2

LF news past....2001.

• December

• 31/12. Transatlantic tests continue. It seems almost commonplace to have G signals received over the pond these days! Conditions have been favourable most nights and DF6NM has made it across too. G3KEV has had crossband QSOs with VE1ZJ but we're still waiting for a crossband QSO to the USA or a normal speed CW copy over the Atlantic. See some screenshots.

• 26/12. Another new mode! For those of you bored over the holiday and tired of QRSS, DFCW, PSK, Hell etc. how about trying 7FSK? A method of speeding up DX QSOs by extending the number of discrete frequencies transmitted from the 1 of QRSS or 2 of DFCW to 7. It is not based on Morse code, each character is represented by two periods of tone, further speeding things up. Rik ON7YD has thought up the scheme and Andy G4JNT has transmitted some tests. Now we have a way of transmitting it using Spectrum Lab. More details here.

• 20/12. VLF tests. On 16th December Brian, KD4RLD, transmitted an 8.8kHz signal that was successfully received by Dexter, W4DEX, at a distance of 10 kilometres. Tests were also made with success on 7 and 6kHz, although no signal was detected at 4kHz. An 'Argo' software capture of the signal can be seen here.Source RSGB.

• 17/12. Weekend activity. The 73k T/A tests continued with signals from G3AQC and M0BMU being identified and from G3LDO being detected. DF2BC/P put out a cracking signal from Borkum Island and DJ2LF/P was heard in G on several occasions. OM2TW worked quite a few from his "2 towers" QTH, including a first F/OM QSO with F6BWO. See the DX cluster log.

• 15/12. ZL6QH RX'd in Nova Scotia. John, VE1ZJ copied ZL6QH last night at his Sydney Nova Scotia location ( FN96 ). Could this be the furthest yet? Later Note:- distance is around 15,600km! Screenshot. W4DEX in North Carolina also had copy again, see here.

• 13/12. More 73k T/A reports. G3AQC has been joined in the 73k tests by G3LDO and M0BMU. Fragments of all stations signals have been seen although conditions haven't been as good as Nov 22nd. See W1TAG's latest screen shot 1 and shot 2. M0BMU's trace is above G3AQC's DFCW.

• 9/12. Next weekend's activity. There's such a lot happening on 14th/15th/16th that I shall precis it in a table:

  Call	Freq	QTH	Mode	Dates	Times
  DF2BC/P	136.53	Campen	CW	14/15/16	most
  OM2TW	136-137	Sintava	CW	15/16	day
  OM2TW	135.922	Sintava	QRSS30	15/16	night
  OM2TW	135.963	Sintava	QRSS10	15/16	night
  ZL6QH	137.789	Wellington	DFCW-0.4Hz	15	dawn-dusk

• 8/12. DF2BC/P from Campen Lighthouse. On the 14th, 15th, 16th December Ali will be QRV again at Campen Lighthouse (off the North coast of Germany) in CW only. The equipment will be the same as before: Ropex TX, homemade RX, the big dustbin loading coil - but the L-Antenna configuration will be a little bit longer, about 170 meters.

• 8/12. US to get more experimental LF/MF permits. Mike W2AG reports: The FCC's Office of Science & Technology has approved a request for an Experimental license on 166.5, 440, 470, 480 and 495 khz, with 200 watts ERP (!). Station WC2XSR is authorized at 36 locations across the US, as requested by the hams of The 600 Meter Research Group.

• 7/12. New version of "QRS". Rik Strobbe has just released version 3.11 (bugfix 7/12) with these new features: -- Can swap DTR / RTS lines. -- Can insert fast CW ident in test mode to comply with licence regs. -- Can use LPT1 or LPT2 as alternative to the serial port (might not work under Win2000 and up). -- Fast CW ID now available at speeds of 6, 9, 12 and 15 WPM. At 9 WPM and above, more accurate timing is used to give better CW quality. This can lead to 'gaps' in the soundcard datastream if DSP receiving software is used simultaneously, but since this only occurs during transmission it shouldn't matter. At 6 WPM the old timing routine is used which doesn't interfere with the soundcard datastream. -- Can omit the 'redundant' gaps between 2 subsequent dots or dashes in DFCW. It's available on the Downloads page.

