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-LF news past....2003.

  • December

    • 30/12. OM100S For the whole of 2004 the special event station OM100TS will be active on all LF, HF and VHF/UHF/SHF/uW bands, on LF in DFCW. Why? Because on 10th of May 1904 J.Murgas (Slovak radio inventor) patented the "Tone System of Wireless Telegraphy" (in principle the same as DFCW). It's the 100th anniversary of this famous patent and Slovak stations will celebrate the year with this commemerative call. JOSEPH MURGAS(1864-1929) was a Catholic priest, an artist and scientist. He sold the patents for his tone system to Marconi. Check out these links for more info on Murgas. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5).

    • 30/12. CT1DRP seen in US Brian has been beaconing on 135.923 for the last few nights and has been received by W4DEX, W1TAG and W1VD so far.

    • 27/12. ZL6QH test results. Signals from Quartz Hill (nr. Wellington) were received in East coast USA by W4DEX (see Dex's screenshots here) and in Alaska by KL1X. No reports from Europe yet. Unfortunately the SSB QSO attempt with VK7 didn't succeed.

    • 24/12. New U.S. 136 licence. Warren K2ORS has just received his part 5 call, WD2XGJ. WD2XGJ is authorised to transmit 10w erp (2000 watts power out) in the band 136-140 kHz and Warren's application included two-way communication with other Part 5 stations and foreign amateur stations. According to my data, Warren is not too far inland from Boston Mass. so should get a signal to Europe with any luck!

    • 24/12. ZL6QH test update. ZL6QH will carry out LF beacon transmission during ZL hours of darkness on Friday 27, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 December. The same format as previous beacon tests will be used, with 120 second dot length, 0.42 Hz FSK, with transmission code repeated QQQ.... with each Q coded as [hi hi lo hi off] : hi = 137.7890 kHz, lo = 137.7886 kHz. ZL hours of darkness are nominally 0750 UTC (sunset) until 1655 UTC (sunrise). The beacon will transmit from before sunset until after sunrise, and close down during daylight. The only planned exception from beacon format is to try for a two-way LF SSB QSO with AX2TAR in VK7, between 1500 and 1530 UTC on Saturday.

    • 17/12. Updated beacon update. WD2XDW in Alaska is on 137.77356 Khz, 60s on, 60s off. WD2XFX is new on 137.78077 (but temporarily off-air due to antenna damage) QRSS30 from Oklahoma. VO1NA is usually active on on 137.777 and "MP" (London Ontario) is on 137.7798kHz with QRSS30.

    • 9/12. WD2XDW info. The beacon from Anchorage has changed its message format to 60s on / 60s off with CW i.d.s every 30mins. Frequency is 137.77356 Khz. Update 17/12. The beacon is back on-air after a few days break.

  • November

    • 29/11. New version of QRS. Rik Strobbe, ON7YD, has updated his popular slow-CW sending program in several ways: (1) Maximum message size is increased to 250 characters. (2) Soundcard can be used for DFCW tones and CW sidetone. (3) New AutoStart feature allows automatic and unattended beacon mode. Find it on the Downloads page.

    • 14/11. W3EEE's loop info. Steve gave a very interesting talk on LF receiving loop antennas at the HF convention recently in which he introduced us to the "U2". He has now published it on http://www.w3eee.com/, look under "RSGB talk". Also congratulations are due to Laurence KL1X who picked up the LF experimenter's award, the Nevada cup, for his work on 136kHz receiving and beacons.

    • 12/11. WD2XFX. Another US part 5 licencee, Eric KD5UWL, has his beacon WD2XFX running 24hrs on 137.78077 QTH is Glenpool, OK, EM25ax.

    • 10/11. RU6LA received in UAE. Ed's signals were received in the UK and also by RV6LNA who is in the United Arab Emirates. This is the first 136kHz reception I have heard of from the middle east.
      ru6la as received in UAE

    • 7/11. RU6LA beacon test. RU6LA will be sending beacon transmissions on 7, 8, 9 and 10 Nov. Freq abt 135.922, QRSS 60 "RU6LA". Ed plans to start this evening (about 22 to 23z) and to finish on Monday morning (about 0430z Nov 10) In KN97LN the sunset is 1400z, sunrise 0430z.

