Ron,

     If you make an e-probe it should cover both bands.  From what I
hear it shouldn't be long before Canada gets 137 and possibly 500kHz
amateur allocations so it wouldn't  hurt to get a jump on things. Also
more U.S. experimenters will be coming on line, possibly a couple in
Alaska which might be good for you.

   NDBs are a good target as well. In fact my 500kHz transmitter was
previously in service up in your neck of the woods, at the Nahanni
Butte airport.

  500kHz is similar to the MW BC band, most signals will be skywave after dark.
-- 
73 Warren K2ORS
                WD2XGJ
                WD2XSH/23
                WE2XEB/2
                WE2XGR/1



On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 11:57 PM, Ron Thompson <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Warrren,
>
>   and thanks to both Daves, Grahm and Mike.  I've checked out the websites
> suggested and may go ahead with a basic receiving set up.  Non-directional
> beacons on the MF band are still widely used here for enroute air navigation
> and would give me an idea of what propagation on the 600 metre band may be
> like.
>
>   What is the mode of propagation on 600 metres, primarily ground wave?  How
> much influence does space weather have on the MF band, does the band black
> out like the HF bands?
>
>    another question, would there be any advantage to going lower, to the
> 137KHz band?
>
>    Thanks,
>
>            Ron
>
> On Monday 16 March 2009 08:04, Warren Ziegler wrote:
>> Ron,
>>
>>         Not to throw a wet blanket over your ambitions, but it will be
>> very challenging (to put it mildly) for you to hear 500kHz amateur
>> activity.
>> The nearest active stations are thousands of miles away and you are
>> under the auroral oval which really does a good job absorbing MF/HF
>> signals.
>> Rudy in Oregon was the closest signal and that was over 2000kM away!
>>
>> You never know, you might pick up one of the big guns under ideal
>> conditions but it's always good to have realistic expectations.
>> -
>> 73 Warren K2ORS
>>                 WD2XGJ
>>                 WD2XSH/23
>>                 WE2XEB/2
>>                 WE2XGR/1
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 8:58 PM, Ron Thompson <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > Hi Graham,
>> >
>> >    my actual location is at postal code X1A 2H5
>> >
>> >    I'm in the company crew house at the float base.  In the Google map
>> > for the postal code, at the highest available satellite magnification,
>> > you should see floatplanes along the parking lot and then in a cove on
>> > the upper side of the parking lot is a yellow Cessna floatplane.  The
>> > house just to the left of the floatplane is where I live.  Unfortunately,
>> > as the house is in the floatbase parking lot, there isn't any antenna
>> > space around it.  What I do have is two 15 metre towers spaced about 48
>> > metres apart that I use for my HF antenna (it used to have a company
>> > commercial HF antenna before).  Any LF/MF antenna must be compact and
>> > mountable either to the house or one of the towers.  Power lines are
>> > between the house and cove, which may be a noise source.
>> >
>> >      Ron
>
> --
> Ron Thompson, VE8RT
> Yellowknife, NT, Canada
> 62 28.060 N  114 20.648 W  Grid Square DP22tl
> "Who are are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their window?" Is 60:8
>
>