• 1/12. ZL6QH RX'd in North Carolina on 137.79 W4DEX took some identifiable screen grabs of the repeated "Q" sent by ZL6QH this morning. See here The "dashes" are easily seen at +0.1Hz on Dexter's screen with the "dots" at -0.3Hz. The distance is over 13,000km, it seems that 137 is no worse than 184kHz for long-haul DX...

• November

• 30/11. TransAtlantic test from OM2TW. On December 15/16, Rich will be at his "two towers" QTH and will try a T/A test on 136kHz. During the daytime he'll be on CW and maybe QRSS3 (137.700kHz) too. T/A frequncies will be: 135.963kHz QRSS10 and 135.922kHz QRSS30/60/120, QSX 14065kHz or 3577kHz.

• 26/11. ZL tests on December 1st (dawn and dusk in Europe). ZL6QH Near Wellington will send "QQQ"... with DFCW, 120 second dot length. Frequencies are dash=137.7900, dot=137.7896 with a 120 second gap before starting the next Q. The ten minute sequences will be nominally synchronised with the hour (there could be some minor slippage). ZL6QH will transmit from well before ZL sunset to well after ZL sunrise, which is approximately 0700 to 1800 UTC on 1 December. They will be joined by ZL2VN on 182.000kHz who will send "ZL3VN" on QRSS CW, using 3 second dot length, for 30 minutes, then send "VN"... using 20 second dot length. Sequences will nominally commence on the hour and half hour. For sunrise and sunset times see Bob's bulletin.

• 22/11. New record on 73kHz. Last night John Andrews, W1TAG, copied the full callsign from G3AQC, absolutely "O" copy in DFCW. John's screenshot below was from 0025 to 0120utc. The distance is 5291km. Beat that!

• 

• 21/11. 73kHz from G3AQC received in Mass. W1TAG received parts of Laurie's test transmission last night with the best copy from 0022-0052 and from 0452-0522 Z. John's QTH is Holden, Massachusetts (FN42ch), about 80 km west of Boston.

• 21/11. LF from satellite. There will be a series of tests running from today, to test propagation from the radio plasma imager instrument on board the Image satellite. There will be two sets of experiments, at 5-15 kHz (VLF) and at 130 and 380 kHz. Full details of where and when to listen can be found on the LWCA website.

• 20/11. VE1ZJ back on "listening watch". John is now all set up to listen for trans-Atlantic LF again. He was one of the most successful Canadian listeners last season and was part of the first trans-Atlantic QSO as VE1ZZ's ears. Contact him at john.currie@ns.sympatico.ca if you're interested in a test.

• 14/11. First ZL/EU 136 test. Bob, ZL2CA reports that ZL6QH will transmit on 137.7898 during the hours of ZL darkness on December 1st. Full info and sunset/sunrise times are all in Bob's bulletin.

• 9/11. Special LF transmission. The National Weather Service (NWS) of Germany will make a special broadcast on the centenary of Guglielmo Marconi's first reception of radio signals across the North Atlantic. The multi-lingual Morse Code broadcast will be over DDH47 located at Pinneberg (54.7N 9.6E) on 147.3 kHz on 12th December 2001 at 22:30 GMT. Info at www.dwd.de/services/gfsf/sf100y.html Issued by the Amateur Radio Group of National Maritime Agency (BSH), Hamburg and Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Hamburg (call DL0SWA)

• 8/11. Last T/A test from the tower block on 10th. David G0MRF will be operating from the high-rise site of his previous trans-Atlantic success on the evening of Nov 10th from 23.30utc. His host is moving from the 15th floor apartment so this will be the last attempt. QRG 135.922 with 5 second dot QRSS, listening 14.045 at 2300 and every half an hour. Skeds welcome. Contact David at G0MRF@aol.com.

