Messages

1201

Equipment / Re: 11 meter rig. Another good skip antenna, 1/4 -wave Ground Plane.

« on: May 10, 2017, 0950 UTC »

        Here's a great antenna you can build that's great for talking local (Within 20 miles.), and great for skip talking. The Quarter Wave Ground Plane. Check this link,     https://www.pinterest.com/pin/205054589259242247/      It has a pretty high angle of radiation, so it makes it great for this Summer's Sporadic "E" propagation, (What CB'ers refer to as short skip.), and can do decent F2 skip when that opens back up during high sunspot peaks. Good luck!

1202

Huh? / Re: A decade into Record Store Day, a new world of vinyl?

« on: May 02, 2017, 0313 UTC »

Too bad that most of the vinyl out there today is digital copies analoged on 180g vinyl. Then again, most millennials don't seem to give a crap. I still believe the best quality out there, sound-wise, are the original pressings from the 50's to the mid-80's recorded from the original analog tapes.  It sucks when you listen to 180g LP and hear the recording of a CD skip, or the harsh treble highs from MP3's.

1203

Equipment / Re: 11 meter rig?

« on: May 02, 2017, 0257 UTC »

        Yeah, I guess I've got to ring in on this as well. I still have my Uniden Washington that I bought new in early 1986 and a Silver Eagle D-104 mic. The Washington had the best TX audio bandwidth at 3kHz, where most rigs limited to 2.5kHz. Nice RX specs on that rig as well. Other rigs to check out are the Uniden Madison, which is really a Washington with more bells & whistles. 30 years ago, everyone wanted the Cobra 2000. I liked the Realistic Navaho bases as well. GE had the Super Base, (But try and find one of them. Anymore, almost as hard to find as a Tram base.) Not just 40CH rigs either, I still like farting around with 23CH ones. Although, you're not likely to find anyone whom remembers the old SSB channel of 16LSB. Check out this CB page for rigs past & present,      http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/index_all.htm     OK, I'm goin' 10-7 now.

1204

Equipment / Re: Portable with good ssb? Better have $$$$$$.

« on: April 17, 2017, 1013 UTC »

     I had a neighbor with a Drake SW8 portable, and I thought that thing rocked well on SSB. Then again, it is a table top unit in a portable package. But, if you have the cheaper portables that use the wobbly sounding BFO's, use a well regulated, non-switching, power supply, and then keep them away from transformers, induction fan motors, and your cell / smart phone. They'll still sound like schytt, but at least they'll be more stable. Trial and error with BFO's from a (Now ribbon defunked.), Sony SW100S, Sangean ATS-803A, and a Kenwood TH-F6A.

1205

Other / Re: Malicious Interference 3840 LSB 0625 UTC 16 Apr 2017? And 40M.

« on: April 17, 2017, 0952 UTC »

     I wonder of it's the same A-holes that mess with 7200KHz on 40M in the day. That's turning out to be the wild west there. Then, when the Libertarian Net tries to meet-up around 3995KHz, some douche keeps sound-byting "Black Lives Matter" recordings over that. Thank goodness for the 60M band, but the A-holes will be there soon enough. 

1206

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: 49.847 mHz Baby monitor? Yep...

« on: April 17, 2017, 0944 UTC »

        They still sell 49MHz FM baby monitors, and with two channels. CH1 = 49.870MHz, and CH2 = 49.850MHz. Ya got a good 6M, or a decent scanner, antenna and you can hear those sucka's a couple of miles easily.

1207

Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Re: Buffalo Chicken Wings. Memories of the 'ol P.O. Box 452-land.

« on: April 12, 2017, 1012 UTC »

       Coming from around the 'ol P.O. Box 452-land, I was spoiled by wings almost weekly. Yeah, the Frank's Sauce wings are OK, but if you ever get to Buffalo, few beat the Anchor Bar where they originated from. That's a Western New York treat fo' sure! Then, chase 'em down with a Canadian bought Labats Blue that ya went across either the Peace Bridge, or Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge, to buy. YUM!!!!!

1208

General Radio Discussion / Re: Fabulous Automated Networked Confirmation Organizer?

« on: April 03, 2017, 1403 UTC »

      Yep. Now that this technology has funneled down to our level, consider what the FCC, and other gov agencies have. And, how they may just apply that. Uh-huh...

1209

General Radio Discussion / Re: WHITE HOUSE BUDGET INDICATES CUTS AT FCC?

« on: April 01, 2017, 1148 UTC »

     Well, with today's SDR technology, automation takes over. One office can remotely monitor all monitoring stations, if they aren't already. Where I suspect everyone will feel the pinch is waiting for licensing approvals and renewals. I suspect that will now take longer to do.

