• “Scanning RF Seismograph” Monitors HF Propagation in Real Time

    From ARRL de WD1CKS@VERT to QST on Fri Jun 17 13:04:37 2016
    Subject: ΓÇ£Scanning RF SeismographΓÇ¥ Monitors HF Propagation in Real Time @VIA: WLARB
    @MSGID: <5763F565.2193.dove-ham@wd1cks.org>
    06/17/2016

    A "Scanning RF Seismograph[1]," a real-time HF propagation-monitoring tool developed by the MDSR Team[2] and Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW, of the North Shore Amateur Radio Club (NSARC[3]), has been established in Western Canada. The site is in Lynn Valley (CN89li), North Vancouver, British Columbia, at 500 feet ASL.

    A Yaesu FT-950 transceiver connected to an omnidirectional multiband antenna monitors JT-65 frequencies on six HF bands (for 8 seconds each, repeating the scan every 52 seconds). Recorders monitor the background noise of the band and display the result in six color-differentiated (one color per band), long-duration graphs displaying a total 6 hours of scans. When signals are present on a band, its graph trace starts to resemble a series of vertical bars.

    Small, irregular jiggling of the graph traces is caused by changes in noise level and by the reflection of noise off the D Layer of the ionosphere, Schwarz explained.

    The web link is updated every 10 minutes.

    For more information, contact[4] Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW. 


    [1] http://www.nsarc.ca/hf/rf_seismo/main.html
    [2] http://www.tapr.org/pdf/DCC2011-MDSR-BiLiF-VE7DXW.pdf
    [3] http://www.nsarc.ca/
    [4] mailto:alexschwarz@telus.net

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