• 4/11. 136 test from ZL. The transmitter and antenna at ZL6QH have been tuned up on 136kHz in preparation for DX tests on December 1st and December 15th. A frequency of 137.79 has been suggested with 120 second dots and DFCW. Full details will be published when they are finalised. Initial tests have proved encouraging, with a good signal around ZL.

• 4/11. T/A tests on 73kHz continue. G3AQC is to put out his DFCW tests (0.1hZ shift) tonight and tomorrow night on 72.402kHz with 90sec dots, from 2300utc. All reports welcome especially from T/A, says Laurie.

• 1/11. Signal on 136.00 Several listeners have reported a signal on exactly 136kHz, not to be confused with the intermod product between DCF49 and DCF42 on 136.04. CT1DRP has a bearing of about 15 degrees from Porto. There's an Argo scan on Brian's website. One theorey is that it is multiple small harmonics of telecomms clock signals (17 x 8kHz). Anyone else hearing it?

• October

• 28/10. GM/P report. I didn't do any kite flying in Ullapool (NW Scotland) this time as I managed to get the best antenna I've ever had up at the holiday house. It was 80mtrs end fed wire at about 13mtrs high and well in the clear. I got 3.5A current into it despite poor ground. Bad Loran from the Faeroe Islands hampered reception and I saw no signals on QRSS. I worked EI0CF (320km) and G3KEV (485km) on CW.

• 24/10. CFH (was) back on air. The unmodulated carrier on 137.042kHz for the last 24hrs has been identified as CFH from Halifax Nova Scotia. This commercial transmitter has an ERP of around 10kW and transmits various data modes from time to time. In Europe it should be audible from late evening until mid morning. It is a good indicator of trans-Atlantic conditions. Later note: It's gone off again!

• 16/10. New stations on 136. Newcomers reported recently on 136. OK1ABX / HA6NW / IN3LBQ (by OK1FIG), SM3UWS (by SM6LKM), DJ1YFK by himself, DK7SU (by DL3FDO), OE1KM (by OM2TW) and LX1UN (by G3NYK).

• 14/10. LF convention report. Another most enjoyable convention on Saturday. Many LF regulars attended in glorious weather and there was a healthy number of interested amateurs vowing to be on LF soon. Exhibition station MB2HFC made good use of the MB7LF repeater to hear some DX. Have a look at some pictures and a fuller report.

• 13/10. 136k "repeater" on-air. A relay of the whole 136kHz band is presently available to those within about 40 miles of Crawley. With the callsign MB7LF this relay is currently transmitting on 144.9864MHz USB. It also has frequencies in the 10m and 6m bands which could be used instead. The signal is received at the Crawley club house in Tilgate forest (IO91VC), a nice quiet location.

• 12/10. ZL 136kHz permit. The Quartz Hill club station, ZL6QH, has received permission to transmit in the 135.7 to 137.8kHz band. Their good antenna means they may be able to radiate several Watts ERP. They will put out test transmissions when they get the loading coil sorted out.

• 8/10. Greek activity? A fairly quiet weekend with bad weather in the UK keeping a lot of people off the air. The only exciting thing reported on the DX cluster was a QSO between SV1BKE and SV1MF early on Monday morning.... Can this be verified? Later note.. It seems not, the supposed poster of the spot knows nothing about it!

  G stations look out for G6RO trying out GW4ALG's 5W QRP rig, so far he's been heard at a 300km or more.

• 5/10. New version of Spectran. Version VI of the popular radio-oriented spectral analysis program is now available at http://www.weaksignals.com (and also on the downloads page). Alberto, I2PHD, says that the new version has: - dB calibrated display - Named saving/restoring of the settings - Timed screen capture (BMP, JPEG or GIF) - Improved adjustability of the dynamic range - Selectable palettes - Preset modes for NDBs and QRSS - Increased compatibility with more sound cards - Crash-proof mixer settings handling - Sampling up to 48 kHz - Very smooth waterfall scrolling

• September

• 30/9. 136k Activity. Lots of activity this weekend with OM2TW / OM5CW and OK1FIG generating quite some interest. Rich made the first OM / OZ QSO with OZ1KMR on Sunday. Although Saturday was noisy conditions seemed quite good. There were stations from DL, EI, F, G, GW, OK, OM, OZ, PA, SM, YO2 reported on the DX cluster over the two days.

