SLF,

Now, a 30 character EbNaut message has been sent over the short path. Reception was excellent, with several dB over the decode limit. Even with that pW power range, some distance can be crossed. With the ham density in my region, it should be possible to reach someone else (theoretically!) who can copy the message and attempt for a split-band two way contact.
Capture attached.

73, Stefan



Am 05.11.2018 23:14, schrieb DK7FC:

Well, today, i did a first step into the ITU radio band 2, SLF.

Since 21:00 UTC i'm transmitting on the INV-L on 270.01 Hz. The antenna current is just 2.5 mA. The ERP is about 6 pW.
Almost nothing but anyway a trace becomes visible now on my RX on the tree in 3.5 km distance (http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber2.html)
Of course this is a near field experiment. There, on the 1110 km band, the far field begins at a distance of 177 km.

On the transmitter site i'm using the modified 5 kV mains transformer that was used to produce 5 kV at 970 Hz. Now there is a series capacitor of about 20 uF applied to the primary winding. Together with internal reactances this maximises the peak of the fundamental frequency of the output voltage.

The goal of this first experiment is just to put the foot into this part of the radio spectrum. And to do some pre-tests, trying to optimise filter and blanker settings for future tests.
In the end i'm planning to work on that frequency from the ground loop antenna, which is still in the near field, but anyway :-)

73, Stefan