Airpsy YouLoop passive antenna review on VLF & LF with an HF+ Discovery and SDR# during storms!
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- In response to a user comment about the Airspy YouLoop performance on LF & VLF, I performed a real world test on a stormy night in Europe. Plenty of submarine communications were taking place!
Previous Airspy YouLoop review can be found at • $35 Airspy YouLoop Pas...
Please note that the YouLoop requires an HDR receiver such as the Airspy HF+ Discovery Software Defined Radio used in this video.
Stations were ID'd using several websites, including
en.wikipedia.o...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.sigidwiki....
www.smeter.net...
and a cached page from MWList (webcache.googl...)
I'm not overly familiar with what VLF and low LF signals should be receivable in Europe, so I'll leave it for you to comment on whether you think I was getting good performance from the YouLoop or not.
I look forward to your comments :-)
Thanks for watching the Frugal Radio (FR) channel!
Nice video. To the stations you requested info on, 129.1 kHz is DCP49, rundsteuerung Mainflingen, Germany in F1B ascii-8 200 Bd mode, 139.0 kHz is DCF39, runsteuerung Burg, Germany in the same mode. 61.8 kHz is GIZ20, marine Inskip, UK in F1B ITA-2 _ 100Bd mode. The Youloop seems to work fine. I have a Moebius loop (active) wich is a bit of family to the youloop. Also the Airspy Discovery is a very fine SDR that also runs in my SDRconsole network.
Thanks for the extra info! I've been surprised by the performance of the passive YouLoop. I hadn't expected a lot from it in the VLF range.
The signals around 128.5 and 138.5 kHz are DCF39 and DCF49, power-line and power-plant remote control telemetry signals broadcasting from Berlin, Germany.
Very fascinating to learn of these. Thanks for filling us in @Ascii Wolf
What? No, they are broadcasting from Mainflingen, Germany
All I would get here where I live is just NAA on 24 kHz and that other station on 25.2 kHz, but no other signals unless it's outside the apartment window. I am happy that you're receiving VLF with a $35 passive loop antenna. You must be located in another continent picking up these signals straight from Europe. I live on the East Coast of Virginia.
Thanks for your connect comment. I am in Europe right now since my flights back to North America have been cancelled a few times since lockdown happened! The antenna is inside my windowless loft. I may try some outdoor experiments with the YouLoop.
Thank you, gentleman, for your contribution to spreading the culture of radio listening. 73 de IZ7VHF, Roberto, southern Italy.
Radio is so interesting, I hope more people become interested in the hobby! Have a great day Roberto. 73.
Hey that was extremely informative and entertaining over here in the colonies. I need to check for the back and find this antenna you were using for my station here. Thank you very much new subscriber here and stay safe n
Glad you enjoyed the video! There is just so much available to listen to out there. Thanks for subscribing 😃
Interesting "travel" to VLF-LF bands :)
If you replace antenna with electret mic, you can hear interesting SSB communications from bat,s and bird,s.
I don't know if this is a serious comment or not!
@@FrugalRadio I use homebrew heterodyne bat detector to hear bats and birds - sounds is interesting. I try PC software radio software on pc and bird call recordings - with ssb mode I can downconvert 13kHz band to under 1kHz and get interesting and funny bird sounds, sometimes sound,s like star war laser war,s...
So you were serious then. Fair enough. I've never experimented with anything like that. Sounds like you could make some good sounds effects.
@@dennis8019You can use any VLF -LF receiver with CW, SSB demodulator, or use homebrew DC receiver...
How to connect electrec microphone, can find in internet.
In my channel can see homebrew heterodyne bat detector circuit ( DC receiver ).
Hi, 129.100 (and 139KHz) is EFR Teleswitch (Germany)
Yes, someone else mentioned that in the comments. Very interesting!
Your video made me start scanning the LW bands in my area I think I'm hearing some beacons.
Hi Michael, great discovery! Yes there are lots of aviation beacons that lie between LW & MW bands. They broadcast an identifier in Morse code. Using that you can look up a list to find out which beacons you are receiving. You will notice a dramatic difference between night & day! The aviation beacons are called NDBs (Non Directional Beacons).
