hello group,

i'm having trouble picking up the wefax transmissions out of boston
mass, can anyone verify that this is a problem ? i don't know for sure
if it's me and my radio setup or if boston simply isn't transmitting
wefax. i've been trying for about a week at various times. i am
confident tonight that i was tuned into nova scotia that is more
distant from me than boston, i'm south in virginia. boston's
transmitter is very slightly weaker at 5kw, but only slightly. i
really think i would be able to hear boston. anyone ?

frequencies for boston are ...

4235khz from 0230z - 1038z
6340.5khz continuous
9110khz continuous
and 12750khz 1400z - 2228z

you have to tune 1.9khz below those frequencies to get the signal, so
says the weather fax information page pointed to below. and of course
you have to be tuned in when they are actually transmitting something
as per the schedule, which according to the schedule they should be
transmitting basically around the clock off and on. so why can't i
hear a signal ?

http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/hfmarsh.txt

i could even pick up some kind of repeating signal out of new orleans
and i don't believe they are even scheduled to be transmitting right
now because of all the activity down there in the last few months. so
why is boston so quiet ?

On 13 May 2006 02:13:27 -0700, "purple_stars"
wrote:

i could even pick up some kind of repeating signal out of new orleans
and i don't believe they are even scheduled to be transmitting right
now because of all the activity down there in the last few months. so
why is boston so quiet ?

I was consistently receiving fax transmissions from both Boston and
New Orleans when I was in the Bahamas a few weeks ago. The signals
make a distinctive warbling sound when they are broadcasting.
Depending on conditions, not all frequencies are usable.

Possible issues could be a noisy location either from onboard
interference sources like inverters or flourescent lighting, or
possibly from another boat.

Are you receiving other stations OK? Are you able to transmit and be
heard?

Ask around for the local ham radio club... Hams who operate in the 80
meter and 40 meter bands will be familiar with propagation issues and
how to determine if you have a cable or antenna problem, and with
setting up the radio on the proper sideband, proper bandwidth, tuning,
etc...
Hams are a great resource for boaters with HF radio issues... Just be
aware that hams have various license classes and the fellas with a
technician level license will not have HF experience, for the most
part... But, any ham with a license rating higher than technician
likely speaks HF radio fluently...

denny - k8do

Wayne.B wrote:
On 13 May 2006 02:13:27 -0700, "purple_stars"
wrote:

i could even pick up some kind of repeating signal out of new orleans
and i don't believe they are even scheduled to be transmitting right
now because of all the activity down there in the last few months. so
why is boston so quiet ?

I was consistently receiving fax transmissions from both Boston and
New Orleans when I was in the Bahamas a few weeks ago. The signals
make a distinctive warbling sound when they are broadcasting.
Depending on conditions, not all frequencies are usable.

Possible issues could be a noisy location either from onboard
interference sources like inverters or flourescent lighting, or
possibly from another boat.

Are you receiving other stations OK? Are you able to transmit and be
heard?

it's probably my radio setup if you are able to copy the signal. the
thing is my radio is not on a sailboat, it's in a truck, i've been
trying to work the kinks out of my prototype system and also to finish
learning CW so i can get access to HF. i've been prototyping my radio
setup by using a vehicle and mounting antennas and such on it because
it's got the same basic electrics as a sailboat but without the good RF
ground. and also, of course, i don't have a long wire antenna like a
backstay to test with. what i do instead is hang a long wire up in a
tree and attach that to my whip antenna with an alligator clip and then
i hit the tune button for the icom tuner and use it that way. i'm not
transmitting of course, just receiving. the part i am working on now
is trying to receive wefax transmissions, the plan is to use QSSTV on a
fedora linux laptop to bring them in. for some reason i'm really not
copying the wefax transmissions though, not very well, none out of
boston, though the ones out of nova scotia seem really clear. and like
i said i was picking up some kind of a heart beat from new orleans that
sounded like the beats of a wefax transmission, i'm pretty sure that's
what it was because i could copy it on two new orleans frequencies. i
was getting good copy on nova scotia for sure, very distinctive, i'm
certain that will work for a test of my computer setup. but i really
thought i'd get boston since it's relatively close to virginia. i'm
thinking i probably need a better ground, the truck isn't a very good
RF ground. i'm considering driving a good ground rod into the earth on
my property somewhere and attaching the vehicle chassis to it when i
want to test something like this, somewhere near a tree of course so i
can run up a long wire haha. i also have a well that is cased down at
least 100 feet, i could use that as a ground.

