826
Longwave Loggings / Re: December 2017 NDB Logs
« on: December 15, 2017, 1437 UTC »
There doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency in repairing some of these miskeying NDBs.
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DGPS radiobeacon (transmitter) antennas typically 150' - 300' tower with top loaded element and a good ground plane. Short with respect to the frequency in use but large compared to the typical NDB antenna.
The DGPS stations are designed for coverage over as much as a couple of hundred miles whereas a typical NDB is used relatively close in as, say, an outer marker locator or a missed approach fix.
The power output of a DGPS station can be 10 to 100 times that of a NDB.
IMHO, daylight NDB Dxing is the ultimate challenge. My best daytime DX was 360 PN Port Menier QC 1021 miles... but it was maybe cheating a bit using greyline.
To me, anything over 300 miles daytime is definitely DX. What do you think?
Hmmm, tnx Josh, interesting observations.
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827
Longwave Loggings / Re: Winter NDB Logs
« on: December 14, 2017, 2351 UTC »
All AB today within 10 minutes. Notice how the propagation seems to favor a particular region at a certain time. Interesting.
btw, Riviere du Loup... River of the Wolf, another cool NDB name.
btw, Riviere du Loup... River of the Wolf, another cool NDB name.
828
Longwave Loggings / Take Off to the Great White North
« on: December 14, 2017, 1927 UTC »
Some Canadian NDBs heard here recently with cool sounding names:
201 GL La Grande Riviere QC
224 MO Moosonee ON
244 DG Chute des Passes Dangereuses QC
256 YXN Whale Cove NU
328 YTL Big Trout Lake ON
329 YEK Eskimo Point NU
340 YY Mont Joli QC
341 YYU Kapuskasing ON
344 YGV Harve St. Pierre QC
346 YXL Sioux Lookout ON
351 YKQ Fort Rupert QC
371 GW Great Whale River QC
Bunch more exotic sounding ones in NWT still trying to DX.
Thank you Canadians for keeping your NDBs in service.
201 GL La Grande Riviere QC
224 MO Moosonee ON
244 DG Chute des Passes Dangereuses QC
256 YXN Whale Cove NU
328 YTL Big Trout Lake ON
329 YEK Eskimo Point NU
340 YY Mont Joli QC
341 YYU Kapuskasing ON
344 YGV Harve St. Pierre QC
346 YXL Sioux Lookout ON
351 YKQ Fort Rupert QC
371 GW Great Whale River QC
Bunch more exotic sounding ones in NWT still trying to DX.
Thank you Canadians for keeping your NDBs in service.
829
Longwave Loggings / Re: December 2017 NDB Logs
« on: December 14, 2017, 1237 UTC »
Also on 368 look for ZP Sandspit BC located on a point of land on east coast of Queen Charlotte Is. just off BC... excellent location gives it a good signal.
830
Propagation / Re: MW Signal Strength vs Distance
« on: December 14, 2017, 0005 UTC »I do not know what types of antennas DGPS stations use, I assume very short verticals?
DGPS radiobeacon (transmitter) antennas typically 150' - 300' tower with top loaded element and a good ground plane. Short with respect to the frequency in use but large compared to the typical NDB antenna.
831
Equipment / Re: Matching Impedance
« on: December 13, 2017, 1238 UTC »
Please provide a little more info, specifically what type of antenna and how does the 50 ohm coax attach to the antenna.
FWIW, my RSP1 has only the single 50 ohm SMA input so, my wire antenna (450 ohm) connects to a 9:1 balun to RG-58 (50 ohm) coax to the RSP1.
This set up works fine on HF but seems to pick up lots of noise on LW and MW, however, the low pass filter in the RSP1 is 12MHz whereas the low pass filter in the new RSP1A is 2 MHz.
In other words, they seem to have realized the need for more filtering.
So, my inclination is not to blame the antenna so much as perhaps the relative lack of adequate filtering in the first version SDR.
What freqs are you most interested in receiving and what is the freq of the low pass filter in your RSP2?
FWIW, my RSP1 has only the single 50 ohm SMA input so, my wire antenna (450 ohm) connects to a 9:1 balun to RG-58 (50 ohm) coax to the RSP1.
This set up works fine on HF but seems to pick up lots of noise on LW and MW, however, the low pass filter in the RSP1 is 12MHz whereas the low pass filter in the new RSP1A is 2 MHz.
In other words, they seem to have realized the need for more filtering.
So, my inclination is not to blame the antenna so much as perhaps the relative lack of adequate filtering in the first version SDR.
What freqs are you most interested in receiving and what is the freq of the low pass filter in your RSP2?
832
Longwave Loggings / Re: December 2017 NDB Logs
« on: December 12, 2017, 1706 UTC »
371 GW aka as Great Whale River or Grand Riviere de la Baleine... some of these Canadian NDBs have really cool names.
Good idea on marking ur QTH.
Good idea on marking ur QTH.
833
Longwave Loggings / Re: NDB Logs 8 Dec 2017
« on: December 11, 2017, 2146 UTC »
YMW vy weak hr late this afternoon.
Good luck with ur recording.
Good luck with ur recording.
834
Longwave Loggings / Re: NDB Logs 8 Dec 2017
« on: December 11, 2017, 1921 UTC »
YMW, nice catch in daylight.
There seem to be more NDBs above the DGPS band than below but the pickings get pretty sparse above about 425. So, if you record from 200 to 450 you pretty much have it all covered... if that is what you had in mind.
There seem to be more NDBs above the DGPS band than below but the pickings get pretty sparse above about 425. So, if you record from 200 to 450 you pretty much have it all covered... if that is what you had in mind.
835
Longwave Loggings / Re: Canadian Invasion 10 Dec 2017
« on: December 11, 2017, 1849 UTC »
Cool map. 
VV and YZE pound in here day and night, the path is mostly over water.
PN is another regular, again the path is mostly over water down the St. Lawrence and over the Lakes.
YPL usually has a strong signal in here; many times it covers the more local to me XU on the same frequency... must be a real powerhouse.
The Canadians seem to be hanging on to their NDBs.
VV and YZE pound in here day and night, the path is mostly over water.
PN is another regular, again the path is mostly over water down the St. Lawrence and over the Lakes.
YPL usually has a strong signal in here; many times it covers the more local to me XU on the same frequency... must be a real powerhouse.
The Canadians seem to be hanging on to their NDBs.
836
Longwave Loggings / NDB loggings
« on: December 10, 2017, 1928 UTC »
Conditions were fairly good early this morning and was able to pull some NDBs out of the DGPS portion of the band:
284 QD The Pas MB (right on the band edge)
289 YLQ LaTuque QC
300 YIV Island Lake MB
302 QW North Battleford SK
305 YQ Churchill MB
317 ZZR Trenton ON
317 CBE Cumberland MD
284 QD The Pas MB (right on the band edge)
289 YLQ LaTuque QC
300 YIV Island Lake MB
302 QW North Battleford SK
305 YQ Churchill MB
317 ZZR Trenton ON
317 CBE Cumberland MD
837
Longwave Loggings / Re: NDB Logs 8 Dec 2017
« on: December 10, 2017, 1908 UTC »
I seem to notice a relative lack of DX NDBs coming in during daytime, vs what I get on DGPS.
The DGPS stations are designed for coverage over as much as a couple of hundred miles whereas a typical NDB is used relatively close in as, say, an outer marker locator or a missed approach fix.
The power output of a DGPS station can be 10 to 100 times that of a NDB.
IMHO, daylight NDB Dxing is the ultimate challenge. My best daytime DX was 360 PN Port Menier QC 1021 miles... but it was maybe cheating a bit using greyline.
To me, anything over 300 miles daytime is definitely DX. What do you think?
838
Longwave Loggings / Re: NDB loggings - Thanksgiving 2017
« on: December 09, 2017, 1628 UTC »
FWIW, found an old approach plate (2013) for Jackson TN and for ILS/LOC RWY 2 approach it shows a NDB (not LOM) on 394 with ID of MK. 
839
Longwave Loggings / Re: NDB logs
« on: December 08, 2017, 2145 UTC »
Had an opportunity this afternoon to do some daytime NDB chasing. Band was very quiet, low K index = 1. Heard all the beacons originally listed (except VQ) plus the following:
257 YXR Earlton ON ? (never copied the "R")
263 LQL Willoughby OH
332 QT Thunder Bay ON
335 LUK Cincinnati OH
341 ZLP Toronto ON
365 TV Traverse City MI
371 AZ Kalamazoo MI
372 MF Mansfield OH
385 UWL New Castle IN
388 CFJ Crawfordsville IN
388 H7 Manitoulin ON
391 OO Oshawa ON
394 AI Anderson IN
403 ZTO Toronto ON
408 SN St. Catharines ON
410 BA Columbus IN
515 OS Columbus OH
230 VQ still missing, still trying to reconcile a couple of confusing NOTAMs regarding this beacon.
Otherwise, a nice listening session with over 50 beacons heard in daylight.
257 YXR Earlton ON ? (never copied the "R")
263 LQL Willoughby OH
332 QT Thunder Bay ON
335 LUK Cincinnati OH
341 ZLP Toronto ON
365 TV Traverse City MI
371 AZ Kalamazoo MI
372 MF Mansfield OH
385 UWL New Castle IN
388 CFJ Crawfordsville IN
388 H7 Manitoulin ON
391 OO Oshawa ON
394 AI Anderson IN
403 ZTO Toronto ON
408 SN St. Catharines ON
410 BA Columbus IN
515 OS Columbus OH
230 VQ still missing, still trying to reconcile a couple of confusing NOTAMs regarding this beacon.
Otherwise, a nice listening session with over 50 beacons heard in daylight.
840
Longwave Loggings / Re: Some NDB Logs 0000 UTC 7 Dec 2017
« on: December 07, 2017, 2114 UTC »From a bit north of Iowa down to Texas is some of the most conductive soil in the US, it just may help sigs get to your rig. Also, Iowa may not have much in the way of population but there's small town airports just about everywehre.
Hmmm, tnx Josh, interesting observations.