Messages

1

General Radio Discussion / Re: Another site to check out while you can, dswci.org

« on: October 10, 2024, 0258 UTC »

Hey All,

I was BIG into tropical Dx 9 million years ago.

It was SO long ago I can’t recall many or most of them. But a pretty good number of definite ones stand out.Most were South American, but I did grab others .

FWIW Peru ( my wife is from there) always seemed kind of hard to me,compared to Columbia or Venezuela.

One of the last serious tropical Dxpeditions ( Maine, 20 years ago) netted around 10 Peruvians in one night- unheard of .Probably my best night ever.

It is ASTOUNDING how many stations were on air back in the day .

I will go through them and copy down some of the list.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING !

NQC

2

General Radio Discussion / Dead End Q vs Z Match

« on: August 17, 2024, 0110 UTC »

Hey All,

Just a theory question, maybe not so modern in origin, but a curiosity.

Back in ancient times, one method of matching the Z of a simple / single tank crystal radio to either the detector or the antenna was through the use tap of  leads run to a panel mounted tap switch.

But this method left all unused leads hanging in dead end effect ,  spoiling the tank Q.

Cases were made that the increase of energy transfer  via Z matching “ could “ (??) overcome the Q hit of dead ended leads into a net “ up” (by HOW much ? ) of RF energy recovery.

I admit, my grasp of this “ battle of the two phenomena “  isn’t as much up to snuff as I would like.

Does anyone envision any physics state that could result in a net “ up” via Z matching, despite being  “ fought “ by Q loss.

I understand the layout “convenience”  of a  front panel tap switch.

But is this ALWAYS an undesirable building technique ?

FWIW, I use a  “hump” of coil turn that slightly arcs up and then back down to the winding.

That way the “ connection point” on the coil doesn’t break the coil plane very much, nor does it have any twists.

A single lead  with a flat ( non toothed ) copper alligator clip is brought TO the coil. Viola, no dead end leads left hanging .

Definitely not as convenient as a rotary switch, but I feel it is probably a more efficient way to go.


Again, just trying to get some theory input on a question that has puzzled me for a while.

de NQC

3

General Radio Discussion / Re: WCBS 880 AM NYC - New ownership, New format - WOW

« on: August 16, 2024, 1916 UTC »

 

4

General Radio Discussion / Re: WCBS 880 AM NYC - New ownership, New format - WOW

« on: August 13, 2024, 2000 UTC »

Hey Yankee.

I just found out about this today, quite bummed.

I use WCBS as a deep fringe “ test station “ for homebrews and other  experiments .It’s the only
“ dependable “ day time New Yorker here in Boston , though admittedly, some days are better than others.

It can be fair to good N. of Boston , even into NH and
be “ useable “ into S. Maine.

No other daytime NYC comes close.

I  also REALLY liked it for the actual content for bedside listening of national and NY news, weather, etc.

During day it gets “ a bit squeezed “ against a moderate strength local on 890 at times,but not too bad.


But goodbye to the CONTENT side of things ( like NYC really needs yet ANOTHER AM all sports format station  . ).

Apparently , as you mentioned, the station was still making money, but apparently Audacity didn’t want two similar stations ( along with WINS) in the stable, so they cashed out WCBS.

WINS is pretty much only available here after sunset.Usually just a beat note ( if even that much ) during the day and never has any useable audio.At night, it STORMS in , often better than WCBS ( go figure).

Both do QSB some at times, INS is probably a bit more prone than WCBS , or should I NOW say 880/WHSQ ( yuk).

INS 1010 is up against 1030 BZ ( BZ is at + 55 here). But on a decent rig usually not a big problem, maybe a bit of monkey chatter at times.

So while I still have NYC news content, it is now night time only, boo  !!.

 Yet another chunk of the old AM band goes bye bye.

de NQC

5

MW Loggings / Re: Peru Heard In Alaska!

« on: August 13, 2024, 1934 UTC »

Hey Paul.

Fantastic catch !

During my 55 years of AM dxing in MA I have never copied ANY Central or South Americans on the AM bcast band.

There is just too much in the way closer in .

I have logged a number of Caribbeans and Afro / Europeans on AM bcb though.

The closest I got was a “probable “ Brazilian many years ago on a buddy’s 8 ft diameter loop crystal set when I was in Missouri.

It came up for 30 seconds or a minute and then was gone for good.

My home antenna system is now down to a 35 ft indoor square , it’s pretty pathetic on the broadcast band .

