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Hunting For NDBs In CLE 219
25 May 2017 | by  |
| YMW-366 Maniwaki, QC courtesy: VE3GOP |
This coming weekend will see another CLE challenge. This time the hunting grounds will be: 350.0 - 369.9 kHz.
For those unfamiliar with this monthly activity, a 'CLE' is a 'Co-ordinated Listening Event', as NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum.
A nice challenge in this one is to hear the Maniwaki NDB, 'YMW', on 366 kHz. It's a 500-watter and is well heard, having been logged from Europe to Hawaii and is a good propagation indicator for listeners in western North America. Look for 'YMW' on 344.401 kHz.
I see a forecast of a possible CME impact sometime Friday, right on schedule for the CLE event! Sometimes these help but usually not. At this time of the year it's usually not the propagation causing problems but rather, the lightning activity and its associated QRN. A good place to check lightning activity in realtime is at the Blitzortung website.
When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. With your receiver in the CW mode, listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are tone-modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.
For example, 'AA' in Fargo, MN, 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.
From CLE organizer Brian Keyte, G3SIA, comes the usual 'heads-up':
Our 219th Co-ordinated Listening Event is almost here.
Can new 'listening eventers' join in too? YES, PLEASE! I'm always
pleased to help first-time CLE logs through the harvester program.
Days: Friday 26 May - Monday 29 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
RNA/REU/RWW, at the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm
Please send your 'Final' CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text
email and not in an attachment, with 'CLE219' at the start of its title.
Please show the following main items FIRST on EVERY line of your log: The full Date (e.g. 2017-05-26) or just the day number (e.g. 26)
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.
If you measure LSB/USB offsets and cycle times they are useful too.
Please always include details of your own location and brief details of the
receiver, aerial(s) and any recording equipment you were using, etc.
I will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 17:00 UTC on Tuesday
so you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on
Wednesday 31 May. I hope to make all the combined results on that day.
Good listening
Brian
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location: Surrey, SE England (CLE co-ordinator)
----------------------------------------------------------
(Reminder: If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings,
stating its location and owner - with their permission if required.
Sometimes a listener has local problems and can only take part that way.
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 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. If you are a member of the ndblist Group, results will also be e-mailed and posted there.
The very active Yahoo ndblist Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other listeners in your region. It's also a good place to submit your CLE log! 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.
If you are contemplating getting started on 630m, listening for NDBs is an excellent way to test out your receive capabilities as there are several NDBs located near this part of the spectrum.
You need not be an ndblist member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.
'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!
Reports may be sent to the ndblist or e-mailed to either myself or CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above.
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.
Good hunting!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
2017 Hamvention Report (K0NR)
After missing it for several years, I managed to attend the Dayton Hamvention this year. This is the largest amateur radio event in the world, so definitely an event to attend if you are into ham radio. I had some concern about going the first year in the new Xenia location, but frankly I was never a fan of Hara Arena so I figured I’d give it a try. I met up with best budd Denny (KB9DPF) in Fort Wayne and we drove down Friday night, attending the event on Saturday and Sunday.
The short story is that we had a blast and the new location is an improvement over Hara (which is, of course, an easy compare).
We went early on Saturday morning, arriving at the fairgrounds around 8 AM (for a 9 AM start time). No traffic issues, easy access to parking. On Sunday we left a little later, arrived at 8:30 AM, again no traffic issues. (I suspect the traffic problems we’ve heard about were associated with arriving from the west, coming from Dayton. Also, that problem seemed to be mostly on Friday morning.)
Positives:
- Most of the buildings were in good shape [insert disparaging comment about Hara].
- Most of the buildings are not air conditioned but it seemed to be comfortable enough.
- The usual vendors were there…I couldn’t think of any didn’t show.
- The food selection was very good…basically “county fair style” vendors. For example, I had Louisiana style chicken, red beans and rice for lunch on Saturday.
- The forum rooms were pretty decent, as in large and convenient [insert disparaging comment about Hara]
- I attended a few forums (all good): contesting, AMSAT, NPOTA
- Parking was convenient and no charge.
Negatives:
- The flea market was a muddy mess, so we skipped that completely. Those that went out there came back with shoes covered with mud. (I saw one guy that came prepared with 18-inch high rubber boots. Smart move.) I’ve seen lots of comments on the web about “well, you can’t control the weather so you just have to deal with the mud.” Yes, you can’t control the weather but even Hara had a paved parking lot for the flea market. Read: no mud.
- All of the food vendors were outside and there was little to no sheltered seating. If the rain had hit around lunch time, I am not sure where people would have eaten.
All in all, not too bad.
I’m sure they’ll be getting lots of feedback and will be working on the problem areas. I think you have to accept the fact that on a weekend in May in Ohio, you will get some rain. So something has to be done about the flea market, else its mud city most years.
Seriously, I think the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) pulled off a minor miracle getting Hamvention moved to a new location without a major problem. They had a well-oiled machine that knew how to make it happen at Hara but everything had to be reworked this year.
People often ask “well, why do they even hold such a major event in Dayton?”
The answer: because that’s where DARA is.
73, Bob K0NR
The post 2017 Hamvention Report (K0NR) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.
Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].
MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller Tests At VA7MM
 |
| courtesy: www.mfjenterprises.com/ |
Mark, VA7MM, has been testing out his newly-acquired MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller and has provided several videos of the noise canceller in action.
Like so many other hams, Mark's suburban location has seen a gradually rising noise floor and the noise heard in this video is from an off-site location within his local neighbourhood, located about 400m away.
The noise canceller requires a separate 'noise antenna' in order to cancel any noise on the main receiving antenna and for all of the tests shown below, Mark's noise antenna was a Cushcraft R-7 vertical while using an Icom IC-7600 transceiver for listening.
Test 1 shows the noise canceller being used while listening to a broadcast station on 6.0 MHz:
Test 2 shows the canceller's effect on raw noise while viewing in Spectran:
Test 3 shows the canceller's effect on a 40m CW signal:
Test 4 shows the effect of just the IC-7600's noise blanker on the offending noise:
Mark's comments:
With proper tuning and set up, it looks like the MFJ-1026 can make a worthwhile improvement in unwanted noise reduction. Mark will also be testing and comparing a Timewave ANC-4 Noise Canceller with the MFJ and any videos received will be published here.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller Tests At VA7MM
|
| courtesy: www.mfjenterprises.com/ |
Mark, VA7MM, has been testing out his newly-acquired MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller and has provided several videos of the noise canceller in action.
Like so many other hams, Mark's suburban location has seen a gradually rising noise floor and the noise heard in this video is from an off-site location within his local neighbourhood, located about 400m away.
The noise canceller requires a separate 'noise antenna' in order to cancel any noise on the main receiving antenna and for all of the tests shown below, Mark's noise antenna was a Cushcraft R-7 vertical while using an Icom IC-7600 transceiver for listening.
Test 1 shows the noise canceller being used while listening to a broadcast station on 6.0 MHz:
Test 2 shows the canceller's effect on raw noise while viewing in Spectran:
Test 3 shows the canceller's effect on a 40m CW signal:
Test 4 shows the effect of just the IC-7600's noise blanker on the offending noise:
Mark's comments:
With proper tuning and set up, it looks like the MFJ-1026 can make a worthwhile improvement in unwanted noise reduction. Mark will also be testing and comparing a Timewave ANC-4 Noise Canceller with the MFJ and any videos received will be published here.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
LHS Episode #190: Hamvention 2017 Day Two
In this episode of Linux in the Ham Shack, we recount our experiences from day two of Hamvention 2017 live from its new home at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. We also reveal some wonderful news. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to see us live at the show.
73 de The LHS Crew
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].
Hamvention Is Here – ETH069
With Hamvention already on top of us, I figured I’d throw my two cents worth into the mix with everybody else’s. In this episode of the Everything Ham Radio Podcast, we talk about some of the interesting things that are going to be going on at this years Hamvention at it’s new location in Xenia, OH.
DARA teamed up with The Miami Valley Mesh Alliance (MVMA) to setup a Mesh network on channel -2 at 10 MHz bandwidth. The SSID is AREDN-10-v3.
We talk about all of my fellow podcasters/youtubers that are there and what they have going on and where they are at.
Lastly, we discussed some of the interesting forum topics that are going on during the weekend. To listen to the episode as well as check out all the links and further information on the topic, check out the show notes at:
http://www.everythinghamradio.com/podcast/69/
Curtis Mohr, K5CLM, is the author/owner of Everything Ham Radio Blog and Youtube channel. Contact him at [email protected].
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 157
Flex Radio announces New Flex-6400, Flex-6600
“M” versions include a large touchscreen and physical knobs on the face of the unit.
Flex Radio
2017 Hamvention: setup day photos
Since the Greene County Fairgrounds lack the number of indoor exhibitor space, they are using large white event tents to add covered square footage.
The SWLing Post
Updated band chart available from ARRL
ARRL has revised and updated its “US Amateur Radio Bands” charts, and these now are available for download.
ARRL
JT-Mapper: Real-time JT65 and JT9 Maps
I’ve found myself constantly looking up grid squares while trying to get a sense of the band’s propagation. With all this information already in my computer, I decided that my computer could do more to visualize my radio environment.
WG1V
Meteor Detector for HDSDR
Analyse the automatic real time waterfalls from HDSDR to locate meteor scatter.
M0CYP
Contemplating remote ops
The city council decision to deny my request for ANY antenna has stood and I think I’ve given up pursuing any kind of external antenna at the current QTH.
W0EA
All Amateur satellites
A comprehensive list of all Amateur Radio satellites including modes and frequencies.
JE9PEL
FreeDV 700D – First Over The Air Tests
I’m impressed! Conditions were pretty bad on 40m, the band was “closed”. This is day 1 of FreeDV 700D. It will improve from here.
Rowetel
Portable HF operations
With everything ready to go, I turned on the transceiver to find the bands alive with good strong signals being received on 20 meters from across the US as well as further south into Mexico and South America.
Jerry’s Journal
Video
Review: Military 2.0 Multiband Tuner Free HF Alpha Antenna
The antenna covers the 80-10 meter Bands.
Videos by Mike
My first Summits on the Air Activation
Activating Shovel Mountain, located in Central Texas, USA, W5T-NT033.
K5ACL
Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.
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