• 30/9. Trans-Atlantic testing again. Several Canadian and stateside stations are listening in the "DX window" on 136kHz and on 73kHz. So far we have W1HJ, W1TAG, W3EEE, VE7SL expressing an interest. Get those beacons running EU stations!

• 26/9. Pacific crossed again. ZL6QH has been received again by VE7SL. Steve copied several Qs from ZL6QH, either side of VE7 sunrise, both 0.4 Hz shift FSK tones are clearly on the captured Argo pic. Received tones are inverted, but tests on the Icom R75 show that it does give audio inversion in the normal CW mode. Of three different attempts to receive ZL6QH signals, VE7SL has twice been successful. The distance is 11, 709 km. Read full report and view Argo grabs from VE and P29.

• 25/9. LF convention programme. John G3WKL is putting the final touches to the schedule for Saturday 13th October. Mike, G3XDV has all the info on his website.

• 21/9. More on this weekend's TransPac tests. The full schedule is available here. Updated and corrected!

• 19/9. VLF radio aid to rescuers. VLF radio may come in useful in the search for the victims of the World Trade Center disaster. It seems that many workers had smart cards which operate on VLF. Normally, the wall packs emit only a few mW of power to reach the card at close proximity. The cards respond on a slightly offset channel. The thoery is that a high power TX will allow the signal to penetrate deeper into the rubble and activate those cards underneath. An experimental high sensitivity receiver and loop antenna will be used with a decoder to listen for the cards and pinpoint their location. So far, they say the system can activate a card through several layers of walls and floor decks. - Info from Mike McCarthy in Chicago.

• 15/9. Slovakian LF meet / activity. The first LF-meeting in Slovakia will be in Sintava (29.-30.september 2001) at OM2TW's "two towers" LF QTH. It's 60km from Bratislava (about 120km from Vienna), near the highway between Trnava and Nitra. TX will be 400W to the 21m high antenna with 2x36m cap. hat, DF3LP loop antenna for receiving, packet cluster (HA6DX or OK0DXH) and internet for skeds. E-mail to om2tw@nextra.sk. Mainly CW on 136.5, but some QRSS. They hope to be QRV by 10.00 UTC Saturday for 24 hours or more. Calls will be OM2TW and OM3KIB (club callsign), + maybe other visitor's callsigns. If you want to join in, contact Rich. If not, then be QRV because they promise a good signal....

  OK1FIG will also be on, so there's plenty to look out for next weekend.

• 3/9. SAQ on-air again. The vintage Alexanderson alternator will be run up again on Sept 5th at 15:15hrs utc on its usual frequency of 17.2kHz. Details http://www.alexander.n.se/kungligtbesk/ A good oportunity to test out that mechanical VLF RX!

• August 2001

• 29/8. 136 clear in Greece. It looks as though the Greek Navy station, SXV on 135.8kHz, is to QSY away from the band. It is presently QRT. Without the sidebands which made reception difficult in Greece, it should be possible for SV stations to hear some LF DX.

• 28/8. Report from OH1AH. The OH1AH station was active as planned on August 18th but the activity only resulted in two QSO's (with OH1BS and OH1TN). The antenna current was 3A and the TX PWR 100W. They had some QRM on 137.0 so they QSY'ed to 136.6. There was no activity on Sunday 19th. (info from Paul-Henrik, OH1LSQ via SM6PXJ) OH1AH's web-site is at http://www.netikka.net/oh1lsq/lfinfo.html

• 19/8. 136 for ZL? The trustee of ZL6QH, the contest site that has been copied in Canada on 174kHz, has applied for permission to use the European136kHz band. This would enable serious listening tests to be done in Europe without the broadcast QRM. We wish them luck.

• 19/8. Light-house activity. D2F2BC was going great-guns from the Campen lighthouse off the north German coast this weekend. I hope to get more news of stations worked later. No reports of the OH expedition so far.