    • 1/11. Solar flares disrupt propagation. Night-time 136 propagation has been poor recently but daytime enhancements can be quite pronounced. Look out for daytime DX!

  • October

    • 26/10. First G / YO QSO. Jim, M0BMU worked Szigy, YO2IS this morning at 0500 for the first QSO between the two countries. The distance was 1701km and the mode in use was QRSS3. Congratulations to both.

    • 23/10. WD2XDW received in Oregon.. at mid-day! Dale Rice in Williams Oregon saw 'XDW pop out of the noise at noon today, probably an enhancement caused by the current solar conditions. The distance is about 2800km.
      WD2XDW appears out of the noise

    • 15/10. LF Crossband to CN2. G3AQC worked CN2PD this morning using 20sec QRSS on 136kHz, Peter was on 7MHz.

    • 12/10. CN2PD listening. G3LDO is in Marakesh (we know a song about that don't we?) and is listening on LF. He is also active on 7 and 21MHz.

    • 11/10. More firsts from SP. Marek SQ5BPM has been busy upgrading his transmitter and now has 400W RF. Last night he worked RU6LA, YU7AR and M0BMU (best DX at 1467km) from club station SP5ZCC. All QSOs in QRSS.

    • 7/10. Good T/A reception. VO1NA's beacon signal has been coming in well over the last few nights. Last night PA0BWL had a good copy. See some screenshots here.

    • 7/10. Russian activity. Ed RU6LA will be active from Machta (loc KN97LN) this weekend over 2 nights: 10-11 and 11-12. Calls in use will be RU6LA on QRSS (137.73) and RU6LWZ on CW (136.6). If Ed receives QRSS at audible strength, he will call in CW after the QRSS QSO, on the same frequency.

  • September

    • 30/9. Beacons. WD2XDW in Alaska has resumed transmission on 137.77350 Khz QRSS 120. VO1NA is usually active on on 137.777 and "MP" (London Ontario) on 137.780 kHz.

    • 28/9. DK0UH/P activity day was a success, reports DK8ND, with several countries being worked by the station. The antenna was a 20m vertical with four 10m top-loading wires and the TX produced 70W.

    • 27/9. WD2XDW temp off-air due to operator's nuptuals! Congratulations to Laurence and Sheri.

    • 15/9. New version of Spectrum Lab. V2.2 b 3 is released with new features including the colour coded direction finder mode invented by Markus DF6NM. Read about it on Wolf DL4YHF's web-site where you can download it as 5 small files. It is also this site as one 1.6M download (near the bottom of the list with a "New" banner).

    • 14/9. ZL6QH reception reports. Mike KB6WFC in Daly City CA got good reception of ZL6QH yesterday. Best DX appears to be with KL1X in Anchorage. It seems the signal did not reach the East coast of the US this time. See screenshots here.

    • 13/9. ZL6QH on air today. The Quartz Hill club station will be active on Saturday 13 September, using the same format as previous tests, with 120 second dot length and 0.4 Hz FSK. They will send the letter Q, [hi, hi, lo, hi, key-up] as a repeated sequence: where hi = 137.7890 kHz and lo = 137.7886 kHz. Sunset at ZL6QH on 13th is 0600 utc, sunrise at 1830.

    • 8/9. First SP/SM QSO. SQ5BPM, operating from the SP5ZCC club station, worked SM6PXJ tonight using QRSS. This is the first international LF QSO from Poland.

    • 6/9. Costa Rica is listening. Laurence is all set up in Turriabla, East of San Jose, and is listening from 1600 UTC Saturday 6th Sept until 2300 UTC Monday 8th Sept 03. Three Argo screens will be open as per Ghana: 137.7725 to 137.7745 Khz dot 60, or faster - 137.7770 to 137.7802 Khz dot 60 - DCF39.

    • 4/9. Test from Poland. Marek SQ5BPM will be testing on 136.500 on Saturday (6th Sept) 19.00z - CW, 19.20z - 3s dots, 20.00z - 30s dots, 21.00z - 120s dots. He hopes to get a report from SP2PZH but more distant reports would be very welcome. The choice of frequency is due to technical limitations.

