Longwave

[carmen]

dont think the pirates have invaded this band!

162,171,198,216,234 all listenable at the moment

whys the BBC on LW and SW always 15 seconds ahead of WBUR? i usually listen to charlie read the weather then switch back cuz i need to be on the cutting edge of being informed

 

[Eli Polonsky]

whys the BBC on LW and SW always 15 seconds ahead of WBUR? i usually listen to charlie read the weather then switch back cuz i need to be on the cutting edge of being informed

It's probably more like eight seconds. WBUR broadcasts in HD digital (IBOC) which causes an approximately eight second delay inherent in the processing to digital. Because of that, they also have to delay their analog signal to match the delay inherent in the processing of the digital signal, so that HD receivers make a smooth transition from analog to digital or back. This is true for all stations that broadcast in digital. The BBC on longwave doesn't, so you get it in approximately real time.

 

[HHH]

Can you get BBC Longwave here in the USA? Are you right on the coast?

BBC and Radio France both have HUGE longwave high-powers which are heard throughout Western Europe day and night, but when I fire up my longwave in Central Mass. all I hear is some code here and there (beacons I guess) and nothing else. Never could get Europe on LW. Can you?
If so, what do you get and what are the frequencies, please.

 

[robotique]

i'm 10 miles from the water and all i get are beacons too

251 SKR Bedford, MA (ndb)
269 TOF Beverly, MA (ndb)

 

[KB1OKL]

I'm close to Worcester, MA and get all kinds of BCB longwave Europeans during winter. I use a National HRO-50R1 and a National HRO-60T with 2 phased 400' LW antennas, lots of signals.

 

[robotique]

i have a little portable tabletop sangean sts505. i dont even know of LW uses internal ferrite or whip antenna LOLOL

 

[pqgeorge]

i have a little portable tabletop sangean sts505. i dont even know of LW uses internal ferrite or whip antenna LOLOL

You'd be amazed on some of the things you'll hear on longwave, especially in the late fall to early spring months. I have heard several of the European longwave stations myself. One really strong signal I've heard was on 162 kHz from Allouis, France. And why not ? They are running a cool 2 million watts (that's right, 2,000,000 watts!). I have Kenwood TS-50 amateur transceiver, which also doubles as a general coverage receiver as well (50 kHz through 30 Mhz). It's connected to a 75 foot longwire strung between my house and a tree in the back. The Europeans are best during the deep winter months (December-February). I also have a Ray Jefferson DF receiver that I got a flea market some years back for only $10. It's a great DX machine that tunes LW, AM and FM as well. Longwave DX'ing is that last "frontier" for DX'ing. Those NDB (non-directional beacons) stations, that tap out a Morse code ID every few seconds are excellent DX targets, and they DO QSL. Stay up a while after the news and try LW DX'ing. You'd be truly surprised on what you'll find.

73,

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

Not sure if they are doing it now, but when WGBH-TV was still
analog on TV channel 2, they used to carry the BBC World
Service on their second audio channel (SAP)

 

[robotique]

i have a little portable tabletop sangean sts505. i dont even know of LW uses internal ferrite or whip antenna LOLOL

You'd be amazed on some of the things you'll hear on longwave, especially in the late fall to early spring months. I have heard several of the European longwave stations myself. One really strong signal I've heard was on 162 kHz from Allouis, France. And why not ? They are running a cool 2 million watts (that's right, 2,000,000 watts!). I have Kenwood TS-50 amateur transceiver, which also doubles as a general coverage receiver as well (50 kHz through 30 Mhz). It's connected to a 75 foot longwire strung between my house and a tree in the back. The Europeans are best during the deep winter months (December-February). I also have a Ray Jefferson DF receiver that I got a flea market some years back for only $10. It's a great DX machine that tunes LW, AM and FM as well. Longwave DX'ing is that last "frontier" for DX'ing. Those NDB (non-directional beacons) stations, that tap out a Morse code ID every few seconds are excellent DX targets, and they DO QSL. Stay up a while after the news and try LW DX'ing. You'd be truly surprised on what you'll find.

73,

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts

yeah i used to get a station from Ireland that I read about online going off the air for good. I still scan the band...especially in the fall

 

[jimcutler]

Here's more praise for Longwave DX! When I lived in Tewksbury I logged a bunch of Euro broadcast stations on the band. I got a kick out of DXing the beacons one year. Amazing the distance they can travel, and some lonely isolated QTH's like a buoy a few hundred miles out at sea. The morse id's made identification a snap.


Jim

 

[DJKraze]

Longwave? I can get it now and then, but to really experience it, you need to be in the target areas, and you can do that without leaving that screen you're looking at now (I know some of you know about this already, but here it is for everyone else).

http://www.jg2puw.com/ has a list of web-controlled tuners (some no longer work) and every one of the ones that are still out there have the longwave band available.

Other sites are:

http://onlinereceivers.net/
http://www.globaltuners.com/ (possibly the largest collection)

 

[KB1OKL]

You can get longwave pretty much anywhere if you have a good sensitive receiver that won't overload or get images from the long antennas you would need away from the coast. There were nights last year I would get signals on almost every LW BC frequency, sometimes two mixed. Good, old tube boatanchors are ideal for this. I am about 40 miles west of Boston and pull them in almost every night during the winter, also many European BCB stations on the split frequencies.