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VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog

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Hunting For NDBs In CLE273

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 12:19 PM PDT http://ve7sl.blogspot.com/2021/10/hunting-for-ndbs-in-cle273.html



BK-224 Baker Lake, NU ( http://www.ve3gop.com)

It's CLE time! 'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the
NDB spectrum. This time it's a two-parter with a wider window -- the first hunting ground is 190.0 - 239.9kHz. The second part is hunting for NDBs
whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way' ex. 267.5, 333.5, 375.5 etc.
A 'challenge target' for listeners in North America is BK - 224kHz in Baker Lake, Nunavut. Listen for BK's upper sideband on 224.402kHz. BK is widely heard in Europe and throughout North America.
BK has gobs of power and a big antenna ... see if you hear it!


When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz
tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper
sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz
while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't
hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database.
Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.
These databases have recently been re-vamped and are slicker than ever
before!

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:Hello all,Here are
brief details of our 273rd co-ordinated listening event, less than a week away. Ideal to try out a CLE for the first time?Days: Friday 22nd -
Monday 25th Oct., Midday-Midday, your local time NDBs from 190 - 239.9 kHzPLUS: Normal NDBs with carriers on the 'half-way' frequencies nnn.5
kHz from 190.5 - 999.5 kHzSo, unusually, it is a CLE in two parts. The
first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are lower
than 240 kHz.The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier
frequencies are 'half-way'. E.g. 267.5 OPW, 333.5 VOG, 370.5 LB, 381.5
SJX (in Ml), 390.5 ITR, 427.5 OB (in AFS), 433.5 HEN and 514.5 LAMost
Europe listeners will hear few or none from part 1, while listeners away
from Europe will hear few or none from part 2.The last time we covered
these frequencies was for CLE257 in June 2020.
Please log all the NDBs (within the frequency ranges specified) that you
can identify plus any UNIDs that you come across there. Send your final
log to the List (not in an attachment, please) with 'CLE273’ and ‘FINAL' in its title (important). Show on each line: # The Date
(e.g. '2021-10-23', etc., or just '24' ) # The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC). # kHz - the nominal published frequency, if known. # The Call Ident.
Please show those main items FIRST. Other optional details such as
Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.As always, of course,
tell us your own location and give brief details of the equipment that you were using during the Event.We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email
at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been
found OK.Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 08:00 UTC
on Wednesday 27 October at the very latest.We hope to complete making the combined results within a day or two.You can soon find full details about current and past CLEs from the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm
It includes access to the CLE273 seeklists for your part of the World, prepared from all the previous loggings in Rxx.Good listening- enjoy the CLE. Brian and Joachim------------------------------------------------------------------From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'gmail.comLocation: Surrey, SE
England (CLE coordinator)------------------------------------------------------------------ (If you would like to listen remotely you could use any one remote
receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner and with
their permission if required. A remote listener may NOT also use
another receiver, local or remote, to make 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 newly-re-vamped Rxx 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.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB
DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As
well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all
reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE
co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you
are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and
posted there.

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.

Have fun and good hunting!

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