Thank you for this review!
Thank you for making a good antenna at such a reasonable price :-)
Very interesting!!! Great response of Youloop..Thanks you, Sir for this testing. 73 XE1007SWL, Mr. Magdiel Cruz in Mexico.
You're most welcome my friend. It is amazing that such a small antenna can receive wavelengths that are so long.
Very cool.. thank you for sharing!
You're welcome, and thanks for joining in!
I didn't know LORAN still operated. In the US they shut down the LORAN systems back in the late 90s I believe.
Yeah, it's funny what's still transmitting!
@@FrugalRadio Sure is.
I have just found your channel and suscribed, excellent content. Will you be making SDR reviews along with loops + other antenna's? Like you I plan to remote a loop so any details how to do this would be usefull, could a RPI be used for this to drop the SDR data on to a network?
Hi 32bits, and welcome to the channel! Yes, there will be more SDR reviews and I'll demonstrate different antennas from time to time.
Raspberry Pi can be used to remote locate a loop, absolutely! Then feed the data through your network to a computer. There are actually multiple ways to do it. I have been using Spyserver, which runs on various Operating Systems (Inc Pi) as it is more efficient than rtl_tcp.
I'm curious about that signal 3 to the right from the last one in the video. The waterfall looks like a braided rope.
At what time code on the video Jim?
@@FrugalRadio At 7:21looks like it might be at 85kHz.
@@jimsteele9261 I had assumed it was a local noise source (power supply, computer, TV etc), but didn't actually investigate it so can't be sure.
3:00, The submarine signals are interesting. Are these signals only received by subs, or do the subs also transmit? Also, there doesn't seem to be much data modulation in the audio. What kinds of stuff could they possibly be transmitting? What kind of bitrates?
The bitrate would be very low at these frequencies and with such limited bandwidth.
The transmissions are probably one way - Command to Sub. I expect the Sub would have to surface to transmit an acknowledgement. There would be no audio traffic broadcast on these frequencies.
Most likely general broadcast messages to subs that they have to monitor every x hours, but that is purely a guess.
@@FrugalRadio The very very low frequencies ones are meant to be received even slightly underwater. They are low bite rate as you said, and mostly just to page the submarine to come up to communications depth and use something else.
That sounds very plausible. Thanks for your comment!
The present NATO LF signals usually carry 4 teletype circuits of 50 baud each.
thank you for sharing !
I'm from Brazil
Good to have you on the channel. Thanks for joining in!
Someone is spying on me using these frequencies at my next door neighbor to hear my throat at very low frequency, it would seem to be mind reading and very well maybe something like it. How can I combat such a thing?
Please and thank you
Wear a tin foil hat. That will stop any leakage of electrical signals from your brain.
And stop talking. Just carry a note pad with you to write down what you would otherwise say to people. SDRs and antennas cannot intercept such messages.
@Exceedvictory: You have to suddenly jump in the air and then duck. It will make them lose contact with you thru cathode ray tube pulse they use can't react to sudden moves so it loses track. Try it! Please write back the results. Also there is a VLF / ULF mirror trick which I can tell you about later....
@Exceedvictory: Simply find a parked locomotive, make sure it is disconnected from the power grid and grab it firmly for 2 hours to ground the potential of your entire body. Try to get a strong grip with one hand. After two hours most of the electrons will be free and THEY will have nothing to bounce their signals off. IT WORKS!!!
Interesting signals. Thanks. CAL
Yes, there are loads of interesting signals out there!
What software do you use on this video? Sdr software
That's an old version of SDRSharp.
Good video but I am confused.
The Airspy Hf Discovery covers from 0.5Mhz upwards.
even their own web site shows this.
Yet your video shows low frequency coverage.
Is it a case that HF Discovery does actually cover a lot lower frequency but it is outside its caimed range ?
I made the same mistake when first viewing the specs. The HF+ Discovery works from 0.5 kHz up, not 0.5 MHz. It's easy to overlook that!
Spec sheet : HF coverage between 0.5 kHz .. 31 MHz
@@FrugalRadio ah yes. that makes a lot of sense.
