Messages

136

Huh? / Re: Pink Floyd has disbanded

« on: August 15, 2015, 1214 UTC »

IMO, they hadn't recorded anything significant since "Wish You Were Here". in '76. Once they ran out Barrett's material and his inspiration, they were never the same.

I remember walking into a club in 1980 and seeing disco types dancing to "Brick in The Wall". That was truly a cold day in Hell. If Syd had witnessed it, he would have taken Eugene's axe and beheaded his former bandmates.

Yeah I agree, although  I thought "Animals" was all right too. By the time "Brick" came out and they achieved Rock God status, their best was definitely behind them.  That was when I stopped buying Floyd...

137

Huh? / Re: Columbia House Owner Files for Bankruptcy

« on: August 10, 2015, 2212 UTC »

Even at their peak of profitability Columbia House seemed like such an anachronism I couldn't figure out why anyone bought from them. 

But Lex - where else can you GET TWENTY CDs... for a BUCK? 

You are wise to have interceded in your Mom's mail offerings habits.  I did the same with mine a few years back.  An elderly lady just down the road from me shot through her entire savings, investments, and stock portfolio "doing" Haband, Blair, QVC, et al after her husband died.  The kids didn't have the nuts to interfere.  Now she has no assets and the family home is on a reverse mortgage just to keep the monthly bills paid.  Damn shame...

138

Software / Re: Pro Tools

« on: August 10, 2015, 1605 UTC »

I think I got my first copy of pre-Adobe CEP way back before my first Internet connection    Buh bye splicing block!  So long grease pencil!  Hello Easy!  About ten years ago I tried a free download of Audacity.  Although I still use both, I find that Audacity scratches my itch about 95% of the time.  It just serves my needs better.  YMMV...

139

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Radio Spaceshuttle 13600 AM 1925 UTC 9 Aug 2015

« on: August 09, 2015, 1946 UTC »

Fadey S4 here with heavy splatter from 13605 (Coooooooooba in SS)  Reception reports and into rock mx at 1942.

140

QSLs Received / Re: Crombi Radio eQSL

« on: August 08, 2015, 1450 UTC »

Nice looking QSL - but it amazes me that there is no mention of the reception frequency...

141

General Radio Discussion / Re: Future of pirate radio

« on: August 05, 2015, 1354 UTC »

Hi Woody-  I believe that there are many different views on this - probably as many as there are pirates.  We each have different reasons why we do what we do, different priorities, and different ways of calculating our risk/reward scenarios.  Personally, I stay away from Internet broadcasting.  In that realm, one is in competition with literally MILLIONS of other attention grabbers.  You might be heard worldwide with pristine stereo reception, however,  you might still have absolutely NOBODY listening to you.  And the few that actually find your station amongst all that choice (other than your buddies), quickly tune away, for there are so many more things to be dazzled by. 

Also, the only way to be completely legal broadcasting on the Internet is to use absolutely NO copyrighted material of any kind.  There goes just about all of your music.  Personally, I would rather duck and dodge a disinterested FCC than to take chances with legal teams from BMI and ASCAP.  You might go unmolested for years - BUT - that possible lawsuit could truly destroy you.  They went after the Girl Scouts for their Campfire Songbook a few years back, and won.  If they feel its worth the fight, they will come after you too.  BTW- the royalty rate for Internet broadcasting is actually HIGHER than for terrestrial broadcasting...

My biggest reason for pirating on shortwave is for the audience being played to.  It's always dangerous to generalize, however, the typical SWL has a MUCH greater attention span than the typical INET user who uses their mouse much like a couch potato uses his/her TV remote.  SWLs search the bands and get a thrill receiving an interesting signal.  They will hang with you.  They will listen.  Often, they will attempt to make contact with you.  And often I make another friend.  Anything that is easy tends to breed boredom and jaded behavior.  Shortwave pirates might only be serving a small niche group but its a group of like-minded people who enjoy the challenges and surprises of communicating on Mother Nature's terms. I for one, am here to stay...

