541
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: BallSmacker Radio 6960 AM 0057 UTC 25 JUN 2022
« on: June 25, 2022, 0253 UTC »
I had two kiwiSDRs in the Midwest running near the end of the show and got this decode on one of them. Not bad.
Shortwave Pirate Radio In North America And Around The World, And Other Signals 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.
Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.
Why spoil a "good time"?
Therefore, I was once 1.414213562373 of a person but since the US Supreme Court ruled years ago that corporations are people, maybe the math all works out.
Yes, because you were interfering while using your 50 Watts transmitter and VOA was not while using their 500 kW transmitter.
It's funny that you brought this up since that same day that you wrote this my new Ego leaf blower arrived. I bought it without the battery since I already had one with my Ego weed trimmer; you can share batteries among their equipment, saving ~$100 or so.
In any case, I saw the amp-hour capacity of those batteries a few weeks ago and thought, "you could run a transmitter off this bad boy."
It's actually 64 nC, not 68, but yeah, I noted the same thing.
Keep in mind that with higher power, Qg tends to go up. It has to because in order to meet the required current density demand and preserve other relationships, they make these by replicating unit cell transistors in parallel, meaning there are multiple smaller gates in parallel, which means multiple Qgd and Qgs in parallel too. It adds up. The other thing that matters is the breakdown voltage. The higher the BV, typically/often the input capacitance and Qg increases too. The FET channel will be longer, which means larger surface area of the gate capacitance, which likely means larger Qg.
The Cree C3M0280090 is small (900 V, continuous drain current 6.8 A continuous at 100 C) compared to that Microsemi FET (1200 V, 26 A continuous at 100C), so of course the Cree is more "nimble". Side note: the Qg of these transistors are at different conditions so not exactly comparing apples to apples but still...
I'm about ready to populate a board with the Transform TP65H035G4WS: only 650 V but Qg = 22 and Id continuous at 100 C = 29.5 A. Potentially not the best solution for me but at least it is available right now, which is more than I can say for some other choices!
In any case, if he was trying to run that MicroSemi FET at 15 MHz (picking a number out of the air), it might be low(er) efficiency compared to other solutions due to the higher Qg. (Maybe.) On the other hand, I'm only aware of him using 6285 and 4185 KHz, so maybe he doesn't care about anything above 6.3 MHz.
Also, at some point it may make sense to use RF transistors - as opposed to switching transistors - to meet the performance goals you want, particularly at higher frequencies. (That's why they exist.) Personally, I'm nowhere near that point but I have thought about it.
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542
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB 2220 UTC 23 JUN 2022
« on: June 23, 2022, 2330 UTC »
2328 - Sounded to me like: "You're listening to One Radio, serving the coast since 1963." repeated several times by a male voice. The voice sounded a bit like they had been inhaling helium and slightly mechanical.
Off the air immediately after the announcement.
Fair signal on the Elida, Ohio Kiwi SDR for the final 10 minutes or so.
Off the air immediately after the announcement.
Fair signal on the Elida, Ohio Kiwi SDR for the final 10 minutes or so.
543
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: GOOD TIMES RADIO 6920 AM 0111 UTC 16 June 2022
« on: June 16, 2022, 0145 UTC »Hey Good Times Radio....how about an email address?
Why spoil a "good time"?
544
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Unid 6930 usb 2245 utc 15 June 22
« on: June 15, 2022, 2326 UTC »
Listening on an SDR in Pennsylvania. Lots of live older Van Halen.
Audio is a bit crushed; you could turn down the audio input to the TX a click or two and/or turn off the speech processor. TNX.
Off at 0103 (approximately) and it sounds like someone has picked up the frequency.
This is a famous photo but I can't remember who the dude on the right is and what this is from.
Audio is a bit crushed; you could turn down the audio input to the TX a click or two and/or turn off the speech processor. TNX.
Off at 0103 (approximately) and it sounds like someone has picked up the frequency.
This is a famous photo but I can't remember who the dude on the right is and what this is from.
545
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6950 USB 2315 UTC 14 JUN 2022
« on: June 14, 2022, 2320 UTC »
Comedy routine by a male. SIO 343 on New England SDRs.
SSTV then off (??) at around 2330.
SSTV then off (??) at around 2330.
546
Pirate Radio History / Re: 25 Years of digital mainstream music and pirate programs sounding like crap!
« on: June 14, 2022, 2214 UTC »My guess is the number of pirate operators is roughly equal to the square root of the number of pirate stations.
Therefore, I was once 1.414213562373 of a person but since the US Supreme Court ruled years ago that corporations are people, maybe the math all works out.
547
Pirate Radio History / Re: Great Halloween Massacre of 1998
« on: June 14, 2022, 2208 UTC »Told him about their specious claim of "interfering with health and safety frequencies". Told him how we had to go QSY when VOA (Africa) came on with megawatts.
