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LF: A modest proposal

To: [email protected]
Subject: LF: A modest proposal
From: "Walter Blanchard" <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 18:19:08 +0000
In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
Reply-to: [email protected]
Sender: <[email protected]>
I don't quite understand what this proposal is about.

Try this:
The remote Tx sends a steady carrier for an hour:
Both rxs "hear" him for a few moments now and again but at both sites he is too weak to be detectable. The two rxs are added together in the hope that some of those moments will coincide and give a 3 dB gain which might be sufficient to lift him out of the noise.
Is that the idea?

Walter G3JKV.



















Re phased rx:

Unless I mistake what you're trying to do, you will have to use some sort of phase-coherent detection. That's the usual reason for time-locking and baseline compensation. This means the incoming signal would have to hold constant phase over the integration period. At the tx itself no ham stuff is good enough for this even if you didn't switch it so would-be DX-er's would have to build a special high-stability driver using constant-phase switching, not just plug in the mfr's allegedly "high-stability" option. Then, the path itself is unstable at long ranges and signal phase would constantly wander as the path length drifted because of iono changes. At relatively short ranges (1000-2000 kms) that might on occasion have a predominant single skywave mode you could possibly get away with it for five or ten minutes under the most favourable circumstances but no longer. At greater ranges there are always several modes and you will get almost random phase changes. To see what I mean take a look (if you have the right gear) at a Loran-C pulse coming from these ranges at night. Not at the pulse envelope but phase-track the 100 kHz signal itself in wide-band (20 kHz) mode. Also, there is no chance of forming a single "beam" at these frequencies. At best, if all the signal delays were properly compensated between rx antennas you would get multiple lobes with deep nulls in between, interferometer-style. On a 3 lambda baseline, about 24 nulls each side. Longer baselines would produce more and more nulls. Incidentally, without special timing rxs the accuracy of time-synchronisation via GPS is not likely to be better than 1 uS. At 136 kHz that's nearly 50 degs of phase so you could be an eighth-cycle out right away.
Sorry to be a "wet"!

Walter G3JKV.




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