How I got on 630 meters

The lack of commercial amateur radio equipment for the bands below 160 meters forces hams to get creative, and there are as many ways to get on 630 meters and 2300 meters as there are hams operating on those bands. Mark, AE2EA, shows the approach that he took to get on 630 meters by utilizing a repurposed non directional beacon, a modified HP downconverter, and a reconfigured 80 meter dipole antenna.
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[@cwguy8960]

Very cool! Per the map, your little signal still gets out! Nice job!! / N0DET

[@buckbrown823]

Super informative on getting the "optimum" of what is available and making the effective best of what "practically" can be done.

[@SteveWithnell]

This video is an excellent piece of work and stands head and shoulders above the typical videos that gets posted. A lot of great ideas for my 630m startup mission. Thank you.

[@wadepatton2433]

It was, shall we say, well-engineered!
Very very low percentage of videos this detailed and concise on any subject on this yt. Kudos.

[@TheArtofEngineering]

As a ships radio officer, who spent time in purgatory on oil rigs, I have had some horrid experiences with NDB antennas. Whilst on leave the rig NDB antenna was destroyed in a cyclone. On my return (not being told this had happened), I had irate chopper pilots inbound with no fix till 3 miles outs (normally they got me 100nm out, dependent on altitude). On perusing the antenna I was shocked to find our heavily loaded whip had been replaced with an old HF whip!!! This "repair" was care of BUZZ our well meaning electrician from the deep south, who said "it's the same length so should work fine!!". I gave up trying to explain resonance, and should have known better, as on a previous occasion he chopped my airband VHF coax but "fixed it" by splicing it with electrical tape.....on that occasion I spent some time trying to explain VSWR!!! Thanks for the video I love the mystique of the big wavelengths, not to forget that WT ships at sea used this band too, I sent on 4?? kHz channels WT in the 80's...forgot the frequencies!! 73 de VK2AOE

[@N9CQX]

Very nicely done. You explained the total operation in a logical A to Z presentation. Now I gotta go back and try to understand it all...HI

[@mikem5043]

Nice seeing the old NDB equipment being repurposed. I have navigated and shot many approaches using NDBs over the years. Next to go are the VOR stations which are already being slowly phased out

[@ae2ea]

With the number of NDBs being decommissioned, it's surprising that more don't show up for sale.

[@filip9a3bcw75]

HAHA! The joke at the beginning really cracked me up! Great video!

[@zipWith]

I'm impressed with the audio quality of this! A lot of pieces to camera by amateurs are almost inaudible over background noise

[@ae2ea]

Thanks, I shot it on my phone but I used a lavalier microphone clipped to my coat, not the phone mic.

[@sorin-davidnimara5046]

Very nice, thanks!

[@sophoklesgreek3237]

impressive kit ... and great explanation. thank u

[@RadioHamGuy]

Great setup, thanks for showing us! That can be a fun band, have done monitoring there.

[@guylmonty]

Fascinating topic. Great job on the video. Well done.

[@jamielabadia7596]

Mark, great video. I often receive you on 630 meters. Great signal into the Catskills. I'm mostly on c.w. down around 474.0 kc/s. Hope to work you soon! Jamie (N2VJ).

[@ae2ea]

Thanks Jamie. Wish I was a CW op but my brain doesn't work that way. G0MRF has a CW beacon at 474.20KHz

[@survivalcomms]

I have a friend's SA25 NDB on my bench right now that we are going to set up as a CW beacon. We have the same autotuner as well. Thanks for sharing !

[@survivalcomms]

@@WirelessMuseum It truly is . I have been going through the SA25 the past couple of days. Working on equipment of this generation is really a pleasure.

[@dhavlena]

correction to comment below: should read “MF telegraph”

[@leepovey9084]

Great setup, I’d like to try this on 630mtrs. Is there an alternative to the signal generator attached to the down converter? Just to reduce the cost. Thanks

[@SeattlePioneer]

So....
What will be the next commercial band abandoned and left for the use of amateurs?
Let's hope we get the commercial AM broadcast band soon!
All the receivers available for that band might spark a new generation of amateur radio operators!
WA7QQY

[@ae2ea]

I think that it will be the AM broadcast band. Some stations have been giving up their licenses and selling off their assets because the real estate under their towers is worth more than the AM broadcasting business revenues.

[@SeattlePioneer]

I'm imagining an amateur CW beacon service....
Suppose you had a continuous transmission of a CW message inviting anyone interested to leave a reply that would be recorded during a break with a reply to be left at a later time. Then the message would repeat after a break of 3 minutes or so.
Come back when convenient and replay any messages left for you earlier.
Any problems with that?

[@bhamptonkc7]

I am guessing there is no way to get on 630 portable. Just putting out a buttload. Of wire won’t do it, loran and differential gps are a couple hundred kHz

[@kartwood]

Thanks for this! What frequency might I hear you on? VE1TV.

[@ae2ea]

The digital activity is around 474.2 KHz USB

[@allenbryant]

Would you happen to know of any resources for repurposing old PLC equipment for use on 2200m and 630m?

[@ae2ea]

I haven't heard of anyone using PLC hardware on MF or LF. Sounds intriguing though.

[@jamescollier3]

Tell me you are an EE, without telling me you are an EE

[@wadepatton2433]

I'm going to have to watch this with a retired EE for some translations here and there...and maybe to also instigate him into becoming a lowfer, for local ally in such endeavors.