5 ms·

I sincerely hope that if the remaining stations shut down, the band will become an amateur band. Existing 2200m and 630m are narrow, so allocating this entire r

I sincerely hope that if the remaining stations shut down, the band will become an amateur band. Existing 2200m and 630m are narrow, so allocating this entire range is something of a pipe dream, but it would be the best outcome. (Not sure how 1750m LowFER would be handled; maybe just keep it on as an unlicensed exception?)

cft 2y ago
I think LW transmission antennas are too large to be built bu amateurs
- bilegeek 2y ago
  Full verticals, dipoles, Yagis or logs, yes. Marconi T or L antennas with capacitance hats and loading coils are well within amateur practice on 630m[1] and 2200m, and common from 40m/7MHz on down. Not very efficient still; an ERP of 1W, as demanded by the 2200m band, can still take a lot of power on a less-than-ideal antenna. Similar story for 630m. (160m and up is usually not so bad, just that even a good Marconi on longwave is still too big for most people.) But the current LowFER[3] regs limit the transmitter to 1W final stage input power, and a COMBINED feedline and antenna length of 15m. At least allowing amateurs to operate more here would allow more than just extremely low SNR modes like WSPR to be used at any real distance. [1]https://www.hamsignal.com/blog/dog-days-and-the-marconi-t-antenna https://www.hamsignal.com/blog/dog-days-and-the-marconi-t-an... and https://vk6ysf.com/t_antenna_arrangment.htm https://vk6ysf.com/t_antenna_arrangment.htm [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2200-meter_band#International_frequency_allocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2200-meter_band#International_... [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER
  - 8bitsrule 2y ago
    Don't see many longwave radio antennas. Here's one in Hellissandur, Iceland. 300kW output power on 189kHz : https://imgur.com/gallery/ruv-189-khz-kVght0A https://imgur.com/gallery/ruv-189-khz-kVght0A
hilbert42 2y ago
"sincerely hope that if the remaining stations shut down, the band will become an amateur band." I would sincerely hope so too. Moreover, if or when the BBC closes its longwave service it'll bring serious pressure on the few remaining countries to close their LW services. With the abandonment of the LW Service the Band will be up for grabs and there will be pressure on WRC/ITU to reallocate the spectrum. My guess is that's likely happening already but these days I'm not close enough to the ground to know. So I'd strongly urge Amateurs everywhere to start campaigning before it's too late. I'm an ex-amateur but I still strongly believe in the movement and its objectives, and I think that if or when—more likely when—the LW service officially closes (by WRC-set deadline) then the Amateurs should be ready to immediately step in. No doubt there will be pressure from others (possibility stockbrokers wanting to take advantage of the ionosphere beating fibre in transmission speed around the globe for their ultrafast stock trading), so I'd expect there to be a real bun-fight for this valuable LF spectrum. Personally, if or when reallocated I'd like this Band to go to scientific research and this is where amateurs could step in to help, here they'd share the Band with scientific researchers. One such example which I've raised on HN before is earthquake prediction. It's already known that in many instances that before earthquakes ocurr the crystalline rock structure is under such pressure that it can generate piezoelectric fields and these can affect the height of ionosphere and in turn the distance it reflects RF transmissions will change. This effect is most noticeable at very low frequencies and can be detected. A network of stations would be needed around the world to monitor these frequencies constantly and the Amateur Service could provide this. There are other options too. Even though I'm no longer involved in Amateur Radio I'm concernd with its flagging numbers (I suppose once a member of the Amateur fraternity always a member). As an alternative to the BBC's closure, I even see ways for the Amateur Service to make money, perhaps Amateurs could not only mod the BBC's transmitters but do so a at vastly reduced cost then actually run the stations at reduced cost (see my other post to this story). The BBC could justify this unorthodox approach on both maintenance and running costs and that the LW Service is now less important given the low number of listeners (maintaining the uptime percentage would be less important, etc.). BTW, I expressed my concern about the Amateur Service's flagging numbers on HN only yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41949118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41949118
- 2y ago
AnonymousPlanet 2y ago
I recently began delving into radio bands like SW, MW, and LW again after decades of abstinence. Here in Europe, there's a shocking amount of propaganda on these bands, most of it Chinese in various languages. You will barely find anything in English, German or French that is not leaning towards China or Russia, except for that American christian radio station talking about Jesus. It appears that the west has decided to leave those air bands to foreign influences. Those propaganda stations also do not appear to care much wether a band is deemed an amateur band in your country or not.

