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Hunting For NDBs In CLE269
23 June 2021 | by
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| AP-378 Active Pass, Mayne Island |
It's CLE time! '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.
Propagation on MF has been both hot and cold for the past few weeks, seemingly depending on where you live and the amount of geomagnetic activity affecting your region. Thankfully the Sun has ended, for now, its Coronal Hole Streams toward earth which had been causing so much disruption.
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, transmits on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier is tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident can be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone is actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone is 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. These databases have recently been re-vamped and are slicker than ever before!
From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:
Hi all,
Please join us in our 269th Coordinated Listening Event which starts this Friday.
The CLE is open to everyone including new-comers.
It’s not a contest - but enjoy taking part and you will be a winner:
Days: Friday 25th June - Monday 28th June
Times: Start and end at midday, LOCAL TIME at the receiver
Frequencies: 370 - 384.9 kHz
Wherever you are, please join us and log all NDBs that you can positively identify with their nominal (listed) frequencies in the range (it includes 370 kHz but not 385 kHz) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.
Very short logs are as welcome as very long ones!
Please Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE269 FINAL’ at the start of its subject line.
Show on EVERY LINE of your log:
# The date (e.g. 2021-06-25, etc., or just 25)
# UTC (the date changes at 00:00 UTC)
# kHz (the nominal published frequency, if known)
# The Call Ident.
Show those main items FIRST - other optional details such as Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.
If you send interim logs, please also send a 'FINAL’ (complete) log!
As always, tell us your own location and brief details of the equipment that you were using during the weekend.
We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday 29th June - you can then check that your log has been found OK.
All logs must arrive on the list at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 30th June.
We hope to complete making the combined results within a few days.
To help you to plan your listening, seeklists and maps for your part of the World are available via the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.
You can also access listings, seeklists, maps and export-files via REU/RNA/RWW by clicking on the “CLE” menu-item.
We last used this frequency range for CLE252 in January 2020.
Good listening - enjoy the CLE.
Joachim & Brian
Reminder:
If you wish you can 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, whether local
or remote, to make further loggings for the same CLE.
If you are interested in some remote listening - maybe due to local difficulties - you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and with the owner's permission if required.( e.g. see kiwisdr.com ) A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, local or remote, to make more loggings for the same CLE.
These listening events serve several purposes. They
• 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!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
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RFI noise antenna issue
I have decided to give my MFJ 1026 noise canceller a call to action and combat this RFI I have been having. In the past, I did own a 1026 and used it with great success to remove RFI our plasma TV was giving me. With the MFJ 1026, you need to have what is called a noise antenna and it has to hear the same RFI your main antenna is hearing. When I used this device to remove the plasma TV issue I had no problem getting the noise antenna to receive the RFI loud and clear.
This brings me to my head-scratching moment with the RFI issue I am having now. The first noise antenna I tried was my H-800 active antenna. I picked up nothing, I then placed it from vertical to horizontal without success. I then moved it around the property and still I was not able to hear the RFI. I then tried a long wire in the horizontal plane fairly close to my Endfed antenna and I picked up nothing. Again I moved this long wire around the property without success again.
I do have a spare Endfed that I used for portable use and I ran some coax outside to set up the Endfed close to the main Endfed and low and behold I picked up the RFI BUT it was way too close to my main antenna. The MFJ unit (via an internal light/fuse) was indicating far too much RF was making its way down the noise antenna.
The other thing I tried was the change the length of coax that feeds my main Endfed antenna but this made no change to the RFI issue. In July we are getting a new aluminum gutter installed and I may try using that as the noise antenna and see if that works. Up to this point I have not been able to pick up the RFI that the main antenna is picking up.....well other than almost putting a noise antenna ontop of the main antenna that as I said did not work out very well.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
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Further investigation of my ongoing RFI.
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| A nice RFI free evening |
In a previous post regarding my RFI issues I kinda narrowed it down to my smart hydrometer. I am now starting to move away from that theory. The RFI is still there and I have been doing some reading regarding our smart meter and the frequency they use to transmit data does not jive with an HF harmonic and I have been logging the RFI and there are some on/off times for the RFI and when I visit the meter during off times the noise my AM radio picks up is still there and just as strong. I have therefore removed the smart meter as an issue.
About a month ago I received an email from a fellow ham who was dealing with some RFI and it seemed to be on a 12 hour on/off cycle. This got me thinking of a timer operated device, the ham had contacted hydro and they came by but really found no issues well none that seemed to connect to a 12 hour on/off cycle. I got to thinking and asked him to check with neighbours if they recently purchased a grow lamp system. A short time later he emailed me informing me that his neighbour in fact did purchase a grow lamp device. When the device was unplugged his RFI issue went away. He is now filtering up the grow system to remove his RFI issue.
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| RFI filled day |
Now back to my RFI issue, I have started to log the on/off times for my RFI and it for sure is not on a precise 12 hour on/off cycle BUT it seems to turn off at night. Many times between 23:00 to 23:30. Other times I have seen it off at 21:00 but I can say that it is off each night and the off time my vary. As for the on time it can vary from 07:30 to 10:00. I have also had occasion were it has been off most of the day as well. My understanding is that the device is being turned off/on by the owner and not a timer. Because most of the time the on time is about 12 hours I am thinking it too is a grown lamp.
I have asked the folks on both sides of me and have been told that neither have a grow system. I do understand they may not be telling me the truth as it really is none of my business. One of my neighbours I have been in his home and I can say that I have not seen a grow system anywhere. I have even wondered close to their homes when I have the RFI and I pick up nothing.
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| Sometimes the RFI is not to bad |
I do have an MFJ 1026 noise cancelling unit and for this device to work you need to have a listening antenna that hears the same RFI as the main antenna. I have been playing around with noise antennas for a few weeks and my result will be in my next post.....I was very surprised and confused with the results.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
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