Messages

751

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / This Knight lit up a lot of potential broadcasters!

« on: July 24, 2020, 2039 UTC »

https://www.smecc.org/knight_kit_home_broadcasters_-_allied_electronics.htm


Ya know, of all the Part #15 kits that have been out there through the ages, none have been, or even still, talked about as much as this one. Folks are still kickin' themselves for getting rid of it, or when their parents did. People still want this today!
Heck... I'd still take one.

752

General Radio Discussion / Re: FCC to Vote on C-Band Auction Procedures in August

« on: July 24, 2020, 1800 UTC »

Well, the lower the FREQ's for 5G, the better, since I understood that the initial proposals were to have 5G anywhere from 24GHz to over 62GHz, with emitters from every few hundred feet, just bathing us in microwave RF in the millimeter region. So, I say the lower in FREQ's for that, the better. That said, I still believe that 5G will not penetrate where I am. Especially, with Summer foliage.

753

Equipment / Re: Quick and dirty 434 MHz 8 Element Yagi

« on: July 24, 2020, 0644 UTC »

Huh... Like the one that I made in the mid-80's to watch a PBS-TV translator that came in kick-ass in the winter on just a UHF Loop, but was severely attenuated in the Summer foliage. So, I needed something with a lot more gain on UHF TV CH56. And, that worked well. (Hmmmmmmmmmmm... I wonder whatever happened to that beam?) Anyway, how is your match on 432MHz is to hear 432.100MHz SSB and CW Amateur Radio stations and even 432MHz Propagational Beacons? Or, even 435MHz Amateur Satellites?     

754

The RF Workbench / Build a simple AF Sine Wave Generator.

« on: July 23, 2020, 0620 UTC »

Simple, sweet, and useful. Boomer wanted to see it, especially after he helped me get the values of the RC Filter right. (Saved me a trip of digging through my college text books.)     Go ahead and download and build with leftover parts.  https://archive.org/details/555-timer-adj-af-generator-schematic

755

Huh? / Re: Curious

« on: July 23, 2020, 0535 UTC »

The other thing is that they are tests, where someone just TX's and uses various on-line SDR's to actually see if they are getting out to various regions. I guess that beats calling a friend, or relative, DX'er that's out of state, or out of country, to see if they are getting out.

756

Huh? / Re: Radio Survivor discovering EXP AM Band DX'ing? GOOD!!!!!!! Follow-Up?

« on: July 22, 2020, 2235 UTC »

Well, you must have done so, since Radio Survivor just did a 'Follow-Up',     http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/07/20/confirmations-of-1700-am/

757

General Radio Discussion / Re: Watch The Resurgence Of Amateur Radio – A Silver Lining Of COVID-19

« on: July 22, 2020, 1910 UTC »

I would have thought that the radio hobbies would explode more as well, but that's not what I've noticed. I've actually noticed less Amateur Radio, CB, MURS, GMRS, and FRS, activities around me. Could be just the usually summer dulldoms, in which the radio hobbies will be active again this fall. Or, could be cancel culture, to where people are now just too afraid to say anything fearing a backlash. We'll see...

758

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Part 15 AM and FM

« on: July 22, 2020, 1903 UTC »

One passing contemplation here, (Not thought, as that would hurt too much.), would be to see if your AM TX is possible of even going 100% modulation. There's some cheap kits out there that struggle to do 50%, at best. Anyway to put that to an o'scope, or an off-air AM monitor VU meter, to see what a 1kHz test tone does when you vary the audio input level? Then again, just like most modern day CB's, there maybe a limiter in your TX to on purposely keep that level low, in order to boast Part #15 FCC compliance. (OK, that was a couple of contemplations.)

759

Huh? / As if, AM Radio can't sound bad enough, then there's this!

« on: July 21, 2020, 1802 UTC »

Ever listen to a station and wonder why it sounds like their audio is going through a vacuum cleaner hose? This maybe it,  https://www.radioinsights.com/2016/04/nielsen-ppm-making-radio-unlistenable.html     I asked Boomer if he heard 1100WTAM sound like this, and he, and others, certainly have. WTF???

760

Amateur Radio / Re: ESE, Earth-Sun-Earth bounce? Possible? Maybe....

« on: July 20, 2020, 0317 UTC »

WHOA!!!! Ask, and you shall receive. THANKS!!!! Interesting, but did Stanford UNI ever follow up on that? That would be neat to do such a study with today's tech.

761

Amateur Radio / ESE, Earth-Sun-Earth bounce? Possible? Maybe....

« on: July 18, 2020, 1923 UTC »

Ya know... If we have EME, (Earth-Moon-Earth.), bounce, could we possibly have Earth-Sun-Earth bounce? Possibly. I remember back in the 80's and 90's where ops would swear that they would hear their signal on a same FREQ that they've keyed up on 20min earlier. There was that subject with Art Bell on C2C AM over 20 years ago, where someone either called-in, or was the interviewed guest, where they talked about like a 20min delay signal coming back to them. Art then said, "That happened to me! I was on 15M, (21MHz), and about 20min later, I heard my voice key back to me from my last transmission!". Weird, but no one seemed to explore this subject after that. Now, doing the math, what's out in space that would take the time period of about 20min at the speed of light, about 10,000,000 meters per sec, to bounce an RF signal. Why not the Sun? You might argue, "That's too F'n far!", but consider just how much bigger of a reflector it could be than the Moon and Earth, or any of the planets in the known solar system. Could the Sun's atmosphere be attenuative? Maybe... But, just how reflective is the Sun's surface on various RF FREQ's? And, just where is the data that supports, or dispels, that? Passing though here... Ya think that this is a questions to pose to Dr. Tamitha Skov? She now has her amateur radio ticket.  http://www.spaceweatherwoman.com/   

762

Huh? / Re: Comet NEOWISE

« on: July 18, 2020, 1857 UTC »

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm??? I wonder if RF can be bounced off the comet's tail, besides light? Has anyone ever tried?

763

General Radio Discussion / Re: One year left for Franken FM stations

« on: July 17, 2020, 1728 UTC »

Which leads to me this that Boomer FWR'ed to me:   Letter: AM Migration Is Still a Good Idea?  https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/readers-forum/letter-am-migration-is-still-a-good-idea

Well, I beg to differ. There is still a full powered VHF CH5, (That's not virtual CH5.), in Clarksburg, WV, https://www.stationindex.com/tv/callsign/WDTV
I do agree with maybe dumping LPFM's and translators down there, but call it a Revitalize AM? I don't think so. 

764

General Radio Discussion / Re: FCC action against pirates

« on: July 15, 2020, 1851 UTC »

This just shows more evidence to me of just where our government's priorities are. Human trafficking, defunding and attacking police, exploding metro crimes and homicides, socialism and communism rising, cancel culture, no straight answers on what's really up with COVID-19, etc., are minimum priorities.  But yet, operating an unlicensed transmitter gets you in so much trouble. Just sayin.....

765

Huh? / Radio Survivor discovering EXP AM Band DX'ing? GOOD!!!!!!!

« on: July 15, 2020, 1836 UTC »

Well, good for them, albeit that they are on the West Coast.   http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/07/14/dx-adventures-at-1700/
Must be very different that what we hear on the East Coast.