142

Huh? / Re: My theory on "Old Time Radio 6770"

« on: August 01, 2015, 1735 UTC »

That guy must spend a lot of time in the garage! Given the amount of hours OTR is on, I'd say that transmitter must be hot enough to fry up a couple veggie burgers by now...

He probably forgot to turn it off.

Or he unexpectedly passed away....   If so, you can forget about those QSLs...

143

QSLs Received / Re: Unique Physical Items Received as a QSL

« on: July 18, 2015, 1245 UTC »

"Harry, keep the change bean!"

And "I am the morning dee jay at W-O-L-Dee-dee-dee-dee...!"

144

General Radio Discussion / Re: 13.560 MHz

« on: July 18, 2015, 1228 UTC »

Jordan - go to the "BLACK ARTS" section of this board.  A thorough reading should answer most of your questions and provide links to most of the - proven - easily built rig schematics out there. 

If your skill level is low but you have money to burn, an old factory-built rig might be the better choice.  UHF35's concerns are valid but there are some exceptions.  Back in the early 90s ICOM introduced the IC-735.  It was advertised as being engineered and built to withstand hour-long keydown periods.  Many ops like Anteater Radio used these rigs and - yes - they proved to be quite robust and would withstand that kind of service.  Also, old tube rigs usually will hold up well - if - you don't attempt to use them at full power (treat those old transformers well!).  Hamfests and ebay are the obvious places to look for old rigs.  And if you buy one that hasn't been recapped, then by all means, build on your confidence and skill level by recapping it. 

I agree with UHF35 that building is definitely easier, but only for builders.  If you have little building experience, it might take you several years to work up to the skill level required.  Soldering something together is easy.  Debugging that homebrewed gaggle of non-working components usually isn't Whatever way you decide to proceed, I suggest that you start studying.  You'll never learn what you need to know from reading posts.  This is an ART and must be PRACTICED to become proficient.  Crack those books...

145

QSLs Received / Re: Unique Physical Items Received as a QSL

« on: July 17, 2015, 1439 UTC »

The flotsam and jetsom flows both ways.  Back in my Garbanzo years I received lots of GREAT stuff from listeners.  Joe Farley sent his highly memorable pre-made QSL card shaped like a bean (I'm still looking Joe - I think Harry stole it!).  Andy Yoder sent a report in written entirely on the back side of a label from a can of garbanzo beans.  Phil Schoenthal sent a "repurposed" beer bottle with a homemade label for "Douche Beer" (in response to one of our parody spots).  There have been literally hundreds of great postcards and the like.  From ham cards and local interest cards to an actual promotional picture playing card from pro wrestler Jesse Rose "Mister Perfect".  But of all the unique and funny and crazy and delightful things I received over the years, my all time "unique-est" thing of all is:

A BONE sent to me by Marina Pappas of SD.  BONE = "Best Operator, None Excepted"  Although I doubt the title was truly earned, I happily excepted Marina's gift



This has always been one of the most fun things for me about our "collective obsession" - sharing with other similar minded folks in unique ways and sharing unique things.  I have nothing against e-qsls but compared to the old way of connecting, they're very one-dimensional.  Hopefully trust can be rebuilt over time and we can re-discover the joys of "swapping via snail" again - a truly unique aspect of our truly unique pastime...

146

General Radio Discussion / Re: 13.560 MHz

« on: July 17, 2015, 1232 UTC »

Short answer - no.  I have a few friends who are beating each other to death with beacons on 13560 because "it's legal".  Problem is, it's not practical.  There's a bazillion others with the same idea and they're all scrunched up into this one little spectrum slice trying to be heard.  As for plunking down there with more power, well, I guess you can imagine all the wrong kind of attention you'd be attracting.  As for 22 meters in general, I have used it intermittently for years, especially 13605 and 13675 and have had reasonable success with it during late afternoons and early evenings.  But I will add my usual caveat - if you operate in any areas besides 43M (or 48M in Europe) your reception reports will be far, far less.  Not because you aren't getting out, but because few will be actively looking for small pirate signals elsewhere in the HF bands.