  • August

    • 30/8. Costa Rica listening. Laurence is taking a trip to Turriabla, East of San Jose, and will be listening from 1500 UTC Saturday 6th Sept until 2300 UTC Monday 8th Sept 03. Three Argo screens will be open as per Ghana: 137.7725 to 137.7745 Khz dot 60, or faster - 137.7770 to 137.7802 Khz dot 60 - DCF39.

    • 18/8. WD2XDW reports. The beacon on 137.77350 is getting out. Nice reception by Steve VE7SL at 2200km and a partial identification by Mike KB6WFC in California at 3273km. Next stop Eu?

    • 13/8. WD2XDW is now operating on 137.77350 with a more accurate frequency source and a bit more power. As of 16th.. Now QRSS60. Laurence will have to leave the Anchorage QTH soon so there's not much time left to log this beacon. No DX reports yet....

    • 6/8. WD2XDW. The beacon is regularly on air during Alaskan darkness (0500-1500 utc) on 137.7738kHz. It is sending QRSS6 with a CW ident.

  • July

    • 31/7. Lighthouses / Lightships on the air. On August 16/17th, 250 stations in 34 countries will be taking part in this event. A list of stations can be found on the ILLW website but it doesn't say if any are to be on 136kHz. If you know of any LF lighthouse activity please tell me.

    • 25/7. WD2XDW beacon. Alaska. KL1X (Anchorage) has a permit to transmit beacon tests in the 136kHz band at 2W erp. Laurence is currently deciding schedule, modes and frequency. Watch this space.

    • 23/7. UK Class B get HF (and LF). As of midnight Friday 25th all UK "Class B" licencees will be able to operate on the HF/MF/LF bands. This is due to the removal of the morse requirement at the recent World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva. Who'll be the first G8, G6, G1 on 136kHz? Later Note: Belgium follows suit, Belgian class Bs can operate on HF from 4th August (I'm not sure about LF).

    • 12/7. OH0 on this weekend. OH0RJ in Market Reef is QRV this weekend on 136.83KHz. Info from OH1TN

    • 8/7. T/A tests. Joe, VO1NA put out a test transmission last night which was received by CT1DRP and several UK stations. At G3YXM, signals came in at 0130 and lasted until about 0345. Screenshot.

    • 5/7. Grabber on. It's nice and quiet this evening so the Grabber is monitoring the QRSS part of the band. Later note: It's off now!

    • 1/7. RIP 73kHz. The Notices of Variation issued to UK amateurs who expressed an interest, expired last night at midnight. The band that introduced LF to UK amateurs is no more. The last QSO was made between G3LDO and G3XDV, who also made the first QSO on the band!

  • June

    • 28/6. Last 73k activity. Several UK amateurs intend to operate on 73kHz for the last time this weekend. There will be CW and QRSS transmissions. The grabber is on, showing the band activity. G3XDV and M0BMU (and me) have been active today (Saturday).

    • 25/6. SAQ back on air this weekend. As part of this year's Alexanderson Day commemoration, Sweden's historic SAQ will operate the last surviving alternator transmitter on 17.2kHz next Sunday, June 29th. Morse transmissions appear to be scheduled for 0830, 1030, and 1230 UTC. info from LWCA. It seems that SA6Q will be trying for CW QSOs on 137.7 and 14.035 + SSB on 14.215 over the weekend.

    • 25/6. Goodbye Ghana. Laurence G4DMA/KL1X left Ghana today after his listening session. Last night conditions were starting to improve and he thinks he may have detected G3LDO's transmission at one point. It shows that the path is possible, even in summer, if only there were some activity!

    • 22/6. Linrad? Under development by SM5BSZ, Linrad is a suite of DSP tools for the Linux operating system. It's a bit like Spectrum Lab with less facilities but it works well for reading QRSS. Check it out here. Info from Ed and Alex.

    • 22/6. Ghana is still listening. Laurence KL1X / G4DMA is still monitoring around 137.7725kHz and has detected some characters but nothing readable yet. Several big signals have been beaconing so there's still hope before Laurence leaves on 25th..

