On 20/08/2009 at 18:29 mal hamilton wrote:

[ ... ]

>Serious LF/MF operators should look for a QTH out in the clear avoiding 
>serious obstacles like trees and close in buildings. Why struggle to 
>reinvent the wheel 

Because it is a challenge and great fun.  And not everyone is able to move to 
an ideal location.  Also you might find something new.  

When it was announced that the UK was likely to get an LF allocation (and 
subsequently did) I spent some time in a major technical library looking at 
textbooks on LF radio.  There weren't many - they didn't even have a copy of 
Watt - and everything they had dealt with physically large antenna systems and 
high power transmitters.  There was nothing even remotely appropriate to the 
situations encountered by amateurs.  

We have had to exercise a great deal of ingenuity to get where we are, which is 
in keeping with the philosophy of amateur radio (and its definition in 
international law).  

To cite just two examples of this ingenuity: transmitting loops seem to have 
been almost unknown to the old-time professionals, and some of the low data 
rate systems we have been experimenting with would have been impracticable then.

John F5VLF