Today I did some more utilities assisted earth mode (UAEM) tests. Basically I 
wanted to see if I could detect my 5W signal some way from the roadsides by 
using a pair of earth rods separated by about 20m rather than the usual 80cm 
30turn loop which fails to detect a signal at any distance from the roads.  
Testing up to 20m away from the roadside all tests were negative again, as they 
also were with a grounded electrode pair straddling the road, which surprised 
me: I thought this would have behaved as a tightly coupled loop around any 
pipes in the road, but this did not give any signal at all - not even the 
faintest trace. 

What worked best of all was a single turn untuned wire loop, enclosing  about 
20 sq m, laid flat across the road surface.  With this, I achieved very good 
QRSS3 copy in 0.73Hz BW at all the usual test sites out to 5.1km. This is easy 
to put out each time and safe for farm vehicles to drive over!  

As this arrangement was the most sensitive yet for UAEM I tried looking for the 
signal 6km away from home, but nothing was seen in 0.73Hz BW and QRSS3. When 
the pipes stop the signal just dies. 

VLF work will now stop for about 10 days as we have grandchildren here to stay 
and occupying our time and the shack bedroom. I may be able to look for Stefan 
if he is testing at the weekend. 

73s
Roger G3XBM

Via my 2.4GHz handheld (iPod Touch 4g)