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 Previous: Michigan ARES Volunteer Receives Award from President Bush |  Next: Shift Change: New Two-Ham Crew, First Female Civilian Visitor on Way to ISS |
A map showing the locations and Amateur Radio call signs of the WD2XSH participants. [Larger version] |
600-meter amp: An amplifier Fritz Raab, W1FR, and Mike Gladu, N1FBZ, put together for 500 kHz use. [Fritz Raab, W1FR, Photo]. |
Tuner in a tub: A 600-meter tuner designed and constructed by Fritz Raab, W1FR, and Mike Gladu, N1FBZ. [Fritz Raab, W1FR, Photo]. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 15, 2006 -- The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology has granted a Part 5 experimental license to the ARRL on behalf of a group of radio amateurs interested in investigating spectrum in the vicinity of 500 kHz. Experimental license WD2XSH was issued September 13. The two-year authorization permits experimentation and research between 505 and 510 kHz (600 meters) using narrowband modes at power levels of up to 20 W effective radiated power (ERP). ARRL Member Fritz Raab, W1FR, of Vermont, will serve as experimental project manager for "The 500 KC Experimental Group for Amateur Radio."
"I'm kind of excited to see how we can apply modern technology to a 'classic part' of the radio spectrum," Raab told ARRL this week. He pointed out that 500 kHz -- the traditional maritime emergency frequency -- is roughly geometrically halfway between the 136 kHz experimental band and the 160 meter amateur allocation.
"In contrast to 160 meters, 500 kHz is low enough to offer good ground wave propagation, but in contrast to 137 kHz it is high enough to allow us to engage in real communication with realistic equipment."
Raab eventually would like to see at least a secondary 600-meter amateur allocation from 495 to 510 kHz.
"Besides the opportunities for experimenting at low frequencies, that frequency is well suited to regional groundwave communication," Raab said. He envisions eventual use of the spectrum to provide Amateur Radio emergency communication via groundwave, without having to deal with the vagaries of the ionosphere or causing interference to any other services.
For about a century, the 500 kHz region was an important band for maritime communication, emergency and otherwise. The band is used on special occasions by "heritage" commercial stations, such as Globe Wireless's KPH on the West Coast. 500 kHz remains designated as an official maritime emergency CW frequency, although the vast majority of maritime users have shifted to satellite-based operation for that purpose.
In addition to experimentation and regional emergency work, Raab says he believes that the 505-510 kHz spectrum could serve as "an historic band" that could support various commemorative special event-type operations. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) has proposed that telecommunications regulator Ofcom establish an Amateur Radio allocation in the vicinity of 500 kHz. The Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) has applied to communications regulator ComReg for a small allocation in the region of 500 kHz for Amateur Radio experimentation.
Raab notes that International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regions 1 and 3 still permit non-directional beacons in the spectrum that the WD2XSH group will be using, but Raab says he's unaware of any actually operating there.
WD2XSH Participants Across the US
The project calls for operation from 21 discrete fixed sites spread throughout the US. Participants all are electrical professionals, many with maritime radio backgrounds.
WD2XSH stations will be on the air from Jamestown, Rhode Island (two sites); Hammond and Jefferson, Louisiana; Bow, New Hampshire; Long Beach, Mississippi; McLean, Virginia; Stanfield, North Carolina; Cookeville, Tennessee; Nederland and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Verndale, Minnesota; Colchester, Vermont; Roland, Arkansas; St Francis, Minnesota; Marshfield, Green Harbor and Wayland, Massachusetts; Batavia, Illinois; Cottage Grove, Oregon, and Buffalo, New York.
Raab says he and another WD2XSH participant were on the air on 505-510 kHz the evening of September 14. The group eventually will be seeking reports from non-participants, he said.
Variety of Equipment, Antennas
Raab says the gear participants will use represents "every kind of antenna and equipment you can imagine," including surplus vacuum-tube maritime units. At his Colchester, Vermont, location he's using a 42-foot vertical, but others are employing inverted Ls, loops and Marconis, among others.
Raab was a co-author of the article "A 100-W Class-D Power Amplifier for LF and MF," which appeared in the March-April edition of QEX. He says he's using an amplifier of that design for his WD2XSH operations.
Other Low-Frequency Experimentation
The FCC turned down a 1998 petition from the ARRL to create an Amateur Radio "sliver band" in the vicinity of 136 kHz, but some US amateur licensees have obtained FCC Part 5 Experimental licenses to research the possibilities of LF, including transatlantic and transpacific propagation.
Experimentation under FCC Part 15 rules in the vicinity of 160 to 190 kHz has been going on for years by radio amateurs and non-amateurs alike. Amateur Radio licensees in Europe and elsewhere already have access to 135.7 to 137.8 kHz. A few hams in Canada have obtained special permission from Industry Canada to operate in that band using Amateur Radio call signs, and most LF Amateur Radio experimentation takes place in this band.
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