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Before yesterdayVE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog

Building Alfred P. Morgan's "A More Selective Crystal Receiver"

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
15 February 2024 at 18:37

 


As I’ve been seeing a lot of new membership requests on my Facebook Crystal Radio DX group indicating that they wish to build a crystal receiver, I’ve been examining some simple inexpensive circuits that should work well for local reception and possibly even to hear some skywave DX signals.
 
Since I’ve always wanted to build Alfred P. Morgan’s ‘A More Selective Crystal Receiver’ from his second ‘Boy’s Book of Radio’ ever since first seeing it at around age 10, I chose this as a start.
 
How did it Morgan’s design work? Could it hear all of my 15 locals and separate them? Was it a DX machine?
 
I invite you to read about the whole process on my web page, just published today:
 

New Page On VE7SL Radio Notebook!

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
11 February 2024 at 18:09



Thanks to May (VA7MAY) and Mark (VA7MM) spending the time to scan my 630m QSL card collection, I have now been able to complete their work by posting a dedicated page for the cards.

If you've ever wondered what can be worked on this 'below the broadcast band' MF amateur band, then viewing the cards and reading their comments may give you some insight into its character.

                              The new page can be found here.

Hunting For NDBs In CLE279

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
25 October 2023 at 23:07


Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'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.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been slightly widened ... this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 335.0 - 349.9 kHz. 

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following info:

Hello all


Here are the full details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.
It is open to everyone including CLE new-comers:

    Days:       Friday 27 Oct. - Monday 30 Oct.

    Times:     Start and end at midday, LOCAL time at the receiver.

          NB:   Most of us are changing our clocks by one hour this weekend.

                   However UTC time (as shown in our logs) continues unaffected.   

    Range:     335.0 - 349.9 kHz

Wherever you are, please join us and log the NDBs that you can positively
identify that are listed in this busy frequency range (it includes 335.0 kHz
but not 350 kHz), plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Short and long logs are welcome (in-between ones are good too!)

    Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email
    (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE297 FINAL’ in its subject line.

    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:
       #  The date (e.g. '2023-10-27' or just the day no. '27') and UTC
           (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
       #  kHz  (The beacon's nominal published frequency)

              If you don’t know it, please visit https://rxx.classaxe.com

              where you will find all the details.
       #  The Call Ident.

Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete, log.

Always make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of your listening location (the 6-character Locator) and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc., that you were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC
on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest
by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 1 November.  We will then hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.

You can find full information about current and past CLEs from the

CLE page https://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.

You can also find your relevant seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW by visiting https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.


Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

(Reminder:  You could use any ONE remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner - with their permission if required. A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE)

 _._,_._,_

CLE's provide several purposes. They:

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

Magic Band Summer Season

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
17 August 2023 at 16:57



This summer’s Sporadic-E season has pretty much wound-down once again. As E seasons go, this one ranked right up there with the worst of them but this comes with some provisos.

Over the past several years, my only interest has focused on Europe and Asia, looking for any DXCC entities that I have not yet worked and I tend to ignore most domestic openings unless the MUF appears to be climbing into the range of 2m.

There were several openings from here in British Columbia to most regions of the US and Canada, so many would likely disagree that it was a poorer season than normal!
 

Unlike last year when we had several good days to Europe over a two-week period, this year’s fireworks were pretty much confined to June 12, when the somewhat unstable polar-path to Europe jumped from country to country for several hours. In spite of making 62 contacts to Europe, only one new country was worked when 9H1TX in Malta replied to one of my CQs! Other than him, there were no other signals being heard at the time but after our QSO, his fellow countryman, 9H1LO, also appeared ... so it was exciting to find two rare 9H1s in the 6m log! For about 4 minutes, the only two signals in my FT8 waterfall were both CQers from Malta! Note the power and antenna being used by 9H1LO ... it doesn't take much when the magic appears, albeit momentarily.
 


 
Last summer’s E season was not as heavily influenced by the active Sun, unlike this summer’s constant stream of solar flares keeping the polar regions anything but calm and quiet … a seeming requirement for good transpolar Es on 50MHz from the west coast.
 
Last year produced 8 new DXCC entities and in most cases, like this year, signals were strong enough for CW but almost all DX prefers the few db advantage offered by the FT8 mode. Exchanges can be made MUCH more quickly on CW than the snail-pace of FT8. The addition of 9H1 brings my 6m DXCC confirmed total to 109.
 












If Cycle 25 continues to grow as it has been (in small spurts), it’s difficult to predict if there will be any long haul F2 propagation in the late fall or not. In previous cycles we’ve needed to see some steady flux values in the 200 or higher range for several days in a row … at least for us here in VE7 land.
 
If the high F2 MUF does indeed manage to manifest itself, we should expect to see early morning openings to the New England / NY regions with blowtorch signal levels before seeing the path crawl down the eastern seaboard then possibly into the Caribbean and South America. Later in the afternoon, expect signals from Japan and the far East for several hours up until sunset, once again at bone-crushing signal levels. There are few things in ham radio more exciting than experiencing 6m F2 and hearing the level of signal strengths that can be reached when operating near the edge of the MUF.
 
If not this fall then hopefully in 2024 for sure … but as of now, it’s anyone’s guess as to if or when the rare winter magic will appear once again!

Hunting For NDBs in CLE294

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
26 July 2023 at 16:50

YZS-362 Coral Harbor, NU (ve3gop.com)
 

Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'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.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been slightly widened ... this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 350.0 - 369.9 kHz. 

A good target for all NA listeners is powerhouse YZS on 362 kHz, located at Coral Harbor, Nunavut. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 362.402 kHz.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following info:

Hello all,

Our 294th Co-ordinated Listening Event is almost here.

First time CLE logs too?  Yes, please! 

Short logs are always as welcome as long ones.

 Days:     Friday 28 July - Monday 31 July

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.

Send your final CLE log to ndblist@groups.io, preferably as a plain text email, not in an attachment and - important - with 'CLE294' and 'FINAL' in its title.

 

Please show the following main items FIRST on EVERY line of your log:

#   The Date (e.g. 2023-07-28) or just the day (e.g. 28)

#   The Time in 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.

Please make your log useful to everyone by including your listening location, its 6-character Maidenhead Locator if you know it, and brief details of the receiver and aerial(s).

 

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.

To be included in the combined results, do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 2 August at the very latest.

 We hope to make all the combined results within a day or so.

 You can find full information about current and past CLEs  from the CLE page https://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.

You can also find your relevant seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW by visiting https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.

Good listening

Brian & Joachim

(CLE coordinators)

(Reminder:         If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner -  with their permission if required.

