Sunday June the 26th 2011 was hot and dry with temperatures in the 30’s C. Monday the 27th brought local lightning and warm dry winds charged with static. It was odd to hear the wind gusting from the ‘radio’ speaker.
Local lightning shows in the recording as vertical red lines, some multiple strikes are very strong.
The wind is seen up to about 1.5kHz.
After a calm period the winds were less gusty and visibly of lower speed the signal produced was generally lower in frequency.
Unbelievable, I hope I have just rid myself of the FakeRean Trojan.
Microsoft Security Essentials let it through.
It masquerades as Microsoft Security Centre and gives Trojan Warnings.
A Microsoft Security Essentials scan says the system is clean.
The latest version of Microsoft Remote Virus Scanner software says the system is clean.
Superantispyware found it and removed it ALMOST.
ALMOST because Microsoft Security Essentials did its daily scan, turned itself off and cannot be re started.
IE Microsoft Security Essentials had allowed itself to be hijacked.
Yet again many hours spent by me removing Trojans from a bad operating system that I paid for, that is full of holes so that Microsoft can try to rape me and continue to make money from me, that has been exploited by people obviously far cleverer than anyone at Microsoft. Why do the public put up with it, why has no one held out their hand to Bill Gates for compensation for wasted time and invasion of privacy while he was amassing his billions.
Here I go again, I am feeling guilty because along with many others in Europe I have been posting messages about VLF on the LF Group. I am only feeling guilty because it has been pointed out that this is OT (Off Topic) and of course it has to be added “there are other groups for this sort of thing”.
Contrast that with another group that could be appropriate but is not populated entirely by Radio Hams. Today someone posted 4 photographs, that some else had sent them, of a Mocking Bird nest with eggs. Now THAT is OT.
I looked at those photos, Mocking Bird eggs are very similar in appearance to Black Bird eggs it seems. I found it interesting, OT, but interesting. Afterwards I deleted the message, I felt no pain, but I did feel a gain, just another little bit of knowledge of our wonderful world.
No little prima-donna threw a hissy fit, the world didn’t end either. The difference is that Group is populated by reasonable people who show an interest in the world and others in the group and their extended interests, surely that is how it should be with Radio hams. At one time you knew if you met a Ham you had a friend with kindred interests. Now he is just as likely to threaten to ‘come round and break yer f’in windows’. Oh yes, I speak from experience, is it this type that has introduced alienation into the Hobby?
Anyway what was I posting? Information about Stefan DK7FC’s latest tests on 8.97kHz and 6.47kHz, just information not captures we don’t want to risk giving the little girlies a heart attack.
Stefan produced the best signal I have ever seen from a Ham on Sub8.9kHz 30dB over the noise in DFCW6000 424uHz FFT.
Here are the Captures safely on my blog where no spoilt kids will shed any tears.
8.9kHz DFCW60 15dB s/n the Morse is readable.
6.47kH DFCW600 20dB s/n
8.9kHz DFCW 600 20dB s/n
The 30dB s/n Captures are too short duration to be of much interest, the test period was too short for the FFT settings, unless YOU are into short bright white lines of course.
Funny thing I didn’t want to become a VLF ULF RX Station, I still don’t want to produce a dedicated RX for the region. BUT when the bug bites and you get some results you want to improve things and try out new techniques. Everything done at one frequency, techniques tried, routines programmed, skills learned is of use and transferable to other frequencies. It is all part of Self Training one of the terms of the Amateur Radio Licence.
That is why I am astounded by the non flexible attitude of some Hams who complain about posts to a Group because the frequency range falls outside the strict terms of the Group Title ie VLF on the LF Group. Such narrow mindedness discourages both the newcomer, and the old hands from trying anything which breaks the self invented, self imposed, rules of the miseries, and mentioning it to their friends on the group. I wonder if they ever stop to consider if the very lack of activity they complain of is due to these attitudes. In Amateur Radio there is not a lot of sense in driving everyone else away so you can have the hobby to yourself.
If several members of LF Group have varied interests seemingly they must go join or invent splinter groups to satisfy those who sit and moan that there is no LF activity on the Group, don’t do anything about it themselves, promise to go QRT but never give us the pleasure of them taking up Elephant Washing and stopping moaning about radio.
My recent improvements involved widening the display and labelling the frequencies used by ZEVS. The widening meant increasing the FFT integration time for better display. None of this could be done without Wolf’s Spectrum Lab, he gets credit on my Grabber and those of almost every Grabber operator world wide I would think, or do some pretend it is their own software they are using.
Today’s 0800 transmission was excellent.
I have been running Pen Plots in Spectrum Lab, I decided to try a readable Pen Plot View of ZEVS, setting 4 Pens to track, the Start/Idle Freq. High Data, Low Data and the Space Freq.
The 0800 transmission produced a perfect plot, I have marked it for easier interpretation.
Radio - LF/MF to Microwaves 