Messages

106

General Radio Discussion / Re: Is 87.7 MHz a good FM pirate frequency?

« on: September 25, 2014, 2126 UTC »

Don't think anything is wrong with the frequency outside of the fact that some FM receivers may not cover it. Just like with the Xband on MW with 1710kHz not able to be listened into with older radios, or even new radios that stop at 1700kHz, I believe 87.7 is below that of which some receivers can tune.
There are a few old TV stations that decided to run radio broadcasts on 87.75MHz because after the digital switch they had the extra channel space to basically rent it out to broadcasters on their aural carrier, but of course some modern receivers can not lock onto it because of it being offset.

You would be far in the clear using that frequency because there is almost no other stations using it. OTOH you need to be careful because it is a well known pirate frequency and since no interference exists your signal will really get out. That can be both good and bad. Good because of the range, especially on the low end of the dial, bad because most people will automatically assume you are a pirate using a frequency that so few licensed broadcasters have actually been able to use, plus the fact that you are on a part of the dial that not all tuners can tune to.

107

General Radio Discussion / Re: Strangest place you ever took your radio?

« on: April 10, 2014, 0850 UTC »

I have a crappy C. Crane SW Pocket radio in the restroom. I use it to listen to pirates and WWCR when alex jones is on and I missed it earlier, and sometimes WBCQ.
I hate to say it but that radio deserves restroom use. It has a terrible FM front end and its SW band has a ton of images. Only thing it does half ass is MW and even then the audio is bleh.
Just think pirates... Someone out there is on the shitter listening to you sometimes

108

Huh? / Re: Boomer goes Hollywood

« on: March 25, 2014, 2142 UTC »

Nice watching it right now!

109

General Radio Discussion / Re: Great site radiodiscussions.com

« on: December 04, 2013, 1645 UTC »

I'm sure there are others, but you could try;

http://www.yourmidwestmedia.net  Has areas for all regions of radio.

+-RH

That site constantly removes posts, even legitimate ones I have seen. Tighter moderation than I have ever seen to the point of driving out official forum members.
Also you never ever want to mention pirate stations on those sort of forums. You will either have the licensed guys hunting down the pirate trying to bust them or get a load of people bitching about how bad pirates are and blah blah.

The engineering site listed on there is quite interesting to lurk though. Lots of professional information on transmitter/antenna setups which can be useful from a pirates perspective.

110

General Radio Discussion / Re: GNUradio software radio

« on: September 28, 2013, 1548 UTC »

This may be an oversimplification and I could be wrong but I think it is nothing more than an interface to bridge the high level user software like GQRX (for example) with low level OS software that handles the hardware ports and other items needed to connect with the actual hardware of the SDR radio itself.

I am new to this SDR stuff myself and will be getting a NooElec RTL2832U/R820T dongle soon enough to play with. Already installed the software for linux but still waiting for the radio to be shipped

111

HF Mystery Signals / Re: Mystery signal question

« on: September 28, 2013, 1437 UTC »

Just dropping in to confirm that I have also heard this exact sound many times on the CB band.
Even when monitoring 27.185 when skip is strong I have noticed it, sometimes so strong that it wipes out DX for the short time it is on.
Always wondered what it was myself but never thought to question it.
Interesting how it is noted as far back as the 1960s here. That kind of rules out modern device RFI. Also the fact that it only happens during skip means whatever it is must be radiating really well to be heard by so many people across so many frequencies.

112

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio Free Whatever 6925 AM 0200z 09-June-2013

« on: June 09, 2013, 0509 UTC »

I think I logged the right station lol..
http://darkliferadio.proboards.com/thread/640/6925am-free-radio
Damn rum.
Great show, good signal besides the storms here, going long into the night eh? Midnight here and still pulling in on 6925kc.

113

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925.4 am 0246 June 3

« on: June 03, 2013, 0306 UTC »

The Crystal Ship as logged over on...
http://darkliferadio.proboards.com/thread/639/6925am-crystal-ship

114

General Radio Discussion / Re: An alternative to Coast To Coast AM

« on: December 12, 2012, 0452 UTC »

Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis isn't half bad either and it is syndicated on many stations that carry C2C, usually before C2C airs.

115

General Radio Discussion / Re: LiLo

« on: December 06, 2012, 2322 UTC »

Who else saw the topic title and though it was going to be a discussion of the legacy Linux Loader 

* cmradio leaves thread dissappointed

LOL I posted too soon before reading the replies. Glad to know I'm not alone hah.

116

General Radio Discussion / Re: LiLo

« on: December 06, 2012, 2320 UTC »

For a moment there I thought this would be a post about the LInux boot LOader.
My bad..

117

Equipment / Re: To balun or not to balun?

« on: November 05, 2012, 1840 UTC »

If you don't want your coaxial cable to become part of the radiating antenna which can cause high SWR along with strange
radiation patterns, then use a balun. Simple as that.
No matter how well balanced the antenna is, once you connect it directly to an unbalanced cable like coax it will cause
issues with the cable radiating the signal down it's path at various points usually at a distance of the 1/2 wavelength.
Baluns choke out this common mode current and helps push all your signal out to the antenna.
For dipoles a 1:1 balun should work perfectly. The only reason you would use a 4:1 or 9:1 is if you need to convert the impedance like when using a 300ohm closed wire dipole (or loops) instead of the more common open wire 70ohm dipole most of us use.
The same goes for receiving as does for transmitting.

For receiving a balun can help for cutting down on noise that will be picked up from the coax run path like various
electronic devices near the cable.

For longwire or inverted L antennas you want to use an unun (unbalanced to unbalanced) since end fed antennas are
naturally unbalanced aerials. An unun of 4:1 or 9:1 (prefered) helps greatly for SWLing because it converts the high
impedance of your antenna down to 50 to 75ohm impedance that your radio wants to see coming into its antenna jack.
Also helps with the mismatch caused by directly connecting the unbalanced high impedance antenna directly to coax.
I use a 9:1 unun for my SWLing on the inverted L and it helps greatly reduce noise and increases signal strength on my DX398 compared to just connecting the antenna directly to it.

118

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Undercover Radio 6940A 0107 11-3-12

« on: November 03, 2012, 0217 UTC »

just caught the end, playing 'Feel Like Making Love' (not the Bad Company version), then heading to get a cold one and may be back on later....AM mode.

Also heard here. Lots of deep fading tonight.
SINPO 52224

Was testing my receiver also so kind of funny to hear someone testing their transmission equipment at the same time

119

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: XFM 6960 oct 31

« on: November 01, 2012, 0147 UTC »

Thanks for the shoutout XFM.
Using a 100' (total) inverted L antenna up 30 feet and listening on my DX398 with a nice strong signal.
No interference tonight and only slight fading.

120

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: I Will Kill You 6925 USB 0029 UTC (11/1/2012)

« on: November 01, 2012, 0041 UTC »

Radio Deadman

I'm keeping logs of everything over here...
http://darkliferadio.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=dx&thread=551&page=1