Summer Radio Project Completed


My summer radio project, motivated by a magazine article published in 1936, has now been completed and fully described on my main website. Hopefully we can soon exchange Cycle 25 signals with it on the higher bands:

                             https://qsl.net/ve7sl/6a6.html

Hunting For NDBs In CLE283


Time marches on and once again, it's CLE time. This is an opportunity for you to discover the KIWI SDR online network and to put it to use for hunting NDBs ... either close to you or on the other side of the world!

'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.


For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all 

Here are the final details for our special 283rd listening event which 
starts this coming Friday.  

Joachim and I are grateful for the questions, suggestions and help in the last few days.   Thanks also to Martin, who has made some changes that improve the way RWW handles logs that have been made at remote receivers.

 

  Days:    Friday 26 August - Monday 29 August


  Times: 
*Midday on Friday to *Midday on Monday,

                   local time at your chosen REMOTE RX
  QRG:    Normal LF/MF frequencies (190 - 1740 kHz)


  NDBs:   A MAXIMUM of 100 normal NDBs (not DGPS, Navtex, Amateur, .. )
                (That’s not intended to be a target to reach!)

Please check that you will be following the help given in the Early
 
Advice, sent last Saturday, and in the later contributions to the List.

Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE283 FINAL’ in its subject line.


    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:


       #  The date (e.g. '2022-08-27' or just the day no. '27')
 and UTC*

       #  kHz  (The beacon's nominal published frequency)

              If you don’t know it, please visit https://rxx.classaxe.com where you will find all the details.


       #  The Call Ident.

 

           *UTC  is the same everywhere of course - but

           *Midday local time can always be checked from your browser by entering e.g. time timbuktu  (try it now!)


Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional
 
details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete one.

Please make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of the listening location and brief details of the receiver there thatyou were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.


Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 31 August.   We will then hope to
 complete making the combined results within two or three days.


Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

 -------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is additional information to help you in CLE283:

CLE283 – further guidance

Please be aware that, because most of the available Web-SDRs can be shared with a number of other users, there may occasionally be a need to wait your turn to use a particular one.

If you plan to participate in our upcoming CLE, you can use any one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location (and web-address if possible) and with the owner’s permission if required.

You may NOT also use another receiver, to make further loggings for the same CLE.

Here’s a list of what can be found on the internet and there are definitely many more.

Kiwi receiver map : http://rx.linkfanel.net/  

The KiWi-receivers are amongst the most popular web-controlled remote-receivers and there are many of them to explore all over the world.

Simply select a receiver from the map and it will start playing.

The KiWi-software is easy to use. For beacon hunting I found that it is best to switch to CW mode, fully zoom in and set the bandwidth to about 40 Hz by dragging the left and/or right side of the bandwidth indicator until the bandwidth suits your needs.

Type “h” or “?” to see a list of keyboard shortcuts. Also a right-click in the waterfall or frequency scale will bring up a Kiwi-specific menu.

 

WebSDR receiver List and map : http://www.websdr.org/

You can select a receiver from the list by clicking on the displayed link. However, you should make sure it supports the desired frequency band by observing the information in column “Frequency Range” because not all receivers do support the NDB-Band.

However, the wide band web-sdr at the University of Twente does and it is, by far, the most popular receiver using the websdr-software.

There’s also a search box near the top of the page allowing you to specify the frequency range.

To access the receivers-map, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the web page.

Clicking on the icon for a particular receiver displays an info-box which shows the available frequency ranges as well as a link to start the receiver.

 

GlobalTuners : https://www.globaltuners.com/

GlobalTuners provides access to remotely controlled radio receivers all over the world.

You can tune the receivers to listen to any desired frequency band.

Be aware that this webpage requires a login to access any of the available receivers.

Also, for most of the receivers, listening time has been limited by the operators.

 

SDR-Console :

You can use Simon Brown’s marvelous software SDR-Console to listen to a huge number of remote receivers.

Simply download SDR-Console from https://www.sdr-radio.com/download#Release  and install it on your PC.

Once the radio selection screen is displayed upon start of the software, select tab “Server”, click on button “Definitions”, click on “Search” and select “V3 Server”.

Then click on button SDRSpace.com and select a receiver from the list.

 

Perseus SDR :

Each Perseus Receiver comes with a server module which allows sharing of  this Rx via the internet.

You can select those receivers via the Perseus server-map : http://microtelecom.it/map/ServersMap.html

However, this requires a Perseus SDR and the Perseus Software to be installed on your pc.

Please be aware, that listening to a Perseus server needs some forwarding of TCP/UDP-Ports in your firewall.