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver,  whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings  for the same CLE)


CLE's provide several purposes. They:


• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

Conjectural Chats

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
7 July 2023 at 01:00
Courtesy: arrl.org

A recent e-mail in the AWA Group from Eddy, VE3CUI, elicited some intriguing comments which you may find of interest. Highlights from the exchanges have been selected for brevity:


Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ/3: 

I'm here at the summer cottage, gamely calling "CQ" with my trusty old Vibroplex Vibrokeyer on what sound like dead bands on 15- and 20-meters...yet, when I check the on-line DX Beacon, my quota of entries at 100 is exhausted from across the continent, and beyond, from monitoring stations that have clearly copied me.

All of a sudden, 15-meters just explodes with CW contestors in the middle of Wednesday afternoon with morse machines all honking out endless "CQ CWT" at some 30+ WPM. I snag some very easy quickie exchanges from "VE7" and "W6" from the west coast --- and then just as suddenly, the contest is over and I'm right back to "CQ...CQ...CQ" in silence again, all in vain.

How very ironic that  self-professed "...devotees" of the CW art and craft --- "CW Tops-Ops" --- can all devote attention to the object of their affection for but one single hour, and in the middle of the week...! Shouldn't they otherwise be gainfully fully employed earning a living, like all of the other non-retirees...?! Otherwise, why "...kiss and run" so, if they really and truly love the mode...?!

I just do not get it, I'm afraid...

**************

Robert KG4KGL:

Well, as for the middle of the week timing, more people work from home now. I guess they stepped away from their work computer and spent an hours snagging some QSOs. 

I work 12 hours, two days for one week and five days the following week, then rinse, lather, and repeat. So on my off days, I am on all the bands looking for QSOs and I hear the silence you speak of, all while registering on various beacons. 

**************

Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ/3: 

I guess that I especially noted the AWOL ops on the CW sub-bands about 3 years ago, or so...about the time that FT8 became all the rage, I s'pose.

But there's a decided absence on the phone bands, too. 

I can appreciate demographics having a hand in our diminished numbers, but this is all akin to outright extinction...! So many times I feel just like "...the last man standing"...     

**************

Steve VE7SL:

I think most of these CW guys you hear during sprints and weekend contests are guys that love contesting more than love CW….making CW music with their laptops, copying and entering the exchange info and then on to the next guy … kind of like a long action-filled video game. In fact I suspect that many of these modern CW sprinters and weekend CW flash-crowd participants were probably weened on video games as there’s a lot in common with those things and watching a scrolling vibrant waterfall of signals, especially if the rest of their week is spent on FT8. I agree with Eddy that the emergence of FT8 coincided perfectly with the sudden demise of CW (and phone) activity that now seems the new normal. It’s boring as hell but seems to mesh nicely with the present generation of no-code hams and those living in condos and apartments with no room for antennas and a ton of noise to contend with.

 
**************

Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ/3: 

Can you recall --- nostalgically, of course --- reading those QST features on the crucial need of Q-multipliers & crystal lattice filters in our receivers to "...help combat the crowded congestion on our Ham bands"...?!

I sure do. It all seems so very quaint & innocent from the standpoint of to-day, doesn't it...? "The Lost World".

 
**************

Steve VE7SL:

Indeed things have changed Eddy and seemingly very quickly. When I was first licenced and up until just a few years ago, a CQ on 7030 at ANY time of the day or night would guarantee an immediate response. Now you can CQ until the cows come home with nary a peep.
 
Something has also changed with the ionosphere as well over the past decade and I’m not sure why. Are we just seeing the long term effects of a terribly poor solar cycle (24) in spite of the newest one struggling to gain serious momentum? We’ve maybe just been spoiled by a series of above average strength cycles our whole lives up until Cycle 24 but something has changed. Both 40 and 80 go completely silent now on most winter nights, shortly after sunset. What happened to the awakening of the band at sunset? I’ve seen only enough of those the past two winters to count on one hand. It’s all very odd. Thankfully we experienced those bands at their very best, years ago. Hopefully the new cycle will pump them back up again, if that’s the problem. I dare not mention global-warming but it seems to have widespread consequences in the upper atmosphere so one has to wonder … the ionosphere as well?
 
 
**************

Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ/3: 

Wow, that's how long I've been AWOL myself from 40- & 80-meters at home --- I had absolutely no idea that both bands were now dead at & after sunset like that...not so much as even a clue. And I'm old enough here to recall getting peeved-off about all of the foreign BC stations that routinely crowded-out SSB QSO's on 40 as it grew dark here.

Like you & so very many others, I too expected the bands in general to "...shape-up back to normal" with the new sunspot cycle --- & I've been waiting now for so very many years that even I've actually forgotten their number...! It just never seems to happen. Is it that oft-cited "Maunder Effect" that we all heard so much about a coupla years ago that's responsible...? And as for global warming's influence, who knows...? We're all still wrapping our heads around how it might affect the climate on the planet, never-mind what might be happening hundreds of miles above its surface. All bets are off in that regard, I think...! But again, who knows, right...?

Anyway, I have the ICOM 751A & groundplane verticals at the ready here at the cottage, & we spend a lotta time here in the summer, too --- so do listen for me in the CW sub-bands, on 40- straight to 10-meters, & all of the WARC bands in between. You can't miss me --- I'll be the guy calling "CQ", with zero takers in response...! 

 
**************

Jim AJ8S:

Here's an article about changes to the upper atmosphere which might or might not have an impact on ionospheric propagation:


I too have noticed a distinct decline in CQ ops except for the contests.

**************

Steve VE7SL:

That’s a great and somewhat troubling read Jim. Thanks for the link. Although the ionosphere was not singled out, the regions containing it all seem to be getting thinner which might certainly affect propagation behaviours as we’ve come to expect over the past few decades … which seems to be exactly what is happening, at least on the lower bands. In actuality, the amateur radio community might be one of the first to notice any long term changes not particularly explainable by solar activity.

**************

Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ/3: 

A most interesting read, indeed. Does it partially explain, somehow, the state of Ham radio conditions to-day...? Could be...I just dunno. But does anyone else "...get it", for that matter...?

I liken the situation of to-day to that proverbial Monarch butterfly that just alighted onto the bough of that maple tree in your yard: to the insect, that tree has always been there, unquestionably, throughout its lifespan. Which is true --- for its lifespan.

But the reality of it is, that convenient resting spot is in reality a dynamic one, & not a static one. It wasn't there maybe 15 years ago, & it might not be there after the next 30, or so. But the butterfly cares not a whit --- that tree was always, and is always, there. Its limited lifespan will not afford it any other conclusion (assuming that insects can even actually derive any...!). Ditto our human lifespans. Maybe the current environmental trends are all otherwise "...normal" somehow & fit into some sorta pattern that goes well beyond our limited number of years of observation...? 

Again, I dunno --- what I DO know after some 10 years of very serious CW DX pursuit on160-meters, is this: up until about the 2010 winter DX "season" on Top Band, there was always a path, more open than not, to Europe well into the month of March, & beyond. But in the 2010-2011 season, the band essentially slammed shut for regular DX contacts across the Atlantic in February...in the 2011-2012 season it closed its doors in January...& in the 2012-2013 season (when an ice storm here rendered me QRT) the band simply folded for regular trans-Atlantic DX  in December...!