• 11/8. Light-house activity. At least two LF stations will be operating in the "International Lighthouse and Lightship" weekend event on August 18th/19th. See the portable noticeboard for more info. Full info on the event is at http://www.vk2ce.com/ILLW/2001.htm

• 10/8. Trans-Pacific tests. Another weekend test is scheduled for 21/22 September with stations from ZL and VK beaconing. It is hoped that some European listening can be done in the quiet(er) patch around 171kHz. Some tests have been done on Long-Wave broadcast stations and it seems there is grey-line propagation but that's at the MegaWatt level!.

• July 2001

• 27/7. Rugby back on. 73kHz is full of noise again thanks to the return of the Rugby transmitter on 73.3. It was fun whilst it lasted. Incidentally, there have been news reports that the NELS system (Loran) on 100kHz may close by 2005.... here's hoping!

• 22/7. 73kHz band QRM-free! The transmitters at Rugby radio on 73.3kHz and 60kHz are off the air for their annual maintenance period, possibly until July 30th. This means that the whole 73k band can be used in the UK. QSO, anyone?

• 18/7. Jim's mechanical receiver. Have a look at M0BMU's interesting RX inspired by SAQ. On the features page.

• 14/7. SAQ reception in Long Island. Steve, K2CX and others decided to try a mile long wire antenna to receive SAQ's recent transmissions. They applied to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for permission to use the old RCA Global site. The antenna was installed down a road that connected building 1 and building 9 at the site. It was pointing to the northeast, installed on the trees that line the road at about the 5 foot level, it was easy to string with 4 people. They tried 3 receivers, an old Navy surplus WW II vintage TRF model RBA, a modified hydroponic receiver capable of tuning 10-100 kHz and a Navy surplus frequency selective volt meter. The selective volt meter proved to be the best, although signals were very weak and local storms meant that static crashes were overwhelming. Best reception was 229 at 0830.

• 3/7. Power-line internet threatens DL LFers. From Reuters: German utility giant RWE said on Monday it had launched its powerline technology service which delivers high-speed internet access by sending data through electricity cables. RWE hopes for rapid expansion in "RWE PowerNet", now that Germany has passed new laws setting out the framework for the use of the technology. They aim to win 20,000 customers by year-end. The RSGB helped to get this system stopped in the UK, let's see what happens in DL....

• 3/7. SA6Q report.The static noise was terrible.There was thunder in the scandinavia. The equipment used was: TX, IC735 and transverter 400 Watt output to an inverted L antenna, 60 meter vertical and 200 meter horisontal 60 meter up. RX, IC 735 transverter with preamp for 137 kHz and the same antenna as TX. RX2, IC R75 with frame antenna and preamplifier. So under normal conds. we should hear stations from UK. Bengt SM6OEW

• 1/7. New special-events "notice-board" on the site. You can post your own news of forthcoming LF activity and view the notice-board Here. When a new entry is posted a popup window will announce it from this page.

• 1/7. Trans-Pacific reception report. Steve, VE7SL used Argo to monitor ZL6QH's transmission from Quartz Hill on 184.4kHz last night. Although identification is difficult, it does look as if it was part of the ZL transmission! If so its a distance of about 11,000km.....

• 1/7. SA6Q heard well but few QSOs. It seems that the guys at Grimeton had receive problems all day. Although they were a good signal into the UK and elsewhere, they didn't hear many of the callers.

• June 2001

• 28/6. Grimeton operation. The radio club of Varberg, SK6DK, will operate from Grimeton (site of the old radiostation SAQ) with callsign SA6Q on 137.6 KHz.on 1 July "ALEXANDERSON DAY". The old transmitter will operate on 17,2 KHz at various times. For more info see homepage www.alexander.n.se. Information from Bengt, SM6OEW

• 20/6. New version of Spectrum Lab. From DL4YHF. With built-in software VLF receiver and other improvements. Use your sound card to listen below 20kHz! Download it here. Note: If you are downloading this for the first time you may need Borland's VCL40.DLL which you can download from This page.

