VLF Amateur News 2011
Please let me know dates/times/frequencies/modes if you plan any VLF tests so I can publish information here. As I don't always get told of tests and am sometimes away and unable to update news, please check the RSGB's LF Reflector email list or the Sub 9kHz Amateur Radio Yahoo group for late news of tests.
News items and recent/new VLF activity
28.12.11
Chris G3XIZ has now received his sub-9kHz NoV renewal and is building his improved loading coil in readiness for further radiated VLF tests.
Roger G3XBM will restart earth-mode tests in the new year hoping to improve on the 6km DX achieved last year. These next tests will be around 8.97kHz (where most grabbers are looking) rather than 8.76kHz and possibly with considerably more power (100W) and a longer TX earth electrode spacing. Far field reception may just be possible.
30.11.11
Chris G3XVL has set up a new VLF grabber in Ipswich UK. See http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15836400/XVL_grab.jpg
27.11.11
Yesterday's test by DK7FC from his fixed location was a resounding success with reception all over Europe by many stations and what is believed to be the first time reception of an amateur transatlantic VLF signal in the Eastern USA. More on this later when the data has been carefully checked. His ERP was later re-calculated as around 800uW.
Marcus DF6NM ran a 8.9kHz test this afternoon using a kite flown antenna. G3ZJO received a nice signal in IO92ng 20dB above the noise in 424uHz. Marcus was also well received by many stations in Europe.
In summary, this weekend has been a BUSY one on the Dreamer's Band!
25.11.11
Stefan DK7FC 8.970kHz test Saturday November 26th. This test is the first time using DK7FC's fixed antenna system at his research institute rather than his portable kite antenna.
Stefan writes:
The coil and PA and all the parts are here now and maybe i will do first tests tomorrow in the afternoon on 8970 Hz.
The goals would be to resonate on the frequency and apply 50 kV rms or more. Oh i just calculated: My coil has about 550 mH and the antenna 473 pF. So i need about 100 pF from somewhere else, remembering my homemade plate capacitor with the cola bottles as the spacing insolator ;-) The coil has about 320 Ohm DC resistance and if i actually want to apply 50 kV, i would need 1.2 kW for that. No problem for the PA i think. The ERP will be below 1 mW anyway :-(
But the background noise is extremely low in the last time and if i can a stable signal over several hours i expect to be visible in many spectrograms.
73, Stefan/DK7FC
On Saturday afternoon Marcus DF6NM was copying DK7FC at 20dB over noise in 0.48mHz. He has also been seen by OK2BVG. In the UK he has been copied by Paul Nicholson (Todmorden) who has an excellent receiving set-up and by Eddie G3ZJO. The trace on Eddie's 424uHz grabber is shown on the right, which is very clear indeed. Signals were also seen by G3KEV.Stefan is TXing overnight on 8.970000kHz with 200uW ERP with a GPS locked, very stable signal. He is hoping to be positively identified in the USA for the first time.
15.11.11
DK7FC is planning some tests on 8.97kHz shortly using his FIXED antenna at his research institute. ERP will be between 100uW and 2mW but with very long and stable transmissions (possibly with carriers as long as 24 hours with 500W RF into the antenna) this signal may be detectable across Europe and even, hopefully, to sensitive detectors in the USA, Canada and Alaska. These tests could be within the next 1-2 weeks. Watch this page and the LF-reflector for breaking news of this.
G3XBM has received a 12 months extension to his 8.7-9.1kHz NoV. G3XIZ was still awaiting his extension but may have received it by now.
6.11.11
Lubos OK2BVG repeated his kite antenna VLF tests on Nov 6th 2011 and was copied by several stations including DK7FC and Paul Nicholson in the UK.
Hello VLF!
When the wind is suitable, I will realize my second kite fly tomorrow:
***INFO***
Date: 06.11.2011
Time: 08:00 UT - 11:00 UT
Antenna: Kite GP 150m long (130m effective height)
PA: 120W
Identification: K
Mode: DFCW 3000
FRQ: 8970.045
Shift: 10mHz
Lubos, OK2BVG
Later Lubos reported his signal was received by several stations:
Hello VLF fans!
I started my transmission at 08:00UT and I was transmitting to 09:10UT. Than I had to stop, because the wind was getting weaker. After 10UT the weather was nice, but windless :-(
I am glad to saw my signal on the Stefan´s, Gerhard´s and Paul´s grabbers.
73!
Lubos, OK2BVG
25.10.11
More activity from central Europe with this test reported by Lubos OK2BVG
Hello VLF friends!
I did my first test with kite as an antenna for 8970Hz today:
***INFO***
Date: 25.10.2011
Time: 14:00 UT - 16:00 UT
Antenna: Kite GP 150m long (120m effective height)
PA: 120W
Identification: K
Mode: DFCW 3000
FRQ: 8970.045
Shift: 10mHz
It was "last minute" activity due to wind conditions.
Lubos, OK2BVG
22.10.11
News from Norway of experiments at 8.970kHz by LA5VNA
I have been using SpecLab a long time on 10.140MHz playing with qrss3. I
have tested many waterfall programs, but SpecLab is my absolute favorite.
I have been on qrz.com and looked at your systems. I have no ambitions
to come up to the same level with the first. I am concentrating now on
local communications. My latest experiment is with an Earth dipole. I'm
using a 1-meter copper pipe in the ground as one end of the dipole. The
other is connected to water pipes in my house. The distance between them
is about 20m. As a PA I am now using a 150W power amplifier from HH
Electronic (V150-L). This has a 100volts line output (100W RMS at 1 kHz
into 100ohm). I have tested different modes; MSK01 with SpecLab, WOLF,
THROBX and PSKAM10 in Multipsk. ZL2AFP's CMSK8, and various versions of
qrss. Right now, I am sending in the qrss120 on 8970 and hoping that an
amateur friend of my about 10 km away, will receive me.
My antenna receiving systems on VLF is not the best. I use my 10X10m
loop in the garden. With this I can receive the Alphas pretty well, but
now I am building an active antenna (after your drawing). It will be
exciting to see how it will work in my neighborhood. I hope it does not
pick up too much noise.
Best regards and 73
Steinar LA5VNA
LOC: JO59JQ
19.10.11
News from OK2BVG about upcoming tests:
Hello VLF!
