Unlicensed Experimental Radio – the Low-Down on Long-Wave
Since the dawn of the radio transmissions when Marconi came up with his radio 125 years ago, there were plenty of ranges and band across the spectrum. Of course, the vast majority of those has been reserved for telecom providers and government entities. Thankfully, even then amateur enthusiasts were able to get their share of the pie in smaller corners of the spectrum. Mostly thanks to organizations like ARRL (American Radio Relay League). The ARRL has been able to represent the amateur radio enthusiasts in many more ways than one, ever since 1914. They made their best to help amateurs protect and reserve their bands for personal use. Of course, if you are looking for the right ways to use this incredible opportunity, you will be required to get yourself an FCC license. Despite the fact that getting those licenses is not that hard, odds are, you will not want to lose your time and energy on that. Thankfully, this is not that big of a problem cause you can find more options around the radio spectrum for yourself as well.
Let us welcome you in the amazing world of legal unlicensed radio where you can experiment all you want and there’s nothing stopping you from it in the first place. Well, of course, certain restrictions apply all the time, but you can overcome those as well. You can find several experimental radio bands that are marked as LowFER, MedFER, and HiFER. These allow you to experiment just as much as you like, but LowFER is the most efficient around to begin with.
As you probably guessed by now, LowFER includes the lowest frequency range among the three listed above. It largely falls between 160 kHz and 190 kHz and the wavelength itself is pretty impressive, reaching up to a mile. Some people refer to it as the 1750-meter band and the frequency range is perfectly suited for longer transmission path via ground wave propagation. This is when the radio signals move across the earth’s surface. Hence, such a mode can effortlessly transmit even the lower-power signals through huge distances. We’re talking hundreds of miles here. In some cases, the signal was registered even thousands of miles from the initial broadcasting region. Moreover, these signals also travel easily through large bodies of water, particularly salt water.
If you are looking for more info on WSPR or long antennas in general, you are more than welcome to visit our forum and make the most from your inquiries.