Sorry for the dumb oversight
Easily done!
🙋♂️ suscribed
Welcome!
WOW that antenna is amazing. so small too. wonder what my OCF 132 foot long will do ?
Only 1 way to find out!
Hi, what app/webpage did you use to show the thunderstorms? That was awesome!
I don't remember I'm afraid!
www.blitzortung.org/en/live_lightning_maps.php You can see the url if you pause the video ;)
EDIT: It's very interesting to watch, almost as if storms 1000's of Km apart all strike at the same time.
Thanks Marcus!!!
Interesting review and interesting look at VLF. Is there software available to decode the data?
The data traveling to subs is highly encrypted, so you wouldn't be able to read the messages.
This isn't something I have tried. I'm sure there are others who have. It would have to be a slow mode, that's for sure! If you find out more, let us know!
@@pedrocompt the Wikipedia page shows somebody had displayed the signal, I'd be interested to check it out too - although as you've said they use OTPs so it is impossible to decrypt.
I’m curious as to how you found out what these signals are?
Most are well-known and publicised frequencies. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VLF-transmitters is one example, but there are many online sources to work out what certain frequencies are. Often, typing an VLF, LF, MF, or HF frequency in a search engine like Duckduckgo is a great place to start.
@@FrugalRadio thanks for the info!!
No problem!
Hello, you can also go to the WebSDR from the University of Twente. There are Markers on the Bottom of the Spectrum with the Names of the Signals.
Yes, the integration with the web lookup on that WebSDR is great. You can also use the database sites directly in another tab / window.
Good job KO4MAX Florida
Thank you
Dude what is your ethnicity, you have a unique look
Lol! Indian / Irish.
YEOW, please normalize your audio as this was -23.5dB from UA-cam's -14LFTS
Sorry about that! Have been running normalisation, but still getting used to making these clips 😮
@@FrugalRadio Tell me about it as I spent two weeks at 8+ hours per day to figure it out. I finally figured it out.
What website do you use to track the location. Of the signal
Globaltuners.com is good for identifying the origination of signals.
hi is there an app for android that allows you to tune others sdr if you dont have actual sdr?im new to sdr but not to swl. also the horizontal lines on waterfall hf.. ive seen mostly blue but seen a red yellow horizontal one. i use a remote sdr in ottawa canada but i live in hamilton. also the more red the line on waterfall stronger signal right?
Hi. I'm not aware of an SDR app right now. However the browser app on my phone runs the websdr sites just fine. That won't work for SDR# remote units though.
And yes, dark blue is weaker on the waterfall. You want the noise floor to be that colour. Brighter (often yellow) means higher noise floor and stronger signals shows in brighter colours.
what is the point to listen to those VLF signals?
It's just an interest thing. Different people enjoy monitoring different parts of the radio spectrum. We are entertained and amused by capturing such long wavelength signals on a short loop of wire. It's also fun knowing that certain signals are actually carrying live military communications, even if we can't understand them.
Your 61.8 kHz is 61.75 kHz and a UK not Russian.
Also, your "52 kHz" is 51.95.
Thanks David. Good to know. I'm such a newbie on VLF 😉
Mate the airspy ain't that frugal 😔
Ha ha...compared to a $25 RTL-SDR, that's certainly true! However it is in the same league with the ELAD and Perseus units that cost over 3 times more :-O
The Airspy qualifies as frugal-for-a-disposable-income, when cost-effectiveness is taken into account.
how can i connect this loop antenna to a tecsun pl880?
What type of external antenna input does your Tecsun have?
@@FrugalRadio it has the regular whip antenna and the internal connector for the outside antenna.i sincerely appreciate your response and help.thanks alot.
Looks like you would need a 1/8 inch to SMA adapter of some kind. None of the gear I own has an external connector like that, but I would look on eBay or Amazon and see if anything pops up.
@@FrugalRadio thanks alot..
I can Build a Much Butter Loop Antenna, I can Build it with a Better Balun,
That's great. I'm not such a handy guy myself, so mostly use commercial products.