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A recent posting to Yahoo's 'NDB List Group' by Mike, an ardent NDB DXer in the UK (Sussex), announced the recent completion of his four-part video series describing the installation and testing of a new PAØRDT active antenna.


If you may be contemplating the installation of an active antenna such as this, or perhaps making a start at DXing the NDB band or listening on 630m, then you might enjoy following Mike's journey as he demonstrates that living in the noisy suburbs need not keep you from enjoying the LF/MF bands. Mike includes some interesting tests involving his grounding system versus noise ingress and the results of keeping the electrical main's ground isolated (or not) from the antenna cable's ground.

The PAØRDT active whip is available from PAØRDT himself or if you are handy with a soldering iron, you might choose to build the same antenna in your workshop. These simple yet highly effective receiving antennas are being used successfully by hundreds of listeners all over the world and for their size provide some pretty amazing performance.












Much more information on the PAØRDT e-probe antenna may be found here in a previous blog posting. To see more of Mike's videos, you can visit his interesting Youtube Channel here.

As has been the case for much of this winter's DX season, LF conditions were very erratic during this past weekend's CLE NDB-listening event.



Geomagnetic activity fluctuated wildly from hour to hour, gradually settling down for Sunday night's last opportunity, with K-indices dropping to 1's or Ø's.

courtesy: http://www.solarham.net/planetk.htm

With the DST slowly climbing towards positive numbers after a week of coronal hole streaming and auroral absorption, I had hoped that Sunday night's conditions would be a bit better than they were ... although poor, it was the better of the three nights.

courtesy: http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dst_realtime/presentmonth/index.html

Participants in the central and southern states noted excellent conditions and were not as badly affected as listeners to the north, where the effects of any auroral activity are sudden and much more severe ... I'm always surprised at just how much difference one or two hundred miles further to the south can make.

The following NDB's were heard over the course of the weekend, all using the Perseus SDR to record two-minute grabs, every hour, from dusk through dawn. Going over the recordings takes some time but being able to, in effect, listen all night, readilly illustrates how much the band conditions on LF can change so drastically from hour-to-hour ... sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

25 11:00 350 VTR McGrath, ALS
23 05:00 350 SWU Id Falls, ID, USA
23 05:00 350 RG Oklahoma City, OK, USA
25 10:00 350 RB Resolute Bay, NU, CAN
23 05:00 350 ON Agate, OR, USA
23 05:00 350 NY Enderby, BC, CAN
24 13:00 350 DNS Denison, IA, USA
24 10:00 351 YKQ Waskaganish, QC, CAN
23 05:00 351 AE Paradise Hills, NM, USA
23 09:00 352 RG Rarotonga, CKS
25 10:00 353 ZXY Whitehorse, YT, CAN
23 05:00 353 RNT Renton, WA, USA
23 04:00 353 PG Portage La Prairie, MB, CAN
23 08:00 353 LLD Lanai, HWA
24 09:00 353 IN Ericsburg, MN, USA
23 08:00 353 DI Dickinson, ND, USA
23 05:00 353 CY Cheyenne, WY, USA
23 05:00 353 AL Dixie, WA, USA
23 08:00 353 5F Chevron, AB, CAN
24 07:00 355 YWP Webequie, ON, CAN
25 14:30 355 AUB King Salmon, ALS
23 08:00 356 ZXE Saskatoon, SK, CAN
23 08:00 356 ZF Yellowknife, NT, CAN
23 11:00 356 PND Portland, OR, USA
23 08:00 356 ON Penticton, BC, CAN
25 11:00 356 ODX Ord, NE, USA
23 08:00 356 MEF Medford, OR, USA
24 11:00 358 YKG Kangiqsujuaq, QC, CAN
23 05:00 359 YQZ Quesnel, BC, CAN
23 05:00 359 YAZ Tofino, BC, CAN
23 05:00 359 SDY Sidney, MT, USA
24 13:00 359 GGF Grant, NE, USA
23 05:00 359 BO Ustick, ID, USA
24 11:00 360 SW Warroad, MN, USA
25 13:00 361 HI Holman, NT, CAN
23 08:00 361 E3 Wabasca, AB, CAN
25 10:30 362 YZS Coral Harbour, NU, CAN
23 08:00 362 RPX Roundup, MT, USA
23 09:00 362 OWP Sand Springs, OK, USA
23 08:00 362 BF Seattle, WA, USA
23 08:00 362 6T Foremost, AB, CAN
23 10:00 364 4D Helmet, BC, CAN
25 07:00 365 PAL Palma, EQA
23 05:00 365 MA Mayo, YT, CAN
23 05:00 365 HQG Hugoton, KS, USA
23 05:00 365 DPY Deer Park, WA, USA
23 06:00 365 AA Harwood, MN, USA
25 10:00 366 YMW Maniwaki, QC, CAN
25 11:00 366 PNI Pohnpei, FSM
25 10:00 366 EOK Keokuk, IA, USA
25 11:30 367 R5 Pukatawagan, MB, CAN
23 08:00 368 ZP Sandspit, BC, CAN
23 08:00 368 VX Dafoe, SK, CAN
23 08:00 368 SX Cranbrook, BC, CAN
25 11:00 368 SOY Sioux, IA, USA

