Messages

1

Amateur Radio / Re: Suggestoins on headphones for listening

« on: June 06, 2024, 1450 UTC »

Thanks, thats what I was thinking. The receiver has filters and doesnt sent audio frequencies that are out of range.  I got a pair of fancy earphones and what I did notice is noise inherent in the receiver.  I dont hear it with other earphones but I hear it with these. 
I just discovered turning off the AGC and using the gain knob to barely hear whats above the noise floor.  It works best when I use ear protection over earbuds .  That way the refrigerator sound doesnt interfere.  But then my internal bodily sounds can interfere like breathing or clenching my teeth and my jaw. Its pretty fun to get all quiet and use my listening like that. 

2

General Radio Discussion / Re: A great great read on solar flare activity and comparisons to previous cycles!

« on: June 05, 2024, 0202 UTC »

Have you heard about the magnetosphere getting weaker?  There's a youtube channel called Suspicious0bservers.  It smells like a doomsday cult but its very entertaining.  The magnetosphere is weakening because the poles are shifting. The poles are shifting because the Sun is being effected by a shift in polarization of the galactic sheet. The galactic sheet ripples out from the galactic center with a rock-falling-into-a-pond kind of ripple.  The frequency of the galactic sheet ripples changing polarity happens around the same time ancient cataclysms have occurred. Sun activity effects weather.  Sun activity effects earthquakes.  Stars can go micronova and still persist...I think I got it straight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BPYKZmZ8dM

3

Amateur Radio / Re: Waterfall Pirate 7197

« on: June 04, 2024, 1808 UTC »

I see super wide blasts on 20m. Maybe they're waterfall pirates.  I'll mess with my waterfall speed and see if I pick anything up.

4

Amateur Radio / Suggestoins on headphones for listening

« on: June 04, 2024, 1806 UTC »

Let me know if there is a better forum to post this question in.

I'm looking for headphones for listening to ham radio operators.  I read somewhere that fancy speakers that have a wide range like 20 Hz to 20 kHz aren't necessarily good for listening because you're only listening to the SSB range of 100 Hz to 2.5 Hz.  So the fancy speakers might pick up stuff you don't want to hear. 

Does anybody agree with this or have experience? 

5

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: Wanted AFE822x Dual Channel AFEDRI SDR

« on: February 24, 2023, 1536 UTC »

Are you still interested in one of these?
I think they're cool too and saw one today:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/afredi-afe822x-sdr-net-dual-channel-sdr-receiver.853016/

6

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: VEF-SIGMA 260 1980s USSR Shortwave Radio

« on: December 08, 2022, 2107 UTC »

This one has the olympic rings on it so maybe it was made for that market?

7

The RF Workbench / Re: Heathkit DX-40 tube transmitter

« on: December 06, 2022, 2336 UTC »

Thanks fellas.
I love old websites like that.  I like the style of that globe transmitter, I've seen a Globe V-10 VFO Deluxe of the same style. 

Wow, look at the fan on that thing.  So do tube transmitters benefit from muffin fans like that?  Whats the best way to use a fan, blow the air onto the tubes or suck it out of the case? 

8

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: VEF-SIGMA 260 1980s USSR Shortwave Radio

« on: December 04, 2022, 1849 UTC »

The label on the back says it cost 311 Rubles. In the 80s that was a lot of money. 

9

The RF Workbench / Heathkit DX-40 tube transmitter

« on: December 04, 2022, 0147 UTC »

Does anybody happen to know if the Heathkit DX-40 will transmit outside of the ham bands?  An acquaintance of mine who is into ham radio has found one and they want to test it.  But they only have a crystal that is around the 43m band to use on their dummy load. 

Also, they want to test to see if the "phone" mode works but they don't have a microphone that fits the older style mic out jack. They were wondering if they could just temporarily wire up an mp3 player to the + and - leads of the mic.  Would that work? 

10

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: VEF-SIGMA 260 1980s USSR Shortwave Radio

« on: December 04, 2022, 0122 UTC »

Maybe its worth something to an ex-Soviet person who wants one for nostalgia?  Or I bet somebody who likes cassette tapes would love it because its different.  Cassettes are cool vintage now, or at least they were a couple years ago with the coffee drinking, mechanical typewriter toting, lumberjack-clothes-wearing hipsters. 

11

The RF Workbench / Re: U-LULU (Updated LULU) for 48 meters, 20 Watt Class-E AM Transmitter

« on: December 04, 2022, 0058 UTC »

Charlie, thats a really professional write up.  Thanks for sharing it. 
I've always daydreamed of a transmitter system where there's multiple exciters for the different bands and one big amplifier that is broadband. 

12

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6920 AM 2015 UTC 19 JAN 2022

« on: January 20, 2022, 0034 UTC »

00:24 Station ID, yep clear "Radio Pushka"
Still going, this has been fun. 

I'm now picking it up on my dipole here at the domicile.  I'm using the noise reducer on my SDR and it makes it sound all weird but cuts out the harsh static.  It says S-9 on the S-meter.  Its my guess the audio is not compressed. 

Pushka sounds Russian.  Cpacibo dlya moozika maya pushka!

13

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Pushka 6920 AM 2015 UTC 19 JAN 2022

« on: January 19, 2022, 2020 UTC »

On the Half Moon Bay SDR in CA receiver there's some music on 6920 am.  It was a spanish american sounding song.  Then I also hear it at Radio Ranch SDR in AZ.  I can't help it, there I was, minding my own business and this music was there at noon my time. It used to be a rare occurance but I haven't been listening for pirates lately. 
I hear some heavy rock, kind of sounds like Korn. 

update:
20:29 Station ID... it said something something station
Then it audaciously started playing some more music. A little like techno music but with more of a human element.
20:45 ID "Radio" something "a" something "station"
pretty good music.  Good propagation today. 
22:45 Station ID, "Radio Prisco?"

14

The RF Workbench / Re: Stretchyman “40W TX” Failure Investigation and Remediation

« on: July 03, 2021, 1541 UTC »

When my old model worked, it performed super great. He offered to fix it too but I declined. He's capable of making a better design.  I bet you can trust him if he says he made the design better it.

15

North American Shortwave Pirate / Two Dog Radio 6955 USB 1614 UTC 4 Apr 2021

« on: April 04, 2021, 1616 UTC »

S5 signal level.
I hear Nirvana. Interference from some radar.  Its nice to hears some pirate at 9am on Easter on the West coast! Thanks stranger. 
1619 ish I heard the operator say its not an unidentified station. And he mentioned something radio.  Heavy metal music.
1629 very clear "Two Dog Radio" ID
1638 morse code inteference