Messages

736

Amateur Radio / DX The perseids Meteor Scatter!

« on: August 06, 2020, 0607 UTC »

While I was at it on the FM Meteor Scatter DX'ing kick, might as well mention that Meteor Scatter is, or was, popular to do on the Amateur Bands, like 12M, 10M, and especially 6M, USB and CW. I've heard a lot of very late-night scatter happen on the 11M CB band as well. Empty FREQ, then a strong station just pops in there for a brief moment in a quick fade, then gone. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower
Happy DX'ing!!!!!

737

FM DX Loggings / Meteor Scatter DX'ing FM stations during the Perseids? I've done it.

« on: August 06, 2020, 0558 UTC »

Anyone ever try to catch and ID FM stations by Meteor Scatter? I've done it several times in the 1990's. Once from the vehicle, and the other time from a Bose Acoustic Wave Music System's tuner. You set to an empty FM FREQ, (Yeah... Good luck with that today. Thus, why this was better to do in the 1990's.) Then, during a meteor burn, the ionized trail will bounce FREQ's from 25MHz to about the 2M VHF band. Ever spin the tuning knob of a high end FM tuner with the heavy aluminum knob and hear stations just race in and out at fractions of a second? That's what it sounded like to me from the 1/4-wave FM VERT antenna on that Bose. On the vehicle stereo, I could hear one, or several, stations pop in and out fast. Some DX'ers use to use those 4hr super slow cassette recorders and let them record for their full time length listening to a locally empty FM FREQ. Then, play that tape back and see if an ID comes from any scatters. I never did this, but I believe that I've read that Mr. FM, Bruce Elving, did.   https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower   

738

MW Loggings / Re: 1410WHLW AM??? Won't know now.

« on: August 06, 2020, 0530 UTC »

OMG!!!! 1410WSCW is actually back on-air tonight! Wholly freakin' kow! And, it only took them 9 days to get that back on. Anyway, the night before I did DX that 1410kHz KY station, and I suspect that I'm right about that since I heard a promo for Kentucky Sports coverage. OFW, it was interesting DX'ing that FREQ, while it lasted.

739

Huh? / More sunspots? Loks like it.

« on: August 04, 2020, 1840 UTC »

A friend of mine alerted to spot from this site,   https://spaceweather.com/       I kind of dig-it. Almost, if not, layman's tern here.

740

Equipment / Re: Would this dual antenna design work?

« on: August 04, 2020, 1831 UTC »

That pretty much worked for me back in 2007. The difference there was that I only used the tower itself for 160M, 75-80M, 60M, and 40M. I did not make an Inverted "L" though, and by then, my 40M dipole ripped down, so doing a home-brew Tower Shunt feed was cheap and very attractive. My tower was only a 50ft one. On RX it was great on MW to about 10Mhz. However, on TX, I only have four 100ft GND Radials spread out, so a 100W PEP SSB signal was usable, I was told by several 160M ops that, "We hear you, but you are weak." The MFJ-941D tuner tuned up everything from 160M to 10M. It was, however, one of the best MW RX antennas that I ever had. I could RX the three main NYC stations, (660, 770, and 880kHz.), with an S9 in the middle of the day from over 300 miles away and very little QRM / QRN! It also did well upon RX'ing 6925kHz pirates. At that time, the rig was a Yaesu FT-857D, so not that great of an RX capable transceiver. (In my view, anyway.) So, all that I can say, from my Tower Shunt experience, is to try it. Especially RX'ing from LF to 6M. You'll hopefully get a pleasant surprise. On TX??? You may want to use like 20 GND radials, so I've been advised. Good luck!!!!

741

General Radio Discussion / Re: Vintage analogue/ tube receivers for BCL/SWL DXing?

« on: August 03, 2020, 1834 UTC »

Huh... For about a year, I also had a Hammarlund HQ-180. Very, very drifty for the 1st 30min, but was decent to use after that. (Ended up selling that to a friend whom really wanted more than I did.) Tell ya what though, If I was offered a Collins 390A, even if it needed work, I'd be hard pressed to turn one down. Unfortunately, the last tube rig bought was a Zenith Trans Oceanic that came all smashed up from the carrier. Got our money back, but still a pity to see that rig in about 20-some pieces. But anyway, a tube receiver is a different flavor to use, tune, and have fun with. Not to mention the audio quality from many of them. Very warm & pleasant.

742

MW Loggings / Re: 1410WHLW AM???

« on: August 03, 2020, 0434 UTC »

Answer to East Troy Don, Southern WV, near the Capital Region. As far as me hearing 1410WHLW promo on the truck stereo? I'll have to listen again on the evening drive to work. 1410 WSCW has been down all week now, and if they follow the priority and pattern of other AM stations that have littered the FM band with their FM translator counter parts, they will not be in a hurry to get it back up. It's not like that station is LM Communications bread & butter. (And, I suspect that I'm pretty safe to assume this.)

