Hey Paul: I will let others throw in their more vast experience here, but here is my two cents.
Make sure you have an SSB receiver that is truly designed to still be sensitive on the LW frequencies, fitted a narrow CW filter (500 hz or less is great). Since you're only listening to one frequency (the beeping), an AF filter like a Timewave or MFJ-784B is dynamite, and can compensate for the lack of a narrower IF filter. For antennas, gain is king, and noise can be terrible at times. I am currently using: 1. A longwave head for the Quantum Loop. It's good to have its directivity to null out local noise, though co-channel interference is nowhere near the problem it is on MW. Down at these frequencies, the sensitivity on ferrite loopstick products isn't as great as it is in the MW band for a given ferrite and coil (darn those physycal laws!), so I also often park a LW box loop in front of it for more gain. A Wellbrook loop on a rotor is likely the next investment (fabulous for both LW and MW). 2. An LF Engineering H-900 active whip, which REALLY works well on the LW band. I highly recommend this - Dennis Vroom also has an LF Engineering whip for Russian LW stations every morning. It is also a gain monster across the MW band, all the way up to 50 Mhz or so. (Alas, the vertically-polarized noise around here went up dramaticially in the last few weeks - not sure which of my neighbors bought what new electronic machine, but anything below 1000 khz is drowned in noise on the H-900. Fortunately, I already had a slinky antenna up in the attic which, for a townhouse with homeowners association restrictions, is about as much I can do for a longwire. It is essentially omnidirectional with such a short length (80 feet coiled up into 25), but it still does very well for LW!) For portable receivers, the Quantum Loop coupled to the modest Sony 7600GR really pulls 'em in, though I miss the CW filter on my main receiver. I use a $15 Quantum Coupler for this, rather than plugging the loop directly into the 7600GR's antenna jack, which allows me to still take advantage of the portable's antenna. Hope this helps! 73 - Kevin S Bainbridge Island, WA > I wanted to ask.... > > What kind of transmission/antenna setup do beacons like this use? I am, obviosuly, very familiar with AM and FM but have never seen a LW/Beacon transmission set up. > > Paul _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
