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-LF news past....2008.

• December

  • 26/12. T/A QRSS3 on 500kHz. G3KEV worked WE2XGR/2 on boxing day around 2157utc. Both stations using QRSS3 on their respective 500kHz allocations.

  • 14/12. RU6LA / G3KEV X-band LF/MF. G3KEV on 502.57kHz worked RU6LA on 137.71kHz at 1920hrs. Both stations using QRSS3.

  • 13/12. New receiving loops. Jim Moritz M0BMU has written a new article on 1m square receiving loops for 136 and 500kHz. Download from the Features page.

  • 1/12. First SSB/CW 2-way T/A on 500k. Bob WE2XGR/6 worked Finbar GI4DPE first as a regular cw contact, then Bob switched to ssb on 510kHz and continued the QSO. This is despite an ice storm at Bob's QTH which deposited 1/4" of ice on his antenna resulting in Bob's output power dropping to 500W. (Estimated ERP was 60-70W on ssb).

• November

  • 28/11. SAQ TX next week. There will be a transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz on December 6 2008 at 10:45 UTC. The reason for the extra transmission is the opening of a new “Alexanderson Institute” at Campus Learning Centre in Varberg, the near by city. We do not require any QSL-reports this time and will not verify. Info from SM6NM.

  • 22/11. Canada on 500kHz. Industry Canada is to allow some "selected amateurs" to operate in the 504-509 kHz band with a maximum power of 20 W ERP and bandwidth up to 1 kHz. The stations operating in this band would be technically operating under Special Developmental Licenses, although they would all be radio amateurs. Info from ARRL.

• October

  • 23/10. Malta on 136kHz. The Malta Communication Authority have confirmed that Maltese amateurs will be permitted to operate on the 136kHz band as from 1 January 2009 with 1 Watt e.i.r.p. secondary allocation.

  • 9/10. SAQ on air again. There will be a transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on 17,2 kHz on “United Nations Day” October 24^th 2008 at 09:30 UTC. Start up and tuning from about 09:00 UTC.

• September

  • 22/9. VK on 136kHz. Initially just advanced licence holders will be able to use the 136kHz band as from 1 January 2009 with 1 Watt e.i.r.p. on a non-interference basis.

• June

  • 7/6. New low-signal mode. MEPT_JT has been developed by K1JT and ZL1BPU. The program "WSPR" (Whisper) generates and receives signals using structured messages, strong forward error correction, and narrow-band 4-FSK modulation. Its principal design goal is reliable copy at very low signal levels. In practice it works well at signal-to-noise ratios down to -27 dB in a reference bandwidth of 2500Hz. The Windows GUI version can be downloaded from the software page.

• April

  • 13/4. 500k to Moscow. Mal G3KEV has now worked RW3ADB on CW and QRS3 crossband to 40m. The latest QSO was on QRSS with an "O" report for Mal on 502.6kHz. Mal often calls for crossband QSOs listening on 7033 CW.

• March

  • 29/3. LW TX up for grabs. Two Redifon G142 transmitters with all ancilliaries are available free to anyone who will collect from the Wirral. Contact me for info. Pictures here.

  • 7/3. G3LDO works VO1NA on 500. Last night Peter had a cross-band CW QSO with VO1NA, he was on 501.19kHz CW and Joe was on 40m. Peter's signals peaked 439.

• February

  • 1/2. 500kHz NOVs extended - and more power. Ofcom have stated that they intend to extend the 500kHz NOVs until Feb 28th 2009. The current documents expire at the end of this month. New NOVs will be sent out to all holders of the current one. The power limit under the new NOV will be 0dBW erp, a 10dB increase. Full details on Ofcom's web-site.

• January

  • 15/1. Belgium on 500kHz. Rik Strobbe ON7YD reports that the UBA has received notice from BIPT (Belgian Ofcom) that they can use the segment 501-504 kHz on a secondary basis, CW only (all speeds, so including QRSS). Power limitation is 5 Watt ERP.

  • 9/1. New 136 activity. Next weekend Hans-Albrecht, DK8ND will be qrv again on 137.77kHz in qrss3 & qrss10. It is a challenge to transmit from a little cottage with garden in urban noise environment. He would be very grateful for any QRSS calls.

  
  

On to 2009.---Back to 2007.