How it has been at any time during the past 9 years, I have no idea. But I definitely witnessed & experienced a creeping steady trend there.

And now I'm witnessing a variation of this same "AWOL"-type stuff on all of the other bands, that started some 3 years ago, & which hows no sign of abating.

What an awful uninspiring time for any newbie to take-up an interest in SWL'ing, or Hamming. There is nothing whatsoever to aspire to --- literally...!

**************

Steve VE7SL:

You haven’t missed much Eddy and like you, the last ‘great’ topband conditions here were the winter of ‘09-‘10. This coincided with the longest and deepest quiet-period from the Sun in as long as they have been keeping records. From the west coast, EU on topband has always been a rare short-lived treat but that winter had me questioning everything I thought I knew about the band. There were several weeks of nightly openings from here to Europe that would often start before my local sunset but the strangest thing was that during this extended period of transpolar activity there were no signals from the USA at all! It was nothing but EU CW from 1840 down to 1800, wall-to-wall and night after night. Signals were of the level often heard on 20m and if I had been tuning around blindfolded I would have guessed that I was listening to 20! I recall calling one exceptionally loud UA1 while running only 10W out and he came right back.

Sadly the following winter saw none of that propagation repeated as Cycle 24 had started to come to life. Even the bottom of Cycle 24 had nothing similar although there were a few good nights where I managed Cyprus, Mauritania and South Africa all on topband. It’s been terrible ever since as have been condx for our beloved ‘29 BK for the past several years, so much to the point where I had decided last year to forgo the work involved in setting-up the ‘29 station and give it a pass. However at the last minute, Lou convinced me to give it another shot. It turned out to be my worst BK ever (!) and what really proves it is that not only did I not work Lou (a first) but I didn’t even hear him, also a first!

[Lou is VE3AWA and the 'BK' is the annual AWA 1929 Style QSO Party]
 
I don’t know what’s going on with the bands either Eddy but as you say, in our own short lifetime of observation’s perhaps what we are seeing is more like the norm and we were just lucky enough to see several decades of abnormal (great) conditions! It’s all part of the magic of radio in the long run.
 
BTW, our chat here inspired me to spark-up on 20 CW this afternoon and my first CQ was answered by a 5W mobile down near San Francisco. After him and just to test my theory, I went to 7030 at 2PM and called CQ on 7030 and just about fell off my chair when my first CQ got a Washington state reply! I guess everyone just needs to get on the air and make some CW music rather than sending e-mail :-))

**************

Don VE3LYX: 

Lots of cw activity. NRR group is one very active group. Every monday night. over 2500 members. Straight Key club is another ... U can talk about it or get on the air . Make a sked with a friend BUT IF YOU DO honour Your commitment.  I operate cw sometime every week usually on 40m. 

**************

I think the last comment can go a long way to making the bands busier but with so many distractions that we have in today's world compared with a few decades ago, it's often difficult to squeeze-in some air time ... even when retired!

I found the article regarding the physical changes noted in the upper atmosphere of great interest. My speculation regarding the ionosphere and global-warming may not be so far-fetched after all.

Another propagation oddity that is new (along the lines of my "something has changed" comment) is the annual summer sporadic-e season on 6m. I have been very active every summer on this band since the early 70's but something peculiar began happening in the summer of 2001. In the middle of the ARRL VHF Contest, the band suddenly opened to Europe! This had NEVER happened before from the west coast and a number of 'firsts' were made that morning.

Since then, 50MHz has opened to Europe at least once per summer with these 'over-the-pole' openings becoming somewhat 'normal'. What changed? Some summers will see polar openings for several days in a row, often lasting for several hours as the propagation bounces from one European region to another every minute or (often) less.

For some years now, it has been speculated that this over-the-pole summer propagation is somehow correlated with the formation of Noctilucent Clouds. Interestingly, these clouds follow the same yearly time slot as sporadic-e, almost to the day, with their seasons beginning and ending at the same time each summer! Do the NLCs form the reflective medium needed for 6m propagation between EU and NA or does the same phenomenon that causes polar-e also cause the NLCs? The NLCs usually form in the high Arctic regions, directly associated with our over-the-pole 6m paths.

This summer however, the polar path has been largely non-existent, with just one good polar opening (June 12) so far. Interestingly, a recent newspot in the Spaceweather website pointed out the fact that, this summer, the NLCs have been largely missing in action (!) adding further evidence to their possible link with the polar-e openings. There is still much to be learned about the magic band and its special propagation!

Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/


CLE 292 Seek List

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
26 May 2023 at 16:18


List candidate AP-378 Mayne Island, BC...Can you hear it?

Here is the remaining information needed for this weekend's CLE 292. Please give it a try, especially if you have not entered before. MF conditions have been very good this week.


Hello all

Our 292nd CLE starts at 12:00 UTC  this Friday (probably ‘today’ as you read this) and it ends at 12:00 UTC on Monday.

Big thanks to those of us who each chose 1, 2 or 3 ‘special’ NDBs for us all to try and log during the event.   Several of you also gave interesting reasons why they are special – something for the Coordinators’ Comments afterwards!

 As expected, we have ‘netted’ a final total of about 75 NDBs in all.

That’s not a lot, so, for THIS CLE ONLY, everyone is invited, wherever they are, to make ONE OR TWO SEPARATE LOGS – one log made in the ‘normal’ way (e.g. listening from home)  PLUS, if you wish, a separate log made vIa any kind of remote receiver (WebSDR, KIWI, etc.).

 (The full Final Details for the Event are repeated below)

 Here is your seeklist. 

The Radio Countries are in Alphabetical sequence, with the European ones flagged in yellow:

 

RADIO      

 NDB

COUNTRY

ID

kHz

Chosen by

ALG(?)