743

Huh? / The Final Countdown for Franken FM's? (TV6 audio.)

« on: August 03, 2020, 0037 UTC »

I miss listening to TV CH6 analog TV audio on FM stereos, especial in the vehicle. Radio Survivor covers this subject, again.  http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/07/30/the-final-countdown-for-franken-fms/

Hey, ya know... There are a lot of those used analog Blonder Tong CATV VHF modulators still kickin' around. Hmmmm???A lot of them went into being used as LPTV exciters, since they are FCC certified. Just contemplating. 

744

MW Loggings / 1410WHLW AM???

« on: August 01, 2020, 2214 UTC »

        Friday night, 01:30UTC, I listened to where 1410 WSCW would be. It's been off-air since the X3 thunder storms on Monday night, so a fairly free MW FREQ to DX. In between the Top 40 70's and 80's mono-toned tunage selection, I thought that I heard the promo of "1410WHLW". I even wrote that down. However, trying to look it up, it only comes up as a gospel FM station,    104.3FM in Luverne, AL. So, I either heard that wrong, or something isn't updated? Eh?   

745

General Radio Discussion / Re: EU proposing ban on flashing your own firmware in any product with a radio

« on: July 31, 2020, 1759 UTC »

Oh, hell no!!!!! And, only a matter of time before that idea pollutes on this side of the pond. Having a government and manufacturer decide what and where you can, not only transmit, but receive, and not just FREQ restraints, but restrictions on modes, sensitivity and selectivity adjustment, filtering, etc. And not just two-way radios, but stand alone receivers, smart phones, wi-fi radios, (Of which I use heavily.), security systems, various Part 15 devices, etc. Yeah, this is bad, bad, BAD, when you really contemplate of just the wide range the scope of this subject may cover. This is worth fighting and, putting our foot down on, and the sooner, the better. You think that the Communications Act that blocked scanners from 800MHz cell phone reception was bad? Wait until the ignorant, lobby hungry, legislative goon squads in Washington gets a hold of this. (And don't think that they won't.) Thanks for bringing this to light Chris! 

746

Amateur Radio / Re: Amateur satellite operation

« on: July 30, 2020, 1954 UTC »

Well, with a little over 100W PEP, +20dB preamp, and a tracking 2M boomer yagi, you can do the ultimate satellite, EME, and bounce yourself on the Moon. We certainly hope that won't end its life cycle too soon.

747

MW Loggings / The Reds loosing on 580WCHS radio.

« on: July 29, 2020, 2250 UTC »

I couldn't listen to Larry Elder where I was working Tuesday evening, (Since the usual 1410AM station local was off-air from that X3 T-storms the night before.), so I listened to 5kW 580WCHS when they switched to their directional array of beaming to the Atlantic Ocean. There, I listened to The Reds Baseball, and them loosing to the Cubs. Let me just say that listening to LIVE baseball, with no audience, just plain SUCKS! At least golfing has a clapping audience. Anyway, does everyone towards Roanoke and East RX 580WCHS well when they dump to the ocean at night?   https://radio-locator.com/info/WCHS-AM?loc=38.48830%2C-81.80511&locn=25159%20%28Poca%2C%20WV%29

748

Amateur Radio / Re: Amateur satellite operation

« on: July 29, 2020, 2115 UTC »

I did crossband FM UHF / VHF Sat contesting back in Summer 2006 ARRL Field Day with the Ontario County ARES Group. We used my then Alinco DR-620T to two separate beams, (One for UHF uplink, the other for VHF downlink.), and gained like 10 points that way. I've also done the UHF Mir Space Station Repeater from home. I've heard several STS calls on 145.550MHz FM and 145.800MHz, but couldn't beat the big-guns. I hear ISS on 145.800MHz on the scanner. I've yet to do SSB with crosslink via satellite, albeit I have the perfect rig to do so with a TS-2000X. I hope to try.

749

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

« on: July 29, 2020, 2107 UTC »

Huh... Well, having a back & forth e-mailing with Boomer answered my question of why RF Sun Bounce wasn't followed up after 1959. Satellite tech came into play. That said, political volatility today puts our birds into jeopardy. The SDI Research from the 1980's Reagan Administration certainly didn't end with the 80's, but other countries have followed suite, and satellite attacking could be happening right now, but never reported. Except, through alternative media. The Chinese, Russians, and don't count out Iran and North Korea, doing just that to our birds up there. So, if we do find that our birds are getting shot up, and thus we loose, GPS, broadcast links, and everyday COMM's, then Sun Bounce maybe an interesting alternative to consider again.

750

Equipment / The new Silphase R1 SDR receiver!

« on: July 28, 2020, 2043 UTC »

Huh... Just posting what I did just hours earlier about my $0.02 worth on the Icom IC-7300, then comes interesting news about this receiver,    https://swling.com/blog/2020/07/the-new-silphase-r1-sdr-receiver/     Looks like some interesting rigs coming out of Eastern Europe.