• 15/6. SK6DK report. Information from Bengt, SM6OEW concerning the operation from SK6DK: TX PWR was in the region of 100W. The receivers in use were Icom 745 and R75, neither with narrow filters. They had brought a frame loop for reception but unfortunately something happened to it in transit and it didn't work The inv L antenna was therefore used also for reception. There will be another try on JUNE 26, approx. between 17-19 UTC.

• 14/6. 136 test from Grimeton. The radio club SK6DK will make some preparations for the coming 136 kHz transmissions from the SAQ site at Grimeton today (Thursday) June 14. They will use an "inv L" antenna with the vertical part 60 m high and the horizontal part 200 m (at 60 m height). The arrive at 16 UTC and will perhaps be QRV one or two hours later. Preliminary frequency is 137.6 kHz. Listener reports can be sent to sm6oew@telia.com . A frame loop will be used for reception.

• 8/6. Special event in OM. Rich, OM2TW will be QRV on Saturday morning from the HAM meeting in Borovce (Slovakia). He will set up a demonstration station, starting about 0800Z using CW and QRSS. "I hope to see you on 136kc".

• 7/6. Friedrichshafen LF meet. As in the past years, there will be a meeting of LF friends during the Ham Radio (hamfest in at the Bodensee, close to the HB9 and OE border) on Saturday, June 30, at 10:00 (local) in hall 2, conference room B. Afterwards, DJ2LF, DL4YHF and others will be at the "Dorfkrug" restaurant (at about 12:00) for a more informal chat, (Food, beer and wine recommended).

• 4/6. Trans-Atlantic on 73kHz? Laurie G3AQC has been sending his very slow CW beacon on 71.92kHz and it looks as if it has been detected by VE1ZJ last night. We await a confirmed copy of a callsign but it's a hopeful start!

• May 2001

• 29/5. GBR special 16kHz A1A transmission received in VK. Ric VK7RO, heard the last part of the 13.30 transmission at around 13.46. Good reports were also received all over Europe (well so they should be!).

• 25/5. New TX circuit. Andy, G4JNT has developed a bridge type switch-mode TX inspired by the Decca TX. It's on the features page.

• 23/5. 75 years of GBR. Rugby Radio celebrates its 75th anniversary next week with a special 16kHz transmission.

• 20/5. VA3LK received in British Columbia.Steve VE7SL has seens Larry's regular transmission on a few occasions now but this is the best reception so far. The path is 3,500km over land.

• 9/5. Agenda for LF Forum. The first LF forum to be held outside the Windsor "HF" convention takes place on May 20th at Wimborne Dorset. Full details are here.

• 6/5. New version of Spectrum Lab. Wolf, DL4YHF has released a new version of his very useful Spectrum Lab program. There are some new functions in it, including:- dynamic range up to 150dB (with FFT and decimation gain) - adjustable range for the display (no longer fixed to 0...+90dB) - improved averaging for the waterfall if used for long-term observation (with very slow scrolling waterfall) - very flexible export function (noise, average, peaks in frequency 'ranges', text files can be read with Excel etc for post processing, plots etc) - Sample Rate of 5512 Hz is now supported, saves a lot of disk space when recording a wave file without decimation.

• April 2001

• 26/4. New circuits on Features page. Jim, M0BMU has been working on a variable phase BPSK modulator (for Wolf etc.) which avoids the "key clicks" caused by hard phase-switching.

• 24/4. G3AQC still being rx'd in VE. VE1ZJ caught sight of Laurie's signals last night despite the recent atmospheric disturbances. See the screenshot.

• 17/4. Activity report. No headline news at present. Plenty of experiments with the new BPSK mode "Wolf" (see software page) which have yielded pretty impressive results. IK5ZPV has been running tests at a few tens of Watts which have been decoded all over Europe.

  New on the band is OM5CW who has been testing whilst F5MAF is back with an improved signal and is trying some QRSS.

• 15/4. Interim LF forum. The next LF forum is to be held at the Flight Refuelling Amateur Radio Society, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset, on Sunday 20 May. Contact G3GRO (Datter@btinternet.com) if you'd like to attend. There'll be some litz wire and other LF goodies for sale too!

