Howdy Listeners,
Monitoring here in Delaware was focused on two frequencies:
3995 KHz, Radio DW's big SWL signal from Germany
13.980 MHz, 2nd harmonic of 6.99 MHz.
3995 was its usual steady signal on the 80M dipole running tightly between
15 dB to 30 dB over S-9 on the Drake R-4. I watched that meter for 15
minutes before the beginning of the test and for 15 minutes after the
starting time. No hint of inospheric changes were seen. No decreases and
no enhancements. No change in the fade rate nor extremes of QSB levels either.
Close to 11:30 there was an estimated 300-500 millisecond burst of what
sounded like arcing or fast rep-rate digital noise on 13.980. This was
heard again about 3 minutes later. This 'noise' was not heard on 3995 or on
the Sony ICF-SW-7600G that was tuned to 6.99 MHz. I can't confirm where the
noise came from but do not believe it was local to my environment. It never
appeared during the 15 minutes before of after the bottom of the hour and
the band seemed quite dead. Receiver was a Drake R-4B (vs R-4 plain,
above), antenna was a 20M vertical hanging delta loop, tilted back 15
degrees to enhance the Northwest.
Both Drake rx's were run through tuneable High-Pass/Lowpass filters/tuners
to help reduce out of band noise and signals from effecting the tests and
the Sony was used on batteries with it's telescoping whip. The Sony did
copy the SSB junk on the frequency but no HAARP CW. All other electronic
equipment in the 3 acre area was unplugged, including that darn VCR that
radiates broad spectrum crud from the display/drivers/clock.
At least they didn't set the sky on fire, Jim K3QIO
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