Yes, because you were interfering while using your 50 Watts transmitter and VOA was not while using their 500 kW transmitter.
548
Huh? / Re: ALT to Morse Code that’s been used in prisons, with roots in ancient Greece?
« on: June 14, 2022, 1754 UTC »
Arguing that this is better than Morse because it "requires no training" is a silly argument, IMO. It's not the "training" that matters here.
When you are ready to receive this stuff, you will have your little look-up table in front of you and you are going to decode each character one at a time. Once you have done this enough, like any language including Morse, you will begin to recognize a growing number of patterns and you will gradually not have to look at the table to understand characters. Eventually recognizing them all will become second nature.
You can start off decoding Morse with a look up table (not my recommended method but...) and eventually you would have it all in your brain anyway by the same process. For this reason, I don't buy into the "ease and accessibility" argument here. The person who wrote this has never learned or acquired a second or third language.
The other technical aspects are part of information theory, specifically symbols and coding. I would argue that the benefit of not having to use long dashes is potentially outweighed by the probability of longer transmission times. Keep in mind that, at least in the English language, the two most used letters, "E" and "T", are the simplest Morse characters whereas they won't be in this language.
When you are ready to receive this stuff, you will have your little look-up table in front of you and you are going to decode each character one at a time. Once you have done this enough, like any language including Morse, you will begin to recognize a growing number of patterns and you will gradually not have to look at the table to understand characters. Eventually recognizing them all will become second nature.
You can start off decoding Morse with a look up table (not my recommended method but...) and eventually you would have it all in your brain anyway by the same process. For this reason, I don't buy into the "ease and accessibility" argument here. The person who wrote this has never learned or acquired a second or third language.
The other technical aspects are part of information theory, specifically symbols and coding. I would argue that the benefit of not having to use long dashes is potentially outweighed by the probability of longer transmission times. Keep in mind that, at least in the English language, the two most used letters, "E" and "T", are the simplest Morse characters whereas they won't be in this language.
549
General Radio Discussion / Two Brits arrested in Albania, accuse them of spying after seizing radio gear
« on: June 14, 2022, 1723 UTC »
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/two-brits-arrested-albania-police-27191861
I can see both sides of this. With awar...er, um, rather a "special miltary operation"... going on not too far away, the Albanians are on the look out for anything "suspicious" and we should note that
Of course, it doesn't help that one of the guys LinkedIn profile mentions, "electronic warfare".
But at the same time it's really funny to me (and probably to many of us) that these guys carrying this stuff is such a big deal. It speaks to the lack of understanding of ham radio from others:
My suggestion to the Albanians: start by downloading the user's manual from the Kenwood website. Also, ask the Albanian native hams about them! 
I can see both sides of this. With a
Quote
During the NATO military exercise Defender Europe 2021, two Russian men were spotted flying a drone at Kucova Air Base in Albania. They were held by the intelligence service then expelled.
Of course, it doesn't help that one of the guys LinkedIn profile mentions, "electronic warfare".
But at the same time it's really funny to me (and probably to many of us) that these guys carrying this stuff is such a big deal. It speaks to the lack of understanding of ham radio from others:
Quote
A source said: “It’s highly unusual to be carrying this sort of equipment...
Quote
The electronic kit by Kenwood – which makes a range of cutting edge communication devices – was sent to the Albanian Criminal Laboratory for further examination.
Quote
duard Merkaj, director of the border police, said: “It is an ongoing investigation and we are continuing to examine the machines seized.”
My suggestion to the Albanians: start by downloading the user's manual from the Kenwood website.
Also, ask the Albanian native hams about them!
550
General Radio Discussion / BBC 198 KHz LW To End?
« on: June 14, 2022, 1703 UTC »
Embedded in this article on the BBC Radio 4's shipping forecast is the nugget that the latest cuts are to close longwave 198 KHz.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jun/03/shipping-forecast-radio-4-long-wave-broadcast
but then later it appears to contradicts itself:
No surprise but some clarity comes from an industry website:
https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/multiple-bbc-channels-to-close
The content is embedded in javascript and I can't copy and paste it easily but the gist appears to be that Radio 4 will go off 198 at some point in the near future and then that transmitter may stay on after that, but the programming on 198 isn't described here, if it known at this time.
Of course, 198 has been threatened with closure many times in the past. LW DXers might want to try to QSL them this coming northern hemisphere winter just to be sure anyway.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jun/03/shipping-forecast-radio-4-long-wave-broadcast
Quote
Yet the announcement that Radio 4’s long wave signal will be shut down as part of the BBC’s latest cuts has left many wondering how the country’s fishing fleet will cope without access to the four-times-a-day updates.
