2200 meters and 630 meters now open to amateurs in the USA

[Smurf Hunter]

http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2017/03/flash-fcc-approves-new-mflf-ham-bands.html

I don't know much about LF/MF.  On the surface these are limited to what we'd consider QRP on HF.
The bandwidth would be very narrow, so I'm unsure what modes would fit there.
Also the idea of an antenna sized to 1/2 wavelength seems close to impossible for a hobbyist to achieve.

[armymars]

  Part 15 use to allow 10 watts on 1650 meters. Most people on that frequency used a short verticals with large top hats. If you check out the 1929 ARRL hand book you'll see they use folded dipoles with 3 or more wires.   

[Alan Georges]

I'm guessing that these bands will be best for blanketing a small area with signal, and will essentially ignore interference from hills.  MW can do amazing stuff at night in winter, but it's hard to see how these permitted low power levels will be able to overcome distant lighting noise in the summer.

The one thing that looks really interesting is ground wave propagation over salt water.  WWL in New Orleans blankets the northern Gulf coast this way, even in the daytime.  (Here's a coverage map: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WWL-AM)  It's "way up" at 345 meters (i.e., 0.870 MHz).  Admittedly WWL broadcasts at 50kw, but it it uses relatively inefficient amplitude modulation.  How will a narrowband data signal perform over salt water, down in these new bands?

Interesting ham geek stuff, but I'm not sure how relevant it will ultimately be to what we discuss here at TSP.  But who knows, maybe this'll spur a renaissance in loop antenna design or something, and we'll all end up with something practical.

[Carl]

  I will wait till Baofeng produces the handy sized version with pocket antenna.

[Alan Georges]

  I will wait till Baofeng produces the handy sized version with pocket antenna.

They're waiting on Radio Shack to introduce one, so that they can cheaply clone the design.

[Smurf Hunter]

Maybe one of us should troll the next brush beater post on guerilla comms and suggest these bands

[Alan Georges]

Coming to a shack near you, October 16th:
https://swling.com/blog/2017/09/fcc-opens-630220-meters-october-16-pre-registration-required/

Maybe one of us should troll the next brush beater post on guerilla comms and suggest these bands

I'm staying out of that funhouse, but will look in the windows from time to time to see they cook up.  Maybe a hardware mod to transmit on these bands with an FT-817?

[backwoods_engineer]

I just gave notice to the utility council that I intend to transmit on 472-478 kHz no less than 30 days from now.
We'll see if they object.

[Smurf Hunter]

I just gave notice to the utility council that I intend to transmit on 472-478 kHz no less than 30 days from now.
We'll see if they object.

I admire your pioneer spirit.

[Alan Georges]

It's going to be interesting to see what uses turn up for these bands.  I'm not diving in yet, but hats off to you BE.  Keep us posted on what turns up.

[backwoods_engineer]

I'll start by listening.  My transceiver has a general coverage receiver that covers 472-479 kHz also.  I plan to build a Beverage receive antenna first.  (Good thing I'm buying some land soon).  There are some guys that plan to start transmitting soon on FT8 and JT65.

I'll have to build a power downconverter so I go down from (for example) 5.472 MHz to 0.472 MHz.  They say antenna efficiencies for reasonable heights on 630m are terrible, around 2%.

[LodeRunner]

Coming to a shack near you, October 16th:
https://swling.com/blog/2017/09/fcc-opens-630220-meters-october-16-pre-registration-required/

I'm staying out of that funhouse, but will look in the windows from time to time to see they cook up.  Maybe a hardware mod to transmit on these bands with an FT-817?

Chicken.  We have a lot of fun on the BB blog.

And you'd be surprised what can be done on 630M, even with modest antennas - i.e. a G5RV or a 160M inverted-L.
You've gotta wind a loading coil, of course, but that's not rocket science.  And there's a number of kits for exciters and amplifiers, if you're not ready to build from scratch.
One I can recommend is the QRPLabs U3S - it does WSPR, QRSS, and CW on any band from 2200M to 2M, and can be set up for multiple bands - up to 6 with the [optional] 6BPF relay board, or whatever your DIY inclinations are.  Power output is about 1/4 watt below 30Mhz (with 5 volts on the final).  It can produce more RF output with 12V on the final, even more with 12V and an additional FET in the output stage...up to about 2 watts - this makes it a good stand-alone beacon for HF WSPR and as a QRP/CW rig, but 1/4~1/2 watt is plenty to drive my amp with.

FWIW, antenna efficiency isn't as bad as you think on 475Khz.  For a typical 'flattop G5RV' plus  a loading coil with good Q (i.e.about 300 or higher) and a decent set of ground radials, you could get as high as 7% to 9% efficiency.  With a 160M inverted-L and good groundplane, you could get as high as 10% to 12% efficient.

