Dear Chris, LF Group,
Thanks for the reports on the 136kHz signals.
G4AYT wrote:
...I am having difficulty in seeing the point of some of this when there is
little in the way of exchanged information between stations. There is a
place for beacons, certainly. What concerns me is that the casual listener
tuning across the band probably has no idea there's anybody on.
On 500k, there are a handful of fairly local stations and a couple of "big
guns" who I can work routinely in CW. The information I can exchange with
these stations is quite limited by the licence conditions; information about
the station and some pleasant personal chatter. With other stations,
communication is usually quite difficult, and exchange of information is
usually limited to callsigns and signal reports. These kind of marginal QSOs
are usually regarded as more "valuable" in amateur circles, although the
information exchanged may amount to less than 10 alphanumeric characters
each way. It isn't really the amount of information, but the fact you
actually managed to transmit it. On the other hand, WSPR allows a similar or
greater amount of information (callsign, location, power output for
comparison with received signal level) to be transmitted routinely at signal
levels where even marginal CW just isn't feasible. The fact it can be
automatically monitored over extended periods, and the information
immediately shared via a publicly-accessible database adds a whole series of
other possibilities too.
Since the start of 500kHz, I have received one or two listener reports for
CW signals from stations not already on this reflector. On the other hand, I
have received reports from over 80 different stations in about 18 countries
for the WSPR beacon, most not otherwise part of the 500kHz scene. This
includes stations too far away to receive CW, those who do not have good
receiving conditions, or those who are just not morse operators. So I think
it encourages far more people than it discourages.
Cheers, Jim moritz
73 de M0BMU
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