Messages

856

Equipment / Re: G5RV Jr. on the Antenna Analyzer

« on: September 20, 2018, 2140 UTC »

Ferrets are great pets, they improve your antenna performance.

Ferrets are used for other things, but this is the family programming channel so we won't get into that here.

857

Equipment / Re: G5RV Jr. on the Antenna Analyzer

« on: September 20, 2018, 2139 UTC »

I just got my MFJ-259C in the mail today and I'm wondering if it's broken or if the G5RV Jr. is just a weird antenna.  Maybe both?  Anyway, I'm getting readings I wouldn't expect.

Josh already put up a link with an SWR profile. There are others for the G5RV out there; just do a search for G5RV or its derivatives (e.g., ZS6BKW). It is nowhere close to "flat" from 3-30 MHz.

Aside from the variations in VSWR that this antenna presents, since you are questioning your analyzer readings, you didn't mention so I have to ask, did you connect to a known Z or R and get a reading sufficiently close to expectations? When readings don't make sense, always, always, always go back to a known reference, e.g., a dummy load.

858

General Radio Discussion / Re: Do they...

« on: September 11, 2018, 1844 UTC »

They know how to set up Analog Devices eval. boards, write python scripts, use LabView, GNUradio, program an FPGA to do fft, etc. An absolutely staggering number of things, all of which depend on an absolutely staggering volume of infrastructure.

However, that is by and large how industry in general is going and what young graduate engineers are asked to do in their jobs so it makes sense they actually know how to be productive when they get out.  Everything has an embedded controller in it now so it makes sense that they know how to work with those.

I was fortunate to have been raised goofing around in my parents' basement making, breaking and fixing radios and computers, got a formal education in the age of Intel 8085/8086 and Motorola 6800/68000 processors and have been able to integrate my hand-on background with other things to make a career. Even with that, my lack of attention to things like the emergence of microcontrollers like, for example, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, associated software and that whole "ecosystem" around this sort of stuff is starting to impact me professionally. I mention this not really as a lament, more just to point out how important these things are now.

Take away their computer, programming environment, or proprietary software, and they cant do anything. The most common means of servicing broadcast equipment, is to call the manufacturer, and order a new part, or for smaller stuff. a whole new unit.  I am lucky that I was raised with a father who is an electrical engineer, and understands the importance of fundamentals (also sans college degree). 

Yup, it's true that there is less knowledge of these things in industry (in my experience anyway). I went to a university with a massive lab course requirement, requiring a fair amount of experience with instrumentation (but not so much with soldering) but even if you soaked up all that knowledge, there still was a lot to learn. I was a geek about working in the lab, instrumentation and the practical implications of the theoretical shit we talked about in class, because that's how I started in this whole process and I continued to be interested and found work employing those skills.

But not everyone is like me and now people are being introduced to electronics in different ways than they used to be - without a soldering iron and probably with Raspberry Pi or something. That's the way things go. I bet that people were bitching 90 years ago that "kids these days don't know how to turn an automotive driveshaft on a lathe anymore" or some such. The world is moving on.

859

General Radio Discussion / Re: The Military Now Has Tooth Mics For Invisible, Hands-Free Radio Calls

« on: September 11, 2018, 1801 UTC »

They might need to be more careful about what they put in MREs from now on? 

I wonder if people with false teeth will have "a different user experience" than those with natural teeth? (I'm wondering if the natural resonances and conduction pathways of artificial teeth are not the same as natural teeth.)

860

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: RADIO PROGRESSO

« on: September 06, 2018, 1700 UTC »

With a name like that, I'd expect more saucy programming.

861

The RF Workbench / Re: zeppelin radio homemade transmitter video presentation

« on: September 06, 2018, 1648 UTC »

Yes, making your own modulation transformer is not easy.

862

General Radio Discussion / Re: Get ready for atomic radio

« on: September 06, 2018, 1646 UTC »

They definitely need to refine this so C-QUAM can be used to its fullest enjoyment.

Agreed. With GHz of bandwidth available to them, I'd plan on using C-QUAM too. 

863

General Radio Discussion / Re: Get ready for atomic radio

« on: September 05, 2018, 1957 UTC »

Among its advantages over conventional antennas is the huge range of signals it can detect—over four octaves from the C band to the Q band, or wavelengths from 2.5 to 15 centimeters.

Don't plan on this working on 43 meters as described in this article. Photodiode detectors don't work well there. However, I guess you could upconvert (mix up in frequency) but then some of the benefits like "interference immunity" would be lost.

864

General Radio Discussion / Re: Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers

« on: September 05, 2018, 1943 UTC »

I would think that, if there were microwave radiation being directed at these poor folks, it would leave the telltale signs that this would mean: cancerous growths, perturbed genomes, etc.

865

General Radio Discussion / Re: Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers

« on: September 05, 2018, 1938 UTC »

MAGA!

An American friend told me that this stands for Many Are Getting Arrested.

866

Propagation / Your Radio Isn't Broken

« on: August 28, 2018, 0257 UTC »

We had a moderate geomagnetic storm on 27 August: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g2-moderate-geomagnetic-storm-observed

867

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Kachelboer 3905 AM 2052 utc 25aug 2018

« on: August 26, 2018, 0423 UTC »

http://www.kachel-boer.nl/
 

868

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Radio Alice 3920,1 AM 2048 utc 25 aug 2018

« on: August 25, 2018, 2132 UTC »

Listening via Twente SDR. SINPO 34434.

869

European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Unid 3905 AM 2052 utc 25aug 2018

« on: August 25, 2018, 2129 UTC »

Listening via Twente SDR.

2128 UTC - "Wunderbar". Continuing with punk music.

870

European Pirates and Private Stations / LaserHotHits 6205 AM 1900 UTC 25 August 2018

« on: August 25, 2018, 2123 UTC »

Usual programming.