I don’t have an NOV for Dreamers Band, actually I don’t think I will ever TX on 8.9kHz, I am keen though on RX’ing those Hams that are TX’ing. It’s a challenge too.
I have made several trips down to the bottom end of radio with mixed results. Here there is another learning curve over and above the low signal experience we have from Knights QRSS.
Antenna wise I previously used my 40m Doublet with a couple of hundred mH switched coil, this produced results on the band but was not going to be good enough to look for 8.9kHz Ham signals for sure.
More recently I have built an 800mm square tuned Loop Antenna, this performs well but the UK weather has curtailed any attempts to try it outside. Indoor antennas are not good at VLF the pick up of QRM from the mains is huge as was also evident with the tuned Doublet which has one leg in close proximity to the house.
Next I built an E Probe Antenna, various indoor locations whilst testing it showed the need for installation in the clear. I now have this temporarily installed as far away from any houses as possible at this QTH and on a 4m insulated pole. Initial tests were with an internal PP3 battery, no good when mounted at 4m above ground so my latest tests have been with a 12 Volt Lead Acid Battery in the shed on which the antenna is mounted. This shed has a 1 Amp Solar Panel on the roof which powers my Greenhouse Solar Thermal storage system, using forward thinking, when I fitted it there several years ago it was with a probe supply in mind. The solar supply will be made switch-able so that it can be used to charge the E Probe battery once the weather gets suitable.
Here is the E probe approximately 4m agl 15m from the shack, good old gaffer tape for the temporary mounting, it’s not as close to the Holly tree as it looks in the picture.
The results once outside with some hight were outstanding.
The above picture shows the Alpha stations in the clear when the probe was just 2m high and 3m from the shack. I had never seen the Alpha’s in the clear.
The need to be clear of radiation from the mains supplies of ourselves and neighbours is illustrated by this capture of our domestic vacuum cleaner in operation on a rare shack cleaning session. This is being picked up by the probe 15m away. The peaky frequency shifts are due to load changes on the motor.
I have looked for Stephan DK7FC’s signals on 8.9kHz using the previous antenna set ups with zero results, I look forward to more tests from him. Chris G3XIZ has tested since my E probe install also with zero results, we are both working on improvements which may get some amateur signals on my screen.
When we were testing at the weekend Stephan advised that using OCXO on transmit produces a signal that is not stable enough to enable very slow FFT techniques to give the required advantage, I understand the theory and believe every word he says, he is one of the most experienced operators, I immediately changed to a faster FFT set up.
Having never seen a Ham signal in the band I have not seen a comparison. I wondered if I could produce a signal for myself. Using a 100kHz crystal and a divider I produced a square wave from the chip, coupling this to my 800mm square Loop the RF to the antenna calculates to be less than 650 micro Watts. I have no idea of the antenna efficiency but is going to be very low therefore ERP is likely to be fractions of a pico Watt I reckon.
So here is my best DX on the Dreamers Band a long carrier then a QRSS3 ‘G’ for ident, as received on the E Probe at approximately 15m. Looks stable enough doesn’t it?
Now I can try a comparison, using QRSS120 TX and 4mHz resolution at the ‘receive end’. I sent just the ‘G’, admittedly I keyed the power to the ‘TX’ on and off in both tests so drift is enhanced and the phase interupted, however the 10dB above the noise signal is very ragged, a nice practical demonstration I think that the technique needs precision locking of the TX and RX. It is clear that a signal buried in the noise would remain buried.
Radio - LF/MF to Microwaves 
