Sferics, Tweeks and Whistlers.

[YT2095]

Anyone else here interested in ELF/VLF radio at all?

it`s a hobby of mine, and wondered if anyone else was into the same thing and would like to share data.

 

I use a modified version of this cct: http://www.auroralchorus.com/bbb4b.htm

 

it works great and is Very easy to build and quite forgiving when it comes to component variance.

 

I`m sure I`m not the ONLY one on this board with E-Fields as a hobby, am I:confused:

[YT2095]

in case anyone Does happen across this thread in the future, I highly recommend downloading this: http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/spectra1.html#download

it`s absoulutely Fatastic!

 

and certainly adds another dimension to VLF listening, it you have a good enough antenna you don`t even need a FET pre-amp to get good results (better if you Do have a pre-amp and filter though).

 

Kudos to the Guy!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

What all do you hear on VLF? Just various atmospheric noises?

[YT2095]

in adition to those mentioned in the title, you can also pick up the Dawn or Evening Chorus (sounds like birds singing), Chirps and Pings, Solar flares, even down to Earthquakes and Schuman resonance on ULF.

in effect any electro-magnetic "Weather".

but with the Spectum Analiser you can actualy SEE the event charted and be Very Specific about what part you wish to listen to (or drop out).

 

yes, you may even hear Animals sounds such as Bats etc... that you would not be able to hear ordinarily (requires the use of a BFO for portable equip tho, unless you take a Laptop).

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Hmm... I was also looking into regular radio scanners recently. The electromagnetic spectrum can get rather interesting in places.

[YT2095]

this will give you an Idea of the type of things out there: http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/inspire/advanced.html

 

all these occur Daily without most of us even knowing about it for the most part.

I have a scanner that does 100Khz up to 1650Mhz (1.65 Gig) all modes, you`ll not hear these things there either, it`s still off the scale down the lower end.

anything below 22Khz is fair game

[scicop]

YT, start paying attention to the 12 Khz range, especially as we get into july and peaking in August. You will be able to pick up some good meteorite showers (perseids). That spectrum analyzer will be great to have then.

 

I expect to be on 6 meters (50Mhz) during that time as the ionization trail by the meteors light up the E-layer. Its usually a good time to work some grid squares, I've worked west coast on meteorshowers during that time should be good

 

I don't know how you are about reaching out to people, but a good guy to reach out to is Dick, K2RIW (look him up on QRZ). He's runs a great technical net on the 146.850 repeater here on long island on Sunday nights. Although his expertise is in the realm of microwave communications he does do some stuff way down below. Another guy is W2UFO, Mark Nagle, back in my super active days he was noted for sandbagging down in that area.

[YT2095]

a Interesting note, Beware of energy-saving light bulbs, they`ll give you false readings, decending bands from the 6Khz range down to 900Hz.

technicaly it`s not a false reading, it`s a perfectly acurate one, but they cause alot of EM polution.

[scicop]

Well I use to have a defective light bulb that went into a recessed "High hat" fix ture; it has some internal sparking, that made it radiate all freqs, kinda like the old sparkgap transmitters. Once turned on, it would wipe out not only the whole HF spectrum for me (about an S9+10db on my meter) and would give me a S5 on my 2 meter radio. There was a little signal on the 70cm freqs. Tracked it down to a bathroom fixture.

 

Talk about light-blub emissions!!!!