• 10/4. New version of Argo. Build 128 of the popular QRS reading program is now out. Get it at http://www.weaksignals.com or from the software page.

• 3/4. Poor conditions scupper tests. It looks as though the high solar activity at present has lead to general instability of conditions and no DX reports have been received for the trans-Pac tests. To add to the problems, power was off at the Quartz Hill site of ZL6QH which would have been one of the bigger ZL signals.

• March 2001

• 27/3. Trans-Pacific tests. The ZLs and VKs are attempting to cross the Pacific over the last weekend in March. Details here.

• 25/3. WOLF at large! A new mode developed by KK7KA is being tried on 136 at present. Signals have been decoded across the Atlantic so it obviously works. Find it here.

• 18/3. SM6PXJ seen in VE. John VE1ZJ has been busy again. See his screenshots.

• 15/3. Trans-Atlantic awards. The three sponsors of the trans-Atlantic challenge have decided to present awards to VA3LK, G3AQC, VE1ZZ, VE1ZJ and G3LDO for their contacts. Read the notice. Congratulations to all concerned, a superb achievement!

• 9/3. New version of QRS. Rik, ON7YD has modified his QRS program so that it can send very long dots for trans-Atlantic tests. Version 3.05 is available free here. Thanks Rik!

• 9/3. More trans-Atlantic. John VE1ZJ has been back at the receiver. He has sent a couple of scans from the last few days.

• 6/3. First CT/I QSO. I5ZPV worked CT1DRP yesterday on QRS. I5TGC (Florence) took a screenshot.

• 6/3. Sad day for "7S6SAJ" station. The LF antenna at Karlsborg came crashing down today as the station was demolished. This is the site from which 7S6SAJ operated on 136 last year. The pictures are here.

• 2/3. Antenna simulation programs. Note from PA0SE: Interesting material (simulation programs) for antenna freaks can be found at http://www.qsl.net./wb6tpu/swindex.html . It is called the "Unofficial NEC Archive". 73, Dick, PA0SE

• February 2001

• 19/2. Longest LF QSO (in two ways!). On 19th Feb G3AQC and VA3LK completed a 136kHz two-way slow CW QSO which they had started on Feb 5th! Signals weren't actually received until 9th and there were a couple of days when aerial problems caused by the Canadian winter brought things to a halt. Larry is in Eastern Ontario, considerably further from G than VE1ZJ / VE1ZZ. Read Larry's announcement.

  For a roundup of all the trans-Atlantic news see G3XDV's pages.

• 17/2. First F-EI QSO. Finbar EI0CF worked Andy F6CNI on Saturday for a first EI to F contact. Finbar's new QTH is quieter than his last one so more EI firsts may be in the pipeline!

• 14/2. First T/A 2-way.... almost! Peter G3LDO worked VE1ZZ last night on 136kHz but Jack was using VE1ZJ as receiving station. Peter's report was relayed from John to Jack via 80mts. There's some debate as to whether this counts for an award but it's SO close... Screenshots

• 12/2. CT1DRP seen by VE1ZJ and W1JHJ, W3EEE & W4DEX. Various positive IDs of Brian last night from around 2030.Screenshots

• 11/2. New version of Argo. Build 120 includes finer frequency graduations. Find it on the downloads page.

• 11/2. Last night's Trans-Atlantic pictures. From W1JHJ, VE1ZJ and W3EEE. Looks as if there's a vestige of DF6NM's signal in VE. Thanks to all for the pics!

• 10/2. More T/A pictures from VE1ZJ. and W1JHJ Looks like they both have G3LDO in the log now and a positive id of G3XDV in VE.

• 8/2. LF makes the ARRL news. Ihere are some pictures of Dexter W4DEX and his reception of G3AQC.

• 8/2. More East Coast USA reception. Steve W3EEE recorded signals from G3XTZ and..? on the night of 7th. Screenshots.

• 6/2. More pictures from VE1ZJ. See John's screen grabs for the last two evenings.

