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Shortwave Pirate Radio In North America And Around The World, And Other Things That Go Bump In The Night
We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.
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Longwave Loggings / Re: 450 khz (between LW and MW) Bloomberg Radio at 3:36 on July 10, 2021 UTC
« on: July 13, 2021, 0930 UTC »
Maybe a clue is in his tag line “….trusty rusty 1980s portable with about 140 feet of wire thrown up in the trees…..”. That is a lot of antenna for most portable radios. It is possible that his portable radio is overloaded and generating this signal internally.
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Longwave Loggings / Re: 450 khz (between LW and MW) Bloomberg Radio at 3:36 on July 10, 2021 UTC
« on: July 12, 2021, 1510 UTC »
I don’t know that I buy into this “sub-harmonic” idea. Mixing products seem more likely.
If you are actually hearing WBBR 1130, mixing products from a station on 680 kHz (or 1580 kHz) could produce a signal on 450 kHz…but I would expect to hear audio from both stations. You didn’t report that.
Also, does WRCA 1330 Boston carry Bloomberg? They are closer to you than NYC.
If you were tuned to 450 kHz, and your radio had a 455 kHz IF, the local oscillator would be at 905 kHz. If WRCA 1330 also mixed with the 905 kHz local oscillator, then the product would be at 405 kHz which is near to the frequency you were hearing this unknown signal.
If you are actually hearing WBBR 1130, mixing products from a station on 680 kHz (or 1580 kHz) could produce a signal on 450 kHz…but I would expect to hear audio from both stations. You didn’t report that.
Also, does WRCA 1330 Boston carry Bloomberg? They are closer to you than NYC.
If you were tuned to 450 kHz, and your radio had a 455 kHz IF, the local oscillator would be at 905 kHz. If WRCA 1330 also mixed with the 905 kHz local oscillator, then the product would be at 405 kHz which is near to the frequency you were hearing this unknown signal.
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Amateur Radio / Re: A license-free Kenwood HT that's in the 446MHz HAM Band?
« on: July 09, 2021, 1417 UTC »
Many of the Retevis products are available on Amazon (though the RT27 is not as cheap as the factory is selling it). I have found that almost all of the Retevis radios have programming software available, though sometimes I have to email them to get it.
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22 Meter Band HiFER Beacons / NHVT
« on: July 04, 2021, 1414 UTC »
Heard 1413Z on 13558.9. Weak and fading. First time heard here.
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Equipment / 630M Loop on the Ground (LoG) antenna
« on: May 23, 2021, 1255 UTC »
Detailed analysis and report on a 630M Loop on the Ground Antenna.
https://rudys.typepad.com/files/630m-log-notes.pdf
https://rudys.typepad.com/files/630m-log-notes.pdf
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Equipment / Re: Lab599 Discovery TX-500? Yeah, I want one!
« on: May 18, 2021, 1131 UTC »
I don’t know; he hasn’t posted anything yet. He briefly showed it during the last club meeting (a VTC in lieu of an in person meeting). I agree, it looks very interesting and I want to know more too.
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Amateur Radio / Re: Listing of Eastern Hamfests 2021.
« on: May 18, 2021, 0109 UTC »
I’ve always found Berryville to be worth the trip. Hot, yes (it is August after all), but the tailgate area was well shaded and the BBQ was good. Really pleasant drive down there. Last time I was there I saw some rare SW receiver boatanchors. Berryville is one of my favorites.
Manassas used to be really good but fell out of favor in past years. It was usually hot too and the tailgate area was out in the Sun - but that was at the PW County fairgrounds and the fairgrounds have been sold. The hamfest is now at a different location in the city of Manassas. I expected it to be poor when I attended the 2019 hamfest but was pleasantly surprised. The new venue was not bad at all. It even had good shade for the tailgate area.
Remember when the big hamfest in the DC area was Gaithersburg, MD? It was huge and was two days long. Timonium, MD was another big one. Both are gone. The others will disappear too if people don’t go.
Manassas used to be really good but fell out of favor in past years. It was usually hot too and the tailgate area was out in the Sun - but that was at the PW County fairgrounds and the fairgrounds have been sold. The hamfest is now at a different location in the city of Manassas. I expected it to be poor when I attended the 2019 hamfest but was pleasantly surprised. The new venue was not bad at all. It even had good shade for the tailgate area.
Remember when the big hamfest in the DC area was Gaithersburg, MD? It was huge and was two days long. Timonium, MD was another big one. Both are gone. The others will disappear too if people don’t go.
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Equipment / Re: Lab599 Discovery TX-500? Yeah, I want one!
« on: May 17, 2021, 1217 UTC »
Ham Radio Outlet is shipping them. One of the local hams has one, got it last week.
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General Radio Discussion / Re: Explosives "Resistant"/ Hardened Antennas
« on: May 17, 2021, 1158 UTC »
The ICBM sites had hardened antennas.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/mimi/hrs2-4.htm
(Scroll down to the section “Communication Antennae”.)
https://minutemanmissile.com/uhfradio.html
http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/underground_military_silo.pdf
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/underground-medium-wave-frequency-antenna-at-former-minuteman-iii-missile-alert-facility.708723/
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/mimi/hrs2-4.htm
(Scroll down to the section “Communication Antennae”.)
https://minutemanmissile.com/uhfradio.html
http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/underground_military_silo.pdf
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/underground-medium-wave-frequency-antenna-at-former-minuteman-iii-missile-alert-facility.708723/
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Amateur Radio / Re: Listing of Eastern Hamfests 2021.
« on: May 17, 2021, 1110 UTC »
The Berryville, VA Hamfest, Aug 1, 2021 is on:
https://svarc.us/green-light-for-the-berryville-hamfest-on-august-1/#more-5919
While the Manassass, VA Hamfest is cancelled, a Tailgate Event will be held June 12, 2021:
https://w4ovh.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ovh-tail-gate-2021.pdf
https://svarc.us/green-light-for-the-berryville-hamfest-on-august-1/#more-5919
While the Manassass, VA Hamfest is cancelled, a Tailgate Event will be held June 12, 2021:
https://w4ovh.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ovh-tail-gate-2021.pdf
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Equipment / Blackcat 22M Xmtr
« on: May 08, 2021, 1513 UTC »
The Blackcat 22M transmitter gets some exposure on page 53 of the June 2021 QST…
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Equipment / AN200 antenna
« on: April 27, 2021, 1411 UTC »
Ham Radio Outlet has the Eton AN200 for $15. (The current Amazon price is $35.)
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Equipment / Re: Shielded Loop (Come On , Feel The Noize)
« on: April 09, 2021, 0949 UTC »
Being in an apartment this may not be an option for you, but...the best LF/VLF antenna I have used was a Loop On The Ground (LoG). It went a long way towards taming local noise. Signal levels were low, but so was the local noise. The resulting SNR was quite acceptable.
The second half of the equation was in blocking common mode signals on my feedline from the LoG. This required common mode chokes at both the antenna feed point and at the receiver.
W1VLF has a Youtube video where he shows the difference in LF performance of an active whip antenna with and without common mode chokes. The difference is impressive.
The second half of the equation was in blocking common mode signals on my feedline from the LoG. This required common mode chokes at both the antenna feed point and at the receiver.
W1VLF has a Youtube video where he shows the difference in LF performance of an active whip antenna with and without common mode chokes. The difference is impressive.