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The ARRL DXCC List -- Now Shipping! -- February 2008 Edition. DX Century Club (DXCC) rules and current entities listing.

The Complete DX'er -- Temporarily Out-of-Stock! -- Covers nearly every significant aspect of DXing. 3rd edition.

RSGB Prefix Guide -- Now Shipping! -- The complete guide to prefix identification and information. DXCC listings by prefix, award details, and more. 8th edition.

DXCC Yearbook -- The DXing year-in-review. Interesting articles about the year's DXing activities and the Clinton B. DeSoto Cup and DXCC Challenge standings.

Passport to World Band Radio -- 2008 Edition. The ultimate shortwave listening reference!

VLF (Very Low Frequency)

ARRL Technical Information Service page · TIS Menu page

Introduction

A VLF band already exists in the US, but it's not an Amateur Radio allocation yet. A lot of "lowfer" (Low Frequency Experimental Radio) activity occurs in the 160 to 190-kHz region--the so-called 1750-meter band, authorized under Part 15 of the FCC regulations. Right now, you don't need a license to operate on 1750 meters, but there are severe legal restrictions on what you can put on the air there. For starters, you can't run more than 1 W input to the transmitter's final stage, and the entire length of the transmission line and antenna combined cannot exceed 15 meters (approximately 50 feet). That's not much antenna for a band where a half-wavelength antenna would be more than one-half mile long! Hams that operate on 1750 meters sometimes use just their call sign suffix as an ID.

Right now, a few hundred experimenters occupy the band in the US, and several of them have set up CW beacons on 1750 meters (many between 180 and 190 kHz), so you might take a listen if you have a receiver that tunes those nether regions. A lot of equipment for the band is homebrew, but commercial equipment is becoming more available.

For an introduction to an experimental band, see Lowfing on 1750 Meters. See also the list of other articles on VLF.

Additional resources

The ARRL Handbook
The ARRL Antenna Book
QST Magazine

The ARRL has an extensive catalog of books and materials related to Amateur Radio.

Articles

Note: Some of the following articles are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To view and print these files, you'll need a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader program. (Version 3.0 or later required). More information here.

Note:

Contact information for suppliers mentioned in the above articles should first be confirmed using TIS Address Database Search.

Bibliography (Members Only)

ARRL Periodicals Index Search - This database contains the QST index from 1915 to the present and the QEX index from 1981 to the present. For QST issues from 1970 to the present, and some selected articles back to 1922 (when construction articles featuring tubes began in earnest), identifying keywords have been added to the technical articles. By entering keywords (ANTENNA) or combinations of keywords (CONSTRUCTION ANTENNA VERTICAL HF) into the Title words: field, you may create dynamic bibliographies.
Technical article KEYWORD list. Hints for more successful searching

Suggested keywords for more articles like the ones on this page are: VLF

Web Links:

Article Reprints:

You can get a photocopy of any ARRL published article for $3 ($5 for nonmembers) for each article requested. Contact the ARRL Technical Department (reprints@arrl.org ), 1-860-594-0390) if you wish to get photocopies.


This information was prepared as a membership service by the American Radio Relay League, Inc., Technical Information Service, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594-0214. Email: tis@arrl.org (Internet). ARRL HQ is glad to provide this information on the Web free of charge as a service to League members and affiliated clubs.

If you have any questions concerning the reproduction or distribution of this material, please contact:



Page last modified: 12:12 PM, 23 Jul 2007 ET
Page author: tis@arrl.org
Copyright © 2007, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.