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Topics - ThaDood

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1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsrtj5WsZxc      THANK YOU Boomer for that find! Incedential, I was there, (Port Henry, NY), in 1987, but not to tune-in to this station, it was to buy a Champ T-shirt, the Lake Champlaigne sea monster. And, the station that I was listening to then was the AOR station out of Plattsburg, NY. Almost wish that I've tuned-in to that station now.

2
Other / Japanese QSO on VHF MURS CH1? More than once.
« on: March 25, 2024, 1910 UTC »
Late Friday night / Saturday morning, around 1:30AM EST, myself and a HAM friend of mine, heard mobile traffic on VHF MURS CH1, 151.820MHz FM. That, in itself is not too unusual, but these dudes were speaking Japanese. One, was using a Baofang HT, due to the recognition of its Roger-Beep. Thinking, that they were on Rt. 64, about 4 miles away is the closest point to me. I heard them on the scanner, with an indoor antenna. Then, heard them again last night around 1:30AM EST, SUN night / MON morning. Contractors rolling through? That, was different.

3
https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2024/03/podcast-337-catching-up-on-radio-news-including-lpfm-a-college-radio-archive-documentaries-and-more/   They are back, for a new podcast and INFO on two radio flicks coming out, 35,000 Watts, about college radio, and 40 Watts To Nowhere, about a pirate station. Good to know.

4
I really suck in software, and always have. However, even I thought this interesting. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/this-long-lost-earliest-ms-dos-precursor-was-discovered-in-a-floppy-disk-collection/ar-AA1mwLzg?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=1705359b24564e9fa126e5fdc3a2e714&ei=38  I still remember 12" floppy disks for loading industrial CRT test machines for Toshiba in the late 1980's. I still have 5.25" floppy disks, but nothing to run those on. I do still have 3" diskettes and several DOS and WIN 3.1 softwares. How many pirate, and other station, loggings do you still have on MS-DOS?

5
https://www.reddit.com/r/cbradio/comments/18a6rlg/what_is_this_interference_i_get_fading_in_and_out/   Since the beginning of Cycle 25's F2 Propagation, this dude has been heard on the East Coast, most days, for years doing this. (What's he using to cool his finals, and where do I get them?) He certainly doesn't cool tempers over here during the daylight hours, and even about 2 hours after sunset. That does make for an interesting Propagational Beacon, but that's an interest that wears-off within seconds. In West Virginia, it's a strong, S9, +S10/9, even stronger at times, signal over here. Hey... At least this dude is too far to be heard by me when it's Sporadic "E" season.

6
       Buying a used Xiegu G90 SDRtransceiver, used for $369.00, from MTC Radio, was a deal that I couldn't ignor. However, with this bare-bones, 20W, SDR HF transceiver being out now for about 6 years, problems are developing with them, including the RF cut-out problem that I had. How did I fix mine? The following is a Copy & Paste e-mail that I had with Tom, WB8ICT, (Whom also has a Xiegu G90.), where I explained to him what I did with my rig. So, contemplating that this INFO might be useful to other Xiegu G90 owners, here's what I'd come across:

"Hey Tom???
Just to give ya a run-down on what I did on my Xiegu G90. Again, Rick, W8ZT, nailed-it with the Si heatsink grease being dried out, under the Voltage Regulators and all three Mitsubishi diver and finals MOSFET pair. Yep... It just flaked off, and after only 4 years. The hardest part is the around of disassembly that I had to do to reach those. BTW, the MOSFET final, closest towards the front, has that thermo resistive sensor over it. Looks like a black dot with two legs, hovering loose over that final's body, and close to that 5W, 330 Ohm, resistor. I suspect that therm resistor gets more heat from that. I did also resolder what looked like a cold joint to one of those 330 Ohm, 5W, resistors. Other bad solder joints found were the 13.8VDC main lead-ins to the board and that filter torroid, just 1 inch up further. I've also replaced those chintzy antenna and GND leads to the SO-239 connector. In fact, the hex nut that locks the GND connection screw was free spinning. (Good QA inspection there, eh?.) I've swapped that out for a high temp, Teflon-based, 100% shielded, RG-174-like, coax. (Leftovers from my days with RF plasma generators.) Then, reassembled to about 85% together and did long key-down tests for over 10min at a time on AM, FM, and SSB at the 20W level. Granted, 1.1:1 VSWR in a dummyload. I let the rig burn on RX overnight for 24hrs. Then, did a auto-tuner test using a 12VDC trailer light bulb. It, did not like it, and at best, got the match to 2:1. Ran that for like 10min, to also warmer than I could touch. The rig didn't cut-out, and heat was much more uniformed throughout the rig's chassis, and not just by the finals and REG's. So, the big test was Saturday evening. Apparently, it passed that QSO'ing. BTW... The set screws, that locked-in the REG's and finals were not tight to begin with either. And, no mica insulators required.
So, thar' ya is, if you need to work on your Xiegu G90. Doable, but definitely room for improvements. And, found nothing on-line explaining any of this."

