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Receiving LWBC in North America

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circuitmike:
I'm wondering what it takes to receive any of the longwave stations from Europe / Africa in the US, specifically at my location in Massachusetts. With my existing setup I can occasionally get the faintest of signals - I can see a carrier but not hear audio, and one time I even got faint, unintelligible audio from BBC 4 at 198 kHz (I could tell it was the shipping forecast, confirmed by checking the internet stream). I'd love to hear more, though. For those of you who've done it, what kinds of antennas worked well for you? Times of day / year? Locations (I've read that being on the coast helps a lot)? Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

NJQA:
I have received them in Virginia on a KiwiSDR and a Wellbrook loop before, but not every day.  Conditions need to be good.  Winter is better because thunderstorm QRN is much reduced.  Many believe the best months for LW propagation are Sep-Oct, but there will still be audible thunderstorm QRN.  A large Loop-On-the-Ground (LOG) antenna worked well too, better I think than the Wellbrook.

If you hear electrical noise when you tune through the LW band, you probably need to work to reduce that first.

You need to put effort into reducing any local noise sources and eliminating common mode noise.  Common mode filters on your feedline, at both the antenna and at the receiver, that use the correct ferrite mix for LF (e.g. Type 75 or 77) are important. I also use a LPF that cuts out the AM BCB.

circuitmike:
Thanks! I've already put a bunch of effort into reducing electrical noise and while things are far from perfect, I don't have any huge amounts of crap in the LWBC band. I've been meaning to experiment with a loop-on-ground antenna for a while now, too, and I have the parts to build one; I just haven't gotten around to it (plus there's still a bunch of snow on the ground at my QTH for now). I have other radios I can try, too, so I'm not limited to just the KiwiSDR. I should probably invest in a few more ferrite toroids and the like. There's still so much noise coming out of my house! And I do have an AM BCB filter around here somewhere, so I'll experiment with putting that in line.

NQC:
Hey All ,   

2030 EST 2/27/22  VERY  GOOD Morocco  in full wide AM  on 171 Kc

Fair BBC 198 Kc in USB Narrow, beat up a bit by DIW / Dixon NC beacon

HF U SDR NE Bev

K

circuitmike:
I'm not hearing anything at my QTH right now, so maybe I missed it. I sure wish DIW would get decommissioned, though! Speaking of, I do see the characteristic "bumpy" carrier at 198 kHz that tends to imply there are actually two carriers there, probably BBC4 and DIW.

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