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VE7SL - Steve - Amateur Radio Blog

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Hunting For NDBs In CLE277

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 09:16 AM PST http://ve7sl.blogspot.com/2022/02/hunting-for-ndbs-in-cle277.html



ZYC-254 kHz Calgary, Alberta (http://www.ve3gop.com)


Another month has zipped by which means it's time for another CLE weekend!
'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. It's back to an 'almost normal' activity but with a slightly wider
frequency span: 240.0 - 259.9 kHz AND 420.0 - 439.9 kHz.

A western target for listeners in North America is ZYC - 254 kHz in
Calgary, Alberta. Listen for ZYC's upper sideband on 254.367 kHz. ZYC's 25 watts is widely heard throughout North America.
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.

From CLE organizers comes the following CLE info:


Hello all,

This coming weekend we have another chance to enjoy a Coordinated Listening Event.
All CLE logs will be very welcome, short or long.

Days: Friday 25 Feb. - Monday 28 Feb.
Times: Start and end at midday, local time at the receiver.
Listening for Normal NDBs in the ranges:
240.0 - 259.9 kHz plus 420.0 - 439.9 kHz
(BOTH ranges are for ALL listeners)

Please log the NDBs you can identify that are listed in the ranges, plus
any
UNIDs that you come across there.
You can find details of the beacons in those ranges, lists and maps, if you
go to http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm and click on 'CLE SEEKLIST'.

Send your final CLE log to ndblist'at'groups.io with CLE277 and FINAL in
the email Subject.
Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:

# The full Date (or Day no.) e.g. ‘2022-02-25’ (or just ‘25’)
and UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC)
# kHz (the beacon's nominal published frequency if you know it)
# The Call Ident.

Other optional details - Location, Distance, etc. - go LATER in the same
line (or in footnotes). Please make your log useful to old and new members alike by ALWAYS including your own location (and 6-character Locator if
you know it) and brief details of the equipment and aerial(s) that you were using.

We will send an 'Any More Logs?' email at about 20:00 UTC on Tuesday
evening so you can check that your log has been found OK.
To be included in the combined results your log must have arrived by 09:00 UTC on Wednesday 2nd March at the very latest.
We hope to complete making the Combined Results within a day or two.

Good listening
Brian and Joachim ---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'ndblist.info
Location: Surrey, SE England (CLE coordinator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are interested in some remote listening - maybe
due to local difficulties - you could use any one remote
receiver for your loggings, stating its location and with
the owner’s permission if required.
( e.g. see kiwisdr.com )
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver,
local or remote, to make more 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!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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