VX9MRC 507.770 kHz GN37or
(508.500 kHz alternate)
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The purpose of this study is to gather information for the Canadian delegation in support of an allocation for the amateur service at the WRC2012. This was made an agenda item by the IARU. The large area of the province and the need for reliableemergency communications makes this study of considerable regional importance. The IARU has a long history (From "The T. & R. Bulletin" 3,1, July 1927) Copyright of the Radio Society of Great Britain and reproduced here with their kind permission.
Publications appearing in "The Canadian Amateur" Thanks to Radio Amateurs of Canada.
We shall be very happy to welcome any contributions to this experiment. Please feel free to contact RAC or a member of MRCN. You can check your receiver sensitivity and experiment with antennas and matching by listening for the various aeronautical beacons on the following frequencies: Newfoundland: Eastern 358 kHz 270; Central 280; Western 350, Northern 356; Labrador: 396 (my favourite!) 281 and 257 kHz. Thanks and 73. Joe VO1NA (at) rac (dot) ca
Operation Schedule / Signal Reports 2011 23 January 2012. 0110 UTC. 100 watts to a 100m wire. 8 WPM CW ID followed by a 10 second carrier.
Operation Schedule / Signal Reports 2011
November 2011. 6th. 30 watts 0.5 amps to a 100m wire. 5 Not heard by VO1VZ. 7: loud and clear at MUN. (miniwhip) 8 Copied by VO1VZ in Torbay. 12/13: Reception reports from Gary G4WGT(up to 559 in QSB) Rik ON7YD and John GM4SLV. Graham G8FZK who reported 'Not a beep' near Liverpool.
October 2011. 9th. 100 watts to vert. 10th: Reports received from H. Wolff, G4WGT, KN8AZN. 11th. VE3EAR reported weak traces. 13th. AA4AM in Texas DL9AAM 14th. ARGO traces by PA3CPM. 27 Oct. on at 230 UTC. 8 WPM CW ID and 10s carrier.
Jul/Aug 2011. The power is reduced from 100 to 35 watts to reduce the voltage on the tower. The beacon signal is a CW ID at 8 WPM followed by a 10 second carrier.
May 2011. Jim VO1YR has noted night time QSB of up to 30 dB. Carl VO1UL has copied the beacon at 0050 utc but not during the day. On the 11th, Jim measured the signal levels from the 21m vertical and the 100m horizontal. The latter was 7 dB down. VO1UL hears the beacon on the 21m tower but only after dark. Last night 0113 utc (12 May) and 0054 (13th) on HF beam pointing SW. 80m antenna was too noisy.
25 April 2011. Experimented with tuning a 21 metre tower on 507.77 kHz. 267 uH of inductance was required for resonance which is inconsistent with a 6pf/metre capacitance anticipated for the tower. A 100m wire was used for an antenna. The transmitter power was 100 watts. Mode: 8 WPM CW beacon followed by 10 seconds of unmodulated carrier. 2140 UTC: signal reports were received from VO1YR (Shoal Harbour) r=100 km 559, VO1TA (Hearts Delight) r=50 km 589, and VO1UL (St Anthony) r=500km who was unable to hear it until about 2320 because of strong power line interference. Carl used an HF beam instead of a G5RV because the former had a better S/N. Thank-you gentlemen. 26 Apr. Wayne reports 58/99 VO1SJH reports nil. VO1VCE: 53/59 Carl: no report. Tried loading 21 m tower, but got high SWR. Using 100m wire. 27: 0130 UTC. -57 dB (rel) at VO1YR using 80m dipole. 1820 utc. Using 21 m tower for TX. VO1JA (Harold in Garnish,r=200km 255 degrees) reports 559 sigs on 80m dipole. Ken VO1KVT (Lewisport 235 km 317 deg)) Nil. VO1NC( New Chelsea) Signal strength 2.
20 Feb. QRSS3 Beacon. 100 watts to 100m wire at 15m height. Weak signals seen on G4WGT grabber and reported by F4DTL. 22 Feb. PA3FNY and KU4XR report strong signals. VE3EAR,VE7BDQ,VE3GTC reported no sigs.
February: Transatlantic digital on 500 kHz as reported by
RSGB news
Thanks to Graham,
G0NBD for his patience and generous assistance and to MRCN
for the use of the receiver.
January A third report is sent to RAC.