At 10% antenna efficiency, you still only need about 35 watts out of the amp to be at [the maximum allowed] 5 watts EIRP. (remember, the "I" stands for Isotropic)
There are no contesters, there are no stations with 2KW amps and 8-element arrays, and there are no appliance operators on 475Khz, so its easy to have fun and experiment.  And you'll be amazed how far 1 to 5 watts EIRP goes at night.  US/Australia and US/Japan contacts have already been made.  US/Europe contacts happen every night using CW, JT9, and other modes.  There's already a lot of activity. 
Tune in and check it out - you might decide to give it a try after all.

I bought a QRPLabs U3S kit and built it so I could get on the air quickly.  The kit is awesome, and the customer service was excellent.  The base transmitter kit is just $49 -- I spent $76 because I bought LowPass filters for several bands, plus a GPS module so I'd have integrated timesync and gridsquare data for WSPR - no laptop needed, the internal micro-controller does it all. 
Disclaimer:  I hold no financial or other pecuniary interest in QRPLabs - I am just really impressed with their product.

I built my own power amp on an old chunk of heatsink from an ancient stereo amplifier - I used a pair of [cheap] IRF-840s and about $20 worth of Mix #77 ferite material - two FB-77-1024 "beads" for the output tranny, and an FT-140-77 for the DC input choke  (ordered both the FETs and Ferites, plus the resistors and sundries I didn't have in the junk box from Mouser).  For about $50 I built an amp that will give 90 watts out for just over 1 watt input.  So only about 300mW drive is required to get me to the 35~40 watts output I need...  drive control is as simple as varying the voltage on the final transistor of the U3S kit.  About 6.5 volts gets me to exactly 5W EIRP (based on measured field strength).

My coil is about 200 feet of 12ga.solid [house wire] wound to 75 turns on a 12" sono-tube cardboard former (for cement piers).  Wire and Sonotube both bought at Lowes-Depot several years ago when I first started experimenting with LF/MF - cost about $40 all together.  Some folks will build a 'variometer' to make the coil adjustable so they can trim the antenna tuning easily.  I just use coil taps and get 'close enough', my setup works just fine.  And it's much simpler without having to build a variometer.

I'm receiving on my HF rig - an IC-746Pro - with a separate receive antenna, which is just a 500-foot loop of wire [on the ground] going into a 4:1 BALUN, then coax to the rig.  Theres no resonating or tuning the receive antenna, and no preamp is needed - It just works (this Loop-on-Ground antenna is also awesome for 160, 40, and 30 meters).


So there you have it.  For about $150 you can get on 475Khz and have a bunch of fun, and probably work some DX in the process.

Cheers,
Loderunner

[LodeRunner]

I'll start by listening.  My transceiver has a general coverage receiver that covers 472-479 kHz also.  I plan to build a Beverage receive antenna first.  (Good thing I'm buying some land soon).  There are some guys that plan to start transmitting soon on FT8 and JT65.

I'll have to build a power downconverter so I go down from (for example) 5.472 MHz to 0.472 MHz.  They say antenna efficiencies for reasonable heights on 630m are terrible, around 2%.

Before trying a "beverage", which is rather directional if it's long enough (1/2 wavelength is bare minimum - which is just over a thousand feet at 630M) try a loop antenna.  Get a 500ft. roll of 16ga or 14ga THHN stranded wire and lay it out on the ground in a roughly rectangular shape, 100'X150', or as close as you can get to that.  Feed with a 4:1 current BALUN and you're in business.  This antenna is also good for lower HF - 160~40 meters.

[backwoods_engineer]

Before trying a "beverage", which is rather directional if it's long enough (1/2 wavelength is bare minimum - which is just over a thousand feet at 630M) try a loop antenna.  Get a 500ft. roll of 16ga or 14ga THHN stranded wire and lay it out on the ground in a roughly rectangular shape, 100'X150', or as close as you can get to that.  Feed with a 4:1 current BALUN and you're in business.  This antenna is also good for lower HF - 160~40 meters.

Thanks for the advice.  I've got plenty of room now that I have 16 acres, and lots of trees.  I  might just try a loop.

[LodeRunner]

Thanks for the advice.  I've got plenty of room now that I have 16 acres, and lots of trees.  I  might just try a loop.

NP.  I've done a lot of modeling and experimentation with RX antennas over the last few years, and one thing I've learned is that a loop, on or very near the ground, is an excellent aperiodic (non-resonant) receive antenna for signals arriving at moderate angles.  Such a loop tends to work best where the circumference of the loop is 0.2 to 1.75 wavelengths (using Fmhz/1005 = 1wl in feet).  There's a 'dead spot' right around 2wl that results from a loop that length preferring signals *very* much off it's edge (i.e. arrival angles below 5 degrees) which are seriously attenuated when the loop is on the ground, or very low to the ground (and what isn't "low" in terms of wl, at 630M, right?).

