I was tipped off to this experimental station via one of the radio lists that I subscribe to. WG2XFQ was on the air Christmas Eve to commemorate Fessenden’s first wireless transmission of speech and music on the longwave frequency of 486 KHz using Heising AM modulation. The station was on the air again New Year’s Eve with a repeat of the special broadcast. It was during this time that I received the station from my listening location in West Michigan using the Microtelecom Perseus SDR with phased BOG antennas. Using the SDR, it can be seen that the modulation favors...
I’ve started messing around with Navtex decoding again after giving up a couple of years ago. This time around I’m using YaND combined with the Perseus SDR and have been achieving nice results during overnight decoding sessions. Some of the more distant “regulars” are NMQ Cambria (California), NMC San Francisco (Point Reyes), NMW Astoria (Oregon), ZBM Bermuda & NMR San Juan. I received a DXer’s Christmas present on December 24th with the captures shown below of station NMO from Honolulu, HI. at a distance of 4,321 miles – a new distance record for me. Times shown below are UTC. 2012-12-24...
February 9th, 2011 saw nice conditions on the 49 & 41 meter shortwave broadcast bands, so I captured the moment. This recording covers 6000-7600 khz for a duration of about 5 minutes centered at 0300 TOH: Tromp_Michigan_0300_UTC_09FE11_41_Meter_SW_Band.rar
Either my antenna is doing a superb job of pulling in European longwave broadcasters, or conditions are real good right now below 530 khz, or maybe a little of both 🙂 For the past few weeks, just about every night, clear reception can be had on most of the Euro channels beginning around 6pm EST or 2200 UTC. New logs this season include hearing Poland on 225 khz and Germany on 153 khz. 162 France, 171 Morocco, 183 Germany, 189 Iceland, 198 BBC, 234 Luxembourg, 252 Ireland & Algeria have been regulars. I still hold out hope for hearing Russia...
I’ve added a new page that makes available several Perseus SDR spectrum recordings from my West Michigan QTH. I will upload more Perseus WAV files in the near future if there’s any interest. In order to “play back” these recordings, you will need the Perseus SDR or equivalent program. A free demonstration version of the Perseus software can be downloaded here (Perseus hardware not required) and this can be used to play back these recordings. WAV files have been compressed using WinRAR to help speed up the downloads.
I made the effort this year to spend some time at the dials during the Halloween weekend to judge the current state of pirate activity on the shortwave bands. This is the first Halloween weekend in many years that I’ve done this, and there was no disappointment in the amount of activity taking place! Below are some of the stations that I noted. I had the Perseus recording the whole 6.9 mhz band during various times of high activity and will be reviewing these files for some time to come. After reading reports from others, this is only a fraction...
As part of our family summer vacation, we tent camped at the Cape Point Campground located on Hatteras Island at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The campground features a grassy open flat area and nice views of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Though very scenic, this is an operational lighthouse that illuminated the tent during darkness when the beacon’s light rotated towards the direction of the campground. The kids loved it! All three of the National Park Service campgrounds were considered on OBX: Oregon Inlet Campground, Cape Point Campground, and Frisco Campground. Reservations cannot be had for any of these three...
Since I’ve taken up the antenna for the summer season, I continue to DX “in the past” thanks to the spectrum recording feature on the Perseus. Typically I record 100khz to 1700khz and usually discard the recording once I’ve gone through the whole MW band unless there’s something interesting worth archiving. I decided on this particular recording to check for activity on the 600 meter experimental amateur band and was pleased to log WD2XSH/6 from Mississippi on 508.8 khz sending out a CW holiday greeting: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD5Qa8gj8sw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1] According to a report read on 500kc.com, station WD2XSH/6 has a calculated ERP of...
Prior to ordering the Perseus I was conflicted with what kind of computer I would need to successfully DX with the SDR. None of the computers I use at home run Windows (I prefer linux), and none are modern enough to successfully utilize the Perseus to its full potential (full bandwidth recording). Not wanting to spend a lot of money on a new computer just for this purpose, I decided to buy a MSI Wind U100 netbook strictly for using with the Perseus. My decision was based on a favorable review by Guy Atkins using the U100 with the Perseus....
I have been using the Perseus for a few months now and thoroughly enjoy it. The spectrum recording capability of the Perseus came into good use during an auroral opening last month. From my Michigan location, the medium wave band was not recognizable the night of the April 7th, 2010, thanks to this event. Signals from the South replaced those more familiar to my ears and it made for some interesting DX to say the least! Two Perseus recordings were made of the MW band on the night of the 7th at both 8pm & 9pm EST to capture and...