Running 100 watts to a 100m wire at 15 m height. 13-15 Jan 2011. Clear ARGO traces were received by PA3CPM and PA3FNY. 16 Weak copy by PA3FNY who was receiving XGJ on 137 kHz very well. 17 PA3FNY reports traces. 18 PA3CPM copies in QRM. Good copy at PA3FNY. 19 Audible at PA3FNY. VE7BDQ reports weak traces and weakly heard at G3LDO. 20 Now QRSS3. Copied by PA3FNY on 21 and vy strong on 22 Jan. Copy By F4DTL on 22nd. Not detected by VE7BDQ on either day. 23 Good copies by PA3FNY and G4WGT. 24 Aerial iced and down. 25 US stations get 461-487 kHz.
Operation Schedule / Signal Reports 2010
Sept 2010. Reports from KN1H KN8AZN VO1VCE. Off air following major storm on 21 Sep. QRV again on 507.77 kHz as of 2250 UTC 26 Sep. 2010. 28 Sept. Signal reports received from VO1FJS, VO1TA, VO1MP, VO1NJS, but nothing heard at VE1DM in Sydney NS. 30 Sep. Reports: VE1DM (heard 2304 UTC) VO1BQ.
Aug 2010. A follow-up report is sent to RAC.
July: John Gibbs' report is published. See P 45 of the
Jul/Aug 2010 issue of The Canadian Amateur (TCA) Alan Griffin, editor.
Report on My Activities near 500 kHz. Also in that issue P 49 see
a report on International Marconi Day.
May: 20 May. The first transatlantic 500 kHz signals from PA3CPM
are received.
23 VX9MRC is received by W1TAG in ME and at various locations
around NL.
March: VX9MRC renewed by Industry Canada.
January: 8 WPM CW 507.77 kHz 1.7 amps 100 watts. 100m wire at 10m.
Many reports received from Europe and North America.
The first local measurements of signal strength are made by
Jim VO1YR.
Operation Schedule / Signal Reports 2009
23 Oct 2009. VX9MRC commissioned. Copied by VO1HP VO1XP VO1FB
More info to appear soon. Also copied by VO1NA at breakfast meeting
inside a restaurant with a PA0RDT miniwhip and curious onlookers.
25 Oct. QSO with EI0CF. First Canadian 600m experimental transatlantic QSO.
Copied by VE1VDM (argo).
Copied by VO1GXG 'As clear as day'
03 November. QSO with Jack VX9ZZZ. DI2AM WE2XSH/6 heard. 2338 beacon
started on 507.77 kHz
reports from VE2PEP (nil today) SM6BHZ and DL8AAM
7 Nov QRSS3 507.77 kHz. Reports from AA1A 'Nice crisp QRSS3 beacon...'
And an ARGO copy by VE7BDQ, spanning Canada, QRB=5000 km.
John was using a shielded 3 metre loop in a NE/SW orientation
fed with coax and using a shielded preamp/tuner in the shack which feeds a
Icom pro3 in cw mode set at 350 cycle bandwidth.
Reports of QRSS3 and CW reception received from Germain, VE2PEP 2235,0343.
8 Nov QRSS3 507.77 kHz. Reports from VE2PEP and QRSS3 fragments
received at VE7BDQ at 0806 and 0808 utc. Norway amateurs are allocated
a band at 493-510 kHz on 6 November. Copied by GM3BST at 339 at 2240.
9: QSO with G3LDO using QRSS3. Another CW qso with VX9ZZZ.
Report from VE2PEP Copied QRSS. 0030, 0430.
10 Nov 2220 UTC. Reports from VO1SJH(Port au Port, weak),
VO1UL(St. Anthony, clear) and VO1TA (very close! weak but readable).
Reports were sent from these stations on 3738 kHz where conditions were
poor and QRM was high.
November 2009. A report is sent to RAC. In an unfortunate turn of events, RAC is advised by IC that there may be no provisions for Canadian 500 kHz experimental stations to communicate with other stations. Not withstanding that communication between amateur and other experimental stations was explicitly included in the officially approved experimental proposal, for the purpose of "exchanging signal reports and comparing propagation" further communications from VX9MRC are henceforth voluntarily suspended pending further information.
09 December 2009: 2200-2300 UTC and 10 December 0100-1000 utc CW 507.77 kHz. Reports will be posted at a later date.
Audio clip from VO1HP 23 Oct 09 on 507.77 kHz
Audio clip of the ei0cf vx9mrc QSO
ei0cf-vx9mrc.wav
