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Posted by Bruce WA1HGJ on January 30, 2025 at 13:44:55.
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Last night, 1-30-2025 @ 0123 UTC I heard what sounded like a time signal on 209.37 kHz. These were short ticks or beeps at 1 second intervals, with no additional changes at the top of the minute (like DCF77 on 77.5 kHz, which drops the 59th second break). It sounded “far away,” similar to propagation effects one sometimes hears on CW signals in the higher frequency HF ham bands (as if hearing both short path and long path simultaneously) and indeed after several minutes of listening, it gradually faded back into the noise. I’ve never heard this 209.37 kHz signal before. MJ, an NDB on 209 kHz, is in Manchester, NH, 30 miles from my QTH. I site visited it a year or so ago for a little article I wrote up for The Lowdown. So I’m pretty familiar with MJ on 209 kHz, its two 1000 Hz modulated side bands at 208 and 210 kHz, plus sometimes another 209 kHz NDB, MT (Chibougamau, QC) with its USB 400 Hz modulation on 209.40 kHz. Indeed, last night I could hear ALL of these, plus the new 1 second tick or beep signal on 209.37 kHz, before the latter faded. It was impossible to tell if the 209.37 kHz signal was a “stand alone“ or a modulated USB of a third carrier on 209 kHz (there was no carrier audible on 210 kHz). I know there are a bunch of LW time stations, but most seem to be below 100 kHz (an exception would be TDF in France on 162 kHz). Another possibility is that the 209.37 kHz signal is a utility signal of some sort. Has anyone else heard this 209.37 kHz 1 second tick/beep signal? Seems an odd frequency for this sort of thing. Just going on record here. Speculations welcome. 73, Bruce WA1HGJ
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