I will be testing my new Rubidium frequency reference tomorrow:
***INFO***
Date: 20.10.2011
Time: 08:00 UT - 11:00 UT
Antenna: Marconi L 24m up + 220m top load
PA: 120W
Identification: K
Mode: DFCW 3000
FRQ: 8970.040 (+/- some few mHz :-)
Shift: 10mHz
I hope, the propagation will be good!
Lubos, OK2BVG
2.10.11
News from LA5VNA in Norway of some VLF tests
A test of cmsk on 8.97kHz
Hi all,
The last few days I've been doing some digi mode testing at 8.97 khz;
"dreamers band", mostly with use of the QRSS mode.
On the transmitter side, I have been using a 5 turn 10 x 10 m antenna
and an audio amplifier 100W. The system is feeded with a signal from the
program "Spectrum Lab".
On the receiver side, I have been using a 70 x 70 cm 60 turns loop,
tuned with a capacitor. The loop was connected to the microphone input
on my laptop and decoded with "Spectrum Lab".
The result has been interesting . With this simple arrangement, I have
reach a distance of 2.5 km.
Yesterday I tried out CMSK8 made by ZL1BPU Murray. I had to make some
changes in the ini-file to get the CMSK work om 8.97khz. The sampling
rate was adjusted with the program CheckSR and the transmitting
frequency was set to 8970Hz. Waterfall has a 2000Hz limit so this was
black and useless on 8790Hz.
It would makes it easier to track the signal if the developer could
extend waterfall to 10 kHz. Iam aware that one can get the view of the
waterfall by going down in frequency, but 8.97khz has become a de facto
water hole of VLF .
The result was exciting. A clean copy of the signal was received at
about 2 km.
I would also try to test out some of the VLF mode in multipsk ,
especially PSK10 and PSKAM10, but I have not find a way to fool the
program to work on 8.97Khz yet.
73 and good dx the VLF Steinar LA5VNA
In the October edition of the RSGB RadCom Magazine there was a 3 page article entitled "VLF experiments through the ground" by G3XBM.
G3XIZ is building a new loading coil for his VLF radiated experiments.
OFCOM has confirmed that the UK 8.7-9.1kHz NoV permits will be renewed, if requested by current holders.
12.9.11
Activity today on VLF: OE5ODL was TXing on 8969.968Hz and visible on the DK7FC grabber. Conditions on VLF are reported to be good as the DX season gets under way.
6.9.11
From DK7FC about the low noise at VLF currently and an update on VLF grabbers
VLF,
The noise on the Dreamers Band / 8970 Hz is as low as never before in this season, just like in winther! At least is that small time slot of about 4 hours, tests could be done again.
Up to date grabbers, as far as i can see:
http://www.ok2bvg.cz/vlfgrabber/
http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber.html
http://simnet.is/halldorgudmunds/TF3HZ_VLFgrabber/index.html
http://members.aon.at/grabber/VLF/index.html
http://qsl.net/4x1rf/yo/vlfgrabber.htm
http://abelian.org/vlf/fbins.shtml#p=1315202400&b=100&s=sp
http://www3.telus.net/sthed/argo/
73, Stefan/DK7FC
30.8.11
From DK7FC
VLF,
My VLF grabber is back online repairing a boken wire (that CAT5 twisted pair cable is not the robustest one...).
Noise is very low today, not only on LF. Seems the DX season slowly starts...
http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber.html
73, Stefan/DK7FC
13.6.11
OE3GHB has been testing a new VLF transmitter around 8.970kHz and has appeared on some of the European VLF grabbers. See http://members.aon.at/grabber/VLF/index.html . This was an unannounced test, so sadly few were looking.
30.7.11
Stefan DK7FC reports that the QTH used for his last 11 VLF kite experiments is no longer available because a wind turbine is being installed there, but he has found another suitable location 1km away.
Marcus DF6NM was active last night and did more tests again today on 8.970002kHz. During the Saturday transmission Marcus was copied by many stations across Europe at good strength including by TF3HZ (2547 km) and YO/4X1RF (1253 km).
Dear LF,
today around noon, I will attempt another kite transmission from the same site. If all works well, I will send a 1 mW carrier on 8970.002 from around 11 to 14 UT.
Best regards,
Markus (DF6NM)
Dear Dreamers,
thanks very much to everyone who commented on my signal yesterday night, and all who are running their VLF grabbers.
Transmission:
My signal was on air on 8970.002 Hz from 18:52 to 22:01, with a long break from 19:26 to 19:52 due to a prolonged rain period, and many shorter interruptions caused by precipitation, low wind, a coil falling over, or a breaking antenna connection.
I'm aware that an advanced notice would have been valuable for potential receiving stations. But I find it difficult to plan ahead this type of activity. Yesterday even while setting things up on the site, I was not at all sure whether I would be able to actually get on air for any significant time.
Site:
The location (49.3874 N 11.1692 E, "JN59OJ02HX" for those who prefer cryptic notations ;-) was the same as in the experiment on Nov 13 last year (see email copy at bottom). While Google Maps still shows large patches of unused land around the former US airfield, "my" field is now one of very few undeveloped plots in the middle of an industrial area, inhabited mostly by large logistics companies. Though I had originally not intended to work into darkness, I found there was still plenty of light from the surrounding truck parking and unloading areas.
Kite antenna and ground:
This time I used a 4 sqm lifter kite (HQ Power Sled L3.0, similar to Stefan's smaller kite). It is held by a 150 m line. This may be stretching the limit a bit, but due to the slope and sag of the line I am sure that the peak altitude always stayed below 100 m.
The previously used 0.4 mm magnet wire had a voltage limit of about 12 kV due to corona appearing along the whole length. It has now been replaced by insulated wire (0.25 sqmm, outer diameter 1.3 mm). The total length is 180 m, with the last 30 m dangling down from the kite, intended to act as a sort of extra top load. Effective height would be around 50 m, giving 3.5 milliohm radiation resistance, or 1.3 mW EMRP at 0.6 A.
At the western end of the unused site, there is a long mesh wire fence running north-south, held by solid metal posts which served very well both for anchoring and grounding. Total resistance of the antenna circuit was around 280 ohms (including 140 ohms for the coil). This is about half of that when I used the same kite antenna in Bamberg with only a few short ground pegs.
