Topics

1

General Radio Discussion / Balls

« on: March 15, 2023, 1930 UTC »

7. On April 8, 2022, just over two weeks after the Agent issued the third NOUO, Barnes
uploaded a video to his public Facebook account stating that he was again operating his pirate station.22
Barnes stated in this video that he did not think the Commission could stop his unauthorized broadcasts
unless it “locked him up.” On April 14, 2022, Barnes posted yet another video stating that he was
“getting ready to go live on 100.5 FM.”23 After conducting additional research, the Agent also discovered
that, in the year prior to the start of the 2022 investigation, Barnes had uploaded over 30 videos to his
public Facebook account in which he stated that he was the “Eastern Oregon Pirate of Pirate Radio
Eastern Oregon” and that he was broadcasting live or was planning to broadcast live on 100.5 FM in La
Grande, Oregon.24

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-23-16A1.pdf

2

European Pirates and Private Stations / UNID 6280 AM 0030 UTC 04 Mar 2023

« on: March 04, 2023, 0032 UTC »

Electronic dance/hip hop but not sure in what language. SINPO 33333 in Portugal.

0100 - Finnish hip hop?
0114 - Has improved to SINPO 44444 in Portugal and the UK. Continuous trance/dance type music.
0139 - suddenly off the air mid-song.

3

North American Shortwave Pirate / Partial India Radio 6935 AM 0138 UTC 03 Mar 2023

« on: March 03, 2023, 0140 UTC »

Lots of audio problems. Most of what I heard was a throbbing sound, though I did hear "Partial India Radio" clearly.
0141 - Audio continuously moving between inaudible and throbbing.

You have RF getting into your audio, my friend. That's what the squealing is. You need to invest in some ferrite torroids.

0147 - some clear audio but has to keep it at a low level to avoid RF feedback. Not a good place to be.
0148 - carrier off
0155 - back on. Audio is better...maybe. No about the same.
0156 - ID
0200 - Audio is low but usable. Sanjay talking.
0205 - More audio futzing. Some RF feedback and then carrier off.

Sorry, man. Keep trying.

4

Latin American Pirate / AD149 6934.90 AM 0030 UTC 8 FEB 2023

« on: February 09, 2023, 0028 UTC »

S5-S6 on SDRs on the east coast USA.
S9+10 on an SDR in northern central Argentina.

5

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6930 AM 0227 UTC 02 Feb 2023

« on: February 02, 2023, 0232 UTC »

Better heard in the west than the east. S7 on the Northern Utah colossus.

0227 - Trance music with synthesizer.
0234 - 1970s synth music. Boards of Canada
0302 - S9+ on the VE6ARS SDR in southern Alberta.
0303 - I have an errand to take care of. Ciao.

6

North American Shortwave Pirate / WDOG 4185 USB 0313 UTC 28 JAN 2023

« on: January 28, 2023, 0339 UTC »

I think this is WDOG now?

I think so.  Ok everybody, WANK the DOG.
S9+10 dB on the K1VL SDR in Vermont at 0345 UTC.

0418 - "What did you guys do?" (I guess talking to the dogs) and suddenly off. A few seconds later, the initial guitar riff to Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" was heard but nothing more.

7

North American Shortwave Pirate / Original 106 Relay 6925.11 AM 0055 UTC 26 JAN 2023

« on: January 26, 2023, 0056 UTC »

Audible on east coast SDRs. Audio is slightly distorted on peaks, i.e., over-driven slightly.

0055 - C&W
0100 - Quick change to news with UK accented announcer. (Sky News)
0102 - "All the music you love. Original 106".
0117 - Off when I checked back.

8

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6950 USB 0149 UTC 25 JAN 2023

« on: January 25, 2023, 0149 UTC »

0149 Just signed on.
0150 - Audio level is coming and going. Currently blues.
0152 - Back to original xylophone music but audio cutting in and out.
0153 - Off?

9

Latin American Pirate / AD149 Radio (tent) 6934.9 AM 2310 UTC 24 JAN 2023

« on: January 24, 2023, 2318 UTC »

Weak carrier visible on some east coast SDRs. Not at all present on west coast SDRs. Some music.

It might be our Spanish friends. I will check Europe.

