Dick PA0SE wrote:
Sometimes a fellow amateur tells me he would like to become
active on LF and asks my advice. I tell him/her to buy The low
frequency experimenters handbook and/or the older Source book
and to read what has been published on LF in our magazine
Electron. After handing out some tips on receiving invariably
the question comes what the best times are to listen for a
signal. My answer has always been "Saturday and Sunday
morning". But I'm afraid that won't help the newcomer much
anymore because there are hardly any signals to be heard
nowadays.
I think that the golden days of LF are finished, and, today, I
would not advise anyone to waste their time building an LF
station. A couple of years ago we could all make QSOs on LF
using simple CW equipment - knowing that there were plenty of
courteous operators on the band - all ready to give us a report
and to provide encouragement.
But the arrival of demon QRSS operators such as G3LDO has changed
all that. These days, CW operators have to do their best between
S9 + 20 dB QRSS signals sent by operators who have little or no
regard for other band users. With so much QRSS now taking place
within the normal CW segment of the band, 136 kHz is no longer a
suitable band for those wishing to make QSOs with simple
equipment.
Today's QRSS operators are removing the opportunities for
experimentation that they themselves were enjoying just a couple
of years ago. I am not surprised that newcomers get fed up with
listening to strange, intermittent carriers on LF.
I accept that to bridge the Atlantic Ocean is much more
challenging than a normal CW QSO within Europe but nevertheless
I would like to hear some more traditional activity on Saturday
and Sunday morning, as it was a year or more ago.
CW operators might return to 136 kHz if they knew that there was
a part of the band where they were not going to be QRMed by lid
operators. But, at the moment, this is looking unlikely: I'm
afraid that the unfortunate actions of our very own LF mentor has
set the scene for others throughout Europe to follow.
In the past, I have always been keen to promote 136 kHz via my
web site. In the light of recent events, I feel compelled to
update my web pages to provide a more accurate picture of what
it's like to operate on LF from the UK these days.
Regards to all,
Steve GW4ALG
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