Monday 22 June 2020

Hunting For NDBs In CLE257





It's another CLE weekend!


During these stressful times, the CLE might provide some pleasant distraction for you.





'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum.

This time the hunting ground is the 50kHz slice from 190 - 239.9 kHz as well as any beacons on 'half-way' frequencies (see below for more info).

A good target for this one is 'YZA' (236kHz) in Ashcroft, BC, shown above. YZA's gets out well as its 500W has been logged from Hawaii to Nova Scotia.

Listen for YZA's upper sideband on 236.403 kHz with your receiver in the CW mode.

From CLE coordinator Brian Keyte (G3SIA), comes the following CLE info:

Hello all,

 

Do try not to miss our 257th co-ordinated listening event - it starts this Friday at midday.  This should be an ideal CLE to try out for the first time, but everyone is welcome of course.

 

    Days:  Fri. 26th - Mon. 29th June, Midday-Midday, your local time

    Frequencies:   NDBs from 190 - 239.9 kHz

    PLUS:  Normal NDBs with carriers on 'half-way' frequencies nnn.5 kHz

                           from 190.5 - 999.5 kHz (some ‘gentle’ listening!)

 

So for all of us it is a CLE in two parts - the first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are lower than 240 kHz.

 

The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way'.  E.g. 267.5 OPW, 333.5 VOG, 370.5 LB, 377.5 MO (in OCE), 381.5 SJX (in Ml), 390.5 ITR and 433.5 HEN 'Normal' NDBs - no DGPS, please.

 

  (Most Europe listeners will hear few or none from part 1, while

   listeners away from Europe will hear few or none from part 2)

 

The seeklists from REU/RNA/RWW will help you - you will find them from the CLE SEEKLIST link on the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm

 

Please send your final CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text email and not in an attachment, showing 'CLE257' and 'FINAL' in its title.

(Loggings from both parts can be shown in the same list)

Please include on EVERY line of your log:

 

  #  The date (or just the day 'dd') and UTC (days change at 00:00 UTC).

  #  kHz - the beacon's nominal frequency.

  #  The Call Ident.

 

It is important to show those main items FIRST - any other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc. go LATER in the same line.

 

Don't forget to give your OWN location and details of your receiver and aerial(s), etc. Others will be interested to know, especially new members - and old ones with failing memories like mine!

 

Listening on the 'half-way' frequencies means we might also catch some interesting non-CLE beacons - please tell us about those too, but in a separate list.  If any of them are UNIDs whose carriers seem to be on 'half-way' frequencies include them in your main list of course.

 

Joachim and I will be processing the incoming logs as usual - please look out for our 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday evening, with a list to let you check that your own log has been found OK.

 

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the NDB List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 1 July.

 

Good listening

   Brian

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From:     Brian Keyte G3SIA             ndbcle'at'gmail.com

Location: Surrey, SE England           (CLE Coordinator)

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(If you wish you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,

stating the location and owner - and with their permission if required.

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, local or remote,

to make further loggings for the same CLE)

 

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These listening events serve several purposes. They:
  • determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the online database can be kept up-to-date
  • determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range
  • will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations
  • will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working
  • give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed
Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other listeners in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers. 

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!

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