From: "Mike Dennison" <mike.dennison@ntlworld.com>
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:35:24 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <4247DDEC.27362.22F67C@localhost>
In-reply-to: <000501c532c6$39503b80$2102000a@ibm>
Content-description: Mail message body
Subject: Re: LF: who was calling me this morning??
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit
Sender: owner-rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org

> Unfortunatly (due to easter?) very poor activety.
> I called CQ for over 1 hour without repons, except for one station.

Congratulations on getting on the air.

There was quite a lot of activity over the weekend, and several 
stations calling you, including me. Perhaps your next move is to 
check that the receive system is as good as it can be.

It is possible the receiver is not sensitive enough, or not properly 
matched. It might be being blocked by out-of-band signals. More 
likely, you may have QRM from local electrical sources such as 
SMPSUs, long-life light bulbs etc.

Some tips:
DCF39 should be a long way over S9.
You should be able to hear the 'chatter' (also known as galloping 
horses) from Loran all over the band.
The band noise should not be 'flat' (white noise). You should be able 
to hear continuous static and other interesting noises.
The background noise should not vary much across the band. If it 
does, you may have local QRM.

Possible improvements are:
A tuned pre-amp (see G3YXM's web site).
If the sensitivity is good, a receive tuner may reduce blocking 
effects from commercial LF stations.
A loop antenna dedicated to receiving (this can be placed to null out 
a source of local QRM).

Good luck. I look forward to our first QSO.

Mike, G3XDV
==========