    • 18/6. The First Polish LF QSO took place between SP2PZH club station (operator SQ2HNA) and SQ2BXI/P. The stations worked with only 10 W and 0.1 W. The SP2PZH club members are building a new antenna, 100W PA and LF/HF converter, so that they will be able to work more distant stations. There has been permission for Polish hams to use the 136 kHz band for two months. SP2PZH site in Polish. info from Martin SQ2BXI.

    • 17/6. Ghana is listening. Laurence KL1X / G4DMA is set up and has Argo captures from 137.7725 - 137.775 at 60sec, and centred on 137.773 at 30s setting. DCF39 is visible from 1900z - 0430z. Let's hope someone radiates some beacon transmissions for him.

    • 14/6. Canadian LF News Site. Steve VE7SL has recently added a '136kHz Activity' page to his website. Steve hopes it will help to encourage LF activity in Canada.

    • 14/6. Russian LF News site. Ed, RU6LA is putting together a 137kHz news and information site at http://136.73.ru/. It's still in the early stages of development but more is being added all the time.

    • 12/6. VO1/G QSO. M0BMU worked VO1NA last night on 136khz using QRSS30. Just shows what can be done on LF in mid-summer! Congratulations to Jim and Joe. See screenshots here.

    • 11/6. Portable activity. On June 14th/15th, DK0CQ / DN1VLF will be on LF from their Field day site at Phöben, near Berlin from 12.00 Sat to 1400 Sun. Frequencies are 136.72 KHz CW and 137.72 kHz(QRSS). Output power will be 1 Watt ERP if all goes well.

    • 7/6. 136 to Ghana? Laurence KL1X will (attempt!) to llisten QRSS 60 /CW between 16th-24th June from East Legon Accra Ghana, between 137.7725 and 137.7750 Khz - Talk back when available on 18.162 Mhz or as indicated here. Any RF will be appreciated!

    • 4/6. News from Newfoundland. The Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland have a report on their experiments on LF. See their report here.

    • 3/6. No news is.... We're well into the static season now and there have been some periods of high solar activity depressing long-distance conditions. This means there isn't much to report at present! Medium distance conditions should be OK though, if only we could hear through the static.

  • May

    • 18/5. VO1NA received in UK. Alan G3NYK copied Joe's call last night after a few tests on previous nights. Joe was using QRSS75.
      VO1NA as received by G3NYK

    • 15/5. FCC refuses 136kHz. The USA will not have a 136kHz allocation in the near future due to objections from the American power companies who use LF signalling on their lines. They must use very poor equipment if a 1W ERP signal would disrupt it!

    • 11/5. Latest update of Argo. Build 134 now has: - Time information on mouse cursor display - "Led" to indicate capture status, click to change it - Dialog for recomputing screenfill time when changing QRSS mode or speed - Calibration function split for horizontal and vertical scrolling modes - Floor for value at cursor lowered from -120dB to -160dB Dowload it as usual from http://www.weaksignals.com

    • 9/5. Portable from a windmill. It's been done from lighthouses and tower-blocks but I think that this is the first windmill portable! Wil PA0BWL and other members of his local club will be active on 137 under the call PI4OSS from 1600utc on Saturday 10th for 24hrs.

    • 4/5. First G / Russia CW QSO. Mal G3KEV worked Sam RN6BN on CW this evening. Mal got 539 and Sam's report was 579. The distance is 2968km which may be the record for 2-way CW? See Sam's equipment here.

    • 2/5. RX3QFM beacon tests. After TX trouble it's "third time lucky" we hope! Vlad is back at his summer QTH tonight and will beacon on QRSS3 from 1700utc on 137.710 then QRSS20 from 2000utc on 137.750. He will listen for CW calls on 136.8 and if he gets good results, will set up for QRSS RX next time.

  • April

    • 30/4. RX3QFM beacon tests. The last test didn't happen due to power problems. Vlad is back at his summer QTH tonight and will beacon on QRSS3 from 1700utc then QRSS20 from 2000utc. If he gets some reports he will set up for QSOs next time.

    • 29/4. LF tuning meter. Jim, M0BMU has designed a tuning meter to help with tuning up LF aerials. It indicates phase and magnitude enabling setting of resonance and matching. Available as a PDF file, updated 30/4/3.

