Hi Andy, et al,
Yeah, "The Bells" were within a few kHz of 1900kHz, although
occasionally you could find one higher or lower. There were
some down around 1750-ish, too. They were Decca variants,
harbour- or estuary-wide in scope, called 'HiFix', and
latterly 'Hyperfix'. Same idea, a master pulse, then
repeated (3? 4?) slave pulses slightly off frequency. A
cluster of them together was indeed melodious. When I first
had a decent topband setup here, 20 years ago, I could hear
a chain around 1900 as well, probably Baltimore harbour or
Philadelphia dockyards.
I too first tasted hambone flesh on topband in the sixties;
the unbelievably lethal contraptions hammer-and-nailed
together to make (what we could only hope was) 10W would
give me heart attack if either of my kids did the same
today. (Like messing with fireworks - it's amazing any of
us are still alive and fully limbed, really.) Dad's prized
Leak hifi amp 'borrowed' as a modulator. Wires all over -
it was wonderful. And, yes Alan, working one's first OK
on topband was a rite of passage; a rosy glow of
super-being-dom for days afterwards!
In deepest, darkest Henley-on-Thames, Loran daytime
clobbered say 1930-1970-ish kHz; there were two chains
audible simultaneously, hence the cyclical 'phasing' sound
between them. Night-time, another bunch appeared centred on
1850. Fancifully we presumed it was an American/Canadian
chain, but the probable reality was that it was from the top
end of Scotland or such. Never had the presence of mind to
record Loran (or The Bells), which considering the radio
'junk' and the recording 'junk' cohabited the same space and
were to an unpracticed eye one-and-the-same 'junk', was a
sad oversight.
It would be intriguing to find out where those Loran 'A'
sites were. And here we are waiting fingers crossed for
Loran 'C' to go away. Trouble is, what'll we do for easy
calibration, then? And will I have the presence of mind to
record IT before it goes . . .
Cheers,
Steve G3YDV in a former life
Andy Talbot wrote:
When I used to listen 30 years ago on AM in a wide(ish) bandwidth at =
~1900kHz, it sounded like a bell jangling
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 267.14.11 - Release Date: 01/02/06
|
