I'd hazard a guess at UA1. They do start fairly close to the bottom of the US
band (currently hearing one on a simple antenna on 1804.9 and they do go higher
than has been mentioned 1825+. However the strength seems to tail off above
1818 or so. The important thing to remember is these can be loud in EU, often
S9 here and they repeat at about every 0.82khz making the selection of an
expedition run frequency or even a contest run qrg very important. If you are
in the Pacific and you don’t make plans for these signals you may get lost in
the QRM within EU. 73 Clive GM3POI
-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of k1zm--- via
Topband
Sent: 19 February 2018 22:30
To: f6fya@yahoo.com; topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest
Hello Gang
I think these signals (which we call the "O O O" beacons because they send "DAH
DAH DAH" - "DAH DAH DAH" over and over - are some kind of navigation beacons
in the Eastern BALTIC.
I have heard them starting as high in the band as 1818 (or so - maybe not a
precise starting point) - and on a really good night I can hear the weaker ones
down to as low as 1806 and 1803. (or so).
On a really good evening this past week, I heard them (I think) as low as 1801
- but that is a really weak one.
Curiously, they are not on the air every night - because there are often days
at a time when they are not operational - or I would surely hear them - from
where I am located.
They have been on as long as I can remember - they were around in 1977 as I
recall - when we all used to hang out and rag chew on 1812 SSB - the old guys
from the nets of those days have mostly passed away now - EI8H, GD4BEG etc, -
but a few are still with us including AA0RS (G3SZA) and Willem PA0HIP who now
lives in DU as I recall.
FWIW -
BTW - based on how loud the UPPER ones are from 1814-1818 over here - I would
think they must be at least 40db over S9 in WESTERN EU - and spaced every 3-4
kHz apart - they peak at about S9+5 or so here at VY2ZM,
73 jeff.
Jeff Briggs
DXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide through
BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great Britain, &
Amazon
---- Original Message ----
From: F6FYA via Topband <topband@contesting.com>
To: topband <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Feb 19, 2018 9:10 pm
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest
I'm a New member of the "Topband list"I agree with Roger for the QRM at the
bottom of the band. I don't know what they are, fishnet or beacons, but it's
getting very hard to call CQ on this part of the band. By the way, for me in
the central west part of France, conditions was much better friday night.
Working with vertical ant, 21 m, and beverage. So, sorry with my poor english,
but a pleasure to read differents messages from the list's members. Jean-Paul
/ F6FYA.Envoyé de mon smartphone BlackBerry 10 sur le réseau Orange depuis La
Touraine, Dpt 37. Message d'origine De: Roger KennedyEnvoyé: lundi 19 février
2018 14:34À: topband@contesting.comObjet: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL
ContestWell on Friday night I couldn't hear one single American station . . .
eventhough I heard a couple of Southern Europe stations working a few.Saturday
night conditions were better, but signals were well down on whatthey have been
for the past few weeks.However, in the 3 hours I spent on the band (at
different times in thenight) I did manage to work 61 American stations . . .
including a few inBrazil and the Caribbean.For future reference, here in
Britain there are about 6 Navigation Beaconsbetween 1810 and 1818 kHz (they
sound like the old Decca HiFix) . . . thesemake copying weak signals VERY
difficult, so a good idea to avoid this partof the band !Roger
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