He will be using normal CW around 136.7 to 136.9 and QRS around 137.7.

• 1/2. 73kHz activity. Amateur signals were allowed a short window on 73k this morning as the Rugby TX shut down for maintenance. G3LDO, G3XTZ, M0BMU and G3YXM worked eachother and G2AJV was heared beaconing. Signals seemed very good on a quiet backround until the QRM came back.

• January 2000

• 29/1. First OE/SM. Christer, SM6PXJ, worked OE5EEP today for another first. Heinz's signal was also getting into G, just!

• 27/1. LF, front page news! Graham, G3XTZ's, account of our DXpedition to the Isle of Man is in the current edition of the Radcom. One of his pictures of the lighthouse is on the front cover.... fame at last!

• 23/1. First OM/HB9. Rich, OM2TW had a QSO with HB9DCE on 22nd at 1716z. This is the first LF QSO from Slovakia. Rich hopes to increase power from the present 50W to about 500W soon.

• 22/1. Slovakia on 136. HA5TS and OK1FIG report hearing OM2TW calling CQ today with good signals. Judging by the DX cluster, there are several OM stations listening on LF.

• 22/1. First S5/I QSO. S57A worked I5MXX this afternoon at 1625 on CW. Another first for Marzio.

• 22/1. Useful tips for QRS working. Rik, ON7YD has written up some useful guidlines for new "QRS" operators. Guide to QRS. See below to download the new software.

• 21/1. 2-way record extended. The 2-way record for a 136kHz QSO, regardless of mode, now stands at 2149km. I5MXX retains the honours this time with OH3LYG who is slightly further North than OH1TN. The QSO took place on 19th at 22:10gmt and signals were a good readability 5.

• 18/1. No copy in USA.... :-( In spite of the best efforts of G3LDO, G3XTZ, the gang at G3WSC and G3YXM, no signals were identified at the Nag's Head RX site over the weekend. There are some files on a defunct disk drive which may reveal something if they can be rescued but it seems we will have to try harder! Read a report on the Amrad site.

• 15/1. QRS tests. Several stations are putting out QRS tests overnight tonight so that the Amrad guys can have a look for the signals. Frequencies are between 137.750 and 137.790.

• 15/1. OE on again. OE5EEP and OE5ODL should be back on the air this Sunday (16th) after repairing the TX again. Bigger fets needed!

• 11/1. Signals measured. Dick PA0SE spent a lot of time last weekend measuring the field strength of everything that moved on the 136kHz band. Check out the results.

• 11/1. First OE/I, OE/ON QSOs. It looks as if Ossi has been busy! He worked I5MXX and ON7YD on Jan 8th for two more firsts. Marzio's replacement antenna is obviously working OK.

• 8/1. First OE/G QSO. Ossi (OE5ODL) worked G4GVC this morning. After the QSO the signal dropped, whether it was QSB or a fault we don't know yet.

• 7/1. OE5ODL on air this weekend. The transmitter has been repaired and the OEs will be active over the weekend.

• 7/1. I5MXX back on. Marzio has repaired his storm-damaged antenna and is back on 136.

• 4/1. CFH back on air, or is it? We thought Canadian Navy station CFH was back on 137.0kHz but it must be something else as CFH is still QRT. Later note.. It is CFH after all, confirmation from Canada....The signal is audible in Europe in the late evening through till dawn. It has the characteristics of a trans-Atlantic signal.

• 3/1. Tests from YO2IS. SM6PXJ had a sked with Szigy tonight but no signals were heard. It's a long way from Romania to Sweden, perhaps a test to one of the Italians would be easier?

• 1/1. Iceland? Mystery station TF1IT heard today at VERY good strength. Is it a wind-up ? Any info gratefully received....

• Back to 1999.