Messages

61

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Boombox Radio 6935 AM 0039 UTC 24 MAR 2024

« on: March 24, 2024, 0053 UTC »

0052z - Decent carrier but very little intermittently discernible modulation here.
0055z - Modulation and signal are coming up somewhat. SIO 322. Airspy HF+D and 31' vertical.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

62

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Solar Federation Radio 6970 USB 0041 UTC 24 MAR 2024

« on: March 24, 2024, 0049 UTC »

0047z - Music. SIO 444. S8+ peaks via Airspy HF+D and 31' vertical. Static crashing but a decent to good copy with strong modulation.
0049z - Solar Federation Radio ID
0057z - "We have assumed control."
0134z - East Coast transmission end.

0135z - West Coast transmission from Montana start.
0136z - Music. SIO 333. ~S6 peaks. Static crashing and some fading. SNR way down from the East Coast feed but still generally copyable.
0143z - Still hearing ya'. Thanks for the shout-out.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

63

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio 48 via Mix Radio International 6880 USB 1944 UTC 23 MAR 2024

« on: March 24, 2024, 0046 UTC »

Music at 0045z. SIO 434. ~S7 peaks via Airspy HF+D and 31' vertical. Considerable static crashing but a decent to generally good copy. Nice wide audio as usual.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

64

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6960 USB 2356 UTC 23 MAR 2024

« on: March 24, 2024, 0043 UTC »

Music at 0041z. SIO 545. S9+ via Airspy HF+D and 31' vertical. Moderate to considerable static crashing tonight but an easy copy with good modulation as usual.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

65

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Sternradio 6952 AM 0230 UTC 22 MAR 2024

« on: March 22, 2024, 0237 UTC »

0232z - Music on ~6951.665 AM. SIO 433. S8+ peaks via Airspy HF+D and 9' passive loop. DSB sync tuning. Moderate to strong static crashing from regional storms but still a decent copy.
0240z - Sternradio ID.
0242z - Trending SIO 434. Plenty of static crashing, but otherwise over 44dB SNR peaks.
0246z - Sternradio ID and QSL info.
0253z - SIO 544 trending 545. S9+ peaks. Nearly 50dB SNR peaks.
0259z - "Transmitter is smoking."
0312z - Off air.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

66

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio International 6880 AM 2344 UTC 18 MAR 2024

« on: March 19, 2024, 0030 UTC »

Music at 0025z. SIO 533. S9+ peaks via Airspy HF+D and active loop. Extensive static crashing from area storms here at the moment.

0029z - Modulation dropped way down here. SIO 422. Static crashing and fading.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

67

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio Free Whatever 6950 USB 2133 UTC 17 MAR 2024

« on: March 17, 2024, 2230 UTC »

Music at 2227z. SIO 333. ~S4 via KiwiSDR 2 and 31' vertical. Moderate static crashing, but otherwise generally copyable.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

68

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Sternradio 6949.7 AM 2031 UTC 17 MAR 2024

« on: March 17, 2024, 2106 UTC »

ID at 2104z on to music. SIO 333. ~S5 via KiwiSDR 2 and 31' vertical. Moderate static crashing from regional storms.

2112z - CW transmission embedded or underneath?
2217z - End of broadcast announcement. QSL info.
2218z - Usual sign-off music.
2122z - Off air.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)


@Stern Thanks for the reply and info.

69

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Airspy HF+ Firmware Updates Available

« on: March 16, 2024, 1935 UTC »

Drilled down to narrow bandwidths and extremely high FFTs. 210PPM looks okay IMO. That is not far off my initial number from last night. :)

As I seem to remember experiencing previously, the AM sync algorithm in SDRangel bounces a Hertz or so with my HF+D. Even with the trivial bounce it is averaging around 1Hz deviation, which is the smallest resolution it reports, so it could very well be less than that. The HF+D specs suggest ~0.5PPM precision. Seems to be about what I am getting.

I dropped Airspy.US to see if the shipped calibration is still on file. Mostly just to compare. Might be interesting to see the components have drifted.

I know the Leo Bodnar units are popular for the price with more serious SDR enthusiasts.


That was a quick reply. Original calibration from 2020 was 75. So a little drift, but not enough for me to ever really notice.

70

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Airspy HF+ Firmware Updates Available

« on: March 16, 2024, 1543 UTC »

You can do similar with SDRangel, which I might get around to later this weekend.

Last night I just did multiple WWV frequencies at various sample rates and very high FFT values. The 2500 screenshot happened to be where the SDR was parked.

I actually have a few devices that can do signal generation, but none are lab grade. Marginally okay for poking at analog radios. Not so much SDRs.

You can pickup a basic GPSDO for under $100 these days, assuming one feeks lucky. ;) YMMV.

71

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WTF Radio Worldwide 6963 USB was 6960 USB was 6969 USB 0239 UTC 16 MAR 2024

« on: March 16, 2024, 0340 UTC »

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,127064.0.html ;)

72

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Boom Box Radio 6935 AM 0256 UTC 16 MAR 2024

« on: March 16, 2024, 0320 UTC »

Music at 0317z. SINPO 55343. ~S9 via Airspy HF+D and 148' loop-on-ground. DSB sync tuning. Moderate to occasionally strong static crashing, but otherwise a decent copy.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

73

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WTF Radio Worldwide 6963 USB was 6960 USB was 6969 USB 0239 UTC 16 MAR 2024

« on: March 16, 2024, 0311 UTC »

0307z - 6963 USB. Music. SINPO 55344. Peaking ~S9 via Airspy HF+D and 148' loop-on-ground. Moderate static crashing, but otherwise a good copy.
0307z - "WTF Radio Worldwide" ID
0350z - Off air

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

74

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Airspy HF+ Firmware Updates Available

« on: March 16, 2024, 0256 UTC »

Yeah mine did not save it. Probably because I had to do a two pass flash due to how VirtualBox handles USB device detection.

I am narrowing down my calibration at the moment. WWV frequencies should suffice for HF reception.

I did find that NOAA VHF frequency deviations seem to vary transmitter to transmitter.

I would prefer a good ATSC pilot carrier, but that is proving elusive at the moment due to being in a fringe reception area.

Also I might email to see if the original calibration is on file as well for comparison. Kind of a "whatever" I suppose, as I figure it has drifted by now anyway.

All the above annoyance(s) aside, I probably should obtain a basic GPSDO at some point, too.


Calibration set at 222PPB now. 2500, 5000, and 15000 are so close the calibration might as well be flat. 10000 might be off a few PPB, but a few PPB is not enough to care IMHO.

20000 and 25000 have faded out tonight, but IIRC, around 220-222PPB was what I had at 25000 earlier tonight.


(click to enlarge)

75

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Airspy HF+ Firmware Updates Available

« on: March 15, 2024, 2327 UTC »

BTW, I just noticed mine might not have restored the factory calibration. I need to check.

There is a hfplus_ppb.exe utility for manually reading and setting the calibration included in the firmware download. You can use SDR# in debug mode to find the calibration valiue.

https://gist.github.com/jj1bdx/ce9eb3bd7320eed76396669a25f27e29
https://groups.io/g/airspy/topic/airspy_hf_calibration/31910863?p=

According to the second link, Airspy.US appears to have oringal calibrations on file if purchased there.


Sure enough mine needs recalibrated. I found the value with SDR# in debug mode, but it would not write for whatever reason (maybe VirtualBox). I was able to set the value with hfplus_ppb.exe included with the firmware tools download. Now to narrow down the calibration number.