The coil was placed below the kite line at about 3 m from the anchor point, hoping to keep the wire well above ground. However this turned out to be problematic due to the horizontal and vertical movement of the connection point. When the kite was low and due west, the wire was too long and touched the wet grass, exhibiting pretty little fireworks. When it went up or drifted aside, the wire became too short, and either plugged itself off, or tipped over the whole coil. You guess how much I like having to reconnect the ungrounded wire, with dark clouds overhead and a slight drizzle going down... I twice found myself holding down the kite line with my foot, then slowly stepping forward until the open end at least touched the earth. Next time I will definitely place the coil much closer to the anchor, and try to hold the connection up by means of some elastic plastic tube.
Coil:
From the previous experiment I knew that the wire capacitance was very close to 900 pF. During the afternoon, I experimented with different coil configurations, and found that I could either use four buckets (184 ohms) with a large 10 cm pitch (ie. 9 Lego blocks), giving about 8 mm radial clearance between one coil layer and the inner radius of the next bucket. The other option was three buckets (138 ohms), stuffed into one another 3 cm pitch and 2 mm clearance (see picture http://df6nm.bplaced.net/VLF/pictures/two_coils_350mH.jpg).
Mainly for mechanical reasons, I opted for the more compact three-bucket solution, but this turned out to be the wrong choice. With power applied, I heard corona sizzles around the coil at about 0.55 A (11 kV). In darkness I could see violet seams near the bottom end of the upper two windings. This means that the maximum usable layer-to-layer voltage for this design is about 3.7 kV. Next time I will definitely go for the longer version, which also has more surface exposed to the wind for heat removal.
BTW all seven buckets connected to 900 pF resonate at about 4.6 kHz - Stefan, how about a 65 km band ;-)
Amplifier and power supply:
Like before, I used one channel of a class-B car-audio amp (Nitro 3000), feeding a 12 : 80 turns ferrite transformer originally wound by DJ2LF. It delivered 0.6 A antenna current (~ 100 W) from 12V x 13 A DC input. It was possible to turn the volume up to 0.7A, but I did not dare to run that level of corona permanently. The amp was fed by a standalone 35 Ah lead-acid battery, which was repeatedly recharged via jumper wires from the car engine during the latter half of the experiment.
Signal generation:
SpecLab's samplerate was locked to DHO, which is very slightly (3 ppb) above its nominal frequency 23.4 kHz. To keep the average phase steady, I took care to never interrupt the software generator whenever I had to take the carrier off air. Anyway the time series recorded by Paul Nicholson shows two major phase jumps around 19:40 (while the TX was off) and 21:20, perhaps due to soundcard buffering issues. One problem I did not see immediately was that the DHO ferrite antenna was too close to one of the jumper wires, temporarily picking up interference when the car alternator was running - once found, this one was easily fixed.
Results:
Though the traces at TF3HZ (2547 km) and YO/4X1RF (1253 km) are close to the noise, they are at the right time and frequency, and I do not think that they are random pixels. HalldĂłr's trace even seems to show the outage period after the first bright dot.
On my own grabber, I attempted to compare signal levels from DK7FC (-71 dB, 180 km) and myself (-43 dB, 4.5 km). Correcting this difference (28 dB) by the EMRP ratio (26 mW / 1.2 mW = 13 dB), distance ratio (1/r = 32 dB) plus an additional nearfield correction (1/rÂł instead of 1/r from 4.5 to 5.3 km = 3 dB), we find that Stefan was 28+13-35 dB = 6 dB weaker than we would expect by pure groundwave. This corresponds very well to the earlier experience that there is a midday skywave cancellation effect for about 200 km.
Best wishes,
Markus (DF6NM)
G3XBM is giving a talk on simple LF and VLF radio at the Braintree and District Radio Club on Monday August 1st at 8pm. This will cover 500, 136 and 8.97kHz experiments with simple homemade equipment and antennas, as well as an update on radiated DX work by the "big boys" in Europe. Slides from the talk will be added here later.
17.7.11
G3XBM achieved a new personal DX record for through ground "earth-mode" at 8.7605kHz today with successful reception at a distance of 6km. See https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/earthmode/vlf-xbm-blog for more information. The picture shows the signal in SL using bandwidth of around 11mHz.
16.7.11
On Sunday July 17th from 0800z-1600z (0900-1700BST) G3XBM will be transmitting a very long continuous carrier close to 8.7605kHz which I will, at some point, turn off during the test period to help ID. The TX will be my 5W earth mode set-up with 20m spaced electrodes with elevated feed to the far electrode.
If any stations with suitable equipment in the East Cambs area could look for me (with frequency locked, very narrow, Spectrum Lab settings) I'd appreciate it. The purpose of the test is to see if any residual VLF signal is detectable beyond the usual earth-mode coverage area. Ideally I need stations in the 5-20km range from my QTH in Burwell, Cambs.
A suitable SL .usr file is available at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15047843/g3xbm_jul17.USR
With earth-mode and QRSS3 the best I've achieved is just under 6km. It would be wonderful to find the signal was (just) detectable at a somewhat greater range using a very long carrier and suitable SpecLab RX settings. At some point later in the year I shall be increasing the VLF TX power to 100-200W which will improve chances of more distant reception.
https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/earthmode/vlf-xbm-blog updated with news of latest earth-mode tests at G3XBM and plans for earth-mode tests along fenland rivers.
28.6.11
News of a new grabber in Russia which will be active on VLF some of the time. As the VLF bandwidth is wide I do not think this will be useful for VLF comms.
Next 4 days grabber schedule:
- LF (TA-window QRSS-60 and QRSS-10) - fm 16z to 06z (night time)
- VLF wideband up to 21 kHz - fm 06 z to 16z (day time)
Mode switching manualy.
Archive of 1-hour step screenshots (LF TA-60) is also available.
http://rn3aus-lf-grabber.narod.ru
73 de RN3AUS/Alex
21.6.11
These are the links to the summaries of VLF tests last weekend by Stefan DK7FC/P and Marcus DF6NM. It was another very successful weekend on VLF with new reporters and good distances covered.
DK7FC/P reporting stations best DX was 2404km to the Icelandic grabber.
18.6.11
Good copy across Europe of DK7FC/P on 8.97kHz today. This is the DFCW60 screen grab at G3ZJO today which is remarkably clear. My own efforts were somewhat scuppered by Spectrum Laboratory: although I got 20dB S/N reception of the initial carrier in 424uHz bandwidth SL froze and I lost the next couple of hours of reception. Well done Stefan and those who successfully received him.