ESR

290

Jorge G

ALS AK

PEE

305

Noel W

AUT

RTT

303

Andrea D

BEL

ONO

399.5

Roelof B

BRU

BR

318

Ken A

CAN BC

AP

378

Steve M

DEU

BRU

427

Hartmut W

DEU

FR

297

Hartmut W

DEU

HC

330

Hartmut W

DEU

LYE

394

Joachim R

DEU

NOR

372

Joachim R

DEU

WSN

378

Joachim R

ENG

BBA

401

Noel W

ENG

BPL

318

Alan G

ENG

BZ

386

Brian K

ENG

CAM

332.5

John M

ENG

CUL

370

Peter G

ENG

CWL

423

Noel W

ENG

EME

353.5

Peter G

ENG

EMW

393

Andrew P

ENG

EPM

316

Brian K

ENG

EX

337

Paul N

ENG

LBA

402.5

Alan G

ENG

LCY

322

John M

ENG

LPL

349.5

Alan G

ENG

SBL

323

Peter G

ENG

SND

362.5

John M

ENG

STM

321

Brian K

ENG

TNL  

327

Andrew P

ENG

WL

385

Paul N

ENG

WTN

337

Dave R

ESP

SA

416

Jorge G

FRA

TLN

322

Giorgio C

FRO

MY

337

Roelof B

HOL

NW

373

Roelof B

HRV

RI

289

Andrea D

HWA HI

HN

242

Mike T

HWA HI

POA

332

Mike T

ITA

VIC

417

Andrea D

MDW

MDY

400

Mike T

MN USA

AA 

365

Steve M

POR

STR

371

Jorge G

SAR

CAL

316

Giorgio C

SAR

DEC

331

Giorgio C

SCT

BRR

316

David A

SCT

OBN

404

David A

SCT

PIK

355

David A

SCT

SAY

431

Paul N

THA

NP

383

Ken A

THA

SN

365

Ken A

USA AZ

IP

201

Steve R

USA AZ

RBJ

220

Steve R

USA AZ

RYN

338

Frank O

USA CA

MOG

404

Frank O

USA CA

SB

397

Frank O

USA CO

ITR

209

Tony C

USA MO

FZ

227

Dick P

USA MO

JE

397

Dick P

USA MO

SU

326

Dick P

USA NE

CD

362

Tony C

USA NH

LAH

276

Stephen H

USA NH

LC     

328

Charles D

USA NY

GF

209

Stephen H

USA OR

PND

356

Steven O

USA TX

DNI

341

Douglas S

USA TX

GG

410

Douglas S

USA TX

MA     

326

Charles D

USA TX

ROB

400

Douglas S

USA VT

BT

382

Stephen H

USA WA

AW

383

Steven O

USA WA

BVS

240

Steven O

USA WA

MW

408

Steve M

USA WY

GYZ

280

Tony C

XOE

EKO

375

Dave R

There might be some discussion on the List about good remote receivers to choose.

(If you have kept the Results from previous CLEs, you might be able to see where users have made good results with their chosen remotes.)

Here are the Final Details again, sent before we had the finished seeklist:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

This coming weekend's Coordinated Listening Event is a very special one!

For the first time, the NDBs that we shall be listening for have all been selected by NDB List members during this last week.

Nearly all the replies had the suggested maximum of three NDB choices, mostly fairly local ones that have a special significance for that listener.

There will be about 75 different NDBs in all for everyone to listen for (not just those who chose them!) 

YES – that sounds difficult for many of us, with most of the chosen NDBs in Western Europe and Western USA/Canada.

BUT  recognising that, Joachim and I have been busy in the last few days finding a way to increase the number of available NDBs for each of us to listen for.

So, for THIS CLE ONLY, we can invite listeners, wherever they are, to make one OR TWO SEPARATE LOGS – one log made in the ‘normal’ way (e.g. listening from home)  PLUS, if you wish, a separate log made via any kind of remote receiver (WebSDR, KIWI, etc.).

e.g. North American listeners could make a log as usual, PLUS a second listening via the Enschede WebSDR (University of Twente) in Holland.

(That supports hundreds of simultaneous listeners and is good on the NDB frequencies).

 As always, first-time CLE logs will also be very welcome, however modest.

 Days:       Friday 26th May to Monday 29th May

 Times:     Start and end at midday local time at the receiver.

 Targets:  The Nominated NDBs ONLY   The seeklist is to follow.

                     (the NDB nominations finish today at 16:00 UTC*)

     (QRG:    ALL NDB frequencies, 190 – 1740 kHz)

Send your final one CLE log, or 2 separate logs, to NDB List, preferably as plain text emails, not in an attachment, with CLE292 and FINAL at the start of their title.

Please show on EVERY LINE of your log(s):

 #   The full Date (or Day no.)  e.g. '2023-05-26' (or just '26') and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC)

 #   kHz   (the beacon's nominal published frequency)

 #   The Call Ident.

Other optional details - Location, Distance, etc. - go LATER in the same line (or in footnotes).  

Please make your log useful to old and new members alike by ALWAYS including the receiver’s location, its 6-character Locator if you know it, and brief details of the receiver and aerial(s).

We will send an 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday evening so you can check that your log(s) have been found OK.

To be included in the combined results, all logs must arrive on NDB List by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 31st May at the very latest.

We hope to complete making the Combined Results within a few days.

Good listening

Brian and Joachim

ndbcle'at'ndblist.info

CLE 292 Needs Your Input

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
17 May 2023 at 00:58


In preparation for something never done before in a CLE, the organziers are asking for your input. See their quest below. I will post the usual 'Hunting For NDBs..." blog outlining all of the rules in a few days but in the meantime, please see if you can help and hopefully participate in the monthly activity.


 Dear Beacon Listener

 

Joachim and I (Brian) are asking for your help!

We would like to know which active NDB is your NEAREST and which two others are also of special interest to you. 

 

Maybe you have visited the site of one or more NDBs or you have other special reasons to remember them.

Everyone is invited to send us their own three ‘votes’, so we hope to have a large number of special NDBs to listen for during the coming coordinated listening event (CLE). 

Your choices, with everyone else’s, will decide all of the NDBs in the Seeklist for the event. 

This is our FIRST  ‘YOU-CHOOSE’ CLE (and it will probably be our last!).

 

You do NOT have to listen yourself in our 292nd CLE (26-29 May) though everyone will be very welcome to send a log if they want to -  but you will probably be interested in the results, showing who logged your own chosen NDBs and from where.

 

Please send your choices during the next 7 days to ndbcle@ndblist.info (that email address sends only to us, your Listening Event Coordinators Joachim and Brian)

Please help us by using the following format for your votes:

 

       NDB1: (your nearest?)  Ident:  ABC  345 kHz   Location1        

Ideally, your 3 choices should be NDBs in your own Radio Country,  

       NDB2:                              Ident:  DEF   543 kHz   Location2      

or in ones that share a land border with it.

       NDB3:                              Ident:   GH   432 kHz   Location3        

(e.g. If listening from Oregon, try to choose from OR, WA, ID, NV and CA)

You can find our list of all the Radio Countries at:

          Chosen by (your name):   eg  Brian Keyte

                               https://www.ndblist.info/index_htm_files/countrylist.pdf

                 Your Radio Country:   eg  ENG                                               

                  I can be identified:        *YES / NO                                      

Joachim or I will send an acknowledgment for your ‘votes (see below)   to your sending email address.

 (If someone has already nominated one of your NDBs - unlikely? - we’ll invite you to choose an alternative)

 *The CLE results will NOT show who nominated any of the NDBs.

 However, in the Coordinators’ Comments afterwards we’ll probably mention some of the interesting reasons why NDBs were chosen.

 Please choose NO above if you would NOT want to be identified there.

 For those who also want to listen during the Event, we’ll send the CLE292  EARLY ADVICE  to NDB List in a few days.  That will be followed, after the ‘voting’, by our FINAL DETAILS, including the seeklists showing all of the chosen NDBs.

