Messages

4306

Equipment / Re: Directional Antenna (Loop?) for NAVTEX 518 kHz

« on: November 27, 2014, 1930 UTC »

I use a Wellbrook ALA-1530S+ and its directivity is very noticable at 518 kHz. However, would like to have a dedicated directional antenna for 518 kHz.

The Wellbrook has pulled in stations from Greenland and Bermuda. Now that its the dark side of the year again, would like to see if I can get even further.

4307

General Radio Discussion / Re: favorite SWBC station that still exists?

« on: November 12, 2014, 0342 UTC »

I've never yet heard Radio Oomrang.  I've always been at work.  One of these years that transmission's going to fall on a weekend.  

Feb 21, 2015 = Saturday. Probably will be on 1600-1659 UTC, as it has been in the past.

In previous years, I set the receiver and computer to record it. Last year, as soon as it was done, I copied the MP3 to my work computer and listened. This year can be home and listen live.

4308

General Radio Discussion / Re: favorite SWBC station that still exists?

« on: November 10, 2014, 1213 UTC »

Radio Romania
Radio Australia
Radio New Zealand International
The Mighty KBC
Radio Prague
Radio Japan
Radio Serbia
Radio Öömrang

4309

General Radio Discussion / Re: Using HF rig as AM radio receiver

« on: November 05, 2014, 1242 UTC »

Not really, but it depends on the radio. They're great on the amateur bands and that's they're designed for. MW is for convenience and I've found that in general, coverage there is mediocre. Some radios are better than others at MW, but if you want a MW DX radio, don't look to the amateur HF transceivers.

I do have a few of them. The Yaesu FT-847 does a pretty decent job on MW, but my Kenwood TS-690S does a mediocre job. Since I also have a National NC-183D that sits near the TS-690S, the old timer is the one gets used for MW. And for general HF listening to SWBC, the NC-183D also gets used more than the TS-690S. Why? The audio is superior. When I need something more than what the NC-183D can do, say for blocking adjacent stations, knowing what exact freq its on, SSB, then I'll switch to another radio, whether that be an HF transceiver or SDR.

One other thing with the amateur transceivers, is some have narrow AM bandwidths (e.g. FT-840 without the extra filter) and that makes listening to any AM signal miserable, especially music. The FT-847 & FT-690S have very wide filters, so that is not a problem for those.

4310

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID, 6925am, 0210z, 10-22-14

« on: October 22, 2014, 0230 UTC »

0229Z 45444 S9 Lots of short music/audio clips




_{Perseus SDR with Wellbrook ALA1530S+ loop}

4311

Software / Re: What Radio related software would YOU like to see?

« on: October 18, 2014, 1828 UTC »

Instead of having the whole SDR program on the iPad, could you have the main SDR program running on a computer and the iPad/iPhone connect to it for control, display, and the audio stream?  The program on the computer could have a full interface with the iPad/iPhone as supplemental controls. Could also have a mode with no interface so it runs in the background doing the processing with full control from the remote device. Could even have a program for another computer for people that want to remote control & stream from elsewhere.

4312

Huh? / Re: Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with warrants

« on: September 20, 2014, 2346 UTC »

iOS Security Guide, Sept 2014.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1302613/ios-security-guide-sept-2014.pdf

4313

Huh? / Re: Drone, ham radio destroyed amid headbutting assault

« on: September 20, 2014, 2342 UTC »

I use sun bounce communications to spy on half a world at a time. The roundtrip time delay is not a problem as I live 31.8 minutes in the future.

4314

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: RENEGADE RADIO 6940 USB Sept 14, 2014 0100 UTC

« on: September 15, 2014, 0117 UTC »

0116Z 45444 S7 Pat Benatar "Shadows of the Night"
0120Z 45444 S7 ID "This is Renegade Radio"
0120Z 45444 S7 Rush "Tom Sawyer"
0125Z 45444 S7 Steve Perry "Oh Sherrie"
0129Z 45444 S7 Live Op. ID, mentioned us in HFU, the sun has been upset again.
0132Z 45444 S7 Van Halen "Why Can't This Be Love"
0136Z 45444 S7 REO Speedwagon "Roll With The Changes"
0142Z 45434 S7 The Police "Synchronicity II"
0147Z 35433 S5 Loverboy "Turn Me Loose"
0152Z 25432 S3 Heart "Straight On"
0157Z 25432 S3 ID. Live Op. Talking about conditions, shoutouts to HFU postings.
0202Z 35433 S5 Night Ranger "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"
0206Z 35433 S5 Joe Walsh "Rocky Mountain Way"
0212Z 35433 S5 Theme from MASH
0212Z 35433 S5 Sign off
0212Z Off air.




_{Yaesu FT-847 with homebrew PA0RDT Mini-Whip}

4315

General Radio Discussion / Re: Avoiding the FCC

« on: September 14, 2014, 2135 UTC »

Not simply ethernet cables. I have those all over and not causing my problems (I've checked), but its the Internet on the power line, aka HomePlug. I've traced the click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click from where the underground power comes to the house and back on the path where it travels out of the yard. My neighbors did stuff and conveniently had the utility survey companies come out and mark where my power goes.  

I believe its something of this type:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704165

I have no idea which specific make & model of device that is jamming in my area, but going to keep researching.

4316

General Radio Discussion / Re: Avoiding the FCC

« on: September 13, 2014, 2311 UTC »

The FCC will go after the pirates, yet, they do nothing about the "unintentional radiators" that are the cheap electronic devices that jam the spectrum.

Have a neighbor that has recently put in one of those ethernet over powerline things and I can hear the click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click outside of the ham bands (which are notched).

At least the pirates stay to a frequency (technically, their carrier +/- audio, or whatnot in the case of FM), but these other devices blast all over the place.

Rant over.

4317

General Radio Discussion / Re: Long-Range direction finding

« on: September 13, 2014, 2110 UTC »

FCC does have a nationwide HFDF network:
http://transition.fcc.gov/omd/contracts/pre-award/RFQ11000024.pdf

4318

Equipment / Re: Shortwave radio / What to buy, What I am looking for

« on: September 09, 2014, 0115 UTC »

There's a couple of other popular portable radios: Sangean ATS-909X and Tecsun PL-660. These (plus the ICF-7600GR) each have their merits. But if I could only have one portable, it would be the Sony ICF-2010. This old timer hasn't been made in a while, but solid performer and, IMHO, outperforms those three modern ones. It was my first SW radio that I bought in 1988 and still have to this day.

While you're deciding on a radio of your own, try this online SDR over in The Netherlands:
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901

4319

General Radio Discussion / Re: THERE IS A GOD- RADIO DISNEY IS SELLING ALL BUT ONE OF ITS STATIONS!!!!!

« on: August 31, 2014, 0054 UTC »

RW -

I'd also buy 1440 near me... and would parallel it with a shortwave station. And run C-QUAM on them.

However, the money tree is not producing enough to afford either of those, so that's off the table.

4320

General Radio Discussion / Re: THERE IS A GOD- RADIO DISNEY IS SELLING ALL BUT ONE OF ITS STATIONS!!!!!

« on: August 30, 2014, 2335 UTC »

My local pest is 1440, KDIZ.  5kW day/500W night that's 4.5 miles away.