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STL By Ground

December 3, 2012 by Carl Blare

To define terms, we remind that “STL” means “Studio-to-Transmitter-Link”, an electronic pathway by which a station’s audio is transported from the studio to the transmitter.

To define terms, we remind that “STL” means “Studio-to-Transmitter-Link”, an electronic pathway by which a station’s audio is transported from the studio to the transmitter.

Many methods have been discussed, but narrow down now to one that hasn’t been considered.

As we heard from MICRO1700 there have been experiments to send audio directly through the ground, by driving ground rods with the output of an audio amplifier, then retrieving the signal somewhere else by a second set of ground rods connected to the input of an audio amplifier.

While in the electronic state, before being converted by a loudspeaker into acoustic energy, audio actually is an RF (radio frequency) energy in the VLF band (Very Low Frequency) essentially below the LW band (long wave).

With a very powerful sending amplifier, 100Watts and more, it might be possible to go miles.

Go ahead, shoot my theory. Make your day.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Carl Blare

Ambassador of Recreational Radio, owner operator of KDX Worldround Radio, webmaster for kdxradio.com, host of The Blare Blog.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. bandit says

    December 4, 2012 at 4:34 am

    Nifty!
    Very cool idea Carl… I might have to experiment!

    • MICRO1700 says

      December 6, 2012 at 1:10 am

      Hi Carl!
      I’ve been thinking about this for a while.

      I think you might get some hum and noise.

      It still sounds like fun, though.

      Best Wishes!

      Broooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooce
      W 60 HZ, Etc.

      • Carl Blare says

        December 6, 2012 at 1:39 am

        Oh, Ya
        Brooooooooce, I think you’re right about the hum.

        Now that you’ve mentioned it, the electric service is a big fat 60Hz sound at a velocity of 220VAC or more and that is grounded smack at the lower end of the audio spectrum.

        Goodby earthground audio.

        • radio8z says

          December 6, 2012 at 5:10 am

          Ground Audio
          I had read somewhere when I was a teen that hams used this technique during WWII when radio transmissions were banned so I thought I would try it. My receiver was a set of super sensitive WWII surplus headphones which were so sensitive that you could hear hum if you touched one of the pin connectors.

          The experiment worked, sort of. The range wasn’t too good but I had only a 10 W audio amp at the time. There was a lot of noise and hum at almost any distance from the transmitting stake.

          Worth a try if it is not too much trouble but don’t expect much.

          Neil

  2. RFB says

    December 7, 2012 at 11:59 pm

    Dirty STL
    Don’t expect hi-fi from such a rig, though it will work decently for narrow band voice communications.

    You all should try shooting RF through the dirt, especially LW frequencies and VLF frequencies.

    RFB

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