If there is anything you need more advice about, or if you have any other comments, please feel free to email the two of us at ndbcle@ndblist.info

 

73

  Joachim and Brian

Hunting For NDBs In CLE291

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
20 April 2023 at 16:33
ZSJ-258 Sandy Lake, ON (ve3gop.com)

This coming weekend brings CLE 291. This is a challenge for all NDB hunters, both new and old and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'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.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been widened...this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 240.0-259.9 kHz and 420.0 - 439.9 kHz.

A good target for all NA listeners is powerhouse ZSJ on 258 kHz, located at Sandy Lake, Ontario. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 258.406 kHz.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following info:

Hello all,

 

This coming weekend we have another chance to enjoy a Coordinated Listening Event. All CLE logs will be very welcome, short or long.

 

Days:                   Friday, 21st April – Monday, 24th April

Times:                 Start and end at midday, local time at the receiver

Searching for:    NDBs in the ranges

240.0 - 259.9 kHz   and   420.0 - 439.9 kHz

BOTH frequency ranges are for ALL listeners.

REU and RNA show that the number of NDBs, each

of them heard by at least 10 or more listeners in the

last 12 months, was:

 

240-259.9 kHz   420-439.9 kHz

REU                      30                         116

RNA                      54                         54

 

Please log the NDBs you can identify that are listed in the ranges, plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

You can find details, lists and maps of the beacons in those ranges, if you go to  https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.

 

Send your final CLE log to  ndblist'at'groups.io  with “CLE291” and

“FINAL” in the email Subject.

Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:

 

  #   The full Date (or Day no.)  e.g. ‘2023-04-21’ (or just ‘21’)

         and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC)

  #   kHz (the beacon's nominal published frequency if you know it)

  #   The Call Ident.

 

Other optional details - Location, Distance, etc. - go LATER in the same line (or in footnotes).  Please make your log useful to old and new members alike by ALWAYS including your own location (and 6-character Locator if you know it) and brief details of the equipment and aerial(s) that you were using.   

 

We will send an 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday evening so you can check that your log has been found OK.

To be included in the combined results  your log must have arrived by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 26th April at the very latest.

We hope to complete making the Combined Results within a day or two.

 Good listening

Joachim and Brian

(CLE coordinators)

If you would like to try some remote listening - you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location (and with the owner’s permission if required).

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to make more loggings for the same CLE.

 

CLE's provide several purposes. They:


• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

Hunting For NDBs In CLE289

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
22 February 2023 at 18:05


YYH-290 Taloyoak, NU - courtesy ve3gop.com

Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'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.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been widened...this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 270.0 - 319.9 kHz. 
A good target for all NA listeners is powerhouse YYH on 290 kHz, located at Taloyoak, Nunavut. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 290.406 kHz.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following info:

Hello all

Our 289th co-ordinated listening event is this coming weekend.
It spans a 50 kHz frequency range - about three times wider than usual.

Rxx suggests that there are plenty of NDBs to hear and they are not

changed much since CLE274, the last time we used these frequencies.

 

   Days:  Friday 24 February – Monday 27 February
   Times: Start and end at midday, your LOCAL time
   Range: 270.0 - 319.9 kHz (NDB signals only)

Any first-time CLE logs will be extra welcome, as always.

Please log all the NDBs that you can identify and any UNIDs that you

may come across there.

Please don’t report the DGPS signals in part of this frequency range.

Send your final log to the List (not in an attachment, please)
with 'CLE289’ and ‘FINAL' in its title (important).

Show on each line:

   # The Date (e.g. '2023-02-24', etc., or just '24' )
   # The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
   # kHz - the nominal published frequency, if known.
   # The Call Ident.

Please show those main items FIRST.  Other optional details such as
Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.

As always, of course, tell us your own location and give brief details of
the equipment that you were using during the Event.

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on

Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 08:00 UTC on
Wednesday 1st March at the very latest.

We hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.

You can find full details about current and past CLEs from the CLE
page  https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle   It includes access to the CLE289
seeklists for your part of the World, prepared from all the previous
loggings in Rxx.

Good listening - enjoy the CLE.
  Brian and Joachim
  (CLE coordinators)


(If you would like to listen remotely you could use any one remote
receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner and with their
permission if required.  A remote listener may NOT also use another

receiver, local or remote, to make further loggings for the same CLE)

 

CLE's provide several purposes. They:


• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

Hunting For NDBs In CLE288

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
25 January 2023 at 20:00

YNE - 207 Norway House, MB (tnx ve3gop.com)

Yes! It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'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.
 
It's a two-parter this time:

The first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 190 - 239.9 kHz. With NDBs closing down at a rapid rate, this wider range will offer listeners more targets.

The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way'. 

E.g. 282.5 RT (AUI), 284.5 MH (TUA), 312.5 KML (SYR), 328.5 EGT (NIR), 400.5 COD (ITA).

A good target for all NA listeners is powerhouse YNE on 207 kHz in Norway House, Manitoba. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 207.405 kHz.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following info:

Hello all,

Do try not to miss our 288th co-ordinated listening event - it starts this Friday at midday.  This could be an ideal CLE to try out for the first time, but everyone is welcome, as always, of course!

 

    Days:  Fri. 27th - Mon. 30th January, Midday-Midday, your local time

    NDBs  on frequencies from 190 - 239.9 kHz

    PLUS:  normal NDBs with carriers on 'half-way' frequencies ( nnn.5 kHz )

                from 190.5 - 999.5 kHz

 

So for all of us it is a CLE in two parts - the first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are lower than 240 kHz.

The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way'. 

E.g. 282.5 RT (AUI), 284.5 MH (TUA), 312.5 KML (SYR), 328 EGT (NIR), 400.5 COD (ITA).

The seek list below includes the ones that are more likely to be logged.

 

(Europe listeners will hear few or none from part 1, while the

listeners away from Europe will hear few or none from part 2)

 

Please send your final CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text email and not in an attachment, showing 'CLE288' and 'FINAL' in its title.

(Loggings from both parts can be shown in the same list)

Please include on EVERY line of your log:

 

  #  The date (or just the day 'dd') and UTC (days change at 00:00 UTC).

  #  kHz - the beacon's nominal frequency.

  #  The Call Ident.

 

It is important to show those main items FIRST - any other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc., go LATER in the same line.

 

Don't forget to give your OWN location (your 6-character Locator if you know it please) and details of your receiver and aerial(s), etc.   Others will be interested to know, especially new members - and old ones with failing memories like mine!

Listening around the 'half-way' frequencies means we might also catch some interesting non-CLE beacons – you can tell us about those too, but in a separate list. 

 

Joachim and I will be processing the incoming logs as usual - please look out for our 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday evening, with a list to let you check that your own log has been found OK.

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the NDB List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday.

 

Good listening

   Brian and Joachim

  (CLE Coordinators)

 

If you wish you could 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, local or remote,

to make further loggings for the same CLE.

 

For your full seek list in the 190-240 kHz range just go to Rxx (https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle) for your part of the World.

Below is the seek list which includes the ‘nnn.5’ NDBs that are more likely to be heard.