10

The RF Workbench / Transmission Line Transformers

« on: January 16, 2023, 2007 UTC »

I mentioned over here that I was trying to find more information on designing transmission line transformers: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,89881.msg335362.html#msg335362

I got what I was looking for and I figured that I would share:

The first reference is the second edition of a book that I own in print (first edition). Bowick, C., "RF Circuit Design". This section is basically untouched from the first edition: https://ia802603.us.archive.org/7/items/RFCircuitDesign2ndEdition/RF%20Circuit%20Design%20-%202nd%20Edition.pdf Starting on page 181 ("Broadband Transformers"), and especially pages 182-183, "Practical Winding Hints".

Also, Badger, G., “A new class of coaxial line transformers,” Ham Radio Mag azine, Part 1, 12–18, Feb. 1980, and Part 2, 18–29, Mar. 1980.

11

Group W Bench / Re: BallSmacker Radio 4030 AM 0154 UTC 14 JAN 2023

« on: January 14, 2023, 0252 UTC »

Sadly, ("Heaven and Hell" by Black Sabbath) was dropped on the last round of cuts. 

SAD FACE. VERY, VERY SAD FACE.

12

Latin American Pirate / Radio Compañía Worldwide (Presumed) 6925 AM 0125 UTC 05 January 2023

« on: January 05, 2023, 0130 UTC »

Weak carrier with music. SINPO 13331 on KFS SDR (NorCal) omni antenna. Confirmed program is // to what I am hearing on the same frequency on SDRs in Argentina and Brazil. Presumed since I have not heard an ID.

13

North American Shortwave Pirate / B-Side Radio 6935 AM 0110 UTC 5 JAN 2023

« on: January 05, 2023, 0112 UTC »

SINPO 45444 on KFS SDR (NorCal) omni antenna. Tuned in at 0110 to hear Bud Bigley announcing the next song.

0110 - CSN&Y, "Judy Blue Eyes"
0119 - Count Basie, "Doggin' Around"
0133 - Earth, Wind and Fire , "Boogie Wonderland.".

0139 - I changed to W0AY SDR in western Montana because KFS was freezing up too much. S7-S9+ on W0AY.

0144 - Gary U.S. Bonds, "Twist, Twist Senora" (1962)
0148 - Burton Cummings, "Guns Guns Guns"
0151 - Cream, "Sunshine of Your Love"
0157 - Shoutouts to HFU posters. (Not bad to the east coast with "10,000 milliWatts". Good use of the grey line, IMO.)
0206 - The Knack, "Good Girls Don't" (1979)
0211 - ELO
0221 "What is SINPO?"  Listener subjective ratings. SINPO = Signal, Interference, Noise, Propagation and Overall. All on a scale of 1-5 each, with 5 being the best. Used a lot in SWL circles.
0237 - Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". (Last song.)
0240 - Close down

I changed to W0AY SDR in western Montana because KFS was freezing up too much. S7-S9+ on W0AY.

Glad I am not the only one who notices this. I assume it is either caused by a poor internet connection on their end or the bot infestation. I hate that many SDR owners allow or even encourage those guys to fill up almost every slot with bots decoding digital ham stuff. At least when I make audio recordings off it they do not freeze up or skip like it does when listening live.

I'll tell you that I haven't figured this all out yet, however, but it's clear that the internet connection (at the source, at your end or somewhere in between) seems to be a big part of the issue and I have observations and experimental results to prove it. I have also observed that the processing load on the SDR computer has something to do with it, so when I am listening to something for a long time and don't need the waterfall, I will either slow the waterfall or turn it off completely to lower the load. I have seen it help in circumstances where the processor load is marginally OK. Some SDRs do this already, e.g., K3FEF.

A really cute girl sang that song to me on the way home from a concert when it came on the radio, so we got off at the next exit and did.

So you are saying you got off before you got off?

14

European MW Pirate Radio / Radio Odynn 1656 AM 1855 UTC 04 Jan 2023

« on: January 04, 2023, 1901 UTC »

Typical Dutch MW programming. Excellent reception on Twente while demonstrating a SDR to a colleague here in California using my iPhone. ID and email address in English at 1856 UTC.


edit by Ray :
the ID in the subject was shortwave man, but that's only the e-mail addy of Radio Odynn

15

North American Shortwave Pirate / B-Side Radio 6935 AM 0103 UTC 23 Dec 2022

« on: December 23, 2022, 0107 UTC »

Holy music. Likely B-Side Radio. Heard better in the west than the east but reception in the east is probably better than previous evenings.

0106 - recitation in perhaps Latin or Spanish, turning into singing by YL and musical accompaniment.
0112 - ID and music announcements.