  1. Forwarding port 8014 (UDP Protocol) to your computer (if you are behind a router);
  2. “Unblocking” the Perseus software in Windows Firewall (automatically requested by Windows o/s at the first run)

Please refer to the manual (Client-Server Perseus Software Reference - EN02.pdf) which comes with the Perseus software for more information.

 https://rx-tx.info/

This webpage provides a good start if you are searching for a web-receiver.

You can search by selecting

  1. a preview page
  2. a table showing information of the available bands and location info as well as the type of receiver
  3. a map
  4. the receiver type (Kiwi-receivers, WebSDR receivers and OpenWebRX receivers)

              OpenWebRx is a clone of the “Kiwi SDR-Software” and allows to put all kinds of SDR receivers on the internet using a small Linux PC like the RaspBerry Pi.

Here is some additional advice from Martin Francis, the designer of the RWW database:

And remember, if you are using a radio in Australia for example - choose RWW as your system; if your receiver is in Europe REU will be your choice; if it's in the Caribbean, you will choose RNA.

You can use the filtering capabilities in the RXX system to give you likely targets - so if that remote radio is in New Zealand, you can show signals that have been heard IN New Zealand.

And if the radio you choose is already in the RXX system, you can go to 'Personalise' and select that actual radio to see distances and bearings to each station in your targets list.

NOTES ON LOGGINGS:

If you submit logs from a location NOT already listed in RXX, please include as much info as you can to help our admins get your logs uploaded and create a new profile for that location.

Please include the specific URL (website address) used to access the radio, together with the receiver owner's callsign if they have one, and the town, state / province (if it has one), country, timezone and Grid square.

Also include the location YOU remotely operated the radio from (YOU are the OPERATOR in this scenario), especially if you haven't submitted a log before.

These listening events serve several purposes. They

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

 

Hunting For NDBs in CLE282

   

YLD-335 Chapleau, ON  (ve3gop.com)


It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?
'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
It's back to a normal activity with a frequency span of 335.0 - 349.9 kHz.

A good target for all NA listeners is YLD on 335 kHz in Ontario. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 335.405 kHz. I believe it is slated for decommissioning shortly ... hopefully I'm not too late for this one.

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all

Here are the full details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.
It is open to everyone including CLE new-comers:

    Days:       Friday 22 July - Monday 25 July

    Times:     Start and end at midday, your LOCAL time

    Range:     335.0 - 349.9 kHz


Wherever you are, please join us and log the NDBs that you can positively identify that are listed in this busy frequency range (it includes 335.0 kHz but not 350 kHz) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Very short and very long logs are welcome (in-between ones are good too!)

Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE282 FINAL’ in its subject line.

    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:


       #  The date (e.g. '2022-07-23' or just the day no. '23') and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).


       #  kHz  (
The beacon's nominal published frequency)

If you don’t know it, please visit: 

https://rxx.classaxe.com  where you will find all the details.

       #  The Call Ident.

Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional 
details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete one.

Always make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of the listening location and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc., that you were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 27 July.  We will then hope to 
complete making the combined results within a day or two.


You can check on all CLE-related information from the CLE Page


   
http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm


It includes a link to seeklists for the Event from the Rxx Database.

Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA        ndbcle'at'gmail.com

Location:  Surrey,  SE England       (CLE coordinator)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

(Reminder:  If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner -  with their permission if required.

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver,  whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings  for the same CLE)

These listening events serve several purposes. They

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

 

Neophyte Twins – An Update


Blog readers may recall my last two construction projects, the ‘Neophyte’ 1-tube regenerative receiver and a matching ‘Neophyte’ 1-tube crystal-controlled transmitter. The receiver turned out to be an exceptionally good performer once some slight tweaks were made to the original design published back in 1968.

It worked so well that I then decided to build a simple 1-tube transmitter to physically match the receiver and put together another circuit from the 60s using a 5763. Once I had the pair working well together, I set myself a goal of Worked All States on 40m CW with the tiny pair. I had a tremendous amount of fun during the cold winter nights and slowly worked my way through the list of states, eventually working and confirming all 50 states.
 



When the winter of ‘21-‘22 rolled around, I did another silly thing and set the goal of yet another Worked All States, this time on 80m CW which would offer a much bigger challenge for the little pair.
 
Over a period of about 7 months I once again managed to work all 50 states, mainly all on 3560kHz, with most of the contacts being made shortly before or shortly after my dinner hour of 1800 local time. There turned out to be a lot of good ears out there and fine bunch of great CW ops, all able to pull my signal through the noise. It was fascinating to hear the difference in propagation from one night to the next while operating at the same time period each night. Most nights produced no new states as they seemed to come in bunches, with December 9, 2021 being particularly good, producing IA, ID, MI, ME, PA and AL, while February 21, 2022 brought NH, MS and AK.
 
After working all 50 states, it took several more weeks to gather all of the prized cards.
 

80m WAS QSLs - thanks guys!