CLE's provide several purposes. They:

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

Topband's Poor Winter Performance

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
11 January 2023 at 23:05



A recent discussion on the Topband mailing list regarding the exceptionally poor propagation this fall and winter, especially on the polar path, brought forth some interesting opinions as to the reason. The rapid growth of solar Cycle 25 and its seemingly continuous flaring was the prime culprit ... but what was the exact mechanism? 

One of the best and clearest explanations was posted by Frank, W3LPL, who, with 317 countries confirmed on 160, knows a thing or two about propagation on topband! His comments are particularly relevant for stations in the northern regions of the US as well as for all regions in Canada. 

 "There's some confusion about the effects of increasing solar activity on 160 meter DX propagation.

160 meter DX propagation is often badly affected by nighttime propagation degradations, especially as Solar Cycle 25 becomes much more active from now through solar maximum in about 2024-2025 and as it slowly declines to current ionization levels through about 2027-2028.

Solar flares have no known impact on 160 meter DX propagation. Solar flares produce electromagnetic radiation that travels from sun to Earth at the speed of light - in about 8 minutes. Solar flare electromagnetic radiation (mostly X-rays) affects only the sunlit side of the earth and ionosphere. There are no known physical processes that extend solar flare effects into the night time ionosphere. 

While solar flares have no relevance to 160 meter DX propagation, solar flares often occur coincident with (but are not caused by) coronal mass ejections that can cause severe post-midnight absorption in the D region on propagation paths that cross the auroral oval (e.g., North America to northern Europe and Asia). CMEs cause the auroral oval to dip to much lower latitudes causing post-midnight increased D region absorption on propagation paths crossing lower latitudes.

Unrelated to CMEs, coronal hole high speed stream effects also cause increased D region absorption in the post-midnight auroral oval and occur very frequently compared to geo-effective CMEs (thankfully most CMEs never strike the Earth or its magnetosphere, they usually miss our tiny planet). 

But what about 160 meter absorption usually present much earlier in the night, from sunset through midnight and later? 

The E region usually retains enough ionization to degrade 160 meter night time propagation especially during the more active years of the solar cycle. The ionized night time E region causes increased absorption at the bottom of the E region (just above the D region) and blankets propagation that would otherwise pass through the E region to the F region. Blanketing causes many shorter hops that suffer increased loss from multiple lossy passes through the ionized E region. 

 73 Frank W3LPL"

I found Frank's comments regarding the auroral zone (highlighted in RED) particularly interesting as it confirms behaviors I have noted for several decades while operating from SW British Columbia ... particularly when it comes to the MF NDB band (200 - 530kHz). Time and time again while propagation on these frequencies has been severely degraded, stations just a few hundred miles (often less) to my south or south-east enjoy almost normal propagation. I've long-suspected that the AU zone has temporarily slipped this far south while my not too far away neighbours have escaped its unwelcome reach.

I have ALWAYS associated these poor conditions with signal absorption by a heavily-ionized D layer that has not dissipated after darkness but it seems a second factor may also be in play, that being from the E-layer as explained by Frank (highlighted in BLUE). 

Although CMEs and flares can cause a lot of disruption, the big culprit for the past few years has been an almost continual barrage of high speed coronal hole streams that have regularly killed nightime propagation on 80 and 40m as well.

With Solar Cycle 25 really starting to ramp up (three X-flares in the past two days!) it's very likely we will see poor propagation on topband as well as on the lower HF bands for the next few years. Some relief may be in store during the downslope ride as there is generally less flare and streaming activity during this period than on the ride up.

None of this eliminates periods of quiet geomagnetic conditions at any time, producing worthwhile propagation, particularly on the non-polar paths ... so don't turn off your radios! 

Ever Heard Of Heathkit's SS-8000 Digital Transceiver? .... Me Neither!

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
15 November 2022 at 19:07


courtesy N8RS

The Heathkit SS-8000 was a unique synthesized HF transceiver (160-10m) originally designed as a kit in 1978. The reason that very few hams have heard of it is that it was never released … and only three were ever prototyped!
Robert Sumption, N8RS, is an ex-Heathkit engineer who worked on the project back in the late 70s. He recalls that after evaluating the project, it was deemed too complicated to be offered as a kit, since once built, most builders would not have the test equipment needed to align it properly. Consequently all three units were dissembled and sent to a local scrapyard!
 
Fast forward to 2015 when Bob came across all of the boxes of ‘scrap’ that someone had rescued from the scrapyard back in the day and the entire pile was now selling on eBay.
 
Would the SS-8000 live to meet it’s intended destiny? Bob describes this very challenging project in his six 5-minute videos.
 
Part 1:

 
Part 2:

 
Part 3:

 
Part 4:

 
Part 5:

 
Part 6:



I hope you find the videos as interesting as I did. It seems that Bob has some terrific skills and a lot of patience!

Hunting For NDBs in CLE285

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
26 October 2022 at 22:33

YPO-401 Peawanuck, ON tnx: ve3gop.com

It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?
'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.
 
It's back to a normal activity with a frequency span of 400.0 - 419.9 kHz.

A good target for all NA listeners is YPO on 401 kHz in Ontario. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 401.392 kHz.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following CLE info:

Our 285th Coordinated Listening Event starts on Friday.

This frequency range is not packed with signals for any of us, but if conditions are OK there could be some nice surprises.

Do join in, whether you have days to spare, or only an hour or so over the weekend. 

 

     Days:     Friday 28 October - Monday 31 October 2022

     Times:   Start and end at midday your LOCAL time

           PLEASE NOTE that most of us will be changing our house clocks

           during the weekend, but UTC time continues without changes.

     Range:   400 - 419.9 kHz

 

Please log all the NDBs that you can identify with nominal (listed) frequencies in the range - it includes 400 kHz, but not 420 kHz - plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

 

Send your final log to the List (no attachments please) with ‘CLE285’ and 'FINAL' in its title.

Show on each line:

    #   The Date (e.g.  '2022-10-28', etc.,  or just '28' )

    #   The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).

    #   kHz  - the nominal published frequency, if known.

    #   The Call Ident.

 

Please show those main items FIRST.   Other optional details such as Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.

As always, of course, tell us your own location and brief details of the equipment that you were using during the Event.

 

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 2 November at the very latest.

We hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.

 

You can find full details about the coming CLE from the RWW Website, including the CLE285 seeklists for your part of the World – just select CLE from the main menu.

Details about current and past CLEs are available from Alan’s NDB List Website, http://www.ndblist.info      

 

Good listening

   Brian and Joachim

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA      ndbcle'at'ndblist.info

Location:  Surrey,  SE England     (CLE coordinator)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

  (If you would like to listen remotely you could use any

   one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location

   and owner and with their permission if required. 

