Topband: 160-METER EXPERIMENT WILL EXPLORE MARCONI'S 1901

Donald Chester k4kyv at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 6 17:48:12 EDT 2006


... given the frequency Marconi is likely to
>have used,
>thought to be between 800 and 900 kHz, and the time of day, afternoon in
>Newfoundland.
>
>"The beacon will help understand the possibility of low sunspot number
>transatlantic medium wave propagation 24 hours a day, but especially 1400
>through 1800 UTC," Matthew said.

Newfoundland is 3 1/2 hours behind GMT. 1400-1800 is 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM 
Newfoundland time, or late morning through early afternoon.  That's 
essentially high noon +/- a couple of hours in Newfoundland.

Does anyone know exactly what time the signal was supposedly received?

1400-1800 GMT would indeed be the least likely time in the entire 24-hour 
period that the signal could have been heard at that distance.

Given the saltwater path and low sunspot number, I would suspect propagation 
would be indeed possible on 160m later in the afternoon.

But if propagation is barely perceptible on 160m it is quite unlikely to be 
possible at all on 320m.  If it is barely perceptible on 320m it would 
likely be quite strong on 160.  This will be like comparing propagation on 
80m to topband.

And I assume this will be using modern equipment.  Remember the 
transatlantic test in 1901 used a spark transmitter and a coherer detector 
at the receiver.

Don k4kyv




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