Stefan,
Thanks for the quick reply and the encouragement regarding
my choice of the IDC-136. It is good to know others are using it with
success. It sounds like modifications to the receiver itself aren't
really necessary.
I have to admit that I'm really surprised by the distances
being achieved at 136 KHz. I would have expected that a couple hundred
miles would be the upper limit, and that even that far would be pretty
infrequent. After looking at the WSPRNet database, I can see that I
was very mistaken about that.
I see lots of reception reports from you for G3XKR
(940km), R7NT (2234 km), 4X1RF (2850 km), and many other
distant stations. I would never have thought this possible! :-)
Regarding my antenna, I will initially use a 7.25 meter
ground-mounted vertical. Normally, I use it for 30-meter operation. I
am in the process of constructing a PA0RDT mini-whip. I understand
that "active" antennas of this type are fairly popular of LF/VLF work.
Again, thank you for taking time to respond to my email.
I hope to be WSPRNet active very soon.
73,
John / N9JL