   A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver,

   local or remote, to make further loggings for the same CLE)

 

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 newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

 

Recent Crystal Radio DX Group 'Listening Event'

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
15 October 2022 at 17:53


Crystal Shortwave Receiver of Al Klase (N3FRQ) 
 

The Facebook Crystal Radio DX Group’s fall listening event was held two weekends ago over a two-night listening period. Unlike last year’s event, this was not a contest but rather a leisurely opportunity for members to take some time to see what they could hear with their setups. Also unlike last year, this one introduced and encouraged members to see what they might hear on shortwave! Since circuits losses are measurably much higher as you climb above the broadcast band, audio amplification (AF) was permitted to encourage members to give it a try as this was a whole new region to explore for most of us.

The addition of shortwave inspired much discussion as well as construction, the main objectives of founding the group.

Shortwave crystal radio was all new to me as well and I struggled for several days, right up to the event’s starting time, to even be able to detect a signal. I had chosen to follow a similar path as described in WU2D’s excellent video, using simple link coupling into the detector tank circuit. I reasoned (probably incorrectly) that my end-fed 80m halfwave inverted-V would be close enough to resonating on the 5, 6 and 7 MHz SW bands to provide enough signal into the detector. After playing with this system as well as other antennas for several days, I eventually abandoned the concept and tried a different approach.

I added a loosely coupled tuned antenna input using my 630m inverted-V wire, bypassing its large loading coil and low-impedance matching system. Essentially it was a big vertical long wire tuned against a number of buried ground radials. I also added an LM386 audio stage between the detector and headphones, something I had not tried with the previous system.
 
This simple approach immediately produced signals … just in time for the start of the party at sunset!
 



Obviously, from just the physical appearance of my own SW tuner, there is a vast amount of room for improvement! As crude as it was, the following signals were all heard and verified on a separate SW spotter radio.

Oct 1

0250 10000 WWV Colorado
0255 7365 Radio Marti, Greenville, NC - Spanish
0305 9850 Radio Romania Int'l, Tiganesti, Romania - English
0310 9790 China Radio Int'l (CRI) Quivican, Cuba - English
0315 7375 Radio Romania Int'l, Tiganesti, Romania - English
0320 7335 Radio Marti, Greenville, NC - Spanish
0355 5000 WWV Colorado
0400 5935 WWCR, Nashville, TN - English
0408 5085 WTWW, Lebanon, TN - English
0429 4840 WWCR, Nashville, TN - English
0435 6000 Radio Habana Cuba, Quivican, Cuba - English
1411 6075 China National Radio 1(CNR), Baoji-Sifangshan, PRC - Chinese
1416 5980 Radio New Zealand, Rangitaki, NZ - English
1420 5965 CRI, Xianyang, PRC - Korean
1424 6125 CNR1, Beijing, PRC - Chinese
1426 6175 Voice of China, Beijing - Chinese
1428 7200 National Unity Radio, Tamsui District, Taiwan - Korean
1434 7410 CRI, Jinhua, PRC - Japanese
1436 7395 CRI, Kashi-Saibagh, PRC - Chinese
1437 7365 Voice of China, Shijiazhuang, PRC - Chinese
1452 9410 Voice of America, Tinang, Philippines - Korean
1741 12095 BBC, Kranji, Singapore - Korean
1745 11870 CRI, Urumqi Hutubi, PRC - Russian
2045 15000 WWV, Colorado
2312 11780 Radio Nat'l Amazonia, Brasilia, Brazil - Portuguese
Oct 2
1212 7245 Radio New Zealand, Rangitaki, NZ - English
1214 7310 CNR1, unknown tx site - Chinese
1220 7325 CRI, Jinhua, PRC - Japanese
1230 7355 KNLS, Anchor Point, AK - English
1240 7490 WWCR, Nashville, TN - English
1300 9675 CRI, Shijiazhuang, PRC - Russian
1307 9350 Voice of America, Tinang, Philippines - Korean
1311 9435 Voice of Korea, Kujang, N. Korea - English
1350 9265 WINB, Red Lion, PA - English
1740 9580 KNLS, Anchor Point, AK - Russian
1800 15580 VOA, Selebi-Phikwe, Botsawna - English

Reviewing many of the vintage radio magazines from the late 20s and early 30s, there appears to be very little published material from this era. I found this somewhat surprising but then perhaps not ... maybe most radio-buffs were still entranced by the new regenerative circuits popping-up every month and had little appetite for crystal SW receivers.
 
It would appear that even today there has not been much investigation or experimentation in building an efficient low-loss crystal receiving system for shortwave … somewhat of a golden opportunity for today’s crop of crystal radio builders!

In view of the above, along with a surprising amount of interest in SW during our recent listening event, I’d like to include SW in all future events going forward and possibly encourage even more new interest in developing efficient circuits. Is it practical to consider non-audio amplification for such circuit’s? Time will tell but already, several members are having measured success with just bare headphones!

Some of the BCB and SW construction inspired by the recent listening event is shown below. For more information and more sets, please visit the Facebook Group and consider taking part in our next event, sometime in December ... maybe you can build the perfect SW tuner!


Terry Jean Double-Tuned Loopstick BCB Tuner


James Kern Double-Tuned BCB Tuner


Ferhat Yavas Shortwave Tuner


Armando Anazco BCB Tuner


Doug Allen (K4LY) Shortwave Tuner

Don Dulmage (VE3LYX) Loop SW Tuner



Doug Allen (K4LY) Shortwave Tuner

The DX Central's Weekly MW Frequency Challenge

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
4 October 2022 at 22:06

If you enjoy DXing the broadcast band, then the weekly ‘DX Central MW Frequency Challenge' may be of interest to you. It’s run and organized by Loyd Van Horn, W4LVH, a dedicated DXer and a big promoter of BCB DXing.


Basically, participants are asked to listen on the chosen frequency (or frequencies) for a one week period (Friday to Friday) and report what they have been able to identify. Results of course will be different throughout the continent but if you are near any other listeners, it’s always fun to compare your final results.

The new frequency (or frequencies) are announced Friday evening  on Loyd's regular live-feed Youtube channel as well as on his Twitter feed   @dxcentral 


Loggings are reported via a fill-in form which is updated weekly.


This week's frequencies are 670-702kHz - What do you here there?


                         

Hunting For NDBs In CLE283

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
24 August 2022 at 19:12


Time marches on and once again, it's CLE time. This is an opportunity for you to discover the KIWI SDR online network and to put it to use for hunting NDBs ... either close to you or on the other side of the world!

'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.
 
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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all 

Here are the final details for our special 283rd listening event which starts this coming Friday.  

Joachim and I are grateful for the questions, suggestions and help in the last few days.   Thanks also to Martin, who has made some changes that improve the way RWW handles logs that have been made at remote receivers.

 

  Days:    Friday 26 August - Monday 29 August


  Times:  *Midday on Friday to *Midday on Monday,

                   local time at your chosen REMOTE RX
  QRG:    Normal LF/MF frequencies (190 - 1740 kHz)


  NDBs:   A MAXIMUM of 100 normal NDBs (not DGPS, Navtex, Amateur, .. )
                (That’s not intended to be a target to reach!)

