Posts Tagged ‘Perseus’
NDB DXing & The CLE183 Results
June 25th, 2014 | 
Author:  |
| WC - 332KHz White Rock, B.C. |
 |
| source:http://www.spc.noaa.gov |
One of the beacons in my log this weekend is pictured above - 'WC' in White Rock, B.C. The beacon is located in a residential neighborhood, with homes on both sides...not a typical NDB location.
Here is my short log, all captured using Perseus:
06 21 0600 323 W4 Jenpeg, MB
06 21 0600 325 YJQ Bella Bella, BC
06 21 0500 326 DC Princeton, BC
06 21 0600 326 XJ Fort St. John, BC
06 21 0500 328 5J Coronation, AB
06 21 0600 328 LAC Fort Lewis, WA
06 21 0701 328 YTL Big Trout Lake, ON
06 22 0846 329 PJ Whitehorse, YT
06 21 0600 329 TAD Trinidad, CO
06 21 0600 329 X2 Athabasca, AB
06 21 0600 329 YEK Arviat, NU
06 21 0500 329 YHN Hornepayne, ON
06 21 0600 330 3G Peggo, BC
06 21 0600 332 LBH Portland, OR
06 23 1130 332 POA Pahoa, HI
06 21 0600 332 VT Buffalo Narrows, SK
06 21 0500 332 WC White Rock, BC
06 21 0500 332 XH Medicine Hat, AB
06 21 0700 332 XT Terrace, BC
06 21 0600 333 STI Mountain Home, ID
06 21 0600 334 P2 Wetaskiwin, AB
06 21 0700 334 YER Fort Severn, ON
Some might wonder why listening for NDB's would be of any interest. For me, there are a number of reasons:
- the challenge of hearing distant low-powered transmitters below the broadcast band, particularly from one region...for me it is Alaskan NDBs
- the necessity to develop an efficient receiving antenna has led to numerous antenna trials using loops and wires in various configurations
- learning about LF propagation and how it compares with HF
- the ability to compare what is being heard at my location with what is heard just a few hundred miles away can often be surprising (and humbling)
If you are planning a 630m station, listening for NDB's is a good way to test your system's receive capability as there are hundreds of signals to be heard, many of them very close to our new 472KHz band.
An informative Introduction To Beacon DXing by Alan Gale may be found here. To find the location of any NDB's that have been heard in North America, check the always accurate RNA database by Martin Francis.
Show Notes #084
Introduction:
- No music this time; just one hour jam-packed with LHS goodness!
Announcements:
- Remember to sign up for the following LHS services:
- The LHS SubReddit
- The LHS Mailing List
- The LHS Mobile app. Follow our updates via the mobile applications available for iPod, iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
- Be an LHS Ambassador! Please join our Ambassador program. The event calendar has expanded quite a bit and we need your help. These events are now world-wide, so we could use some help outside the US as well as all over the country from California to Maine.
- YFKtest: Yes, there really does seem to be a problem. It’s been confirmed by John, EI7IG, that the program does not log contacts for the ARRL Field Day contest. Other contests work fine. Russ plans on emailing the developer, DJ1YFK, with these observations.
- From the “Yes, It’s an Antenna” File: Multi-band HF dipole made from horse fencing.
- Pulling a Lunduke: Holding Source Code Hostage. Our hosts discuss this blog post by Tom Nardi about Bryan Lunduke’s recent move to open source his software. Bryan is one of the hosts of The Linux Action Show.
Topics:
- Software Defined Radio (SDR)
- A common topic Russ encountered at Dayton was about the available Linux options for software defined radios.
- GNU Radio Project
- Version 3.6.0 released in early May, 2012.
- Version 3.2.2 is in the Debian Sid repository.
- The latest version can be retrieved with git. (Install git with the command “apt-get install git”.) To download the software, issue the command “git clone git://gnuradio.org/gnuradio”.
- Build instructions are available for most of the major Linux distributions.
- SDR Hardware
- Ettus USRP series works with the GNU Radio Project software. There are various models ranging in price from $700 to $2000, depending on the frequency range and options. Various modules allow receive and/or transmit on bands from 30kHz to 5.9GHz. Unfortunately, power output appears to be just 50-200mW, depending on the bands provided by the transmitter daughter board chosen.
- Funcube Dongle costs £128 (~$200) and is a receiver only. The Funcube Dongle is a “radio receiver designed to allow anyone to try their hand at reception of satellites like FUNcube”. It covers 51.5MHz – 1.7GHz, less the region from 1.1GHz to 1.2GHz.
- Perseus SDR costs $1000 and is also receive-only. It receives 10kHz to 40MHz.
- SoftRock SDR is a kit available in various models from $20 to $90. Most are receive-only, but the Ensemble is a 1W HF transceiver. Some models are unavailable at the moment. The SoftRock RXTX Ensemble Transceiver Kit will allow you to build a 1W transceiver for one of the following bands or band groups: 160m, 80m/40m, 30m/20m/17m, or 15m/12m/10m.
- RTL-SDR Devices range in price from $20 to $200 and are receive-only. More on the RTL-SDR project in an upcoming episode.
Feedback:
- Stewart, VA3PID, wrote to say that Russ was the first person, possibly ever, to correctly place his Scottish accent at Hamvention. He also remarked (in reference to a discussion in episode 71) that Chirp has come a long way; it can now program his Yaesu FT-857D!
- Jonas recently re-discovered LHS and expressed his appreciation for the show. Thanks, Jonas!
- Stefano, IZ3NVR/KD2BGM, asks for more help getting so2sdr built on his Linux machine. Russ suggests installing the compiler with “apt-get install g++ build-essential”, installing Qt and several other packages as described in Episode 83, then try building the so2sdr program again.
- Lastly, David Dominicki left a mostly unintelligible comment in response to Episode 78. Um, thanks… we think.
Contact Info:
- Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].
- Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
- Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
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- Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
- LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
- Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.
Music:
- None.
