Messages

1

The RF Workbench / Tapping the 455kHz IF CB receiver to utilize a rig's features? Why not???

« on: September 13, 2025, 1816 UTC »

Another, sort-of done, project??? Well... What if you have some cheap-ass digital, or analog, SW portable radios, or even a decent one, but most portables are missing some really likable features, like a (NB) Noise Blanker, (ANL), Automatic Noise Limiter, RF Gain, or even SSB? Now, what if you have some unused, but working, old-ass CB's, that have all, or even some of these features? Doesn't matter if they are 23CH, or 40CH, rigs. Most CB's use a final IF FREQ of 455kHz, and most SW portables are using that as an IF FREQ as well. So, how about making an IF tap, to go from an SW cheap-ass portable, to the RX IF 455kHz tap of a decent CB rig? And, use the neat features of the CB to enhance SW listen? Actually, the idea has been used ass-backwards. Remember those add-on car CB receivers, that down-convert to an AM radio FREQ, to be de-MOD and heard on your car AM radio? Try to find one today, but they were sold at Western Auto, Sears, JC Pennys, Montgomery Wards, Lafayette, and even Radio Shack. Well, it should be pretty easy to do the reverse, Shortwave radio portable, or even a cheap desktop, to CB IF. The one disadvantage to this??? Audio-wise, you'd get just communications-like audio, and nothing robust. However, for tight, sensitive, SW listening, it would be like listening to my Icom IC-745 rig. COMM-type audio only comes from that. Now, (To take it a step further.), if you have one of those RTL, or KIWI, SDR, dongles, the +60dB of many CB's selectivity could help take-out IMD from like a close-by AM broadcast transmitter, i.e. feed 455 kHz IF from a decent CB, to  the SDR. It would be like a triple jump, cheap SW portable, to CB, to SDR. Hey... Could be done???

2

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Hardware vs Software Processing (revived)?

« on: September 10, 2025, 1812 UTC »

To answer ya what WAG AM690 does in his processing. Does he process before, or while, on-air? He told me that he does both. And BTW, he's now using AMP 1.0, the upgrade from Sonos.   http://burnill.co.uk/    That said, he recommends Sonos more for those starting out in software processing first, and recommends watching this Youtube VID.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pV90N-8ZA     I may try it, some day. As you said, the problem with getting older, discarded, stations' processors, like from Orban, Inovonics, or CBS Volumax, is to try and find one that doesn't look like they've been through a war zone. Or, even worst, weren't ZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP'ed by lightning. (I've seen more than my share of those.) I certainly run on the cheap here, with an original TERK VR-1 audio AGC 'DPS' unit, (Bought in 2005.), to an early 1990's ART CS2 Compressor / Limiter, (Set at 4:1 COMP.), followed by a 32 Band EQ, an Audio Reflex EQ-1 from the late 70's, then to the STL link to my stations. Hey... They work, albeit it's taken a lot of fine-tweaking time to find the sweet-spots where they all work together to give me that commercial processed sound quality. And, again, the pre / post audio processing that I've done has been with Audacity. Setting shows & podcasts with just 1.5:1 COMP is a sweet-spot there, and on EQ, I'll do a sharp dive at 8kHz and above, since many podcasts don't use a de-essing unit, and have very harsh S's & T's in their speech audio. Hey... I'm still learning... 

3

Propagation / Re: East Coast Heatwave could mean good VHF / UHF Tropo? Hope so...

« on: September 10, 2025, 1713 UTC »

With this weekend, 9/13 - 9/14/2025, with temperatures getting to near 90 degrees in the days, and 50's, or lower, at night, might prompt conditions for Tropo Propagation again in the North East USA and Southern / Eastern Provinces of Canada. (Might...)   https://www.dxinfocentre.com/propagation/tr-modes.htm  With the ARRL VHF Sweepstakes this weekend, that could be a VHF High Band and UHF helper. Use those 162MHz Weather Stations as propagational beacons. (Hey, our taxes paid for them.) Not a HAM, then you still have VHF MURS Band, and then GMRS in UHF. I would love to see the conditions of late September 2004, where VHF High Band and UHF FREQ's acted like the 40M Band in the daytime. Folks in Rochester, NY were watching TV stations from Beckley, WV. I'd love to see that happen again. FM Broadcast Band DX'ing seems more difficult today, with all of these FM Translators on-air littering up that band.   