Please check that you will be following the help given in the Early Advice, sent last Saturday, and in the later contributions to the List.

Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE283 FINAL’ in its subject line.


    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:


       #  The date (e.g. '2022-08-27' or just the day no. '27') and UTC*

       #  kHz  (The beacon's nominal published frequency)

              If you don’t know it, please visit https://rxx.classaxe.com where you will find all the details.


       #  The Call Ident.

 

           *UTC  is the same everywhere of course - but

           *Midday local time can always be checked from your browser by entering e.g. time timbuktu  (try it now!)


Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete one.

Please make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of the listening location and brief details of the receiver there thatyou were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.


Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 31 August.   We will then hope to complete making the combined results within two or three days.


Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

 -------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is additional information to help you in CLE283:

CLE283 – further guidance

Please be aware that, because most of the available Web-SDRs can be shared with a number of other users, there may occasionally be a need to wait your turn to use a particular one.

If you plan to participate in our upcoming CLE, you can use any one remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location (and web-address if possible) and with the owner’s permission if required.

You may NOT also use another receiver, to make further loggings for the same CLE.

Here’s a list of what can be found on the internet and there are definitely many more.

Kiwi receiver map : http://rx.linkfanel.net/  

The KiWi-receivers are amongst the most popular web-controlled remote-receivers and there are many of them to explore all over the world.

Simply select a receiver from the map and it will start playing.

The KiWi-software is easy to use. For beacon hunting I found that it is best to switch to CW mode, fully zoom in and set the bandwidth to about 40 Hz by dragging the left and/or right side of the bandwidth indicator until the bandwidth suits your needs.

Type “h” or “?” to see a list of keyboard shortcuts. Also a right-click in the waterfall or frequency scale will bring up a Kiwi-specific menu.

 

WebSDR receiver List and map : http://www.websdr.org/

You can select a receiver from the list by clicking on the displayed link. However, you should make sure it supports the desired frequency band by observing the information in column “Frequency Range” because not all receivers do support the NDB-Band.

However, the wide band web-sdr at the University of Twente does and it is, by far, the most popular receiver using the websdr-software.

There’s also a search box near the top of the page allowing you to specify the frequency range.

To access the receivers-map, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the web page.

Clicking on the icon for a particular receiver displays an info-box which shows the available frequency ranges as well as a link to start the receiver.

 

GlobalTuners : https://www.globaltuners.com/

GlobalTuners provides access to remotely controlled radio receivers all over the world.

You can tune the receivers to listen to any desired frequency band.

Be aware that this webpage requires a login to access any of the available receivers.

Also, for most of the receivers, listening time has been limited by the operators.

 

SDR-Console :

You can use Simon Brown’s marvelous software SDR-Console to listen to a huge number of remote receivers.

Simply download SDR-Console from https://www.sdr-radio.com/download#Release  and install it on your PC.

Once the radio selection screen is displayed upon start of the software, select tab “Server”, click on button “Definitions”, click on “Search” and select “V3 Server”.

Then click on button SDRSpace.com and select a receiver from the list.

 

Perseus SDR :

Each Perseus Receiver comes with a server module which allows sharing of  this Rx via the internet.

You can select those receivers via the Perseus server-map : http://microtelecom.it/map/ServersMap.html

However, this requires a Perseus SDR and the Perseus Software to be installed on your pc.

Please be aware, that listening to a Perseus server needs some forwarding of TCP/UDP-Ports in your firewall.

  1. Forwarding port 8014 (UDP Protocol) to your computer (if you are behind a router);
  2. “Unblocking” the Perseus software in Windows Firewall (automatically requested by Windows o/s at the first run)

Please refer to the manual (Client-Server Perseus Software Reference - EN02.pdf) which comes with the Perseus software for more information.

 https://rx-tx.info/

This webpage provides a good start if you are searching for a web-receiver.

You can search by selecting

  1. a preview page
  2. a table showing information of the available bands and location info as well as the type of receiver
  3. a map
  4. the receiver type (Kiwi-receivers, WebSDR receivers and OpenWebRX receivers)

              OpenWebRx is a clone of the “Kiwi SDR-Software” and allows to put all kinds of SDR receivers on the internet using a small Linux PC like the RaspBerry Pi.

Here is some additional advice from Martin Francis, the designer of the RWW database:

And remember, if you are using a radio in Australia for example - choose RWW as your system; if your receiver is in Europe REU will be your choice; if it's in the Caribbean, you will choose RNA.

You can use the filtering capabilities in the RXX system to give you likely targets - so if that remote radio is in New Zealand, you can show signals that have been heard IN New Zealand.

And if the radio you choose is already in the RXX system, you can go to 'Personalise' and select that actual radio to see distances and bearings to each station in your targets list.

NOTES ON LOGGINGS:

If you submit logs from a location NOT already listed in RXX, please include as much info as you can to help our admins get your logs uploaded and create a new profile for that location.

Please include the specific URL (website address) used to access the radio, together with the receiver owner's callsign if they have one, and the town, state / province (if it has one), country, timezone and Grid square.

Also include the location YOU remotely operated the radio from (YOU are the OPERATOR in this scenario), especially if you haven't submitted a log before.

These listening events serve several purposes. They

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

 

Hunting For NDBs in CLE282

✇VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog
By: Steve McDonald
20 July 2022 at 18:37

   

YLD-335 Chapleau, ON  (ve3gop.com)

It's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?
'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.
 
It's back to a normal activity with a frequency span of 335.0 - 349.9 kHz.

A good target for all NA listeners is YLD on 335 kHz in Ontario. Listen for its upper sideband CW identifier on 335.405 kHz. I believe it is slated for decommissioning shortly ... hopefully I'm not too late for this one.

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, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 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 organizers comes the following CLE info:

Hello all

Here are the full details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.
It is open to everyone including CLE new-comers:

    Days:       Friday 22 July - Monday 25 July

    Times:     Start and end at midday, your LOCAL time

    Range:     335.0 - 349.9 kHz


Wherever you are, please join us and log the NDBs that you can positively identify that are listed in this busy frequency range (it includes 335.0 kHz but not 350 kHz) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Very short and very long logs are welcome (in-between ones are good too!)

Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE282 FINAL’ in its subject line.

    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:


       #  The date (e.g. '2022-07-23' or just the day no. '23') and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).


       #  kHz  (The beacon's nominal published frequency)

If you don’t know it, please visit: 

https://rxx.classaxe.com  where you will find all the details.

       #  The Call Ident.

Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete one.

Always make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of the listening location and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc., that you were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 27 July.  We will then hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.


You can check on all CLE-related information from the CLE Page


    http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm


It includes a link to seeklists for the Event from the Rxx Database.

Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA        ndbcle'at'gmail.com

Location:  Surrey,  SE England       (CLE coordinator)

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(Reminder:  If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner -  with their permission if required.

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 newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


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!

 

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