Looking back at the past two winters of nightly CW fun, it’s nice to recall just how much pleasure was derived from such a tiny investment in construction time, let alone cost. Everything, including the unused mini-boxes, was found in my parts collection with the exception of the 5763 tube in the transmitter. My junk box has been growing ever since my interest in radio began as a pre-teen back in the late 50s, smitten with the magic of radio. Fancy multi-thousand dollar radios offer truly amazing performance, but for me, can often make things too easy, removing much of the magic.
 
Next winter’s new one-tube project, circa 1936, is now in the mock-up testing phase and should provide some challenging DX fun on 10, 15 and 20m as Solar Cycle 25 breaths new life into the higher bands … stay tuned for an update soon!

Hunting For NDBs In CLE281

YIV-300 Island Lake, MB (ve3gop.com)


It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
It's a little different this time, with beacon hunters asked to report NDBs heard on any and all of the 10kHz markers only ... ie. 350, 360 ..

central target for listeners in North America is YIV - 300 kHz in Island Lake, Manitoba. Listen for YIV's upper sideband on 300.401 kHzYIV's 500 watts is widely heard throughout North America and has been logged in Europe. Can you find it?

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.


Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all,

Here are all the details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.

This one will be a bit different - we shall be trying out a new kind of ‘Special’. 

 Days:      Friday 24 June - Monday 27 June

 Times:    Start and End at midday, your LOCAL time

 Target:   NDBs with nominal (published) frequencies of:

                       200, 210, 220, 230, ………. . .  , 1630 kHz

                 i.e. the NDBs on any/all of the 10 kHz markers

                 but none on other frequencies (including nnn.5)

We hope this will provide a few more (mid-summer) NDBs than usual for Northern Hemisphere listeners - and for sure a (mid-winter) bonus for Southern Hemisphere listeners who always have relatively few NDBs within range. 

The usual ‘rules’ for log-making will apply.  First-time CLE logs, short or long, will also be very welcome, wherever you are listening from.

Please log the NDBs you can positively identify that are listed on the ‘ ---0.0 kHz’  frequencies, plus any UNIDs heard there too.

Send your CLE log to [email protected] with  CLE281  and  FINAL  at the start of its title.

Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:

 

   # The date and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).

   # kHz - the beacon's nominal published frequency, if you know it.

  # The Call Ident.

 

Show those main items FIRST on each line, before any optional details such as the NDB's Location, Distance, Offsets, Cycle time, etc.

As always, make your log meaningful to everyone by including your listening location and details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc.

It would be OK to use one remote receiver, with the owner's permission if necessary, provided that ALL your loggings for the CLE are made using it.

Joachim or I will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wed. 29th June.

We hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.

You can find all CLE-related information from our CLE page ( http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm ).

Good listening

 Brian & Joachim

These listening events serve several purposes. They

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

 