4

General Radio Discussion / Re: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure

« on: September 10, 2025, 1615 UTC »

Well, if you takes those apart, the quickest way to tell that is to find at the edge of a PC board a 2" foil trace, that terminates to nothing, at one end, and just an SMT chip CAP at the other. That, would be the antenna.

5

General Radio Discussion / Re: Cuba Hit With Nationwide Power Outage? Still heard their 1620kHz.

« on: September 10, 2025, 1609 UTC »

Oh... On the drive home, last night, 0200 UTC, I thought that I still heard Cuba on 1620kHz, battling it out with Pensa Cola, FL's 1620AM. Being Medium Wave, they may have been on emergency generators. My Espanol totally sucks, so if they were announcing the power outage, then damned if I was able to understand that.

6

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Armed Forces Radio Network on base via Part 15 ops? Apparently....

« on: September 08, 2025, 1736 UTC »

My Uncle, who served in the US Air force for 20-some years, told me this little tidbit about a Part 15 AM operation:

"In 1979 when I was at Eielson AFB, Alaska they had an on base carrier current radio station.  Run by Armed Forces Radio.  Base was some 4 square miles and signal excellent on any car or home radio.  Armed forces radio authorized only at remote bases, but now pretty much replaced by SAT and other stations."

So, I have to ask, anyone else who served in the military remember listening to radio on-base, from the base?

7

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Hardware vs Software Processing (revived)?

« on: September 08, 2025, 1646 UTC »

Boomer, of AM Carrier-Current station, WAG AM690, AM Stereo, does all software based processing, before feeding audio to his C-QUAM board & LPB 5W transmitter. He's pretty happy with it. Me??? I still prefer actual components to quickly swap IN & OUT. But, that's just me. I like computer aided, than computer dependent. Working in TV & radio broadcasting, and going from manually done on-air studios & processors, to all software based automation, and even processing, and seeing the horrors of those transitions, just put a bad taste in my mouth to be 100% software dependent. Even today, albeit I have used later versions of NexGen, Zara Radio, and dabble a little with Radio DJ, automation, and they work. However, for processing, give me actual, physical, components anytime.     

8

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Emcore 2804TK-SCAP/12 CATV VSB/AM Transmitter 1310 nm. No, light...

« on: September 08, 2025, 1630 UTC »

Yeah... That's an interesting converter, to take NSTC video, to modulate it on Infra Red light, to then send on Fibre Optic link to like a CATV Head-End facility. The TV station that I worked at did this to send clean A/V signal from our studios to Time Warner Cable, at the time. Except, that unit was twice the size of a pack of cigarettes. If, you had a means to de-MOD that light FREQ, through Fibre Optic Cable, then it would make for a nice STL to a transmitter somewhere. other-wise??? The case, and maybe the built-in power supply, would make for better use.

9

MW Loggings / Re: AGREM 1670 kHz TIS West Grove, PA 2040 UTC 4 Aug 2016? What's the call?

« on: September 04, 2025, 1828 UTC »

Huh??? I've tried to look that TIS up in the FCC's data base, but of course, they've changed that in the last few years, again.   https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/travelers-information-stations-search    Used to be, you could just put in the FREQ and State, if you didn't know a TIS's call. Then, you'd get a comprehensive listings of TIS stations for the whole state. Well, not anymore. Our gov at work-less...

10

Amateur Radio / ARRL September VHF Sweepsteaks this 9/13 - 14/2025, 50MHz and up.

« on: September 03, 2025, 1605 UTC »

Well, one place that HAM don't behave too badly, (Albeit, I've heard some funky QSO's on the FM Simplex FREQ's.), is VHF / UHF Bands.   http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf   I haven't done these seriously since 2008, and was much more active, in the 1990's, as a help-out op with the N2HLT and N2IED groups. And, I did Rover Ops in 2007, but the next time that I do that I'd want someone else to do the driving. Anyway... Anyone could work you for a point. All you need to give as needed INFO is your call and the Grid Square where you are. I'm a little limited in antennas, and especially terrain, but may try 6M, 2M, and 432MHz SSB, and the FM Simplex FREQ's, 52.525MHz, 146.550MHz, 223.500MHz, and 446.000MHz. Pretty useless for a 1296MHz SSB, or 1294.5000MHz FM, here. And really nothing for 902MHz, yet. However, if you have some, or many of these FREQ's capabilities, try it out. Propagation??? Hopefully, a good Tropo opening, some Aurora, and even Meteor Scatter. Sporadic "E" is usually pretty dead then, but it's called Sporadic for a reason. Either way, have fun!!!!