so direct answers to your questions, no, i don't think it's inverters
or flourescent because though the truck has an inverter it's not turned
on .. and i can't transmit because i don't have the license for it yet,
it's not a marine ssb it's an icom-706mkiig. and yes i receive some
things but that's all relative, i don't have the experience on a
sailboat radio to tell you how well i'm copying signals, i don't have
anything to compare to. but i am able to pick up signals that seem
fairly distant, not halfway around the world, but certainly around my
state and maybe further.

yes that's not a bad idea at all to get in touch with some local hams.
i'm not "in" with them, i mean, i've never been to a ham meeting or
anything like that, but i do know there are some hams around here and
that they do meet. if nothing else at least one of them might have a
good enough rig setup to let me hear what the signals were supposed to
sound like when you were getting a good signal.

Denny wrote:
Ask around for the local ham radio club... Hams who operate in the 80
meter and 40 meter bands will be familiar with propagation issues and
how to determine if you have a cable or antenna problem, and with
setting up the radio on the proper sideband, proper bandwidth, tuning,
etc...
Hams are a great resource for boaters with HF radio issues... Just be
aware that hams have various license classes and the fellas with a
technician level license will not have HF experience, for the most
part... But, any ham with a license rating higher than technician
likely speaks HF radio fluently...

denny - k8do

purple_stars wrote:
[snip]

ok, clearly i'm just not getting boston. i was able to get a beautiful
signal out of new orleans tonight on three different frequencies and
not a thing out of boston. and i could still get nova scotia too.
either boston is broken or .. who knows what else it could be lol.

i was even able to hear a boat checking in on 12.359 (atlantic net ?)
at about 8pm this evening (saturday 13 may) talking about their dog
jumping off the boat and swimming around in the ocean and how they had
to go over and get the dog when it gets too far away from the boat.
haha. i think they said they were a few days out of honduras, but i
also heard them mention grenada but i don't think that's where they
were. so anyway, if i'm picking up sailboats transmitting from the
caribbean on my radio i should surely, i think, be able to hear a 5kw
signal out of boston. especially since it's really 4 different
frequencies, i should be able to get one of them if it's working at
all.

On 13 May 2006 18:46:52 -0700, "purple_stars"
wrote:

ok, clearly i'm just not getting boston. i was able to get a beautiful
signal out of new orleans tonight on three different frequencies and
not a thing out of boston. and i could still get nova scotia too.
either boston is broken or .. who knows what else it could be lol.

If I get a chance I'll check tomorrow to see if I can receive Boston
here in SWFL.

I have best reception of the Boston WeFAX station when my antenna
(dipole) is horizontal; my vertical antenna picks up too much local
intereference to be usable for Boston WeFAX. . If you can orient your
antenna to more horizontal you might have better reception (as long as
the long axis is 'broadside' (directional) to that station).

Am in SE Penna and eastern shore MD


In article . com,
purple_stars wrote:

hello group,

i'm having trouble picking up the wefax transmissions out of boston
mass, can anyone verify that this is a problem ? i don't know for sure
if it's me and my radio setup or if boston simply isn't transmitting
wefax. i've been trying for about a week at various times. i am
confident tonight that i was tuned into nova scotia that is more
distant from me than boston, i'm south in virginia. boston's
transmitter is very slightly weaker at 5kw, but only slightly. i
really think i would be able to hear boston. anyone ?

frequencies for boston are ...

