On 10/30/2014 2:01 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
rickman wrote in :

The signal is PSK.

My sight isn't very good. That's Psk, not Fsk... Phase? What did I miss.
I've been hung up on the notion that this is an MSF time signal thing, and I
just looked at the spec for the UK one which is a simple switch on/off of a
carrier, so easy to detect efficiently. Yours is something else entirely, but
what? You may need to lay a lot more cards down before you find an answer you
can use, unless you hunt in the dark. (No reason not to, I usually do, on
most things I do, as the net usually makes some light at greatest need).

I have not studied the international time signals extensively, but I
believe they all use AM. The US located beacon added PSK a few years
back to make the signal easier to receive. The US is large enough that
reception is poor in some of the east coast areas. I am east coast and
would like to see just how much I can do to optimize the antenna to make
this work well.

--

Rick

rickman wrote in :

The US located beacon added PSK a few years
back to make the signal easier to receive.

I went Googlong after I wrote that last one. I'd have thought PSK would be
harder to detect than AM. So much for what I know. I read that
wris****ches can detect the PSK signal too, so low power must have been done,
with a small antenna too, but I don't knpow what they did so I'll leave it
there.

About op-amps, I just found it hard to let go of a favourite idea. Too
many transistors though...

Just one thought left that might be a kernel of a new idea: if you have a
tiny resonant circuit at 60KHz, with high Q, then the change of phase ought
to make some kind of detectable upset, a spike maybe, whose polarity you can
use to determine mark or space in the signal. The combination of resonance
and short spike duration might give you a usable combination of low power and
detectable threshold.

I'll stop there because I don't think I have anything you can use.. I'm
interested in what you come up with though, especially if it avoids a large
antenna.

On 10/30/2014 3:20 PM, Lostgallifreyan wrote:
rickman wrote in :

The US located beacon added PSK a few years
back to make the signal easier to receive.

I went Googlong after I wrote that last one. I'd have thought PSK would be
harder to detect than AM. So much for what I know. I read that
wris****ches can detect the PSK signal too, so low power must have been done,
with a small antenna too, but I don't knpow what they did so I'll leave it
there.

About op-amps, I just found it hard to let go of a favourite idea. Too
many transistors though...

Just one thought left that might be a kernel of a new idea: if you have a
tiny resonant circuit at 60KHz, with high Q, then the change of phase ought
to make some kind of detectable upset, a spike maybe, whose polarity you can
use to determine mark or space in the signal. The combination of resonance
and short spike duration might give you a usable combination of low power and
detectable threshold.

I'll stop there because I don't think I have anything you can use.. I'm
interested in what you come up with though, especially if it avoids a large
antenna.

Define large... lol. I'm already looking at a 2 foot diameter which is
just a wee bit too large for my wrist watch.. lol. Actually I really
don't know how practical this is. The digital approach will depend
greatly on pulling a very weak signal out of the noise. Not that the
noise is in the signal on the antenna, but noise in terms of poor
detection of such a weak signal.

I will happily report back if/when I get any sort of results.

--

Rick