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Hunting For NDBs In CLE288
25 January 2023 | by  |
| YNE - 207 Norway House, MB (tnx ve3gop.com) |
Yes! 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?
E.g. 282.5 RT (AUI), 284.5 MH (TUA), 312.5 KML (SYR), 328.5 EGT (NIR), 400.5 COD (ITA).
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 info:
Hello all,
Do try not to miss our 288th co-ordinated listening event - it starts this Friday at midday. This could be an ideal CLE to try out for the first time, but everyone is welcome, as always, of course!
Days: Fri. 27th - Mon. 30th January, Midday-Midday, your local time
NDBs on frequencies from 190 - 239.9 kHz
PLUS: normal NDBs with carriers on 'half-way' frequencies ( nnn.5 kHz )
from 190.5 - 999.5 kHz
So for all of us it is a CLE in two parts - the first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are lower than 240 kHz.
The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way'.
E.g. 282.5 RT (AUI), 284.5 MH (TUA), 312.5 KML (SYR), 328 EGT (NIR), 400.5 COD (ITA).
The seek list below includes the ones that are more likely to be logged.
(Europe listeners will hear few or none from part 1, while the
listeners away from Europe will hear few or none from part 2)
Please send your final CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text email and not in an attachment, showing 'CLE288' and 'FINAL' in its title.
(Loggings from both parts can be shown in the same list)
Please include on EVERY line of your log:
# The date (or just the day 'dd') and UTC (days change at 00:00 UTC).
# kHz - the beacon's nominal frequency.
# The Call Ident.
It is important to show those main items FIRST - any other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc., go LATER in the same line.
Don't forget to give your OWN location (your 6-character Locator if you know it please) and details of your receiver and aerial(s), etc. Others will be interested to know, especially new members - and old ones with failing memories like mine!
Listening around the 'half-way' frequencies means we might also catch some interesting non-CLE beacons – you can tell us about those too, but in a separate list.
Joachim and I will be processing the incoming logs as usual - please look out for our 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday evening, with a list to let you check that your own log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the NDB List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday.
Good listening
Brian and Joachim
(CLE Coordinators)
If you wish you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,
stating the location and owner - and with their permission if required.
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, local or remote,
to make further loggings for the same CLE.
For your full seek list in the 190-240 kHz range just go to Rxx (https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle) for your part of the World.
Below is the seek list which includes the ‘nnn.5’ NDBs that are more likely to be heard.
• 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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