Compact weather
forecast station

Ferrite antennas

Measuring & test technology

Smart
filter altennas

Clock &
control moduls

FSK receiver equipment

FSK receiver equipment

For over 20 years in Europe, the European radio ripple control (abb. ERC) has been operating 3 transmitters for the encrypted transmission of various data services. Originally these stations were used exclusively for the transmission of control commands and tariff information in the service of utilities to support tariff, load and generation management.

Since 2007, HKW has been working on a steady expansion of the capacity of these transmitters and continues to lead this development.

These transmitters now also broadcast an atomic clock accurate time base and meteorological information.

These long wave transmitters use a "Frequency-Shift Keying" (FSK) modulation to embed the information of the different data services in the respective carrier frequency. With a transmission capacity of 200 baud these transmitters enable much faster data transmission than the "classic" technique of the AM modulated time signal transmitter.

At the present time the following 3 FSK long-wave transmitters are working in Europe:

DCF49:

Location Mainflingen (near Frankfurt / Main), Germany

carrier frequency: 129,1kHz

DCF39:

Location Burg (near Magdeburg), Germany

carrier frequency: 139,0kHz

HGA22:

Location Lakihegy (near Budapest), Hungary

carrier frequency: 135,6kHz

These long-wave transmitters combine the advantage of the large transmitter range with data transmission that is fast for these conditions. Besides the fact that residents in Central Europe now have a much faster alternative to the DCF77 transmitter, the transmitter in Hungary means that we now reach areas in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe where no long wave time signal was available before.

To receive and use FSK modulated signals, the following 3 modules or functional blocks are required in principle:

a) receiver for FSK modulated long-wave signals (receiver IC + peripheral wiring or receiver module)
b) receiver antenna (ferrite rod antenna, active antenna)
c) microcontroller for decoding the demodulated signal and for supplying the data to a defined interface.

Components a) and b) are for receiving and demodulating the signal which passes to a subsequent decryption controller for decoding.

These tasks can be solved in different complex ways, always depending on the existing electrical and constructive conditions of use of the target product (receiving environment, space, proximity to potential sources of interference, etc.).

HKW offers you different, modular solutions for various large data packages that will help you achieve your objective and can reduce your own development effort.