    • 24/4. RX3QFM. RX3QFM ( loc. KO91FM) will be active 10.00-15.00 UT 137.710 CW and 15.00-24.00 UT 137.710 QRSS3 beacon mode.

    • 20/4. First GM/YU and SM/YU. Simon GM4PLM worked YU7AR on 20th April for the first YU/GM QSO on 136kHz QRSS. Teo, YU7AR informs me he has also worked SM6BHZ for another first. See some pictures of his shack, here..

    • 8/4. RN6BN. Look out for Sam RN6BN on 136kHz from nr Krasnodar QTH-loc KN95LC . He is a member of the RU6LWZ club and is now putting a good signal out from his own QTH. Sam has already worked into the UK on QRSS (G3KEV). See his equipment here.

    • 3/4. Grabber back on line. See the "Grabber Staus" link on the left. Full-band view of 136, 15 minute refresh.

    • 2/4. The 73kHz news. Over the past few days we've had: First GM/G, GM/GI, GM/GM, furthest distance 2-way (612km G3GRO/GM0MRF) and first operation from Cornwall. Several stations have increased their tally and/or distance worked on various modes. Thanks to Rugby for staying off the air. So what's next? Remember, we only have the band until June 30th!

    • 2/4. Grabber off-line due to a BT Internet problem.... sorry.

  • March

    • 31/3. G3GRO from Porthcurno. Derek and Jim were heard testing on 71.7 today at 1420utc. Good signals from the Marconi Museum site near Lands End. Later note: They have been having noise problems on 73k and hope things will be better in the evening.

    • 30/3. News from GM3YXM. First G/GM GI/GM GM/GM on 73kHz. On Friday I worked G3AQC on CW, he was 579 and I got 559. Then afterwards I worked G3XDV on QRSS3 ("O" both ways). On Saturday I worked Ian MI0AYZ on CW and G3LDO QRSS/CW. On Sunday I had two QSOs with David GM0MRF nr Ayr. Thanks to all.

    • 26/3. French LF Yahoo group. Daniel, F1TAY writes: - Je viens de découvrir qu'il existe un groupe de discussion francophone sur la bande 137 kHz. C'est sur yahoo france c'est le groupe 137khz-fr.

    • 25/3. QRSS performance tests. Alan G3NYK and myself conducted some tests using QRSS60 up to QRSS3 and CW. Read the results here It seems other have done this too: see ON7YD's and W1TAG's results.

    • 24/3. Poland on 136. Spotted on the LWCA message board...Polish telecommunications authority (URTiP) has approved use of the 2200 Meter band (135.7-137.8 kHz) for amateur use on a secondary basis with 1W E.I.R.P. on CW. Posted by Sylwester Jarkiewicz, SP2FAP Editor & Publisher MK QTC

    • 22/3. Three 73k expeditions! Myself G3YXM, David G0MRF and Derek G3GRO are all going out and about next weekend. G3YXM and G0MRF are both off to SW GM, Me from Friday 28th and David from Sunday 30th whereas Derek is going to Porth Curno, Cornwall and should be on from 31st (courtesy of the Cable and Wireless Museum radio club). David and Derek will be around on Tuesday morning (April 1st) in the hope that the band is quiet. I should be back home trying to work them! All of us should have QRSS and maybe crossband facilities. Contact numbers are GM3YXM: 07976 833839, GM0MRF 07958 502540, G3GRO: 07742 676495. Note the lack of "/P" suffixes as we have to operate as "temporary locations" inorder to use 73kHz.

    • 20/3. UA9 report. Ed's full report has arrived. Read it here. Also:See the ZL/UA9 screenshots.

    • 15/3. First UA9/G QSO. Jim, M0BMU worked UA9OC just after midnight this morning. The distance is over 5,000km. Congratulations to both stations. See here for a screenshot (Now both sides of the QSO + extra shots from Jim)..

    • 14/3. UA9 received in UK. Peter G3LDO copied UA9OC last night around midnight. clear copy by g3ldo of ua9oc

    • 13/3. ZL/UA9 QSO attempt. On March 14 and 15 ZL6QH will attempt a QSO with UA9OC using QRSS120/DFCW on 137.700. Their dark path is between 1230 and 1818z. ZL6QH will also beacon in DFCW on 137.700 from 0600-1215z for the Americas... and possibly Eu??

