The Stanford University ELF/VLF Receiver

A tmospheric
W eather
E lectromagnetic
S ystem for
O bservation
M odeling and
E ducation
Narrowband transmitter guide
By Morris Cohen
July 2009

The following document shows a list of narrowband transmitters commonly recorded by

AWESOME, though it should be noted that transmitters do change, so this list may, as
well.
LAT

LON

FREQ

55.760
45.403
50.070
59.910
8.387
46.713
-38.481
52.911
-21.816
40.923
39.600
48.544
25.030
21.420
46.713
52.911
32.040
46.713
53.079
44.646
48.203
46.366
37.430
63.851
18.399
38.000

84.450
38.158
135.600
10.520
77.753
1.245
146.935
-3.280
114.166
9.731
103.330
2.576
111.670
-158.154
1.245
-3.280
130.810
1.245
7.614
-67.281
-121.917
-98.335
27.550
-22.459
-67.178
13.500

Alternates
Alternates
Alternates
16400 Hz
18200 Hz
18300 Hz
18600 Hz
19600 Hz
19800 Hz
20270 Hz
20600 Hz
20900 Hz
21100 Hz
21400 Hz
21750 Hz
22100 Hz
22200 Hz
22600 Hz
23400 Hz
24000 Hz
24800 Hz
25200 Hz
26700 Hz
37500 Hz
40750 Hz
45900 Hz

SIGN LOCATION

MOD Baud kW Comments

RA1
RA2
RA3
JXN
VTX
HWU
NST
GQD
NWC
ICV
3SB
HWV
3SA
NPM
HWU
GQD
JJI
HWU
DHO
NAA
NLK
NLM
TBB
NRK
NAU
NSC

CW
CW
CW
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK
MSK

Novosibirsk, Russia
Krasnodar, Russia
Komsomolsk-na-Amur, Russia
Kolsas, Norway (NATO)
Katabomman, India
Le Blanc, France (NATO)
Woodside, Australia (USA)
Anthorn, Great Britain (NATO)
North West Cape, Australia (USA)
Isola di Tavolara, Italy (NATO)
Datong, China
St Assise, France
Changde, China
Lualualei, Hawaii, USA
Le Blanc, France (NATO)
Anthorn, Great Britain (NATO)
Ebino, Japan
Le Blanc, France (NATO)
Rhauderfehn, Germany (NATO)
Cutler, Maine, USA
Jim Creek, Washington, USA
LaMoure, North Dakota, USA
Bafa, Turkey
Grindavik, Iceland (USA)
Aguada, Puerto Rico (USA)
Sicily, Italy (USA)

0
0
0
100
200
200
100
100
200
200
225
200
225
200
200
100
225
200
200
200
200
200
225
200
200
200

500
500
500
45

3.6s pattern, see chart on right

3.6s pattern, see chart on right
3.6s pattern, see chart on right
On only certain times of day

400 May be only for occasional tests

100
1000
20
Not always in operation
400 May be only for occasional tests
424
400 Might also be in St Assise, France
200
200
400 Might also be in St Assise, France
800 Operates at 100 Baud sometimes
1000
192

100

The three RA transmitters are in fact navigation beacons operated by Russia, are
powerful enough to be seen nearly anywhere in the world. The three locations alternate
between the three frequencies, so if monitoring a single frequency, you are actually

monitoring three different locations according to some pattern. The pattern is described
here by Trond Jacobsen http://www.vlf.it/alphatrond/alpha.htm.
JXN is a pulsed transmitter, turning off and on with long (few hours) periods.
The HWU and HWV transmitters have at times been at four different frequencies, and
since there are two fairly close to each other, it is difficult to distinguish which one
comes from where.
The best way to determine what transmitters are operating
is to look at VLF receiver broadband data.
Here is an example. You can use the vlf_spec Matlab
command to make a spectrogram, and zoom in on the
horizontal lines. With certain spectrogram properties, you
can even see the frequency moving up and down, which is
the communication signal. Each one is transmitter, and you
can correspond it most of the time with the list above in this
document. If you see something new, then perhaps one of
them has changed frequencies.
Here is a map showing the location of these transmitters, worldwide.