‰ NOW 40 WPM ‰ WITH ACTIVITY. PERIODS OF SUNSET AND SUNRISE ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY AT NDB FREQUENCIES NEAR 630 AND 2200 METERS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1. THE GRAYLINE NEAR LOCAL SUNSET AND SUNRISE AT NDB FREQUENCIES IS LIKE THE WELL KNOWN HF GRAYLINE. HOWEVER, ON NDB FREQUENCIES, THE INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIORS OF SUNSET AND OF SUNRISE PROPAGATION ARE CLEARLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. FIRST, AFTER APPROACHING AND PASSING THROUGH SUNSET, THE NUMBER OF BEACONS INCREASED TENFOLD FROM SEVEN AT 0100 020 OPTIMIZING PROPAGATION ON 630 AND 2200 METERS THIS STUDY OF OUR NEW MEDIUM AND LOW FREQUENCY BANDS YIELDED INTERESTING RESULTS. ROBERT S. LOGAN, NZ5A PROPAGATION ON OUR NEW FREQUENCY BANDS AT 630 AND 2200 METERS CAN BE QUITE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT MOST AMATEURS ARE ACCUSTOMED TO EVEN 160 METER OPERATORS. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CONDITIONS ON THOSE BANDS, I CONDUCTED A STUDY OF LOW FREQUENCY STATIONS CALLED NONDIRECTIONAL BEACONS NDBS FOR THREE WINTER SEASONS FROM 2014 THROUGH 2017. IN THE UNITED STATES, NDBS HAVE SERVED AVIATORS AND MARITIME VESSELS AS IMPORTANT AVIGATIONAL AIDS SINCE 1932, WHEN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE INSTALLED 83 BEACONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. NDBS TYPICALLY TRANSMIT SLOW SPEED CW MESSAGES AT VARIOUS FREQUENCIES FROM 190 KHZ TO 535 KHZ, ALTHOUGH THEIR ALLOCATION RANGES UP TO 1750 KHZ. OTHER COUNTRIES NDB SYSTEMS GENERALLY FOLLOW SIMILAR FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, AUSTRALIAN NDBS TRANSMIT FROM 200 TO 490 KHZ. NDBS ARE RELEVANT TO THE AMATEUR COMMUNITY FOR THREE REASONS. FIRST, THEY PROVIDE REAL TIME PROPAGATION INFORMATION ON FREQUENCIES VERY CLOSE TO THE NEW BANDS. FOR EXAMPLE, 630 METERS IS ABOUT 60 KHZ BELOW THE UPPER FREQUENCY LIMIT FOR DOMESTIC NDBS, WHILE 2200 METERS IS ABOUT 50 KHZ BELOW THEIR BOTTOM LIMIT. IN TERMS OF PROPAGATION, THEN, CONDITIONS ON NDB FREQUENCIES AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT ARE PROBABLY SIMILAR ON THE TWO NEW BANDS, EXCEPT PERHAPS FOR DISTANCE BECAUSE 630 METER SIGNALS PENETRATE HIGHER INTO THE IONOSPHERE THAN 2200 METER SIGNALS, RESULTING IN LONGER DISTANCES. SECOND, NDBS PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR LOWER FREQUENCIES LIKE THE HF BEACON NETWORK DOES FOR HIGHER FREQUENCIES. BOTH SYSTEMS REPEATEDLY TRANSMIT CW MESSAGES IN CERTAIN SEQUENCES FROM FIXED LOCATIONS AT PUBLISHED POWER LEVELS ON A 24/7 BASIS. HEARING AN HF BEACON MEANS SOME LEVEL OF PROPAGATION EXISTS BETWEEN YOU AND ITS LOCATION THE SAME GOES FOR HEARING AN NDB STATION. HOW WELL YOU HEAR THEIR SIGNALS GIVES YOU A SENSE OF THE PROBABILITY OF MAKING CONTACTS ALONG THE SHARED PATH. SO, WHETHER ON 20, 630, OR PERHAPS EVEN 2200 METERS, EACH SYSTEMS INFORMATION CAN BE USEFUL. THIRD, JUST AS CONTESTERS AND OTHERS USE SOFTWARE PROPAGATION MODELS TO MAKE HF OPERATING MORE ENJOYABLE, REAL TIME NDB DATA CAN ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE TWO NEW BANDS AS WELL. NO PROVEN PROPAGATION MODELS EXIST YET FOR AMATEUR OPERATION AT 630 AND 2200 METERS. HOWEVER, WITH IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TOOLS, ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL THE WIZARDS AMONG US DEVELOP USER FRIENDLY PROPAGATION MODELS. PERHAPS THE ‰ END OF 40 WPM TEXT ‰ QST DE W1AW ƒ