Stefan DK7FC is planning a new kite test on Saturday June 18th:
Dear VLF group,
Since more than 4 months the wind and rain situation looks promising for the weekend on my /p QTH in JN49IS36VH. So i plan to do my 11th VLF kite experiment this weekend, either on Sat 18th or Sun 19th June 2011, will be announced on friday. I already announced it at the German air traffic control and just got a phone call were the permission was granted.
The plan is to come on air at about 6 UTC.
The antenna will be the 300m vertical kite antenna. I'll plan to serve the bands 33km and 46km, i.e. 8970 Hz and 6470 Hz. Since i made a new tap on the TX coil i can now resonate the 300m antenna on 6470 Hz too. This should give a about 4 dB stronger signal on 46km.
Since the gap of low QRN is much smaller now, the experiment will not take many hours, maybe just 4 or 5.
Maybe i can get the 4 kVA generator and will produce a 6 dB stronger signal but this is not clear so far. Otherwise i am limited to 550 W TX power. I will limit my antenna current to 2 A in order to prevent a HV breakdown on the coil and due to thermal losses. At 2 A antenna current i should have up to 250 mW ERP!
The program is to start a longer dash, about 40 minutes, GPS locked on 8970.00000 Hz, then a message in DFCW-600. Depending on the feedback of receiving stations i will try to send DFCW-60 or DFCW-10 or DFCW-3 and CW.
Then i'll move to 6470 Hz, transmitting a 40 minutes dash and a "K" in DFCW-600 or so.
As usual the signals will be visible on my grabber in 40 km distance:
http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber.html for 8970 Hz and
http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber2.html for 6470 Hz (spectrogram still not available)
but surely visible on many other grabbers too ( see https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/vlf-grabbers for a list of available Dreamer Band grabbers).
Some new VLF receivers appeared since my last experiment. Two of them are:
http://qsl.net/4x1rf/yo/vlfgrabber.htm (1435 km)
http://www.ok2bvg.cz/vlfgrabber/ (598 km)
Leaving a trace on these and all other new and old VLF stations is the goal! Despite high QRN and the longest days in the year (here in EU) i am optimistic.
Maybe Markus/DF6NM or Marco/DD7PC or someone else in DL wants to be available on the phone for QSP to the reflector?
Looking forward to the weekend and hope all works well and we'll have much activity.
Best 73, Stefan/DK7FC
José, EA1PX is considering setting up a RX station in Spain. As he is in a city location he may have to experiment with E-field probes or loops to get an effective and low noise system in place.
9.6.11
DK7FC testing shortly from his fixed QTH starting 10.6.11
VLF,
Tomorrow i plan to do first tests on 8970 Hz on my fixed antenna in Heidelberg, http://no.nonsense.ee/qthmap/?qth=JN49IK00WG&from=jn49ik00WD It is about 30m up.
I'll start doing some resonating tests and may come on air in the afternoon. The small PA (max. 300W) will be used in this first test since it is easier to manage. Maybe the resonance will be some kHz higher but i hope to come down into the Dreamers Band (TM). I expect to be visible on "local" grabbers like DF6NM, OE3GHB and OK2BVG. If all works well i plan to transmit a longer dash, maybe 6000 seconds and later a short message in DFCW-600, like "K" or so, just for the proof and to get a first impression about the efficiency of this antenna. I had the idea to buy some flexible aluminium tube to form a toroid that will be placed on the top of the coil. Tis reduces the maximum E field and adds some C, that might be needed to come down to 8970 Hz... Of course all this depends on the absence of rain but now i don't need wind! Therefore, the signals will be about 20 dB lower, probably. The signal will be overload my grabber http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber.html that is in about 20 m (!) distance. Hopefully it gets not damaged due to several 10 kV on the wire.
Is there someone who will watch for that signal?
Reports would be very apprechiated!
73, CU, Stefan/DK7F
5.6.11
Uwe DJ8WX is testing again...
Hi all,
Im testing a new DJ PA.
carrier on 8970.022Hz.
seems the PA doesnt like high frequencies.
we will see.
GL
Uwe/dj8wx
4.6.11
VLF news from Germany
Dreamers,
VLF may be difficult these times, but certainly not dead!
During the traditional fieldday near Bamberg, we raised a kite at
http://no.nonsense.ee/qthmap/?qth=JN59LU23HA
during two afternoons. Due to the less than optimal wind the kite hovered mostly at a low angle, with estimated peak hight 50 to 70 m and a lot of sag. With only a few short ground pegs, we had 0.3 to 0.45 amps, and probably radiated around 0.2 mW (EMRP) on average. The carrier was DHO-locked on 8970.00, on air at 2011-06-02 13:15 - 14 UT and 2011-06-03 13:40 - 14:15 UT.
On my own grabber in Nuernberg (50 km from the site),
http://www.mydarc.de/df6nm/vlf/vlfgrabber.htm
the two short dashes are brightly visible, with about 17dB SNR in 0.48 mHz. Unfortunately we did hit the maximum daily QRN period, during the morning the noise would have been about 12 dB less.
At DK7FC in Heidelberg (170 km) we hardly overcame the QRN, but there is indeed a hint of yesterdays dash on the 6000 window
http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber.html
To my surprise, both transmissions were clearly picked up by Paul Nicholson's "miracle loops" at 980 km, and can be seen on
http://abelian.org/vlf/fbins.shtml#p=1307044800&b=120&s=sp
when the virtual beam rotator (compass) is dragged to about to 120 degrees.
Good luck to Chris for today's experiment!
Best wishes,
Markus (DF6NM)
G3XIZ active with an improved antenna system this weekend June 4/5th:
LF,
I have permission a
gain from the Met Office to transmit on VLF this weekend. I have made some slight aerial improvements so am optimistic that my signal will be marginally stronger. Hopefully my loading coil repairs will have resolved the inter-turn sparking problems. I shall be on holiday soon and hence QRT for the next 3 weekends. On my return from holiday I shall be making efforts to increase my RF power level as my (permanent) aerial system is now about as good as I can make it.