Quote
The BBC plans to end dedicated programming on its Radio 4 long wave frequency next year, which could mean the loss of two of the current four shipping broadcast updates.
but then later it appears to contradicts itself:
Quote
The long wave signal – which has been threatened before and currently relies on a small supply of metre-high historic glass valves to keep broadcasting – will survive for a few more years.
No surprise but some clarity comes from an industry website:
https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/multiple-bbc-channels-to-close
The content is embedded in javascript and I can't copy and paste it easily but the gist appears to be that Radio 4 will go off 198 at some point in the near future and then that transmitter may stay on after that, but the programming on 198 isn't described here, if it known at this time.
Of course, 198 has been threatened with closure many times in the past. LW DXers might want to try to QSL them this coming northern hemisphere winter just to be sure anyway.
551
The RF Workbench / Re: Beyond 45/48m
« on: June 14, 2022, 1544 UTC »In the modern era of 56V power tools, higher voltage operation is no longer a challenge. My Ego trimmer has enough battery on it to run a 50 watt transmitter for over two hours, and recharges in 15 minutes!
It's funny that you brought this up since that same day that you wrote this my new Ego leaf blower arrived. I bought it without the battery since I already had one with my Ego weed trimmer; you can share batteries among their equipment, saving ~$100 or so.
In any case, I saw the amp-hour capacity of those batteries a few weeks ago and thought, "you could run a transmitter off this bad boy."
552
Equipment / Re: Who here doesn't have a MFJ ATU?
« on: June 14, 2022, 0444 UTC »
I have two of their tuners. When I go shopping, I'm not seeking them out but given the amount of them on the used market, you will see some for sale and given my needs and time schedule, I have gone for them.
They seem to work OK but I also haven't come close to stressing them either. I'm always careful not to hotswitch them, for example. Some of their other equipment reportedly suffers from some workmanship issues but these seem OK in that regard.
They seem to work OK but I also haven't come close to stressing them either. I'm always careful not to hotswitch them, for example. Some of their other equipment reportedly suffers from some workmanship issues but these seem OK in that regard.
553
The RF Workbench / Re: Beyond 45/48m
« on: June 13, 2022, 2149 UTC »Are you sure?
The Qg = 68nC
That Qg is too high for me!
Str.
It's actually 64 nC, not 68, but yeah, I noted the same thing.
Keep in mind that with higher power, Qg tends to go up. It has to because in order to meet the required current density demand and preserve other relationships, they make these by replicating unit cell transistors in parallel, meaning there are multiple smaller gates in parallel, which means multiple Qgd and Qgs in parallel too. It adds up. The other thing that matters is the breakdown voltage. The higher the BV, typically/often the input capacitance and Qg increases too. The FET channel will be longer, which means larger surface area of the gate capacitance, which likely means larger Qg.
The Cree C3M0280090 is small (900 V, continuous drain current 6.8 A continuous at 100 C) compared to that Microsemi FET (1200 V, 26 A continuous at 100C), so of course the Cree is more "nimble". Side note: the Qg of these transistors are at different conditions so not exactly comparing apples to apples but still...
I'm about ready to populate a board with the Transform TP65H035G4WS: only 650 V but Qg = 22 and Id continuous at 100 C = 29.5 A. Potentially not the best solution for me but at least it is available right now, which is more than I can say for some other choices!
In any case, if he was trying to run that MicroSemi FET at 15 MHz (picking a number out of the air), it might be low(er) efficiency compared to other solutions due to the higher Qg. (Maybe.) On the other hand, I'm only aware of him using 6285 and 4185 KHz, so maybe he doesn't care about anything above 6.3 MHz.
Also, at some point it may make sense to use RF transistors - as opposed to switching transistors - to meet the performance goals you want, particularly at higher frequencies. (That's why they exist.) Personally, I'm nowhere near that point but I have thought about it.
554
North American Shortwave Pirate / Good Times Radio 6935 AM 0249 UTC 13 June 2022
« on: June 13, 2022, 0251 UTC »
0250 - "Eye of the Tiger". Audible on many eastern kiwiSDR.
0253 - Theme from Top Gun (1986).
0256 - "Hooked on a Feeling"
0303 - "25 or 6 to 4"
0341 - ID. Didn't get all of the spoken words due to fading and noise but got the ID.
0342 - TX Off
0253 - Theme from Top Gun (1986).
0256 - "Hooked on a Feeling"
0303 - "25 or 6 to 4"
0341 - ID. Didn't get all of the spoken words due to fading and noise but got the ID.
0342 - TX Off
555
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB was 6930 USB 0013 UTC 13 June 2022
« on: June 13, 2022, 0030 UTC »
0029 - Moved down to 6925.
0239- Close down with "...stay hydrated. We're out."
0241 - then back on again, unless it is someone else. Blues with electric guitar. (Pretty sure its someone else.)
0239- Close down with "...stay hydrated. We're out."
0241 - then back on again, unless it is someone else. Blues with electric guitar. (Pretty sure its someone else.)