    • 13/3. UA9OC signals in ZL. Last night's QRSS120 beacon signals from UA9OC were received by ZL2CA. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the QRSS60 test tonight. See Bob's excellent copy here.

    • 13/3. UA9/UA6 QSO. Vlad, UA6LV, worked the UA9OC expedition last night QRSS10/3. He reports that, now that their intitial problems have been sorted out, they should be ready for Eu QSOs tonight. The expedition schedule is here.

    • 11/3. Signals from UA9. RU6LA/9 has been copied tonight by UA6LV. He was also called by M0BMU and OH5UFO so it looks like he's getting a good signal out. Check the expedition plans here.

    • 9/3. Firsts for YU7AR. Teo has been busy this weekend, working S57A, OH5UFO and M0BMU. All firsts with YU. The QSO with M0BMU was caught by the grabber!

    • 8/3. First YU - F QSO. YU7AR worked F6BWO using QRSS3 on March 8th, for the first YU/F contact.

    • 8/3. Screen grabber on the site. I'm running an experimental screen grabber here. It could grab from Argo, Speclab or any program required. At the moment it's using Argo in 3sec mode to look at the QRS part of the band.

    • 5/3. OM portable activity Mar 8/9. Update on operating schedule: On the 8th, 1200-2200 136.5 CW then 2200-0200 137.7 QRSS. From 0200-0600 on 9th they will run a QRSS60 beacon on 137.774. From 0600-1200 its back to CW with QRSS as an option. They will have e-mail ( om2tw@nextra.sk ) and DX cluster.

    • 4/3. 73k activity. A few of the stalwarts turned up today, G3AQC, G3XDV, M0BMU and your scribe - G3YXM. They were joined by MI0AYZ and G3WKL who was making his first appearance on the band. Rugby stayed off until about 14:45.

    • 3/3. Asiatic Russian expedition. Ed Lesnichy, RU6LA, has sent full details of the UA9OC expedition next week. Read the info here.

    • 3/3. "First Tuesday" 73k tests. G3XDV, G3AQC, M0BMU and G3YXM (and hopefully some more stations) will be on the 73k band tomorrow morning during the Rugby maintenance shutdown. Mike G3XDV will tx on 71.750 and listen there and on 136.9 for CW and 137.700 for QRSS3. I will transmit on 71.95 and listen there and 136.7 CW 137.750 for QRSS3 calls. CW on the "00" and QRSS3 on the "30" from 0900.

    • 1/3. UA6 tonight. Ed, RU6LA, is paying a flying visit to Machta tonight. If all goes well he will be on by 1700 for QSOs and will beacon from 0000 - 0430z ,QRSS60 on137.773 ("RU6LA"). Sunrise is approx 0410z in KN97LN

  • February

    • 25/2. More T/A. Signals are still getting across, especially from CT1DRP who has been beaconing on 137.773. KL1X has received snatches of signals from Brian and from G3LDO recently. Have a look at Laurence's setup in the Gallery.

    • 20/2. Trans-Atlantic pileup! KL1X's intention to listen on 137.773 has sparked a good deal of activity. Last night Brian CT1DRP joined the party and put a most impressive signal into W1TAG, W3NF, W4DEX, W3EEE and W1WV. DF6NM, OM2TW, DK1IS, G3XDV, G3LDO and G3AQC also joined in but only the Gs and a snatch from DF6NM made it across.

    • 16/2. OM portable activity Mar 8/9. As you may have seen from the popup; OM2KM, OM2TW and OM3TWJ will be QRV again from the "two towers" QTH in Sintava (JN88UG). Mainly CW with T/A tests during the night on 135.922. They will be testing a new RX loop antenna, so please call, even if you have worked before. More information later.

    • 15/2. North to Alaska. Laurence KL1X near Anchorage has been monitoring 137.7 for a while now but conditions have been poor. Things improved last night though with signals from G3AQC being received around our dawn. Not a full callsign yet but very good "O" copy! This will be a new trans-Atlantic distance record.