With a 500 foot loop, you get a best-sensitivity range of 400Khz to 3.5Mhz.  The "dead spot" centered at "2 wavelengths" is at the top edge of 75 meters (3950~4020Khz depending on height and soil characteristics).  If you find it necessary to move that "dead spot" out of your way for 75M, trim 10~16 feet off the length of the wire, and that will push the "dead spot" up to about 4100Khz - but try it at 500Ft. first... you'll probably do just fine.
It might sound unusual, but I can actually transmit on 160M with my 500-foot Loop-on-Ground and easily make NVIS contacts.  A similarly provisioned 250-foot loop made an excellent NVIS transmit antenna for 80/75 meters here.  (I eliminated the 250-foot loop to make room for the 500-foot version)

Oh, and congrats on buying your rural property... let the fun begin  ;P

Cheers
/LR

[LodeRunner]

I'm guessing that these bands will be best for blanketing a small area with signal...

The one thing that looks really interesting is ground wave propagation over salt water. 

Interesting ham geek stuff, but I'm not sure how relevant it will ultimately be to what we discuss here at TSP. 

Alan,

On 630M there is substantial skywave at night. There can be decent Trans-Polar Skywave, even during daylight.   
Skywave propagation on 630M is essentially global when the D-Layer is not ionized by the sun.  Even with the limited emission power of 5Watts EIRP intercontinental contacts are proving to be pretty easy  to accomplish.

On 2200M Skywave doesn't really exist - the wavelength is so long that the E and F layers create a kind of "duct" (with the earth as the other side of the duct)  that can conduct signals a long way whether day or night.  So down here in the LF spectrum we still have two main propagational modes, but they are Groundwave and Ducting.  This is what makes LF (and VLF, wish we had a band down there!) so interesting...

On 630M you can get between 5% and 10% efficiency with a 'typical' transmit antenna, i.e. using a G5RV as a Marconi-T antenna worked against a substantial ground, or an 80M or 160M Inverted-L antenna - again, worked against a substantial ground.  With such a setup, the key concerns are minimizing losses in the resonating coil, and maximizing the GROUND portion of your setup.  So, at 10% efficiency you would need 35 watts of transmitter output to get 5 Watts of EIRP --- Yes, 35 watts, not 50 watts; because the "I" in EIRP stands for Isotropic, and a real antenna doesn't radiate evenly into a full sphere (Isotropically), it radiates into *roughly* half a sphere, so you have to reduce power by another ~2.8dB. 
35~75 Watts is easy to produce with a simple amplifier, and that plus about 400uH of matching coil is all you need to max out at 5W-EIRP with reasonable (suburban lot sized) antennas.  And you need a good ground - see the description below under 2200M antennas.

2200M is a very different story.  Even 1% efficiency is hard to achieve with antennas that fit in a typical (suburban sized) ham's antenna farm.  What this means is that you're going to need 100 to 250 watts of power out of your LF amplifier to get close to the 1Watt EIRP limit - again, using an existing HF antenna such as a G5RV or Inverted-L
plus a BIG matching coil (1 to 5 miliHenries - figure 1 foot diameter, 2 feet long) and a really good ground - figure 20 radials, each `50' long, plus several ground rods.

As for which modes to use - CW, JT9/WSPR, Olivia, QRSS and DFCW are all common down on LF/MF.
For CW, and Olivia I'd use FLDigi.  For JT (and WSPR) there's WSJT/WSJT-X, and for QRSS and DFCW theres Spectran (simple to use) and Spectrum Lab (very complex) plus Argo (older, runs well on very old computers).

Regional coverage on 630M is excellent, even with modest antennas.  That's where I'd recommend you start your LF/MF journey. 
2200M is for the "advanced builders" in the crowd who want  a technical challenge.

[antnn1]

LodeRunner,  I know this is an older post, but had some questions if you're still active on here (tried sending a private message to you but it comes up as error).   So we can use an existing 160M inverted L on the 2200 & 630M bands, with a good ground radial plane & seperate loading coils. 


-If the ground radials for a 160M inverted L consists of about 33 wires at 100 ft long each, would that be good enough for the 2200 & 630M bands?


-You mentioned that you use your 160M inverted L for the 2200 & 630M bands (with coils).  How many ground radial wires do you have, & what are the lengths?


Thanks

[Mr. Bill]

LodeRunner is no longer a member here.  But maybe some other knowledgable members can answer you.  (Sorry, that doesn't include me!)

Also, welcome to the forum!

[exSun]

...
-If the ground radials for a 160M inverted L consists of about 33 wires at 100 ft long each, would that be good enough for the 2200 & 630M bands?
...

Define "good enough." Note that the allowed ERPs for these bands are very low. The low power usually results from running a lot of power into a very inefficient antenna system. Unless you are blessed with 500 foot tall towers you won't have an efficient system on 630m. And unless you can hang a curtain from one side of a large valley to the other, with miles of ground counterpoise, you won't have an efficient system for 2200m. So take what you have, do the best modeling you can to get the estimated efficiency, then do what you can to approach the allowed ERP and you will certainly be able to be heard by somebody, somewhere.

-Chris