I had noticed some louder, wide bandwidth signals , compared to CW NDB signals, in the “NDB band” and was grumbling about them covering up some possible NDB signals.
It turns out that they are DGPS (Differential GPS) stations that transmit (continuously) information about the GPS satellites, their errors and their health. Other messages are sent listing other surrounding DGPS stations, etc. Check out the DGPS guide (PDF) for more information.
I tried to decode the stations using Spectrum Lab software but cannot seem to get the terminal (decoder) program to hear the signal to decode. Everything else seems fine, the terminal is “connected” to the right point in the virtual circuit … I’m stumped.
I suspect that I have missed a step or two in the setup sequence. Note that while Spectrum Lab is quite powerful, part of that power comes from it’s complexity and ability to be configured in many ways. This means that there are many ways to set up the software … and many ways to “break” it so that it does not do what you want. I’m in the latter category right now and need to learn more!
I found that DSCdecoder (trial version) works flawlessly for DGPS signals. It also covers DSC and Navtex signals so I need to try those out as well.
There seems to be a different problem now … I do not have enough time in the evenings any more!