It will be nice to see a 'quiet sun' once again, hopefully sooner than later. For such a wimpy solar cycle, this one is not going down without a valiant fight, as it continues to mess-up LF and MF propagation, with an almost non-stop bombardment of coronal hole streams.

Over the past two weeks, I have spent some time reviewing several Perseus SDR recordings sent to me by Walter Salminaw in Victoria, B.C.




Walter is a hard core, mainly BCB DXer, who has a winterized vacation home in the remote Haida Gwaii Archipelago region of north west British Columbia, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.


He has built several permanent antennas, including loops and various beverages, mainly favoring Asia, the Pacific and over-the-pole. Some of his BCB recordings reveal mind-numbing signals from all parts of Asia ... not S9, but S9+++ and simply amazing.

I had asked Walter for some of his files that covered the NDB band, during periods of good propagation, so that I might be able to determine if my selected list of Alaskan beacons were actually on-the-air or not. There are several NDBs in Alaska that seem to be active, according to FAA information, but have never been heard by NDB DXers. Using Walt's recordings, along with his NW-pointed beverage, allowed my to have a deep listen into Alaska and finally get some answers.

It was exciting to tune through the very quiet band, from a northern perspective, and to hear many of the more 'difficult' (normally weak here) Alaskan targets at S9 levels. Unfortunately, going through my list of suspects, turned-up no sign of activity from any of them and explains why I have never been able to hear them from here! Like so many regions around the world, it seems that the once huge network of Alaskan NDBs is quickly being phased out up there as well.

An unexpected side benefit of going through Walt's files, turned up several instances of beacons in the Canadian north, that had been reported shut down, several years ago. It was surprising to hear them still as active as ever. Additionally, one NDB in Alaska, unheard here for two years and thought to be gone for some time, was found to be still happily keying away.

I've sent these findings to the RNA database for updating ... but it would have been nice to hear some of my long-sought after Alaskan 'ghosts', which seem likely to have been off-the-air for several years.

I would like to thank Walter for taking the time to share his Perseus files with me and for his unexpected contribution to the RNA database. Here are a few of the log's highlights:

DD UTC kHz Call mi New Location

courtesy: http://www.noaa.gov/

The CLE 200 event this past weekend once again delivered mediocre propagation on all three evenings. In spite of Sunday night's G1-class geomagnetic storm and high K values, Sunday's overnight period proved to be the best of the weekend's generally 'below average' conditions ... this is the time of the year that LF propagation is usually at its best. Thankfully, there are still several months ahead that could offer some really great mid-winter prop.

The following NDBs were logged using the Perseus SDR along with my LF inverted L, resonated at 300kHz:

28 09:00 335 CC Concord, CA, USA
28 09:00 335 CVP Helena, MT, USA
28 08:00 335 YUT Repulse Bay, NU, CAN
28 06:00 335 YLD Chapleau, ON, CAN
28 09:00 336 LF La Salle, MB, CAN
28 13:00 337 FF Fergus Falls, MN, USA
28 09:00 337 7D Hudson Bay, SK, CAN
28 12:00 338 CMQ Campbell Lake, ALS
28 09:00 338 ZU Whitecourt, AB, CAN
28 12:00 338 RYN Tucson, AZ, USA
30 08:00 338 SHL Sheldon, IA, USA
28 07:00 338 TU Tulsa, OK, USA
28 12:00 338 YPX Puvirnituq, QC, CAN
28 12:00 338 K Port Angeles, WA, USA
28 10:00 339 6X York Landing, MB, CAN
28 10:00 339 MKR Glasgow, MT, USA
29 06:00 340 YY Mont Joli, QC, CAN
28 13:00 341 ELF Cold Bay, ALS
28 10:00 341 OIN Oberlin, KS, USA
29 06:00 341 YYU Kapuskasing, ON, CAN
28 09:00 341 DB Burwash, YT, CAN
28 09:00 342 PFT Pinecreek, MN, USA
28 09:00 343 YZH Slave Lake, AB, CAN
28 09:00 344 YOP Rainbow Lake, AB, CAN
28 09:00 344 XX Abbotsford, BC, CAN
28 09:00 344 FCH Fresno, CA, USA
28 09:00 344 BKU Baker, MT, USA
28 09:00 344 POY Powell, WY, USA
30 08:00 345 GF Grand Forks, ND, USA
30 08:00 346 OLT Soldotna, ALS
28 09:00 346 YXL Sioux Lookout, ON, CAN
28 15:00 347 TNC Tin City, ALS
28 13:30 347 DJN Delta Junction, ALS
28 06:00 347 LEN Leeny, ID, USA
28 15:00 347 SBX Shelby, MT, USA
30 08:00 347 YK Yankton, SD, USA
28 09:00 347 PA Prince Albert, SK, CAN
30 08:00 348 MC Mason City, IA, USA
28 07:00 348 MNC Shelton, WA, USA