147

Equipment / Re: AC power supply noise, remedy?

« on: July 07, 2015, 1234 UTC »

I guess we all look at things differently Don.  I run my receivers from gel cells.  I have several of the 7 aH batts and rotate them between charger and discharge service.  Admittedly low tech, but my receiver is nearly hash free even though I'm right square in the bowels of a residential area.  And its not hard.  I've wired everything up with Anderson Powerpole connectors and I just swap out a batt before bed, while plugging in my cell phone.  To my thinking its a lot easier than an on (and on and on) going quest to root out noise.  My free time is too precious to waste on all that plugging and chugging.  I wish you good luck in slaying your noise dragon...

148

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pirate Radio Station Prompts Residents to Call the Feds...

« on: July 06, 2015, 1813 UTC »

Well John - you tried.  Of course TV 12 won't give in to this.  Circle the wagons!  God might have created the RF spectrum but THEY are endowed with a magical FCC license to utilize a piece of it.  Interlopers are competition - unlicensed competition, and deserve no respect - OR - unbiased reporting...

149

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pirate Radio Station Prompts Residents to Call the Feds...

« on: July 04, 2015, 1322 UTC »

A sign of the times nowadays - it seems an increasing number of Americans love using that strong central Federal government to bash the heads of people they don't agree with.  I take issue with the article's repeated use of the term "hijacking" of the frequency.  Hijacking infers that there was a legitimately licensed local user of that frequency whose rights or property was being usurped by the interloper.  Since it was on 87.9 - I rather doubt that was true.   The RF spectrum is a part of nature like the air that we breathe.  Its all well and good that the government hands out licenses to use this part and that part but if no licensee for 87.9 exists in that area then nothing was "hijacked".  Words are powerful things and distortions like these work to vilify radio pirates in the public consciousness...

150

The RF Workbench / Re: Starting out on Pirate

« on: June 28, 2015, 1607 UTC »

It's pretty difficult to get relevant articles on the internet as people who teach how to build these things are rarer than the ones which teach you how to listen to them   - fortunately this forum exists 

Nobody can truly teach this stuff WC.  Once you choose to build a transmitter rather than to buy something pre-made, you begin a learning journey.  Even if one is well-versed in electrical theory, RF circuits bring a whole new dimension to the fore.  You enter a realm where component leads act like antennas, where poor solder joints and cladded circuit boards exhibit capacitance, and where even the orientation of many components will determine whether your circuit works properly or not.  That's why we chose the name "Black Arts".  Like your Doctor who progressively gains his expertise by practicing the medical arts, transmitter builders must practice their craft in order to become successful at building progressively more ambitious projects. 

If you are trained in electrical engineering then I would say you are ready to start the journey.  If not, then you need to start small, and take baby steps toward your goal.  Like it or not, there is no other way.  You will never learn what you need to learn by bouncing posts back and forth on this or any forum.  We exist to share experience and provide support for fellow builders.  Nobody here can solve another's problems because nobody here can ever be present at another's workbench.  If you should decide that you would like to start the journey, we're happy to provide support if we can.  One site that I often recommend for newbs is makerf.com which covers the very basics and does it in a fun and interesting way.  He has some starter circuits - including a small shortwave transmitter.  Then with some electronics study on the side you might be ready for Radio Anarchy's Guerilla.  Start small and build on your successes.  Step by step, one foot in front of the other.  That's how the journey is made.

If you decide this is not for you, I understand.  In that case I would recommend you purchase your rig.  It is much easier, and you'll save a lot of frustration.  As to your Antenna question - a resonant antenna is all you need - dipole, inverted vee or similar.  You will need some real planning to fit one of them into a city environment. Getting into more arcane designs such as loops require a lot of complicated impedance matching and tuning.   However you decide to proceed WC, good luck with your project...