Messages

316

General Radio Discussion / Re: All India Radio to expand global services; To cover Japan, Germany, Canada

« on: October 03, 2017, 0716 UTC »

Wow, very cool. Some of the Canadian programs may reach the US as well, naturally.

Cool pic of the guy listening to a small boombox -- can't recognize the brand, though.

317

General Radio Discussion / Re: The World's "Largest" Radio Station

« on: October 01, 2017, 0737 UTC »

The link works. Fascinating article. I'm not certain ELF is still used by the Navy. I know that VLF still is, though.

318

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Preacher Teacher" Alert

« on: September 27, 2017, 0429 UTC »

To put it bluntly, if that "freak" wasn't "polluting the airwaves", the airwaves would be more silent and you'd hear nothing but Radio Havana in Spanish (and sometimes in English) and maybe Gene/Melissa Scott. Shortwave is struggling, and religion is keeping much of it afloat, not only here in the US, but in other parts of the world as well -- Trans World Radio (that serves Africa and Asia) is an example.

The days of the national SW broadcasters -- aside from Cuba and China -- are coming to an end.

319

Equipment / Re: Long Wire or Dipole for HF/SW RX?

« on: September 25, 2017, 0447 UTC »

There's always the old reliable Windom. You can find the formula for building one on any antenna site and it's been a proven performer for a century. Wire element w/ an offset wire feedline cut to resonance for your preferred frequency. Hook the feedline a simple tuner to match it for wide band listening/ transmitting. It's dirt cheap and it works.

I forgot about that antenna. Definitely would be a good, simple antenna for someone to try out. No coax needed.

320

General Radio Discussion / Re: Some Southern California TV viewers alarmed by apocalyptic emergency alert

« on: September 25, 2017, 0445 UTC »

Some prophecy extremists also thought that perhaps the "rapture" might occur this month some time, due to the sun rising in Virgo or something like that.

321

Equipment / Re: Long Wire or Dipole for HF/SW RX?

« on: September 21, 2017, 0526 UTC »

Antenna length isn't as critical for receiving as it is for transmitting.

You may notice a small boost, but you wouldn't notice more than a db or two at best.

Guys use 100 foot wires to DX the MW/AM band, and that is not even close to a quarter wavelength at those frequencies.  But still, such antennas work well for receiving a wide range of HF and MF frequencies.

Antenna length is more critical when transmitting, and maybe if you're making a beam.

322

Propagation / Re: MW Signal Strength vs Distance

« on: September 19, 2017, 1432 UTC »

Does the "range" in this graph mean Elevation (km's in height), or Distance from the transmitter in km?

323

Equipment / Re: Drake SW1

« on: September 19, 2017, 1431 UTC »

Hi,
I was wondering if anybody has done an alignment or adjustments on Drake's SW1 receiver? Or any other improvements for reception.
The only thing I can find on it is the manual. I am running about 90 ft random wire that works fine with my National 109 and several other radios I have but the Drake sucks. I use to own /bought  a new Drake R8 back in the day and it sucked so bad I got rid of it, Now many,many years later I saw this SW1 for almost nothing and picked it up only to realize and affirm my dislike for Drake radios.
Any info on checking the alignment or other possible problems would be appreciated.

How does the Drake SW-1 "suck"? I'm just curious.

324

General Radio Discussion / Re: Home generated RF interference...

« on: September 18, 2017, 0112 UTC »

LookingGlass: PETA is a pro-animal rights organisation here in the US. They're a little on the extreme side for a lot of people.

Our version of the RSPCA would be the ASPCA.

325

General Radio Discussion / Re: 135.7-137.8 KHZ (2200 METER) AND 472-479 KHZ (630 METER) BAND AMATEUR RADIO

« on: September 16, 2017, 1646 UTC »

Thanks for the heads up. Although I'm not a ham, perhaps I should let the ham guy down the street know about this. He has more trouble getting out / receiving with his ham rig than I do with my DX-398 and indoor wire.

326

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Pirates Beware. Chairman Pai Is Coming For You"

« on: September 14, 2017, 1534 UTC »

But RFI from "smart" washing machines that wipes out entire neighborhoods' HF reception from 3-10 MHz -- that's OK.

327

Equipment / Re: AM Radio Reception Improved by Large Coil of Wire - Why?

« on: September 03, 2017, 1626 UTC »

I have a large coil of wire (flexible hookup wire in a metal spool) which I set near my Sony ICF-38, and it made no difference whatsoever in MW reception. Does your coil have a plastic spool?

The same here with large spools of the stuff over the years, Boombox. Doesn't do a thing for reception plastic or metal, but they do make a dandy upstairs ground when you twist the conductors together, crimp on a terminal lug, and connect it to whatever radio or audio device you're using. I've got roughly 500 ft. of the stuff on a spool in the shack I use for just that. It works, and has for nearly twenty years.

Cool. I'll have to remember that. My spool is pretty big -- same size as the one pictured above, but has green-insulated stranded wire, larger than the usual hookup wire gauges... maybe as large a gauge as a single strand of small speaker wire.

328

Equipment / Re: AM Radio Reception Improved by Large Coil of Wire - Why?

« on: September 03, 2017, 1624 UTC »

^^^^^^ also a plastic milk crate, available at Wally's and other big stores, will also work as a home-built MW loop antenna form.

They can work well -- I made one that way.

329

Equipment / Re: AM Radio Reception Improved by Large Coil of Wire - Why?

« on: September 02, 2017, 0557 UTC »

I have a large coil of wire (flexible hookup wire in a metal spool) which I set near my Sony ICF-38, and it made no difference whatsoever in MW reception. Does your coil have a plastic spool?

330

Equipment / Re: AM Radio Reception Improved by Large Coil of Wire - Why?

« on: September 02, 2017, 0555 UTC »

PS -- Sony Dream Machines can make good clock DX radios, the weakest link being the small loopstick inside. If you use a tuned external loop, you can probably DX with that radio, making up for the small internal loopstick. Many Sonys have the CXA1019 chip, which was fairly generic in many Sony radios but a hot performer. Their ICF-38 DX portable has one in it.

DX, do you mean Broadcast AM only?

Yes, I was referring to MW/AM band DXing. The FM antenna in Dream Machines is the power cord (inductively coupled through a separate wire inside the radio). For serious FM DX, you'd need a good whip antenna or a dipole to really pull it in.