Hi, John. Just got off the phone with Alan Roberts, the master of the lows and highs of the HF spectrum! Alan spends a lot of his DXing time on frequencies below 500 kHz. and above 25 MHz. Living in an extremely noisy environment in a suburban area just 10 minutes or so outside of Montreal, a city of now about 4 million people (and only about 5 minutes away from me!), Alan has had incredible success over the years digging out signals on longwave for example. He has often called me to say the band is open at his place and I can hear the incredible signals he is picking up over the phone! I tune in the frequencies here, just 5 minutes away and I don't hear a thing! His secret to success seems to be his use of home-made small vertical antennas! Most people think success on longwave (not just broadcast stations, but beacons as well), is very long, beverage style antennas. Alan has succeeded in proving that's not necessary and it is possible with very short, easy to construct and install antennas to have great success. He has also spent many, many hours digging out all sorts of odd and interesting signals in the HF spectrum 25 MHz and up. A number of years back, he was able to find a network of FM stations being used by ski-lift gondolas at a French Alps ski resort using the French service Radio Neige. He has also logged a number of television studio to transmitter link signals (STL's) throughout the US that use 26 MHz FM mode Comrex transmitters. He was also recently able to pull out the experimental signals from a Moscow based technical university, with students broadcasting once a week.. He religiously checks for activity in the lows and highs of the HF spectrum and through his creative and unique work at designing and constructing antennas he has been able to come up with some amazing DX catches in areas of the spectrum that few DXers spend much time in. The low periods of the sunspot cycle and the increasing noise floor generated by all the weird and wonderful RF generating devices around us have made his DXing efforts more challenging, but Alan looks at it as a new challenge, sort of a cat and mouse game. So, Alan and I have discussed it, and we're thinking that we'd like to propose a new forum at Winterfest 2016, perhaps called something like "DXing the Lows and Highs of the HF Spectrum". I will be working on a audio/visual presentation of photos of his equipment, antennas, etc. as well as some recordings of the signals he hears (providing we can catch some in the next couple of months! Alan is a little bit nervous in front of crowds and seems a little unsure of being able to fill the hour, but I have agreed to help him out and run the graphics, photos, sound clips, etc. He has done my radio show on a number of occasions and is aware of just how quickly a half-hour goes by on the radio. I told him that giving the talk at Winterfest is much the same, and once questions start flowing, it will be over before he knows it.. So, if you think this would be of interest to our audience, we should be able to pull it off. I think it would be something unique for Winterfest. Let me know your thoughts. If you want to go with it, we'll get working on it quickly.
Sheldon HarveyRadio H.F.http://www.radiohf.ca Enjoy birds and birdwatching?http://www.birdprotectionquebec.org From: John Figliozzi <[email protected]> To: Discussion list for the Winter SWL Fest <[email protected]>; *NASWA <[email protected]>; ODXA yg <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 9, 2015 10:25 PM Subject: [Swlfest] Casting Call for the 2016 Winter SWL Fest We invite one and all to be a part of the 2015 Winter SWL Fest on February 19 and 20 at the Doubletree Guest Suites in fashionable Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. That's just 81 days away as I type this. As you know, one of the centerpieces of the Fest weekend is our line- up of informative and entertaining forums. How do we get them? These excellent sessions are put together and presented by you and people just like you--people with a deep and abiding interest in radio and a willingness to share what they've experienced, learned and know. So, how about it? Have you a topic that you think Fest participants will find interesting and would be willing to present? Tell us about it. Your role will be to lead a one hour session forum. That means preparing about a half-hour presentation that leaves plenty of time for audience questions and interaction. It can be anything from a straight (or comic) lecture (or both) to a multimedia extravaganza. Your choice! And as a gesture of appreciation (and perhaps some measure of small compensation for your efforts), the Fest will comp your registration fee if your proposal is accepted by the Organizing Committee (which consists of Rich Cuff, yours truly and a pineapple that serves as committee chair and expert consultant) for inclusion in the 2016 program. Make your suggestion/proposal to John Figliozzi at <[email protected]> If you have any questions, we'll be happy to discuss them with you. And even if you've never led a forum before, don't hesitate. We've learned that people tend to unfairly and inaccurately minimize their own abilities. We know you'll be great...but you have to let us in on what you're thinking! We promise a quick turnaround on your proposal. Be a part of the 2016 Winter SWL Fest program! 73 and 88 to the Ladies John Figliozzi Richard Cuff 2016 Winter SWL Fest Co-Chairs _______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________ Swlfest mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above. For more information on the Fest, visit: http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com