Transmission Details
------------------------------
Date: 4/5th June 2011
Time: From 05.00 Z for several hours both days
Location: Biggleswade, UK
Loc: IO 92 UB
QRG: 8.976 662 kHz
Power: 150 watts RF
Mode: Constant carrier
Aer: 48m inverted 'L' at a mean height of 11m
Reports will be most welcome.
73
Chris G3XIZ
26.5.11
G3XIZ active this weekend on VLF. Only weak signals see here in JO02dg (45km) but better on the G3ZJO grabber.
23.4.11
YO/4X1RF has set up new VLF and LF grabbers in Bucarest, Romania. The VLF one is at http://qsl.net/4x1rf/yo/vlfgrabber.htm
22.4.11
OK2BVG is active 23/4/11 as follows
Hello VLF!
I will be active on 8970Hz tomorrow:
***INFO***
Date: 23.04.2011
Time: 07:00 UT - 10:00 UT
Antenna: Marconi L 24m up + 220m top load
PA: 120W
Identification: K
Mode: DFCW 3000
FRQ: 8970.040 (+/- some few mHz :-)
Shift: 10mHz
Happy Easter!
Lubos, OK2BVG
G3XIZ is TXing over the Easter weekend (see below)
Group,
I am transmitting now and will be at odd times up to and including Easter Sunday.
QRG: 8.976 661 6 kHz
During transmissions I have a 'neclace' of spherical sparks on the top winding of the loading coil.
This causes the winding to vibrate and has burned away the enamel of the copper wire.
I have just hot-melt glued the upper few windings which has cured the vibration and given a dB or two improvement.
For information - I can draw a good 10 mm spark from the aerial using an insulated screwdriver.
73 Chris G3XIZ
21.4.2011
Things appear to have gone quiet this week with nothing new reported on VLF since last weekend. On the Sub-9kHz Yahoo group there has been more discussion about the theory of earth mode communications and particularly why a horizontal loop works so well on receive with postings from G3PLX and others.
17.4.11
DF6NM (Markus) has produced a nice summary screenshot showing the signals received from OE5ODL at various grabbers around Europe showing that at different distances the best signals occur at different times of the day or night.
M0DTS has done further earth mode tests. He reports:
I did some more tests on Monday with Earth-mode, still trying to break the 2km barrier. The setup is still the same as last time: 17m rod spacing, 1Watt now into 83ohm's of earth, was 94ohms the other week before we had some rain.
I can get an audible signal in 250Hz bandwidth now at 1.7km away but any further than this there is not a trace of the signal even at 4mHz bandwidth, this happens in two directions from my location, not sure why yet but in both directions i go over a hill to get further than 2Km..
Line of sight?!...hi
I have tried two e-field probe designs and have not managed any earth mode reception on them yet even at around 300m away from the transmitting site, I've tried all sorts of positions with them but no luck... the loop wins every time. I have also tried earth rods at the receiving end but there's normally just too much noise that drowns out the wanted signal.
One more interesting thing is that roughly 1.7km to the south and 1.6km to the east gives very much the same signal strength on receive, the earth rods on the TX are running N/S... to the south there is a valley and stream to cross and to the east the ground just rises up ~30m.
25.4.11
G3XIZ's "C" received in DFCW1800 by G3ZJO during the tests this weekend.
My screen grab is shown on the right. Hard to see unless you know where to look (8.976662kHz).Group,
I shall be transmitting over the Bank Holiday weekend:
Dates: 28th, 29th and 30th May 2011
Times: From 04.00Z for several hours per day
Freq: 8.976 662 kHz
Mode: Constant carrier or DFCW if requested
Power: 150 watts RF
Aerial: 40m inverted 'L'or kite assisted vertical
Loc: IO92UB Biggleswade, Beds.
My aerial improvements are taking longer than anticipated due to unexpected social commitments.
I hoped to make some additional improvements during the weekend.
VLF conditions seem poor at present but as always all reports will be most welcome.
73
Chris G3XIZ
16.5.11
New VLF grabber in Western Canada
Hi All
I've started posting wideband grabs of the entire VLF band on the VE7TIL grabber page. I find the natural signals the most fascinating and have setup the grabber to plot from DC - 42KHz...
The system is experimental and can and will change with time. But I'm trying to keep it very similar to other wideband VLF grabbers out there for comparison purposes.
Yes, someday soon I will start a 8970 grabber when warranted by season and other local activity.
73 Scott
VE7TIL CN89dk
http://www3.telus.net/sthed/argo/
13.5.11
G3XIZ is testing tomorrow:
LF,
I shall be transmitting on VLF tomorrow: 14th May:
Time: From 04.00 Z for several hours.
QRG: 8.976 661 6 kHz
Loc: IO 92 UB
Power: 120 watts RF
Aer: 40m inverted L, height 10m
Mode: Constant carrier
This should be my last transmission on the existing aerial system as I shall be soon making improvements.
Consequently reports will be especially welcomed.
73 Chris G3XIZ
News of a new VLF grabber from OK2BVG in a quiet rural location from Lubos:
Hello VLF friends!
I built and started my VLF grabber out of the city. If you would like to see, go to:
I am going to write an article about the grabber on my website soon.
73!
Lubos, OK2BVG
6.5.11
Heard today that Prof Robert Helliwell of Stanford University has just died. Helliwell wrote the book "Whistlers and Related Ionospheric Phenomena" in 1965 which is a book I own with pride. It was (still is?) THE reference book for anyone interested in VLF natural radio.
G3XIZ has been refused permission to TX on VLF this weekend. Not sure why, but perhaps the Met Office is expecting lots of thunderstorms and don't want to risk their sensitive kit being interfered with! Sound like a compliment to Chris that he can now put out a big enough signal to worry them, HI.
OK2BVG active Saturday
Hello Roger, VLF!
I will be active on 8970Hz tomorrow:
***INFO***
Date: 07.05.2011
Time: 07:00 UT - 10:00 UT
Antenna: Marconi L 24m up + 220m top load
PA: 120W
Identification: K
Mode: DFCW 3000
FRQ: 8970.040 (+/- some few mHz :-)
Shift: 10mHz
Lubos, OK2BVG
5.5.11
DJ8WX is on this evening...
Hi Eddie,
on the air since 1942UTC with 0,5dB more FS (scaled by a RYCOM R1307A RX).
