Messages

1

Equipment / Re: Images in LW Band

« on: December 21, 2013, 0159 UTC »

Chris,

I thought of that but had two issues:

1) I do DX BCB

2) I wasn't sure how to wire the coax to the whip since the connector is only a hot not a not/shield.  I guess maybe I would solder the hot onto the whip and just leave the shield unconnected in that case.

I actually thought of this is adding an inline attenuator (bnc connection) rather than a high pass or band pass filter but I still wasn't sure what to do with coax.

I might play around with that some tomorrow if I find time.

73,
Ian

2

Equipment / Re: Images in LW Band

« on: December 20, 2013, 2253 UTC »

It would be more of a pain in the ass but because the vertical is a telescoping pole I could always dismount it from the tree and try reducing it's height a little and see if that helps.

I reduced the length of the vertical by about 5 feet and that helped.  Unfortunately it seemed to have reduced sensitivity above 11mhz so maybe I will tweak it a little tomorrow...

3

Equipment / Re: Images in LW Band

« on: December 20, 2013, 1906 UTC »

Thank you both for the replies.

It is a DX Engineering DXE-ARAV3-1P (http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-arav3-1p),  I have replaced the 7 ft whip with a 28 foot stainless steel vertical (actually a metal cleaning pole I bought on ebay).  It brings in a good amount of signal but may  be overloading the amp.  I have to look to see if I can reduce the amp's gain.  I can add an attenuator before the coax but if the mixing is already in the whip I am guessing that won't do much good.

It would be more of a pain in the ass but because the vertical is a telescoping pole I could always dismount it from the tree and try reducing it's height a little and see if that helps.

Appreciate the response, I am pretty sure you guys have nailed it. 

73,
Ian

4

Equipment / Re: Images in LW Band

« on: December 20, 2013, 1658 UTC »

Spent an hr this morning trying to troubleshoot it to no avail so would be most appreciate of any help!  Here's what I know:

1) Occurs primarily around 100-120 khz.  My strongest locals are 640 and 850.

2)  I hear it on all radios in the shack, Winradio G31, Icom R-75, Kenwood TS-940.

3)  Only audible on the active vertical; if it's there on the Pixel it's way down in noise.

4)  Taking the noise baluns out of the circuit didn't help at all.

5)  The vertical cox is RG-6 quad shield only a few month's old.

6) Under the right circumstances I get mixing products on the vertical around 6900khz, mostly at night.  I've got high pass filters in line with the vertical for HF that eliminates this most of the time though.

73,
Ian

Hoepfully I can find the culprit and rid my system of it.  I am afraid I might just have to live with it...

5

Equipment / Re: Images in LW Band

« on: December 19, 2013, 2018 UTC »

Chris,

Yeah, it's a mixing product.  It happens primarily on my amplified vertical though I have had it appear on my Pixel loop as well.   Maybe I should check the connections outside from the antenna to a series of noise baluns to the coax to the shack.  The coax is pretty new (last 6 months) and is buried RG-6 quad shield to reduce noise.  I would love to be able to identify the culprit.  It's driving me crazy...

6

Equipment / Images in LW Band

« on: December 19, 2013, 1941 UTC »

Need some help in troubleshooting some images I've got in the LW bands (primarily below 150khz).  The images are of very strong locals (typical s9+30 or 40).  The obvious answer is yeah, the locals are overloading the rx (it happens with all the radios in my shack).  The reason I am stumped is that I have inline a pre-selector I built for LW that has a Clifton Laboratories low pass filter and a PAR low pass filter in series.  The effect is to knock the two locals down to S1 (-100db on my SDR).  That's why I am confused; if the filters reduce BCB by 90db or more how is there enough signal strength getting through to create the images?  Should I buy a third filter to put in series with these two?

It's driving me crazy trying to troubleshoot it.

Thanks!!

Ian
Boynton Beach, Florida  

7

Equipment / Re: Antenna Multi-Couplers

« on: December 07, 2013, 1954 UTC »

Thanks very much Lino.  I'll pick up one of those or the Mini-Circuits which I've read about.

73,
Ian

8

Equipment / Antenna Multi-Couplers

« on: December 05, 2013, 1858 UTC »

Looking for a recommendation on a good antenna multi-coupler.  What I want to do is split the lead-in from my vertical into three outputs

1) for fullband use (100khz-30 MHZ)
2) for LW use only ( I have filters to pass only 500khz and below)
3) for HF use only (I have filters to reject BCB and below)

The best multi-coupler I have seen is the Elad ASA-15.  I use one to feed multiple rx from the antenna switch's output.  I could buy another one to create the 3 outputs I need but they are expensive (~$450) and I really didn't want to spend that much.  It's been hard to find one that's reasonably priced (+/- $100-$150) that works from 100khz-30MHZ.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ian 

9

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 AM 0345 Dec 4 2013 (ON NOW)

« on: December 05, 2013, 0421 UTC »

I've got something on 6925 as well at 4:19.  All I get is talk.  Can't quite make out language, sounds Arabic though.  Any legits ops on this freq at this time?  Nothing in EIBI or HFCC.

Ian

10

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: What's a decent mid priced SDR for LW/MW/HF?

« on: November 30, 2013, 2331 UTC »

New to the board but not the hobby. 

Agree with Token re Winradio Excalibur.  I have had one for about 3 years and have never had a radio pass through my shack that could best the Excalibur on weak signal retrieval.  Equal it sometimes, maybe but never beat it.  That includes Drake R-8, JRC-535, Icom R75, Yaesu FT-1000MP, Icom 756Pro3, Kenwood TS-940, Drake R7.  I'm not saying there aren't any out there that could (maybe a vintage Racal or WJ or a state-of-the-art transceiver) just that I haven't had one in my shack in the 3 years I have owned the Excalibur.  Now as far as audio goes, I have it running through a 31 band EQ into a pretty good Yamaha receiver and a very good soundcard.   My other hobby is high-end audio so I think I have a pretty good ear and believe I have gotten out most of the digital artifacts from the Excalibur.  That being said it's still sounds slightly digitally like an older generation CD player and not the equal of the best analog radios. 

73,
Ian
Boynton Beach, Florida 

11

Equipment / Re: What Radio Did you start your listening hobby with?

« on: November 30, 2013, 2301 UTC »

New to the group...Brief intro.

I am 52 and live in SE Florida.  Grew up DXing on Long Island with a Realstic TRF at age 14.  Graduated from that to a GE Super Radio.  I remember vividly getting a new RF-2200 for XMAS when I was 16.  It was an expensive set for my parents to buy me but it was greatly appreciated.  I knew nothing about antenna theory and used a 60 ft longwire strung from my bedroom to the backyard pine trees.  Picked up almost as much QRN as it did signal but I recall logging KSL and KFI early one Monday morning on the RF-2200 hooked up to a timer/tape recorder as a teenager.  Still two of my best catches to date from LI.  Back then I had a friend that lived nearby that was into BCB Dxing.  Both of us wanted to be DJs, he did at one point for a few years.  Me I took a more corporate route...

These days I use an Winradio Excalibur, a tricked out Icom R-75, as well as a Kenwood TS-940.  I live in an HOA community so I am limited as far as antennas go.   I am using a DX Engineering active vertical (28 foot probe) and a Pixel Pro2B loop.

Haven't DXed for pirates in many, many years but was a regular listener and was friendly with the operators of NY's WFAT in the late 70's until they got busted.

Looking forward to contributing to this site.

73,
Ian