4235khz from 0230z - 1038z
6340.5khz continuous
9110khz continuous
and 12750khz 1400z - 2228z

you have to tune 1.9khz below those frequencies to get the signal, so
says the weather fax information page pointed to below. and of course
you have to be tuned in when they are actually transmitting something
as per the schedule, which according to the schedule they should be
transmitting basically around the clock off and on. so why can't i
hear a signal ?

http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/hfmarsh.txt

i could even pick up some kind of repeating signal out of new orleans
and i don't believe they are even scheduled to be transmitting right
now because of all the activity down there in the last few months. so
why is boston so quiet ?

A stake driven into the ground is not a useful counterpoise for RF
signals... It only grounds you for static shocks, etc.. If your truck
is stationary then run a wire from the ground lug of the radio out the
window and lay it across the ground, bare wire or insulated either is
fine... About 40' long will do the job nicely... This is called a
radial wire... More than one radial wire running in different
directions will also improve things...

Also, as noted, a vertical wire in the city can be quite noisy on some
frequencies... Try running your antenna wire horizontal - head high is
fine, just hang it from the bushes, wood fence, whatever... You might
have both the vertical and horizontal wires hung up and switch between
them... Nothing like trying for yourself to see the differences at your
location...

And, congratulations on working towards your ham license... BTW, when
you put the rig in autotune, you are transmitting... It is low power
and brief, so I don't have a problem with it... But tuning up on one of
the government WEFAX, whatever, frequencies will be frowned on if
noticed by the FCC... Best to be off frequency 10 kc before hitting
the tune button...

cheers ... denny

denny, thank you so much for this post. there were a couple of really
helpful things in there that are going to help me out. one is i didn't
know about the radials, that will help me greatly. one thing i
certainly have a lot of is wire! my radio is grounded at the chassis
and i have a convenient spot right next to that ground to run all the
wire that i want to. at present i am tossing my long wire antenna up
into trees, 10 to maybe 30 degrees from horizonal. they have a slight
catenary shape but i don't think that is much of a problem, i can't
make them too straight or they pull my alligator clip lose from the
whip antenna, that's how i connect the long wire to the radio. i can
use your radial scheme easilly because i'm already using the long wire
antenna in spots where i am not bothering anyone or in anyone's way.

also thank you for the information about the tune button. i knew it
sent out some kind of energy to tune but i thought it was on the order
of a few millivolts or something, i haven't read up on it. i do know
that tuning the antenna helps with reception, at least it seems to.

since you're here, i have a question ... is there any disadvantage to
using a longer random length wire antenna ? i mean, i'm using about
i'd say 30 foot now, is there any disadvantage to using 40, or 50 ? i
assume there is a gain in terms of reception but maybe that's a bad
assumption. i think a better RF ground using those radials is going to
help me more than anything.

thanks again!

Denny wrote:
A stake driven into the ground is not a useful counterpoise for RF
signals... It only grounds you for static shocks, etc.. If your truck
is stationary then run a wire from the ground lug of the radio out the
window and lay it across the ground, bare wire or insulated either is
fine... About 40' long will do the job nicely... This is called a
radial wire... More than one radial wire running in different
directions will also improve things...

Also, as noted, a vertical wire in the city can be quite noisy on some
frequencies... Try running your antenna wire horizontal - head high is
fine, just hang it from the bushes, wood fence, whatever... You might
have both the vertical and horizontal wires hung up and switch between
them... Nothing like trying for yourself to see the differences at your
location...

And, congratulations on working towards your ham license... BTW, when
you put the rig in autotune, you are transmitting... It is low power
and brief, so I don't have a problem with it... But tuning up on one of
the government WEFAX, whatever, frequencies will be frowned on if
noticed by the FCC... Best to be off frequency 10 kc before hitting
the tune button...

cheers ... denny