• 4/2. Pictures of signals received at VE1ZJ last night. John saw very clear signals from G4JNT, G3XTZ, G3YXM and G3AQC. See the screen grabs.

• 4/2. First LF QSO from Romania. Szigy, YO2IS worked OM2TW yesterday at 0630 on QRSS. Szigy is using an all valve TX and puts about 2A into his 41m sloping wire antenna. Congratulations Szigy and Rich! Rich has screenshots and audio.

• 4/2. New version of Argo. Alberto has been fine-tuning Argo again. Build 119 is now out with some improvements and additions. Find it at http://www.weaksignals.com or on the Dowloads page.

• 3/2. Amazing trans-Atlantic reception! Dexter W4DEX received G3AQC and M0BMU absolutely perfectly around midnight utc last night. See his screenshots

• January 2001

• 31/1. Confirmed G - W reception. Dexter W4DEX has been listening (looking) for G3AQC and M0BMU on 135.9 for a while. Last night he positively identified Jim's beacon signal around 0100. Dexter is in Stanly county North Carolina, quite a way inland.

• 28/1. More VE reception. Marco IK1ODO received a little of VA3LK's beacon this morning when the street lights went off. See his screenshot.. This must be a new record at 6311km . Rememeber that VE1ZZ is still sending most evenings until around 2300 on 136.500 with 3sec dots.

• 23/1. VA3LK reception. Some screen grabs of Larry's signal received this morning here.

• 21/1. First CT1/G QSO. Today after some time trying, G3LDO worked CT1DRP on QRSS. Well done both! I think this is the first QSO from CT1.

• 20/1. VA3LK received regularly. Larry's test transmission on 137.7894kHz has been resolved by several G stations over the last few evenings. It is a 2:1 (90 second=dot, 180 seconds=dash) QRSS message at present. You need the minimum bandwidth on Spectran and very accurate calibration to see it! Screenshot from M0BMU.

• 16/1. Screenshots from VE1ZZ. John, VE1ZJ has sent a couple of screenshots of his reception at Jack's QTH last weekend. See the screenshots.

• 16/1. New version of Spectran. V4.130 See Ko Versteeg's web-site for download.

• 15/1. New distance record! Not such a washout after all... at 2110 on Saturday evening Ko Versteeg in Holland copied VA3LK briefly! The distance is 5736km.

• 14/1. Saturday night washout... Poor band conditions with high static levels meant no signals from VE1ZZ were copied last night. Thanks to all those who made big efforts on both sides and better luck next time? We are still awaiting reports from the Amrad guys at Nags Head but the omens aren't good.

• 13/1. OK1FIG and MM0ALM received in VE. VE1ZZ was seen calling MM0ALM around 2300 and OK1FIG at 0000 this morning. No QSOs made yet. Let's hope for good condx tonight.

• 12/1. VE1ZZ received in Finland. Reino OH9UFO, had a good copy of Jack's QRSS signal last night whilst testing Argo. Is this the furthest reception of Jack?

• 10/1. Trans-Atlantic QSO attempt. This weekend sees John, VE1ZJ paying a visit to Jack VE1ZZ's QTH. He will bring QRSS receive capability and e-mail (which Jack lacks). If conditions are OK it is hoped that a QSO can be made. Details of frequencies and times on G3XDV's web-site. At the same time the Amrad guys will be at the Nags Head coastal site which they used last year for listening experiments.

• 9/1. VE1ZZ received in Sweden. Johan, SM6LKM saw signals last night. He took a screenshot.

• 7/1. New versions of Argo and EasyGram available. Visit the Dowloads page.

• 3/1. Norway can now use VLF. The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority has issued new regulations allowing the use of frequencies below 9kHz (and above 400GHz) on a general non-restricted basis (valid from Jan. 1st 2001). report from Magne, la1bfa / la1k.

• 1/1. Happy New Year! Let's make it a memorable year on LF. It looks like a transatlantic 2-way may not be far off with VE1ZZ being regularly seen in Europe. There will be a concerted attempt at a QSO on QRSS when John VE1ZJ visits Jack on Jan 12/13.

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