Hopefully, this INFO will help. BTW, I already have firmware ver 1.75 in this rig, so the on-line fixes to upgrade from ver 1.73, was mal-en-void, for me. 73!!!!

7
Equipment / 32 Quartz Crystal Unit Manufacturers in 2024 ? Good!
« on: March 06, 2024, 2232 UTC »
https://us.metoree.com/categories/7177/   I was asking folks, a couple of years back, about the time that Jan Crystal and ICM went bye-bye, about domestic crystal companies. And, by accident I came across the preceding link. Good.

8
10/11 meters / WWV's 25MHz signal?
« on: March 05, 2024, 1825 UTC »
Just, out of my curiosity, how well, and how far, can y'all hear WWV's 25.00000MHz signal in the day hours? It, is just out of reach for me to hear it when Sporadic E PROP is active, from my QTH. I'm really glad to hear it, and even use it, again with Cycle 25 bringing F2 PROP back. However, I have to believe that it's signal is being heard on the other side of the world.  https://www.arrl.org/news/wwv-25-mhz-signal-swapped-to-circular-polarization 

9
I've seen this before, and can't remember if I've posted it before. But, Boomer reminded me of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HIF0toZO8
I have a well worn Realistic #12-655 AM portable, from 1975, and it is a very fun portable.

10
Huh? / Bob Heil, K9EID, passes away, 3/1/2024!
« on: March 02, 2024, 1819 UTC »
I was wondering why my phone was pinging-away late last night. Now, I know. https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/audio-innovator-bob-heil-dies
Never did an actual on-air QSO with him, since everytime he'd put his call out, there would be a swamp of a pile-up. Only, e-mailed corresponded. He'll be missed in the Amateur Radio and music realms for sure.
Even, a better write-up of him here.  https://fohonline.com/featured/in-memoriam-bob-heil-1940-2024/

11
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/why-cassette-tapes-are-making-a-comeback-and-it-s-not-just-a-fad/ar-BB1igaoU
How many of us still have bins and drawers of cassettes to still go through. Ya know, there's a lot of history recorded all over on cassettes. Like, pirate radio history. Now, what's that cassette company in MO?  Oh yeah, this one.  https://www.nationalaudiocompany.com/   Huh... No Metal Tape formulas? At least, you can still buy CrO2.

12
https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/news-makers/larry-walk-60-years-of-oom-pahs-and-smiles      Thanks again, Boomer, whom I believe runs this dude's show. I am surprised that he's not huge in Buffalo, NY, where every weekend at least one AM station would do hours of Polka Music. (Some of you WNY'ers know exactly what I'm talking about there, right?) Gotta' give this guy kudos for keeping it going.
Correction:  Boomer runs a show called Oompha Hour. (There, my C.M.O.A..)

13
Equipment / Radio Jay Allen checks-out a Sony ICF-2001 1980 portable!
« on: February 10, 2024, 1919 UTC »
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Ya know, after reading Radio Jay's review, it sounds like Sangean later copied Sony with their ATS-803A / Realistic DX-440, with looks, feel, and features. Well, I guess Sangean wanted to use what worked. Just my take...
  https://radiojayallen.com/sony-icf-2001-am-fm-sw-portable-a-most-unusual-radio/   

14
Huh? / Letter: AM Stereo Fans Must Present a Unified Front? RW rip...
« on: February 04, 2024, 2017 UTC »
https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/readers-forum/letter-am-stereo-fans-must-present-a-unified-front    Well, as long as it's not an emminece front. AM Stereo was a clear case where capitalism failed, and failed miseribly. Where it may have to seccede today is within Open Source, and there are Part 15'ers out there just running with C-QUAM AM Stereo. Is it perfect??? No, but for the most part that format did work, and to a degree, it still does. Today, SDR tech could be the game changer, since that's how many today are hearing AM Stereo, probably for the first time, is via web-based Kiwi-SDR's. I can believe that AM Stereo can be done via SDR tech on the transmit side as well. Just my take here, but is seems that hobbyists could succede where corporations have failed. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see capitalism succede, but can capitalists actually learn from this experience? (Thank you Boomer, for pointing this out to me!)    (Huh... My Spell-Check isn't working, again.)

UPDATE 2/13/2024: Then, there's this...   https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/readers-forum/letter-its-too-late-for-am-lets-talk-about-digital-radio     Eh... Not a good way to commemorate World Radio Day, is it?

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