SAQ, Grimeton Radio: July 3, 2016
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Transmitter hall and antenna array. Image courtesy YouTube.
ALEXANDERSON ALTERNATOR IN THE GRIMETON VLF TRANSMITTER. THE DRIVE MOTOR IS AT THE EXTREME RIGHT; THE SPEED-INCREASER GEARBOX IS JUST TO ITS LEFT. NOTE THE BRONZE-COLORED SHAFT COUPLING. IMAGE AND CAPTION COURTESY GUNTHER TSCHUCH AND WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.
Live, off-air, approximately seven-and-a-half-minute recording of a morse code (CW or continuous wave) transmission in English from station SAQ, Grimeton Radio, Sweden, on 3 July 2016 beginning about 09:00 UTC on a very low frequency (VLF) of 17.2 kHz. The signal originates from the historic Alexanderson alternator transmitter at Grimeton near Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, running at about 80 kW. The antenna is essentially omnidirectional.
The broadcast was one of two taking place on Alexanderson Day, 2016; the other being at 12:00 UTC. The transmitter was tuned up before each broadcast with many sequences of VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ being sent. The message began at about 09:00 UTC, lasted about 7 minutes and 20 seconds, and is as follows:
CQ CQ CQ DE SAQ SAQ SAQ <BT>
THIS IS GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ IN A TRANSMISSION USING THE ALEXANDERSON 200 KW ALTERNATOR ON 17.2 KHZ. <BT>
IT IS NOW 20 YEARS SINCE THE ALEXANDER ASSOCIATION STARTED. THEN MOSTLY WITH MEMBERS OF EARLIER AND PRESENT EMPLOYEES AT GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ. WE ARE NOW 650 MEMBERS AND OF THEM 26 NONE SWEDISH. THE STATION IS NOWADAYS MANAGED BY GRIMETON WORLD HERITAGE FOUNDATION. SIGNED: WORLD HERITAGE GRIMETON RADIO STATION AND THE ALEXANDER-GRIMETON VETERANRADIOS VAENNER ASSOCIATION <AR> <BT>
FOR QSL INFO PLEASE READ OUR WEBSITE: WWW.ALEXANDER.N.SE WWW.ALEXANDER.N.SE <BT>
DE SAQ SAQ SAQ QRX AT 12 UTC <SK>
The broadcast was received by the Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, with a "Mini-Whip" antenna in CW mode with 0.49 kHz RF filtering. The CW tone is about 763 Hz and the message was sent at about 16 words per minute. Reception was fairly good with some atmospheric noise (QRN).
