Return-Path: <majordom@post.thorcom.com> Received: (qmail 15070 invoked from network); 26 Sep 2001 05:07:25 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO warrior-inbound.services.quay.plus.net) (212.159.14.227) by excalibur.plus.net with SMTP; 26 Sep 2001 05:07:25 -0000 Received: (qmail 5208 invoked from network); 26 Sep 2001 05:07:09 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO post.thorcom.com) (212.172.148.70) by warrior with SMTP; 26 Sep 2001 05:07:09 -0000 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 3.16 #2) id 15m6nd-0005IB-00 for rsgb_lf_group-outgoing@blacksheep.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2001 05:59:57 +0100 Received: from mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz ([203.96.92.13]) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 3.16 #2) id 15m6nb-0005I6-00 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2001 05:59:56 +0100 Received: from xtr743187 ([202.27.181.52]) by mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz with SMTP id <20010926045842.YCII3395984.mta3-rme.xtra.co.nz@xtr743187> for <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>; Wed, 26 Sep 2001 16:58:42 +1200 Message-ID: <007f01c14648$14784320$36b21bca@xtr743187> From: "Vernall" <vernall@xtra.co.nz> To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org References: <E15lszr-00036f-00@gemini.herts.ac.uk> Subject: LF: VE7SL receives ZL6QH, again Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 16:59:05 +1200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group Sender: <majordom@post.thorcom.com> Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi all,</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Following is the text of an announcement to the amateur radio media. I will email the Argo file to personal addresses, on request.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>73, Bob ZL2CA</FONT> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">A SECOND CLAIM OF ZL TO VE AMATEUR LF DX</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">26 September 2001<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">On Saturday 22 September ZL6QH, ZL3PN, ZL3JE, ZL4OL and AX2TAR (VK7ZAL) transmitted test signals in the 165 - 190 kHz band, for so-called trans-Pacific tests.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Various DX listeners had prior knowledge of the schedule of individual test frequency and coding used by each station.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As occurred in the 30 June trans-Pacific tests, Steve VE7SL managed to receive signals from ZL6QH before VE7 dawn.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This time VE7SL obtained an Argo capture of both frequencies of the DFCW transmission.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The path length is estimated to be 11,709 km.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Refer to the associated Argo graphic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ZL6QH signal is in the lower half of the screen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The transmitted signal used dual frequency keying, with 0.4 Hz frequency shift.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The uniquely coded transmission consisted of repetitive sending of QQQQQ… sent as 184.4001, 184.4001, 184.3997, 184.4001 kHz and then a gap, with all elements being of 120 seconds (2 minutes) duration.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This means sending a single Q took ten minutes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The Argo graphic of the VE7SL reception shows inverted audio FSK , but otherwise agrees with the dot length, sequence and frequency shift of the ZL6QH transmission.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The explanation for the inversion is that the Icom IC-R75 receiver used by VE7SL happens to give inverted FSK in the audio output when used in the normal CW mode.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>VE7SL used an RF signal generator to subsequently verify that an Argo trace (showing receiver audio output) went lower in frequency when the RF frequency went higher.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Note that the parallel vertical red lines in the centre of the Argo graphic are a software option for selecting either short or long "ticks" and once selected, a tick stays on the screen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The left side of the long tick is close to 40 minutes before the 1401 UTC sunrise at VE7SL.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The signal faded rapidly about 3 minutes after sunrise.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was still dark in New Zealand at VE7 sunrise.</SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The ZL6QH LF signal was generated using a modified TS-850SAT, in SSB mode, fed with audio from a lap top PC, using soundcard software developed by Steve VK2ZTO.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>TS-850 frequency control was by means of a high performance TCXO master oscillator.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The low level LF signal from the TS-850 transverter port was fed to an external LF power amplifier, and the output power was around 500 watts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The radiated power is estimated to be 5 watts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The antenna was a long wire at the Quartz Hill club station, which is run by the Wellington Amateur Radio Club.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ZL6QH operators were Andrew ZL2BBJ and Bob ZL2CA.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">ZL6QH is seeking permission to transmit in the 136 kHz band, which could widen the scope of testing beyond "trans-Pacific", and give European listeners a better chance at receiving amateur LF DX from down-under.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN> </P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Bob Vernall ZL2CA</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Organiser of the Trans-Pacific tests</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>