GL
Uwe/dj8wx
DK7FC reports good signals from Uwe DJ8WX today
Today DJ8WX is as strong as before (March 2011). About 20 dB SNR in 47 uHz and traces in the 600-window.
73, Stefan/DK7FC
4.5.11
I have been away for 2 days and unable to update the news page but both OK2BVG and DJ8WX have been active and copied by some stations, notably Paul Nicholson in the UK who misses very little. This is an email from DK7FC to the LF reflector today talking about the tests.
GM Lubos, VLF,
You are strong visible at OE3GHB and Paul Nicholson. The QRN is pretty low this morning, just like yesterday. There seems to be a trace slightly above 8970.04 Hz on my grabber but i still haven't identified the "K".
There were some changes in the latest SL Version (V2.76b16 and above) on the noise blanker. I tried to find better settings to bring out a signal of the noise, without further success. On http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber2.html you find 2 424 uHz windows running at exactly the same USR file but the above window is a SL instance with the old noise blanker (b09) and below you'll find a SL session with the new blanker (b18). It seems the new version allows a VERY slightly improved signal, in the range of 1 dB or below. So not really a milestone but at least no disadvantage of the new version and the old USR files. Several parameter adjustments resulted in worse or equal SNR, so it still seems to be very close to optimal...
Thank you for the test signal! That applies for Uwe/DJ8WX too, of course.
Best 73, Stefan/DK7FC
2.5.11
G3XIZ is active Monday May 2nd. Signal with me seems down a little (see image RHS) but this could be because I've had to move
the bottom of my loop around about 20 degrees.LF,
I shall be transmitting again on VLF tomorrow:-
Time: Start 05.00 Z for several hours
QRG: 8.976 661 6 kHz
Mode: Constant carrier
Power: 120 watts RF
Aer: 40m inverted L @ 10m
Loc: IO92UB
All reports welcome and hopefully I shall soon have an improved aerial system.
73 Chris G3XIZ
30.4.11
G3XIZ was active this April 30th/May 1st from early morning:
I have permission to transmit VLF over this long weekend so will set up now. I'll also start TXing tomorrow early morning to get the best of the low noise conditions. My QRG will be the usual 8.976 661 6 kHz.
73 Chris G3XIZ
29.4.11
The OE3GHB grabbers are back!
Hello LF/VLF!
I managed to bring up also the VLF Grabber again, by renewing the BF862
Transistor in the first stage of my VLF E-probe. The D-S channel showed
a shortcut.
Only this fist stage is located outside up on the roof in a shielded and
waterproof box even with 2 diodes protecting the gate. Nevertheless I
think it was damaged by lightning although recent thunderstorms and thus
discharges were away a few kilometres from my QTH.
The PA0RDT (Mini-Whip) is located at the same place without any diodes
to protect the FET but did survive. So either the BF862 is a rather
sensitive device compared to the J310 used in the MiniWhip or it was
just bad luck.
I'm sure the coming summer-season will tell.
VLF: members.aon.at/grabber/VLF
73
OE3GHB
Gerhard
No news received of any VLF activities this weekend. Noise levels are now rising (see various grabbers) with the window for DX reception reducing. Stefan DK7FC is still awaiting favourable weather to carry out his next VLF kit experiment from Germany.
G3PLX has suggested further earth mode tests using screened loops to establish if the pick-up of the signals from the ground by loops is actually H or E field. G3XBM will try these next week. See the sub 9kHz Yahoo group for the discussion on this.
28.4.11
OE3GHB reports that the E-field probe used in his VLF grabber was damaged in a
recent storm and needs repairing.
27.4.11
G3XBM and G6ALB carried out successful earth-mode (through the ground) WSPR tests on 8.970kHz today. Distance between home QTHs is 3km. G6ALB's signal was successfully decoded multiple times at -17dB S/N. I was receiving on my 80m square vertical wire loop into an up-converter and FT817 using SignaLink USB. Andrew was generating 8.97kHz directly with the WSPR encoder. There is a video showing the VLF WSPR set-up if you want to see on my YouTube channel.
My first ever Morse code station ident was received today from G3XIZ. A 'C' in DFCW 1800 was received in an 847uHz FFT centred on 8.976677kHz. Average noise level was -132dB Signal was -118dB.
Well done Chris.
73 Eddie G3ZJO
G3XIZ has now gone QRT after a weekend of tests on 8.9766616kHz. Chris appears to have reached a limit in terms of range and reporting stations but there are still further stations looking for him such as M0DTS, G3PLX and DK7FC.
16.4.11
G3PLX has started an interesting discussion thread on the Sub-9kHz Yahoo group exploring the physics behind earth mode propagation (including utilities assisted). This discussion could run and run!
G3XIZ has been active today and received by G3XBM, G3ZJO, G3WCD and M0FMT and no doubt others. This was M0FMT's first
15.4.11
OE3GHB reports
Hello VLF!
I just fired up my VLF TX at 8969.96, DHO38 locked.
Currently running 500mA antenna current but I have to reduce to 400
later when my neighbor comes home.
Any reports welcome.
73
OE3GHB
Gerhard
VLF STATIONS ACTIVE THIS COMING WEEKEND
G3XIZ is expecting to do some further VLF tests this coming weekend and needs reports please.
LF,
I shall be transmitting on VLF this coming weekend.
Date: 16 / 17th April 2011
Times: To be decided but for several hours on both days
Loc: IO92UB
Freq: 8.976 661 6 kHz
Mode: Constant carrier + QRSS (various)
Power: 150 W RF
Aerial: 40m inverted 'L' @ 10m or kite/balloon supported vertical (WX dependant)
As always reports will be most welcome.
73
Chris G3XIZ
DK7FC/P was planning to be active in his 11th kite supported tests on various VLF frequencies, although the weather near Stfan's QTH now looks unfavorable, so the test is not expected to take place afterall.
Other stations likely to be active include PA3CPM, OE5ODL. DJ8WX still has PA problems I believe.
Activity today
G3XBM
successful reception of Chris' signal on VLF. DK7FC is also looking for the signal but at the time of writing has not managed to copy Chris. G3PLX in Cumbria has still to detect Chris.G3ZJO has updated his grabber link to http://g3zjo.bplaced.net/ . Eddie's grabber is very useful for me as I can compare results with my own. Eddie's is definitely more sensitive.This is the screen grab of G3XIZ's VLF signal this morning receiving on my earth electrode antenna with elevated feed (3 sides of my loop). This signal is some dB weaker than on the full "in the air" loop.
carried out another 1.095kHz utilities assisted earthmode test today. Best results at all test sites out to 5.1km were with a single wire untuned loop (20m sq area) laid across the roads. No copy achieved away from roadsides even using 20m spaced earth electrode RX antenna.