cft 2y ago

I think LW transmission antennas are too large to be built bu amateurs

bilegeek 2y ago
Full verticals, dipoles, Yagis or logs, yes. Marconi T or L antennas with capacitance hats and loading coils are well within amateur practice on 630m[1] and 2200m, and common from 40m/7MHz on down. Not very efficient still; an ERP of 1W, as demanded by the 2200m band, can still take a lot of power on a less-than-ideal antenna. Similar story for 630m. (160m and up is usually not so bad, just that even a good Marconi on longwave is still too big for most people.) But the current LowFER[3] regs limit the transmitter to 1W final stage input power, and a COMBINED feedline and antenna length of 15m. At least allowing amateurs to operate more here would allow more than just extremely low SNR modes like WSPR to be used at any real distance. [1]https://www.hamsignal.com/blog/dog-days-and-the-marconi-t-antenna https://www.hamsignal.com/blog/dog-days-and-the-marconi-t-an... and https://vk6ysf.com/t_antenna_arrangment.htm https://vk6ysf.com/t_antenna_arrangment.htm [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2200-meter_band#International_frequency_allocation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2200-meter_band#International_... [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER
- 8bitsrule 2y ago
  Don't see many longwave radio antennas. Here's one in Hellissandur, Iceland. 300kW output power on 189kHz : https://imgur.com/gallery/ruv-189-khz-kVght0A https://imgur.com/gallery/ruv-189-khz-kVght0A

hilbert42 2y ago

"sincerely hope that if the remaining stations shut down, the band will become an amateur band." I would sincerely hope so too. Moreover, if or when the BBC closes its longwave service it'll bring serious pressure on the few remaining countries to close their LW services. With the abandonment of the LW Service the Band will be up for grabs and there will be pressure on WRC/ITU to reallocate the spectrum. My guess is that's likely happening already but these days I'm not close enough to the ground to know. So I'd strongly urge Amateurs everywhere to start campaigning before it's too late. I'm an ex-amateur but I still strongly believe in the movement and its objectives, and I think that if or when—more likely when—the LW service officially closes (by WRC-set deadline) then the Amateurs should be ready to immediately step in. No doubt there will be pressure from others (possibility stockbrokers wanting to take advantage of the ionosphere beating fibre in transmission speed around the globe for their ultrafast stock trading), so I'd expect there to be a real bun-fight for this valuable LF spectrum. Personally, if or when reallocated I'd like this Band to go to scientific research and this is where amateurs could step in to help, here they'd share the Band with scientific researchers. One such example which I've raised on HN before is earthquake prediction. It's already known that in many instances that before earthquakes ocurr the crystalline rock structure is under such pressure that it can generate piezoelectric fields and these can affect the height of ionosphere and in turn the distance it reflects RF transmissions will change. This effect is most noticeable at very low frequencies and can be detected. A network of stations would be needed around the world to monitor these frequencies constantly and the Amateur Service could provide this. There are other options too. Even though I'm no longer involved in Amateur Radio I'm concernd with its flagging numbers (I suppose once a member of the Amateur fraternity always a member). As an alternative to the BBC's closure, I even see ways for the Amateur Service to make money, perhaps Amateurs could not only mod the BBC's transmitters but do so a at vastly reduced cost then actually run the stations at reduced cost (see my other post to this story). The BBC could justify this unorthodox approach on both maintenance and running costs and that the LW Service is now less important given the low number of listeners (maintaining the uptime percentage would be less important, etc.). BTW, I expressed my concern about the Amateur Service's flagging numbers on HN only yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41949118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41949118

2y ago

AnonymousPlanet 2y ago

I recently began delving into radio bands like SW, MW, and LW again after decades of abstinence. Here in Europe, there's a shocking amount of propaganda on these bands, most of it Chinese in various languages. You will barely find anything in English, German or French that is not leaning towards China or Russia, except for that American christian radio station talking about Jesus. It appears that the west has decided to leave those air bands to foreign influences. Those propaganda stations also do not appear to care much wether a band is deemed an amateur band in your country or not.