      "AQC"

    • 12/2. Asiatic Russian expedition. The RU6LWZ club is planning a DXpedition to UA9 on 12-16th March. The site is near Novosibirsk, Loc MO94TK, and they will have access to a 230mtr mast! The rest of the gear will be the same as previous Machta operations. The team will be Vlad UA6LV, Vic UA9OC and Ed RU6LA. More info nearer the day.

    • 10/2. Report from UA6. On Friday RU6LA/RU6LWZ worked OK1DTN, DL2HRE, OH1BS and OH1TN in CW. On QRSS they worked OM2TW, DK1IS and M0BMU. On Saturday they saw DF6NM in QSO with I5TCG on QRSS but couldn't work Cesare. In CW they worked OH1TN and SM3UWS and on QRSS DF6NM, G3YXM and S57A (first S5-UA QSO). Boris, S57A, has been putting out a really good signal lately.

    • 8/2. First YU/DL QSO. I've just had confirmation that Markus DF6NM worked Teo YU7AR on Saturday 8th using QRSS. Congratulations to both.

    • 8/2. UA6 activity. Ed is at the Machta site again this weekend. Today he plans to operate from 1600 - 2300 on 137.700 QRSS3 or CW on 136.6 followed by a QRSS60 beacon test on 135.9225 until 0500 sending "RU6LA".

    • 6/2. First DL/S5 QSO. Tonight DL2HRE worked S57A on CW. Reports were 559/579 so signals were good. Info from DF6NM.

    • 1/2. New RX loop design. Jim Moritz M0BMU has been busy again. Download the article on his "Band Pass" loops as a PDF file. You can either view it in your browser and save it from there or right-click and "save target as".

    • 1/2. SM5EUF/5 Jason test. M0BMU copied Urban's Jason test this afternoon as advertised on the Portable Notice Board. Pity I was out and missed it! Any other reports?

  • January

    • 28/1. OH0 on 136. Lars, OH0RJ will be QRV from ALAND in about a weeks time. His locator is JP90XI, freq about 136.83 KHz, pwr 80-100w to an inverted L 15mtr high and 100mtr long. He has already worked OH1TN for a first OH/OH0 QSO. Info from OH1TN.

    • 26/1. F6CNI back. Andy is back on the band after a long absence Look out for him. He was one of a number of good signals heard over the weekend. Daytime conditions seem quite good at present with a big signal from OK1DTN in the UK.

    • 20/1. More T/A tests. G3AQC, G3XDV and G3YXM were beaconing until about 02:00 on 19th. W1TAG got some good reception. This morning (20th) the tests continued and W1TAG, W4DEX and W3NF in Maryland got signals from M0BMU and G3AQC. Here are the transmissions as received in Norway by Seinar Aanesland.

    • 18/1. Trans-Atlantic conditions. Although G3AQC and G3YXM only got snatches of signal across last night, it looks from W3EEE's web site as if we should have tried around 6am. Last night's graph can be seen here.

    • 13/1. Trans-Atlantic test. There was a lot of activity at the bottom of the band last night with stations from UK and Germany sending QRSS or DFCW. W1TAG and W4DEX were listening but only a few snatches of signal were seen. Better luck next time!

    • 11/1. Argentina on-air. As you may have seen from the noticeboard popup, LW2ETU put out the first 137k signals in Argentina on Christmas Day. Marcelo was copied by LU8EDR, on Jan3 by LU8EDR and LU8DYK and on 11th by LU2BAM. LW2ETU is now beaconing from10pm - 11am utc on 137.10.

    • 11/1. Lazy Loop. I've finally got round to putting Jim's "Lazy" loop details up on the site. It really works! Find it on the Features page along with lots of other interesting stuff.

    • 6/1. Update to Argo. Argo V1.32 is now out. This cures a bug in the capture setup and adds a date stamp to the captures. It's on the Downloads page.

    • 4/1. More firsts! José EA1PX has been busy over the holidays, yesterday he worked Hube F6CWA on QRSS for the first EA/F QSO. Today S57A worked OK1DTN on CW for another first, S5/OK. Well done all.

    • 2/1. First EA/DL QSO. José EA1PX had a QRSS QSO with Markus DF6NM in the early hours of Thursday morning. Congratulations to both.


On to 2004---Back to 2002.