Messages

346

General Radio Discussion / Re: WQFG689 antenna

« on: December 20, 2019, 2000 UTC »

Possible antenna:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7398821,-74.0570985,3a,15y,305.61h,100.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdXpMIjD5PMWCaRM-s-EIHA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Yup, that's it.  Those are the coordinates specified in the license.

+-RH

347

General Radio Discussion / Re: WQFG689 antenna

« on: December 20, 2019, 1037 UTC »

The license lists their operating power as 10W into a 15M (~50') antenna.  The station did petition the commission to allow them to run 100W during normal operations and up to 1100W during times of declared emergency.  This petition was denied and is reflected in the license.  The TIS station for Los Angeles Airport is mentioned as running 100 watts on 530 KHz.

+-RH

348

General Radio Discussion / Re: Does anyone still have a Franken-FM by them?

« on: December 19, 2019, 1529 UTC »

There are a number of them throughout the country, and I'm rather surprised how brazen some of them are operating.  I was at a tower site several years ago that was hosting one of these stations.  They had a conventional FM stereo audio processor and were running 75 KHz deviation audio with the 19 KHz pilot tone.  They even were encoding the audio with Arbitron PPM!  If one wanted to push the issue, you could make the argument that the station in question is transmitting a non-compliant BTSC signal and therefore could be fined.  I doubt anything will happen, unless someone gets wind of a lot of revenue.

https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2019/12/articles/franken-fms-the-fcc-asks-if-it-should-continue-to-allow-channel-6-lptv-stations-to-operate-as-fm-broadcasters/

https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/is-there-an-afterlife-for-franken-fms

+-RH

349

General Radio Discussion / Re: FT8

« on: December 18, 2019, 1800 UTC »

That's what happens when critical thinking is no longer common practice 

+-RH

350

The RF Workbench / Re: SSB driver 1KW FET Linears

« on: December 17, 2019, 1918 UTC »

Phasing SSB is nothing more than a pair of balanced modulator fed with I and Q carriers and modulating signals that are 90 degrees out of phase.  The audio is passed through two all-pass networks to derive the required phase delay.  It used to be that the carriers were derived by passing the RF carrier through a 90 degree phase shift network.  This doesn't work over a wide range of frequencies, and it better solved today by using DDS chips with sine and cosine outputs.  The audio phase delay networks are the only thing that really limits your audio bandwidth, and implementations up to 20 KHz are not uncommon.

I echo the sentiments of AC above.  I set the transmission bandwidth for my enjoyment.  The listener can choose how much they want to hear.

+-RH

351

The RF Workbench / Re: SSB driver 1KW FET Linears

« on: December 16, 2019, 2222 UTC »

I disagree.  I'll take all the bandwidth I can get, up to 15KHz.

+-RH

352

General Radio Discussion / Re: SCA Radio

« on: December 16, 2019, 2219 UTC »

In major markets you can find some ethnic programming out there.  To some degree, the falling price of AM properties and HD sub channels with translators have decreased the need for this service.

+-RH

353

Huh? / Re: What are you currently listening to?

« on: December 16, 2019, 1610 UTC »

Rock Antenne, a German rock station.  rockantenne.de  Seems there is not much this side of the pond to listen to these days.

+-RH

354

General Radio Discussion / Re: RF pollution from solar panel installations

« on: December 16, 2019, 1501 UTC »

Add to that list modern multistage furnaces with ECM motor inverter technology.  I had to look high and low for a furnace with a conventional motor in it.

+-RH

355

The RF Workbench / Re: SSB driver 1KW FET Linears

« on: December 15, 2019, 0929 UTC »

How are you planning to generate the SSB, phasing or filtering?

+-RH

356

Equipment / Re: Question regarding USB / microphone input adapter

« on: December 15, 2019, 0528 UTC »

I've had good luck across windows and linux with the Vantec cards.

https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NBA-200U-External-Channel-Adapter/dp/B004HXGJ3S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Vantec+NBA-200U&qid=1576387669&sr=8-1

+-RH

357

North American Shortwave Pirate / Variations on a theme of 'Disc Radio' 4240 KHz LSB 0115 UTC 15 Dec 2019

« on: December 15, 2019, 0119 UTC »

Some loungy sounding big band stuff.  S8-S9 here.  Occasional audio drop outs.
0127 OM talking about the music played. mentioned LPM2004
0140 a long rant about the evils of digital, loves the music on 33 1/3.  Beatles coming up.  True Disc Radio?
0142 Beatles 'Here Comes the Sun'
0145 Beatles 'You Never Give Me Your Money'
0146 Beatles 'Sun King'
0148 Mean Mr Mustard'  Occasional slow deep fades.
0157 OM, ID 'All Disc Radio', talking about the limitations of vinyl, mentions of next Saturday night, all music tonight off turntables, "none of that internet youtube crap"
0200 into a track from Columbia records Ray Conniff 'Warsaw Concerto'
0201 Ray Conniff 'Nocturne in E Flat'
0204 OM w/ ID as 'Real Disc Radio', mentions CR1415, hot off the turntable.  into Louie, Louie by the Sandpipers.
0210 OM, talking about listening off air on his studio monitors, not sure what it sounds like on the other side.  Maybe more discs next Saturday night.  Into Herb Alpert 'A Taste of Honey'
0212 off

Aircheck here..
https://archive.org/details/discradio1215201901150215z
 
Thanks for the show!

+-RH

358

General Radio Discussion / Re: RF pollution from solar panel installations

« on: December 15, 2019, 0029 UTC »

If you buy good stuff you shouldn't have any problems.  The cheap charge controllers and inverters made overseas will (and are in my experience) make a lot more noise.  The FCC let this cat out of the bag many moons ago, and its not likely to get any better.

+-RH

359

General Radio Discussion / Re: Found in the AZ desert

« on: December 14, 2019, 0301 UTC »

It's probably been there a while, judging from the corrosion and date codes on the parts.  My guess is some ham radio balloon thing.

+-RH

360

General Radio Discussion / Re: Experts address concerns over radio frequency exposure

« on: December 13, 2019, 2305 UTC »

The new meters do indeed have service relays in them.  Keep in mind nec never intended 200 amps continuous ratings anyway.  The power company will still charge you a reconnect fee if you don't pay your bill in a timely fashion.

+-RH