1210

General Radio Discussion / Re: Wikileaks exposes covert US operation using CB? No doutb.

« on: April 01, 2017, 1131 UTC »

          I remember hearing stories on how CB outbanders were delivering phone traffic from USA based spies based in Central and South America back in the 1980's and early 1990's. So, the Wikileaks article is not so far fetched.

1211

Other / AM Rally going on April 1st - 2nd on HAM bands. No April Fools here.

« on: April 01, 2017, 1120 UTC »

        For those of you that have AM only SW receiver, this might be of interest. An AM only rally contest, [www.amrally.com] I plan to try to make a few contacts. Thus far, I've had some nice AM QSO's running less than a 20W carrier on a rice box, a Kenwood TS-2000, on 75M, 40M, 10M, and 6M. What helps me is having a D-104 mic behind that rig. That link lists most popular AM FREQ's. One set of FREQ's not mentioned, but possible, is 14.320MHz - 14.330MHz on 20M. And in some of the AM threads, there seems to be confusion as to where to operate AM on the 2M band. My $0.02 worth here? 144.250MHz - 144.270MHz. Below that is SSB'ers, while above that is propagational beacons. Enjoy and Happy AM mode DX'ing!

1212

10/11 meters / Re: Some actual activity on 11m? Sporadic E?

« on: March 24, 2017, 0213 UTC »

Sporadic E propagation isn't that unusual in March on 27MHz. Anyone hearing anything in the 10M beacon region (Around 28.397MHz, or WWV on 25MHz?

1213

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: MW / A.M. Tx? Why expensive in USA?

« on: February 22, 2017, 1722 UTC »

      Here in the United States of Amerigo Niguchi the it is very expensive to have a transmitter approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). That in itself jacks up the price for transmitters that are. Even thought the Greek made TX isn't FCC approved, I am using it for Carrier-Current means and there is double the amount of harmonic suppression, so I am not worried there. The 100mW, 3 meter antenna, scene is way more popular here, and growing.  There seems to be also some innovation here to make those 3 meter long antennas as efficient as possible with loading coils, copper elements, and capacitive tophats. I am looking at doing that myself since I know that I can do better than the 2.5 meter long whip antenna that was with my Radio Systems I Am Radio transmitter that puts out a massive 92mW PEP. Oooooooooooooo, what a flame thrower. Check out     http://www.part15.us/     and        http://thealpb.com/equip-info.htm       also        http://mram.50webs.com/index_files/Page672.htm       

1214

FM DX Loggings / Re: What is the farthest station heard? How about this one?

« on: January 29, 2017, 1623 UTC »

        When FM station WJQZ Wellsville, NY received their construction permit for 93.5FM, on-air testing started right during the 1985 summer Sporadic "E" season. And two of the DJ's and one of the station's co-owners said that they had a QSL request from Egypt! No, not Egypt, NY either. I certainly remember them doing this testing. I'd be driving around and they would play a Top 40 tune, then live announce, "Conducting tests, conducting tests only. WJQZ Wellsville.", after every tune. They did this for a few months before officially going on-air January 1986. But anyway, with them doing an actual legal ID after every test song, during a Sporadic "E" condition, that QSL claim from Egypt is certainly plausible. Pity, that stations don't do tests like that anymore. They just come on-air, feed satellite programing and roll with that.
        And, Bruce Elving FM books are still invaluable. I'm keeping mine. I'd buy up his Toko 110KHz IF filters and put them in AM / FM walkmans, car stereos, home receivers, etc. I still have them in a GE Super Radio, a Sangean ATS-803A, my Bose Accoustic Wave System, and a 1990 Radio Crap headphone radio. When you did that to car stereos, they were a FM DX machine. That headphone radio was unreal and I could walk around listening to FM stations from Toronto, ON, Canada near the PA border. Sadly, that was ripped-off from me.  Ahhhhh, the DX memories.     

1215

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: MW / A.M. Tx?

« on: January 24, 2017, 2321 UTC »

Man!!!! Could have hit you up 2 years ago. Over in the USA, medium wave on Carrier-Current broadcasting is permissible license free. I was running 2W for my 610KHz station, but wanted a bit more beef. That, and my home brew and Panaxis gear was over 25 years old. So I went the way of the Greek made transmitters at       http://www.pll.gr/       when that mono 20W carrier AM unit was $500.00USD's. Not a bad buy. I was always outbid on Radio Systems and older LPB, Inc., gear, so going the Greek way seemed the neat way to go. There is a PWM AM TX out there that's 10W, but sells for around $3,500.00USD's. If you can under cut that, it would be a better way to go since the Class A TX's are power hungry. Passing thoughts. Oh, BTW, Carrier-Current is where you couple to the power lines.