Message-ID: <19235.200101241500@gemini>
From: "James Moritz" <j.r.moritz@herts.ac.uk>
Organization: University of Hertfordshire
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 15:04:10 +0000
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Subject: LF: Beacon Tests/ etc.
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Dear LF group,

I transmitted beacon sigs last night from 2145 until 0630. The 
signal was roughly 110sec dashes and spaces, with a 400sec 
space (containing a 60s CW ID) every 5th dash. Thanks for the 
signal reports; I hope OH2LX has the frequencies swapped round, 
since my frequency should have been 135.924kHz +/- 0.1Hz at 
most, unless something went dreadfully wrong. I checked G3AQC 
as being about 1.6Hz down on me. Whose was the 3rd signal I saw 
in the early morning?

Earlier, I found propagation conditions seemed unusual. I had 
QSO's with G6RO, DL3FDO, and EI0CF. Ron's signal seemed 
normal, but the others were subject to quite rapid (a few minutes) 
QSB, and both getting very strong at times. I wonder if anyone in 
North America observed sigs from DCF39 or similar? Would this 
be connected with solar events?

A thought that occurred whilst trying to keep the antenna in tune 
during last night's wind was - would the phase shifts caused by the 
antenna impedance changing affect reception in very narrow 
bandwidths? It would not affect the mean frequency of course, but I 
estimated from the scope screen that the phase shift could change 
up to 30degrees in a few seconds, which I reckon would amount to 
a change in instantaneous frequency of 10's of millihertz.

I would agree with G3AQC about condensation; I find it necessary 
to open up my loading coil shelter to let it dry inside whenever the 
weather is fine; I also have installed a cheap fan heater inside it 
for when the weather is not so fine.

With regard to the other topics raised, as a relative newcomer to 
amateur radio, I quite enjoy a CW QSO (although my arm aches 
after a while!), and find that excellent results can be achieved 
considering the simplicity of the mode. It does enable you to 
achieve something from very modest beginnings. But I would not 
have bothered to get my amateur ticket just to make CW QSOs - 
there are so many more things to try, and challenges to meet in 
radio. My non-amateur contempories find it faintly ridiculous that 
anyone would bother using CW, or SSB or packet for that matter; 
in a world with more communications than we know what to do 
with, being able to communicate with fellow amateurs using radio is 
not much of a draw. I am told that I would do much better to ring 
them on their mobile phone, or send them an E-mail. However, the 
nature of radio itself is much more interesting; exploding PAs and 
trying to cross the Atlantic using bizzare communications modes is 
much more likely to attract the interests of newcomers. Obviously, 
diversity and balance is needed to sustain amateur radio, LF or 
otherwise.

Cheers, Jim Moritz
73 de M0BMU