11

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Great Part 15 AM Station, TX & Antenna System, from ARF! Plus explaination??

« on: September 01, 2025, 1716 UTC »

Well, one of the simplest things that I've seen under FCC Part 15 Rules was this rip:

Section 15.209:
9 KHz-490 kHz: 2400/F(kHz) uV/M, 300 M
490 kHz-1705 kHz: 24000/F(kHz) uV/M, 30 M
1.705-30 MHz: 30 uV/M, 30 M
30-88 MHz: 100 uV/M, 3 M
88-216 MHz: 150 uV/M, 3 M
216-960 MHz: 200 uV/M, 3 M
960 MHz and above: 500 uV/M, 3 M

I'm looking at the 490-1705kHz: 24000/F9kHz) uV/M, 30M. (Yeah, for ease, I ripped from  https://sandersrfconsulting.com/fcc-part-15-intentional-radiators/  , from the https://www.hobbybroadcaster.net/resources/FCC-Part-15-regulations.php   link.)  Somewhere, I have downloaded on my storage computer hard drives the full FCC Part 15 Rules. But anyway, I thought that I've seen something upon RF Field Strength Limits. Sanders RF Consulting is certainly right about one thing, "A simplified cheat-sheet is needed.". Then again, I've quoted the Part 15.209, and not .219. So, you bring a good-point. Still, this dude, Dr. H. Holden, does provide some nice, useful, INFO, to soak-up. BTW also, I don't take that ripped chart as a gospel-truth, but as another reference. Case in point for the Part 15 FM Band FS Limits, I seem to remember being 250uV at 3M away measured. Still, that one is ridiculously limiting, but it is at least a documented 'Limit'. 

12

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Great Part 15 AM Station, TX & Antenna System, from ARF! Plus explaination!!!

« on: August 31, 2025, 1643 UTC »

https://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=450003&sid=976d48f56b147cabc80491723266eee8     But, you can download this dude's .PDF direct,    https://worldphaco.com/uploads/THE%20LOW%20POWER%20MW%20AM%20TRANSMITTER-ANTENNA.pdf   Nice read & system explained, and rare INFO for anyone to write about today. YES!!!!!!! Even, if you don't do everything from scratch here, you could add improvements to what you may already have and use. Lots of great INFO here. (Thank you Boomer for the link!)

13

General Radio Discussion / Electronics DIY, various electronics kits.

« on: August 28, 2025, 1727 UTC »

https://electronics-diy.com/    This company sort-of takes over, where Panaxis Productions and Ramsey Electronics, left behind. Unfortunately, many of the FM transmitter kits wouldn't be legal to use in USA, unless under a dummyload test. Too bad that they don't seem to have any AM broadcasting kits, or the means for AM Stereo C-QUAM RX / TX capabilities, where that would be more permissible in the USA under Part 15. Still, neat site to check out.  Oh yeah... Got this from an RW FWR.

14

Pirate Radio History / 35 Years of Radio Wolf International, and the making of a VID DOC!

« on: August 28, 2025, 1720 UTC »

Yep... September 2025 makes 25 years of this trio-made, one-time, station, Radio Wolf International. This, was a collaboration of WKND, WKZP (K-ZAP), and Radio Flatus. Then, you got to see the station, months later, from the Franklin Video Group, when they released the documentary, Inside Pirate Radio, on VHS.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_oXEMu7Rzo    Wow... 35 years since all this.

15

Equipment / Audio veteran teams up with Aqua to build a modern AGC! RW rip...

« on: August 26, 2025, 1745 UTC »

https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/news-makers/from-gainesville-to-gain-control-reaves-finds-his-zen        Yeah, it is easy to forget about controlling audio with some sort of an audio Automatic gain Control, (AGC), But, adding a decent AGC, with the Compressor / Limiter, does yield to some nice, commercial broadcast quality audio results. BTW, my answer to Audio AGC was the original TERK VR-1 unit, meant to tackle TV audio that was all over the place at the time.  https://www.crutchfield.com/S-3KT4WJ8C5t0/p_209VR1/Terk-VR-1.html  In 2005, I bought one of the original ones for $80.00 new, which was considered a bargain for what it does, a DSP unit that is specifically setup for Audio AGC. Do not confuse this with the now newer & cheaper, but very much flawed P.O.S., Audiovox VR-1. That, uses op-amps as compariters, and does these loud POP sounds when it acts hard to control audio. A very inferior version indeed. However, if you find the original TERK VR-1, in perfect order, I'd suggest you grab it up.