FT8 and the Magic Band

Now that 6m is in full swing once again, many of you will be operating FT8 on 6m for the first time! Things are a little different on 6m compared to operating FT8 on HF and here are a few things for newcomers that might help to keep you out of the naughty corner! (originally published in 2020 but still important today) Today’s blog is directed to those that may be new to 6m or new to using FT8 on 6m. Some of the things discussed will make your experience on the magic band better for you and better for your neighbors. Unlike using FT8 on the HF bands, 6m presents some different challenges, especially if you operate in a region where there may be a lot of other locals also using the band at the same time. Although the weak-signal capability of FT8 has made it possible for many smaller stations or those with makeshift antennas to take advantage of the unique propagation 6m has to offer, it also can create problems for other users of the band when used inappropriately. In regions of dense population, even small stations can create very high local signal levels, often making it impossible for their neighbors to hear weak signals. This is not deliberately-caused QRM but arises when some operators operate 'against the flow’ and transmit on the opposite ‘sequence’ to everyone else in their local area. On HF, one can transmit or listen on whatever time sequence they wish. Choosing ‘TX 1st’ or ‘TX 2nd’ is usually determined by who you hear calling CQ or who you wish to work. On 6m however, in a densely-populated region of local operators, chosing to transmit whenever you want to is a luxury that can create big problems for your neighbor who may be trying to hear that weak DX signal while you are transmitting! These problem will not occur if everybody in the region uses and follows the same transmit-receive periods, so that everyone is listening or everyone is transmitting at the same time ... one or the other. Unfortunately, this ‘ideal’ system falls apart easily when one or more of your neighbors is not using the same sequence as everyone else. For the past few years, a protocol that seeks to alleviate this problem has become popular and well accepted by those familiar with it. Those new to 6m may not know about it or understand the reasoning behind it. Above all, I would urge new users of the band, or to the FT8 mode, to first listen carefully for a few minutes, before beginning operation, to determine what the majority of stations in their local region are using for sequencing. If they are using ‘TX 1st’, then your choice of ‘TX 2nd’ will likely cause hearing difficulty for many others, as well as for yourself. Although there are no strict rules, there is a very successful and well-practiced protocol, and that is that the ‘easternmost’ station transmits on ‘1st’ while the ‘western end’ goes 2nd’. This is why you will hear most eastern stations in the morning hours transmitting ‘2nd’, as they are usually calling or looking for Europeans to their east, who are transmitting ‘1st’. By the same token, you will also hear western stations transmitting on '2nd', who are also looking for Europe to their east, transmitting on ‘1st’. This sequencing protocol usually reverses later in the day when signals from Asia become a possibility, and all North Americans then become the ‘easternmost’ stations and will transmit on the ‘1st’ sequence ... unlike in the morning. I can easily see how newcomers to the band could become confused, when they hear both sequences being used! The best thing, once again, is to listen carefully first and then ‘go with the flow’. You can read about the UK's Six Metre Group's initiatives regarding these protocols HERE. OK... so you’re not interested in EU or Asia? Then it shouldn’t matter to you which sequence that you use and best operating practice would again be to ‘go with the flow’ in consideration of other users. A few days ago I saw a prime example of exactly what not to do, in too many respects. I made a posting on the ON4KST 6m chat page that VE1SKY in NS (Nova Scotia) was being decoded here, mainly to alert others in my region that European signals might be coming next, as hearing the VE1s in BC is often an indicator that the European path is building. In less than a minute, an S9+ local began calling ‘CQ NS’ on the exact opposite sequence of all others ... effectively blocking the waterfall and any possible hope of hearing weak EU signals. I’m sorry, but this is just terrible operating procedure, with almost zero chance of success, while showing no consideration for nearby users. Just like working DX on CW or on phone, the best way, as it always has been, is to ‘listen, listen and then listen some more’. You will work FAR more DX by listening and calling at the right time, than you will by calling CQ. I also see some local stations everyday, calling endless CQs, often for over 60 minutes straight and often with many replies that go unnoticed. With FT8, one can check ‘work 1st’, go away, and return later to see who they might have ‘worked’. Perhaps this is what these operators are doing, but they should understand that they are also creating non-stop QRM for other users ... those that choose to listen carefully to the band rather than to endlessly CQ. Once again, this is just poor practice. You may argue that if nobody called CQ, then there would be no contacts made. There is nothing wrong with a few CQs but CQing for an hour? And don’t worry, there will always be other stations CQing endlessly for you to hear, even if it’s not a great way to operate. With a little pre-planning for sequencing and consideration for your neighbors, everyone can and should be able to enjoy 6m FT8 with very few problems ... and that is my hope for all of us. After forty-eight summers of CW and phone on 6m and two summers on FT8, these are some of my initial thoughts on how to best operate for maximum success and consideration for other band-users. The latter is part of the basic framework upon which amateur radio was originally established, when back in 1914, the ARRL described in their 'Code of Conduct' for amateurs ... "The Amateur is Gentlemanly. He never knowingly uses the air for his own amusement in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others."  Now, let the magic, and the pleasure, continue!  

Hunting For NDBs in CLE280

  


It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
It's back to an 'almost normal' activity but with a slightly wider frequency span: 350.0 - 369.9 kHz.

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all

Our 280th Co-ordinated Listening Event is almost here.

Can new 'listening eventers' join in too?   YES, PLEASE! 

Joachim and I are always pleased to help first-time CLE logs through the harvester program.

 

     Days:     Friday 27 May - Monday 30 May

     Times:   Start and End at midday, your LOCAL time

     Range:   350.0 - 369.9 kHz   

 

Please log all the NDBs you can identify that are listed in this range (it includes 350 kHz but not 370) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

You can find full information to help you, including seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW, by going to the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm and clicking on  CLE Seeklist  there.

 

Please send your 'Final' CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text email and not in an attachment and - important - with 'CLE280' and 'FINAL'

in its title.

Please show the following main items FIRST on EVERY line of your log:

 

  #   The full Date (e.g. 2022-05-27) or just the day (e.g. 27)

         and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).

  #   kHz - the beacon's nominal published frequency, if you know it.

  #   The Call Ident.

 

Optional details such as Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.

Please always include details of your own location and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), software  and any other equipment you were using.

 

Joachim or I will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.

Make sure that your log has arrived at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 1 June.   We hope to make all the combined results within a day or so.

 

Good listening

   Brian

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA        ndbcle'at'gmail.com

Location:  Surrey,  SE England       (CLE coordinator)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

(Reminder:  If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner -  with their permission if required.

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver,  whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings  for the same CLE)

These listening events serve several purposes. They

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

 


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  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor