Longwave

[vo1-001-swl]

Here in Newfoundland I hear quite a number of NDB's as well as a number of broadcast stations on Longwave.

Some of these include Luxembourg on 234  England on 198, Iceland on 189, Poland on 225 , Monaco on 216
Germany on 183, France on 162 and Morocco on 171, and Ireland on 252

[Chanter]

You can get *Monaco*?  Now I'm really envious!  I've been trying for Monaco on shortwave since April, no luck.  I'd have no chance of catching them on longwave at all. 

[Kilokat7]

0500z LW bandscan through the Euro channels:

153: Strong carrier but no describable audio.
162: Bad QRM here, but audio poking through from France.
171: Spine chilling exotic music from Morocco, I enjoy this one the most.
183: Decent audio from Germany.
189: Iceland in and out with music.
198: Weak talk from BBC.

As usual with these stations, sometimes you need to park it on a frequency for a bit as the fading on LW tends to be looong.

[cmradio]

As usual with these stations, sometimes you need to park it on a frequency for a bit as the fading on LW tends to be looong.

Yep!

That's why common LowFER modes are QRSs-60 and 120

Peace!

[BoomboxDX]

For copying code on longwave, all you need is a code chart, and write down the dits and dahs, and then correlate what you heard with the chart.  You don't really need to know the code well, although it helps.

I myself don't listen to the longwaves much.  Lately it's just been the AM band for me. 

I probably should get back into it and log some beacons before they all leave the air.

[Chanter]

Speaking of NDB's, I caught a new one for me last night.  YPH, out of Inukjuaq, Quebec.  LDM in Ludington, Michigan was also coming in beneath UNU in Juneau, which is fairly unusual for this location.  Must've been just the right sort of conditions.  

I don't know if anyone is interested or not, and I should probably start an entirely new thread for this, but here are the NDB's I've managed to snag since I first started exploring longwave in late April.  I've got twice as many Ontarians as almost any other!  

AQ, Kooky - Appleton, Wisconsin  
CI, Koloe - Sault Saint Marie, Michigan  
EOK, Keokuk, Iowa  
GW, Jarpik - Kuujjuarapik, Quebec  
LDM, Ludington, Michigan  
LYQ, Morrison, Tennessee  
MRJ, Mineral Point, Wisconsin  
MS, Monah - Madison, Wisconsin  
NM, Matagami, Quebec  
OS, Pober - Oshkosh, Wisconsin  
QT, Thunder Bay, Ontario  
RYV, Rock River - Watertown, Wisconsin  
SB, Sudbury, Ontario  
UNU, Juneau, Wisconsin  
YAT, Wapisk - Attawapiskat, Ontario  
YFM, La Grande, Quebec  
YHN, Hornepayne, Ontario  
YKQ, Waskaganish, Quebec  
YLD, Chapleau, Ontario  
YMW, Maniwaki, Quebec  
YPH, Inukjuaq, Quebec  
YPL, Pickle Lake, Ontario  
YQA, Muskoka, Ontario  
YTL, Big Trout Lake, Ontario  
YXL, Sioux Lookout, Ontario  
YY, Mont Joli, Quebec  
YYU, Kapiskasing, Ontario  
YZE, Gore Bay, Ontario  

[ratroo]

Very cool list!  Thank you.   

[BDM]

Euro BC stations are fun to log. Usually after 0600 UTC you can start logging them fairly easy. An hour after taking this vid with only my 80m dipole, many of these stations are stronger to far stronger now. Should have waited 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iyygjCvGb4

[Kilokat7]

Euro broadcasters are coming in on just about all the Euro broadcast channels right now - even 177.  Good LW conditions tonight - many are very strong.

0742z: I have Iceland on 189 coming in right now on the barefoot DX-440 - wow!!!

[Chanter]

I would love to be able to get some of these, but I have harmonics of local MW broadcasters splattering all over that part of LW.  Is there any way to get rid of these annoying things, or do I just have to go somewhere without stations on 1480 and 1310 before I can hear anything of note in the 170-180's? 

[Kilokat7]

I would love to be able to get some of these, but I have harmonics of local MW broadcasters splattering all over that part of LW.  Is there any way to get rid of these annoying things, or do I just have to go somewhere without stations on 1480 and 1310 before I can hear anything of note in the 170-180's? 

What kind of receiver are you using - DX-398?  Is it connected to an external antenna?  If so then the external antenna is probably overloading the radio.  If you are still receiving harmonics without any external antenna connected then I doubt there's anything you can do to remedy this, unfortunately, unless you have an RF gain control that you can back off.  My old DX-440 actually does pretty good on LW using its internal ferrite loop, no harmonics ever noted on LW off the internal antenna.

[refmo]

I would love to be able to get some of these, but I have harmonics of local MW broadcasters splattering all over that part of LW.  Is there any way to get rid of these annoying things, or do I just have to go somewhere without stations on 1480 and 1310 before I can hear anything of note in the 170-180's? 

First thing I would try is to push the Attenuator button.

[cmradio]

I would love to be able to get some of these, but I have harmonics of local MW broadcasters splattering all over that part of LW.  Is there any way to get rid of these annoying things, or do I just have to go somewhere without stations on 1480 and 1310 before I can hear anything of note in the 170-180's? 

First thing I would try is to push the Attenuator button.

That will indeed suffice for  front end/mixer overload issues, but if it's due to actual mixer byproducts, there's lots of Googleable low pass filters for LW listening that are easy to home brew

Peace!

[BDM]

And with all that great knowledge bestowed upon thee, we have yet another night of great European LW BC station listening happening right now Yes, in a neighborhood near you. Listen up folks, twist those dials, tweak those wet noodle antennas, turn those loops, switch those phasers. Lets get the LW party going

[Chanter]

Jeepers creepers, I never had a clue about most of that!    Thanks folks. 

Pulling the loop antenna does seem to help, at least as far as the 180's are concerned.  The 170's are another matter entirely.  I'll try futzing with the RF gain control and attenuator and see what that does.  I also need to change the batteries in this thing and unplug from the wall, as I haven't had a chance to tinker with the power supply.  Darn noisy thing. 

Maybe one of those searchable no-pass filters would help with the actual 1480 and the way it splatters all over MW.  I can't get much of anything for literally 40kHz in either direction due to the way it flings signal around.  I like the station - Spanish-language music, mostly - but sheez!