14.4.11
PA3CPM announced some tests on 5.170kHz from 1500z. Later Victor PA3FNY confirmed he had received Henny in his QRSS60 window.
Hello Stefan I can make 140 mA antenna curent on 5.170khz ,i hope to do a test around 15:00 gmt with Victor,
henny pa3cpm.........
I have already coupled the coils and use the upper bucket to tune for resonance,
will be continu
12.4.11
G3XBM
has been doing further earth mode tests, this time at 1.095kHz. See G3XBM Earth Mode blog on this site for details and results. This was the 5W QRSS3 signal today at 4.5km from the home QTH.This is the small low input impedance preamp tuned to 1.1kHz used in the tests today with a small loop antenna on RX.PA3CPM has now
got his large loading coil working at 6.47kHz too, and has already been received using QRSS60 by Victor PA3FNY today at a distance of 3.5km on 6.47kHz.LF,
captured Henny PA3CPM at 6470Hz in a qrss60 screen.Distance 3.5Km
Still transmitting
73
Victor
PA3FNY
OE5ODL has been testing several times in the last few days and has been well received by many including G3XIZ and G3ZJO. This is the screen shot from G3XIZ yesterday (424uHz bandwidth). As you can see, good copy on the loop and M0BMU preamp.
10.4.11
PA3CPM is TXing overnight on 8.970kHz.
Hi LF,
The tx will be on overnight with a long carrier,frequentie 8.970Khz,power 40 Watt,antenna curent 250mA
henny pa3cpm
best 73's to all.
OE5ODL is testing with a balloon supported antenna today and has been widely received including in Iceland. G3ZJO has
had good copy in DFCW600 bandwidth (4.52mHz) and I was getting Ossi at 10-15dB S/N in 715uHz bandwidth. Unfortunately my Spectrum Lab froze as I changed settings, so I only had copy for around 30 minutes (0930-1000z) today. My trace is shown right and G3ZJO's below.
hallo vlfers test transmission with ballonsapport
around 8969,977
73 oe5odl
PA3CPM is again active on 8.970kHz and has been copied by DK7FC and others
Hello Roger,LF
After a little smoke,i am on the air again with 250 mA antenna curent on 8.970Khz,
henny pa3cpm
73's
9.4.11
M0DTS (Rob) has started earth mode tests at 8.9kHz with 17m spaced electrodes in a field receiving with a loop antenna. Best DX so far is 1.1km with 1W. More experiments to follow.
8.4.11
OE5ODL has been a good signal at G3ZJO today 4-5dB S/N on 8.96997kHz. He is testing most days recently running 400mA antenna current and is visible in the UK regularly. Mal G3KEV has produced traces of Ossi in a DFCW 600 window.
7.4.11
G3XIZ (Chris) was testing overnight April 7/8th on 8.9766616kHz and welcomed reports.
has given details of his 8.97kHz tests this Monday 4.4.11. His signal was received in the UK by G3ZJO at up to 7dB over the noise. Eddie's screenshot from Spectrum Lab is shown on the right.Hello OMs!
I will be testing my VLF PA 120W tomorrow:
Date: 04.04.2011
Time: 07:00 UT - 11:00 UT
Antenna: Marconi L 24m up + 220m top load
PA: 120W
Identification: long carrier only
Mode:
FRQ: 8970.040 (+/- some few mHz :-)
Shift:
I hope, the conditions will be good :-)
73!
Lubos, OK2BVG
G3XIZ was been active on QRSS300 3.4.11 and was copied by more local stations as well as G3ZJO and M0BMU. No copy with me at 45km.
PA3CPM is still TXing on 8.970kHz
Hello LF,
I am still in the tx mode,long carrier,8.970khz
antenna curent 275 mA,
HENNY PA3CPM
73'S
2.4.11
OK2BVG says he is expecting to TX around 8.97kHz some time next week with 120W.
I finished building and testing my new VLP PA. It works well, output power is 120W continuously. I am going to transmit with this one next week.
73!
Lubos, OK2BVG
PA3CPM has said he will be TXing with a long carrier from 2.4.11 at 1300z on 8.970kHz.
Hello Roger,LF,
I will start the tx on 13.00gmt
long carrier
power 40 wat frequencie 8.970Khz
antenna 15 meter vertical plus 137khz antenna.
location jo-22-md
henny pa3cpm
G3XIZ will be transmitting on VLF this weekend and he welcomes reports. Although power in is 150W his ERP is around 2uW.
Date: 2 / 3 April 2011
Time: 05.00z for several hours on both days
Loc: IO92ub Biggleswade UK
Freq: 8.976 661 6 kHz (OCXO controlled)
Mode: Constant carrier
Power: 150 watts RF
Aerial: 40m inverted 'L' at 10m - or a kite/balloon-held vertical (if WX permits)
Chris thinks his antenna is slightly better tuned now. He is working on a variometer.On the right is the signal from Chris here at 45km receiving him on my hybrid loop/earth electrode antenna (3 sides of my 80m square loop with the last side being the 15m spaced earth electrodes in the garden.
LA3EQ (Jan) reports he has damaged his VLF PA (or its PSU), so his loop antenna tests are on hold until a repair is done.
6.4.11
G3XIZ is a good signal on the G3ZJO grabber tonight carrying out unannounced tests. The G3XBM grabber is warming up to see how strong Chris is in JO02dg (written at 2138z).
G3ZJO has improved his VLF grabber which is put on-line when needed to look for people doing tests i.e. not 24/7. See http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23312120/vlfgrabber.html
5.4.11
LA3EQ reports:
I just put up a new antenna. This time a loop, which is 30x5 meters or 150 meter square. So far it looks good....Alfa signal are nice sand strong(around +20dB) without much background noise. My stereo amp auto cuts the signal a 4 volts output....the ohmic loss of the antenna is 2.2Ohm, so I guess this too low for the amp....it likes to see 4-8 Ohm.
So power output to loop was appx. 7 Watts.