A recent posting to the Pacific Northwest VHF Society's reflector brought my attention to an interesting article describing the southward migration of the auroral zone.




According to the research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the earth's magnetic field is gradually growing weaker, thus affecting its interaction with the solar wind.

The paper indicates that our present, abnormally high magnetic field, forces this interaction (auroras) to higher latitudes and as the field strength gradually weakens to more long-term average levels, auroras will be seen further south than we have been used to. The field has already weakened by about 10% over the past two hundred years and will continue to do so. Apparently it's all related to the regular 'flipping' of our magnetic field, with the most 'recent' flip taking place about 780,000 years ago.

So what does this mean for radio amateurs? Probably not a lot, in the immediate future but the unwanted effects to disturbances in the geomagnetic field will eventually be felt further and further to the south. Radio propagation in southern British Columbia has always been particularly sensitive to even very small disturbances in the field, particularly on the LF and MF bands. I am constantly amazed at how regions only 150 miles to the south or southeast of me are so much less affected than here, in the southern fringes of the auroral zone. VE7's don't claim to be in radio's 'black hole' without good reason.

'ZVR-368kHz' at Vancouver International

It's time for another CLE (Co-ordinated Listening Event) once again! For you low-frequency buffs, another challenge awaits. This month's activity covers the range of  190 - 1740 kHz.


CLE 199 is an 'A-B-C' activity ... a little different from the norm, and listeners are requested to report NDB's from countries, states or provinces, beginning with the letter A, B & C only. Listeners in western NA will find plenty of targets but it might be a challenge for those on the eastern side.

A list of eligible 'A-B-C' entities can be found at the bottom. Additionally, a list of all of the North American targets in this frequency range can be found in the RNA database, while targets for European DXers will be found here ... either chose the 'Seeklist' button or search for the desired state, province or country for detailed frequency information.

A nice target for this CLE is 'ZVR' (368kHz) shown above. The 20W locator from Vancouver International, has been heard from Hawaii to North Carolina. It is located a little east of YVR, in a boggy farmland region.

From CLE coordinator Brian Keyte (G3SIA) comes the following reminder:

Hello all

Almost time for our 11th 'Countries' Listening Event. Whether you are a
regular, or have never sent a CLE log before, your log will be very welcome.

Days: Friday 23 October - Monday 26 October
Times: Start and end at midday, your local time.
Targets: 'Normal' NDBs (190 - 1740 kHz) - not DGPS, Navtex
or Amateur - located in the Radio Countries whose
codes start with A, B or C.

These are our 2-letter codes for the Provinces/States of Canada and USA
and our 3-letter codes elsewhere, including AUS (Australia) -all its States.

The full list of all qualifying countries is given at the end of this email.
Detailed seeklists are available from the Rxx database - just select
SEEKLIST on the CLE page, http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm
Martin has also added a 'Seeklist Map' facility there too.

If you are in the east of N. America it may be quite a tough challenge.
Most other listeners should be in luck this time, including several who
usually have a hard time.

Please send your CLE log to the List (no attachments and a plain text email
if possible) with CLE199 at the start of its title. Show on each log line:

# The Date (or Day No. 23 to 26)
# The Time in UTC** (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
# kHz - the nominal published frequency, if known.
# The Call Ident.

