Re: VLF: 5,2 km distance on 8,97 kHz with an earth antenna

[Roger Lapthorn <rogerlapthorn@gmail.com>]

This is excellent Stefan. 

In your case it is much more probable you are seeing true earth mode propagation not aided by utilities in the ground, although it is hard to avoid them. It will certainly be worth trying reception on a loop antenna with the loop orientated both (a) in alignment with the earth electrode loop and (b) flat on the ground. Also it is worth trying a lower frequency like 838Hz where I've been doing my recent tests.

In all, I am VERY excited about your tests and results. Thanks for sharing them here.

Last night I managed to get 5.25km (my best DX yet), but this was definitely aided by utilities. Tests at many other locations out as far as 6km to the west and north totally failed to produce even a faint trace on the Spectran screen using QRSS3 on 838Hz.  Information on my website as usual. See http://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp/Home/earthmode .

73s and good luck

Roger G3XBM

2010/6/25 Stefan Schäfer <Stefan.Schaefer@iup.uni-heidelberg.de>

Dear LF/VLF,

Today i spent more than 8 hours in the forest on a hill 520m ASL, improving and experimenting with my VLF earth antenna. It was a fantastic and very successful day that gave a lot of fun and motivation. BTW, just spending time in this wonderful nature with all its beauty cannot be wasted time even if all the experiments would fail :-)))) That is what i thought many times this day. If you live in a city with much noise (on the band and audible) you may understand what i mean when i say that all you can hear there is the wind and some birds!

Since there are a lot of photos and things to tell i set up a pdf document with my report that is available at http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/VLF_5km_with_an_earth_antenna.pdf , for the VLF enthusiasts (Dreamers!) and those who want to become one! :-)

Best  73, Stefan/DK7FC

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