Hi Andy and Steve,
You can listen to a simulation of "The Bells" (HiFix) from the following
web page. Click on the "Click Here" link about two thirds of the way
down the page. The site describes this type of system in some detail.
http://www.alancordwell.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nav/hifix/hifixsystdesc.html
73, Alan G3XZX
In message <[email protected]>, Steve Dove
<[email protected]> writes
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
--
J. Alan Lowe
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