**Many of us will be changing our clocks by one hour this weekend
but UTC time continues without any change.

Please show the above main items FIRST on each line of your log.
Any other optional details such as Country, Location, Distance, etc.
go LATER in the same line.
If you send any interim logs, please also send a 'Final' (complete) log.
Always tell us your own location and brief details of the equipment
that you were using.

Do make sure that your log has arrived  by 09:00 UTC on
Wednesday 28 October at the very latest.
I hope to complete making the combined results on that day.

Good listening.
Enjoy the hunt!
Brian
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location: Surrey, SE England (CLE co-ordinator)
----------------------------------------------------------

(Reminder: You could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,
stating its location and owner - with their permission if required.
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local
or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE)

These listening events serve several purposes. They:

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range

• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations

• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working

• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed

Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event. If you are a member of the ndblist Group, results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

The very active Yahoo ndblist Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other listeners in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome.

If you are contemplating getting started on 630m, listening for NDBs is an excellent way to test out your receive capabilities as there are several NDBs located near this part of the spectrum.

You need not be an ndblist member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers. 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the ndblist or e-mailed to either myself or CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.



EXTRACTS FROM OUR COUNTRY LIST Last revised: 23 Oct 2006
( http://www.ndblist.info/ndbinfo/countrylist.pdf )
SHOWING ALL THE QUALIFYING COUNTRIES FOR THE CLE

NORTH AMERICA:

ALS ALASKA (US state)
BER BERMUDA (UK)

AB Alberta, Canada
BC British Columbia, Canada

AL Alabama, USA
AZ Arizona, USA
AR Arkansas, USA
CA California, USA
CO Colorado, USA
CT Connecticut, USA

CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN:

AIA ANGUILLA
ATG ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
ABW ARUBA
BAH BAHAMAS
BRB BARBADOS
BLZ BELIZE
CYM CAYMAN ISLANDS
CTR COSTA RICA
CUB CUBA
ATN NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
BAR ST BARTHELEMY

SOUTH AMERICA:

ARG ARGENTINA
BOL BOLIVIA
BRA BRAZIL
CHL CHILE
CLM COLOMBIA

EUROPE:

ALB ALBANIA
AND ANDORRA
AUT AUSTRIA
AZR AZORES (PORTUGAL)
BRI REAR ISLAND / BJORNOYA (NORWAY)
BLR BELARUS
BEL BELGIUM
BAL BALEARIC ISLANDS (SPAIN)
BIH BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
BUL BULGARIA
COR CORSICA (FRANCE)
CZE CZECH REPUBLIC
CVA VATICAN STATE

AFRICA:

ALG ALGERIA
AGL ANGOLA
ASC ASCENSION ISLAND (UK)
BEN BENIN
BOT BOTSWANA
BFA BURKINA FASO
BDI BURUNDI
CAB CABINDA (ANGOLA)
CME CAMEROON
CNR CANARY ISLANDS (SPAIN)
CPV CAPE VERDE
CAF CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
CEU CEUTA (SPAIN)
COM COMOROS
COG CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE
COD CONGO-KINSHASA
CTI IVORY COAST
AFS SOUTH AFRICA
AOE WESTERN SAHARA

ASIA:

AFG AFGHANISTAN
ANI ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS (INDIA)
ARM ARMENIA
AZE AZERBAIJAN
BHR BAHRAIN
BGD BANGLADESH
BTN BHUTAN
BRU BRUNEI
CBG CAMBODIA
CHN CHINA (PRC)
CHR CHRISTMAS ISLAND (AUSTRALIA)
CYP CYPRUS
BRM MYANMAR (BURMA)
ARS SAUDI ARABIA
CLN SRI LANKA

OCEANIA:

AUI AUSTRAL ISLANDS (FRANCE)
AUS AUSTRALIA ( all States: AT, NW, NN, QD, SA, TA, VI, WE )
CLI CLIPPERTON (FRANCE)
CKH COOK ISLANDS (NORTHERN)
CKS COOK ISLANDS (SOUTHERN)

ANTARCTICA:

ATA ANTARCTICA MAINLAND

courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

After more than a week of horrendous geomagnetic activity, due mainly to coronal-hole streaming, it looks as if things are starting to settle down once again. One would never know it from looking at the sun's image as the source of the streaming is largely invisible in the visible light spectrum. Viewing at a different wavelength however, reveals the source of the disruption, now about to rotate out of view for a few weeks.

courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

courtesy: http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dst_realtime/presentmonth/index.html

courtesy: http://www.noaa.gov/

With the DST heading upwards and the planetary K numbers dropping it looks like we are returning to a good place and just in time ... October is often one of the best months of the year for LF propagation.