Did a quick test on 8955Hz this afternoon. Signal was +30dB received with my modified minwhip at 2km distance. With the original miniwhip antenna showed no signal!
Next test will be to see if my signal will cross the 2km fjord.
With earthmode probes the my signal did not get across the 2 km of seawater.
Jan LA3EQ
4.4.11
DJ8WX is off air on VLF with TX problems. He may be off for a couple of weeks.
OK2BVG
DK7FC/P has delayed the planned 11th kite test because of bad weather. It is now likely to happen in 2 weeks time with an expected 3dB increase in ERP to >100mW.
PA3CPM reports progress on 8.97kHz with reports from DF6NM and G3ZJO with his simple 40W station. Henny is working on a larger loading coil to allow him to run QRO.
Gm Roger,
i have made my first and second contact on 8.970khz.
517 km to df6nm and 403km to g3zjo.
the power is only 40 watt,the antenna is my 137khz antenne and also a spiderbeam vertical 15 meter high.the coil is a yoghurt coil with a tripod from a camera,to bring the upper coil up or down to make resonance.now i make a better coil so that i can make qro,
henny pa3cpm
best 73's
31.3.11
G3XBM carried out earth mode test at 8.76kHz using E-field probe on RX (test similar to that by LA3EQ). Copied 5W signal at 2 and 2.1km but results well down on a RX loop. See XBM Earth Mode Blog on this site for more details and photos.
29.3.11
LA3EQ has been doing earth mode tests TXing with 100W into earth electrodes 40m apart and receiving the signal on a car mounted E-field probe.
I made three range tests today 29 march on the frequencys of 900Hz, 8.9kHz and 17.5kHz.
Power and antenna was the same for all three tests. Recordings are from 2 km from home, driving homewards on the winding dirt road at app 30km/h, and I was recording in the car with miniwhip on car roof. The transmitter was 100W (using fast CW, sending "LA3EQ LA3EQ LA3EQ"etc ) and the TX antenna was 2 earth mode probes 40 meters apart.
Here are the three spectran image results...
900Hz http://www.qsl.net/la3eq/VLF/900hz.jpg
8.9kHz http://www.qsl.net/la3eq/VLF/8khz.jpg
17.5kHz http://www.qsl.net/la3eq/VLF/17khz.jpg
Result...900Hz not very good(only 3oo meters)....8,9kHz was best and 17kHz also good, but not as good as 8.9kHz.
Jan LA3EQ
DJ8WX was good copy overnight on the G3ZJO grabber, but nil copy with G3XBM for some reason
27.3.11
DJ8WX will be on 8.97022kHz tonight March 27/28th but with reduced power
Im testing an other PA today since 1635UTC on the air.
the output is vy weak compared to the other days transmission.
GL
Uwe/dj8wx
G3XIZ
Chris was copied by Paul Nicholson, M0JXM, G3XDV, G3ZJO and G3XBM on Saturday morning.
On the right is the Spectrum Lab screen
shot of G3XIZ's signal here at 45km
on 2.4.11. It is about 10dB S/N.
has just started TXing on 8.9766612kHz (from around 1238z). Signal here at about 45km was almost 20dB over the noise at best. However a test at 10dB less PA current resulted in no copy, although G3ZJO still managed to see Chris.PA3CPM is on 8.970kHz 27.3.11
Hello LF,
I am still transmitting on 8.970Khz.
the antenna current is 275mA.
I can see a litlle trace on Stefans grabber
on the 60000 window,
Henny pa3cpm
73's
DK7FC has announced that he hopes to run his 11th VLF portable test possibly next weekend with emphasis on 8.97 and 6.47kHz.
Dear LF/VLF group,
Back in Germany i want to announce my next VLF kite experiment, as soon as possible. If the wind will be suitable next weekend, i will go out again. Wind conds looks promising so far but changes cannot be excluded until friday. So i'll keep an eye on it...
I've made a new tap on my coil. It is for transmitting on 6470 Hz when using the 300m antenna (before it was just possible if the 200m wire was used). I expect a signal improvement of about 4 dB from that. So my focus will be on 8970 and 6470. Maybe i can reach 4X1RF and TF3HZ on the 46km band :-) This is one of my goals :-)
Furthermore i will try to borrow the 4 kVA generator. This would allow an antenna current of nearly 3A and a ERP of 500mW. Compensating QRN by QRO!
73, Stefan/DK7FC
26.3.11
OK2BVG - the OE VLF grabber http://members.aon.at/grabber/VLF/index.html is showing a long nighttime trace on 8.970, and now a nice DFCW "K" on 8970.032 / .042, presumably from Lubos OK2BVG.
PA3CPM is currently active on 8.970kHz since early Saturday afternoon
G3XIZ
Loc: Biggleswade IO92UB
Date: Saturday and Sunday 26th and 27th March 2011
Time: 06.00Z - for several hours
Freq: 8.976 662 kHz (or very near, to be advised)
Mode: Constant carrier
Power: 150 W RF
Ant: 40m inverted 'L' @ 10m (or balloon /kite supported aerial - depending on WX)
As always reports will be most welcome.
Reports have been sent to RSGB LF Group by G3ZJO 10dB above noise, G3WCD 6dB, and G3XDV 6dB. There have also been an equal number of negative reports.
LA3EQ
(Jan) has been testing QRSS and WSPR with earth mode this week and has managed 4km with WSPR using 100W to earth electrodes receiving on an E-field probe.The image right (click to enlarge) shows the WSPR signal at 4km
19.3.11
G3XIZ has been using his balloon supported antenna March 19th and he getting 13dB over noise reports from G3ZJO at about 50km. Paul Nicholson (Todmorden, Yorkshire) managed to copy Chris 20dB over noise in 278uHz bandwidth despite Chris using QRSS. A very successful day!
18.3.11
Sensitive spectrogram online
Paul Nicholson in Todmorden, Yorkshire UK has put on line his steerable and highly sensitive spectrogram for the VLF Dreamer's Band around 8.97kHz. Paul's system is super sensitive and detects just about anything going. His new spectrogram can be "steered" to a specific direction and the display clicked to show exact frequency and S/N levels. There is also a roll back function so that records from a few hours to days back can also be checked. Marvellous! See http://abelian.org/vlf/fbins.shtml
The image on the right is of
DJ8WX and G3XIZ
on March 17th/18th
around 8.97kHz