[IRCA] Re: Ken Stryker's Beacon List

["Steve Ratzlaff" <steveratz@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi,
For general information, Ken Stryker has not published a later version of
his Beacon Guide since the 1990 one mentioned. The info you cite is way,
way, way out of date. Ken himself is either passed on, or perhaps ailing or
in a rest home, now--he's not been heard from in many years. Bob Montgomery
(LWCA's Lowdown loggings editor at the time) published the last paper Beacon
Guide around 1998, with a very last updater to it in 2003. Those are also
out of print now.

There are two modern, current, up to date online LF Beacon Guides that I can
highly recommend. Both are associated with the international NDB mailing
list, "ndblist". One member has put in hundreds of hours taking government
data on ndb's and putting it into a sortable database--Alex Wiecek. He's
just released his latest version. It's still free, though a minimal $15.
registration releases all of the program's optional logging features. It's
called "Worldwide Search Utility" (WWSU) and can be downloaded from his
webpage:
http://members.rogers.com/wiecek6010

Another ndblist member, Martin Francis, has taken over a previous online
database, aimed primarily at LF beacons received in North America (RNA), and
has it on his webpage. You can access it online, or, which is what I do,
download it (in either Excel or .pdf format) and keep it on your computer
Desktop, for instant referral without needing to be online. Members
continually contribute to it, and it's constantly being updated, so every
beacon in it has been heard within the past several years; with paper beacon
guides, many beacons have long since been decommissioned, or never even came
on the air, or were incorrectly listed for frequency or ident. You can
access RNA (there's also a related European one from the same site) at:
http://www.classaxe.com/dx/ndb/rna

Ndblist is open to anyone with an interest in receiving LF and HF beacons;
it's a moderated mailing list, so subscription requests have to be approved
by the list owner, Alan Gale. It's one of the most congenial lists I've ever
belonged to--never any flames or obnoxious behavior. There's a monthly
listening event where a limited frequency range is posted that you log all
the beacons you can from, then post your results, and see what others also
heard. It's not competitive except for you competing against yourself. You
can find out more about about the ndblist here:
http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/info.htm

I've been DXing LF beacons since the 1980's; it's still one of my main radio
interests--I've logged literally thousands of beacons in that time. While a
knowledge of Morse Code is certainly desirable, to more quickly identify the
CW idents beacons send, many folks just starting who don't know Morse Code
very well simply copy the dots and dashes down manually, and then look them
up on a chart to identify the beacon's ident, then look the beacon up on a
Beacon Guide. Incidentally, there are a number of excellent free Morse Code
learning programs available online. One I know of and highly recommend can
be downloaded free and used anytime on your computer at:
http://www.g4fon.co.uk/  Click on the "Koch CW Trainer" link. Either the
latest Version 7 or the earlier Version 6 can be downloaded; either can be
used to learn Morse Code, or to upgrade your skills.

The LF beacon band extends from 198-530kHz. Many west coast folks have
already received a few of the beacons around 530kHz, often inadvertently, if
close enough to them, or if propagation is good. 530 ADK, Adak, Alaska is
frequently heard; 529 SQM, Sumner, Alaska; 526 RWE, Camp Roberts,
California; 521 INE, Missoula, Montana can all be heard on the west coast of
NA. Folks on the east and southern parts could try for 526 ZLS, Stella
Maris, Bahamas. It is also easily heard on the west coast as well, generally
late at night.

The stronger beacons can be heard with a basic AM radio, if you're close
enough to one to get a decent signal. Normally you'd use a receiver with a
BFO, and set it to CW or SSB mode for LF beacon reception, as reception of
weaker beacons is much better that way. A decent LF antenna is always
desirable; a short horizontal or vertical wire is certainly not an optimum
antenna for LF reception. A good active whip antenna will work well at LF;
of course a true longwire will work well--the longer the better, used with
the standard 3:1 matching transformer. Most modern tabletop receivers tune
down to LF and have CW/SSB modes, though sensitivity at LF varies widely.
Drake R8 series are known to be sensitive down to 200kHz; Icom R75; AOR
AR-7030--for radio's I personally have used for LF reception. A known LF
portable radio is the Sony 2010. Of course there are many other radios that
are probably suitable.
Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Doug Pifer
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 8:08 PM
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
Subject: [IRCA] Re: Ken Stryker's Beacon List


Hi Steve,
Try this site.
http://www.dxing.com/lw.htm

This info is at the bottom of the page.
A good source of information about longwave reception techniques, stations
currently being heard, and experimental stations currently being heard is
the Longwave Club of America (LWCA). A good directory of beacon stations
active in North America is the Aero/Marine Beacon Guide published by Ken
Stryker. Information on the latest edition can be obtained by sending a
self-addressed stamped envelope to Ken Stryker, 2856-G West Touhy Ave.,
Chicago, IL, 60645.
73- Doug

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