Water vitalisers are devices from the esoteric sector that can be purchased for a high four-figure sum and are used to irradiate the body, drinks and objects. The treatments last around 15 minutes and sometimes longer. There are around 2500 devices in use in Germany and around 250 in Switzerland. In radio terms, the water vitalisers are normal transmitters (TRX) in the 2m band in the frequency range from 144.010 to 144.040 MHz and do not have CE approval. Depending on the device, they emit on slightly different frequencies (not completely stable) with approx. 20W and thus interfere with the UHF range. They are banned in Germany, but not yet in Switzerland, or if they are found, OFCOM usually issues a decommissioning order or confiscates them. If these water vitalisers are about 3-4 km away, their signal strength can be S9+60 dB at a transmission power of 20W. If these water vitalisers are a little further away, the reception level (power of arrival, POA) naturally decreases.
If a radio amateur is disturbed, OFCOM requests a usage profile via the DETEC reporting centre. When and for how long is the water vitaliser in operation? The configuration with an SDRPlay and SDRuno, or another SDR with a screenshot programme to create a 24-hour image over several days, is suitable for this purpose. Corresponding documents with a quick guide can be found in the members area at EMC Level 1 from the February 2021 video conference, tnx to Lorenz HB9BMR.
As already indicated elsewhere on the USKA website, e.g. FAQ EMC, an OM does not have to track. This is stated by OFCOM. However, you may take bearings yourself at any time.
You can detect and take bearings on the signals from the water vitalisers by hand using the CW setting and an SDR receiver with waterfall as well as a magnetic loop made of RG213 with a diameter of 80 cm using the ‘manual angle of arrival’ (AOA) method. Of course, there are also professional direction finding systems at higher costs with the ‘automatic Angle of Arrival’ (AOA) method, or Jojack with a Doppler and four antennas or KrakenSDR. In the mid three-digit range, you can use a KrakenSDR with a simple installation of five antennas on the car roof (installation of the antennas with magnets, which can also withstand a trip on the motorway), as well as an app on an Android mobile and use the voice instructions of the Android software to navigate to the location of the water vitaliser. KrakenSDR with its five antennas and the Correlative Interferometry (CI) method can already be one step further and accurate to approx. +/- 2°, and therefore slightly better than the models with four antennas and the Doppler method with approx. +/- 3° accuracy.
What do such signals from water vitalisers look like? The short video shows manual Angle of Approach (AOA) with a small magnetic loop of RG213 with a diameter of 80 cm and an ICOM 705. In this example, the signals are a little further away, so the S-meter does not yet ‘beat’ strongly. However, if you turn away and aim at the minimum, a minus 20 dB can easily be detected in the waterfall (use a compass).
Sounding with movement: Taking a bearing with the car and a KrakenSDR is very suitable. There are several videos on the Internet showing how to take a sounding with the KrakenSDR. A treatment with a water vitaliser takes about 20 minutes for one person, so you have to be quite quick when searching. If you need more information about KrakenSDR, please contact Martin HB9GYF.
Bearing without movement: Two or three OM’s only have to draw the headings determined with manual AoA on one of the great maps of the national topography (in my opinion these are the best maps in the world and can be downloaded for free, tnx) and use the intersection to determine the location of the transmitter.
Update:
04.11.2024 Martin Kaufmann, HB9GYF