Way back in the day I logged Tarma shortwave on my big outdoor sky
hook ( now long gone) and more recently on the HFU SDR.

Apparently we have had some pretty crazy propagation lately.

20 years ago on Dxpedition in Maine I logged 11 shortwave Peruvians in one night !

Even 30 or 40 years ago, Peru was always a tough country to copy , at least here in New England.

FWIW, my wife is from Peru.

Again congratulations on a great catch!

de NQC

6

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WDDR Drunken DJ Radio 6955 USB 0055 UTC 11 AUG 2024

« on: August 11, 2024, 1450 UTC »

Hey All

0243 UTC Truckin'  by the Dead .

GREAT signal on indoor antenna .

Thanks  for the show .

de NQC

7

Huh? / Re: From WBCQ to LPFM, neat RW articles.

« on: July 30, 2024, 2358 UTC »

Hey ThaDood,

Interesting stuff.

Re WBCQ : Some good programs, others definitely not my cup of tea.

NQC

8

The RF Workbench / Re: Pushing a SHORT Antenna With Loading Coil

« on: July 26, 2024, 1510 UTC »

Hey RobRich,

Thank you SO  for all the info.

I REALLY enjoy bouncing ideas back and forth with folks.

de NQC

9

Longwave Loggings / Re: NLK vs NAA de NQC

« on: July 26, 2024, 1504 UTC »

 Hey All,

RobRich- Good to see it on your list

NJQA, The NAA Call sign was moved from Arlington ,VA to Cutler,  ME many, many years ago.

de NQC

10

Longwave Loggings / NLK vs NAA de NQC

« on: July 25, 2024, 2105 UTC »

Hey RobRich and All,



I noticed on your LW list you have NLK but not NAA.

In the past I have logged a strong beat note/ data stream on 24 KC for NAA as copied at Boston.

Then a SECOND ( weaker at Boston) beat note/ data stream would rise up from the upper “edge” of NAA . This would occur as I approached NLK on 24.8 Kc.

So the two may be “ blended “ together to a degree, but to sum ,look for NAA JUST A BIT below NLK.

Not sure why the USN put these so close together, but I guess they had their reasons.

Not sure about conditions in FL, but again, if you look JUST below NLK, you may be able to add NAA to your list.

Just figured I’d try and toss another station your way if you can get separate copy.

de

NQC

11

The RF Workbench / Re: Pushing a SHORT Antenna With Loading Coil

« on: July 25, 2024, 2052 UTC »

Hey RobRich,

Thank you SO much for your reply.

So you feel the best approach would be to try an Z match the antenna , such as  it is , rather than try and slap a “guesswork “ inductor in series to the feedline - yes ?

So maybe I will look into picking up some # 61 mix doughnuts and stack a few up.

A quick construction question: are the cold end of the primary AND the secondary bonded to the same grounding point? Could there be any advantage to using separate grounds ?


FWIW, I figure the UNloaded Z of the radio’s tank COULD be , as a GUESS,anywhere from 100K Z to maybe (?) as high as 200K Z ?

Would these figures help on the turns ratio estimations ?

I may also be able to increase the length of my buried ground wire to try and do better there. We’ll see if that helps.

There may be a local noise issue as well, so I will probably stay away from RF amplifiers. Even IF they can act as an efficient Z matching device, in addition to their amplification action .

Also , to be a “true” crystal set, RF amps are a no-no.

OT , please see my post in the Longwave section .

FWIW, my private messages do not work.

Thanks Again,

NQC

12

The RF Workbench / Re: Pushing a SHORT Antenna With Loading Coil

« on: July 24, 2024, 2052 UTC »

Hey Brian.

Thank you for the reply.

Re adding capacitance in “ parallel “ with the antenna: Since this antenna is only a single wire I can certainly see how I could wire a variable cap in series to it.

I am not sure how one would wire a var cap in parallel to a single wire antenna.

A var cap could, I suppose, be wired in parallel to the single winding loading
coil.Perhaps such an arrangement could / would influence the antenna itself.

But the antenna tank coil in the radio has a great deal of flexibility: it can have the var cap in series or parallel. It also has a wide range of taps for Z experimentation.

If, in a hypothetical, the load had a parallel wired var cap on it, it would seem to redundant to the functions that could be achieved in the radio’s antenna tank coil.

Since this is an occasional use endeavor it is preferable to keep the var cap count down to two- if all possible.

Re Slinky: I would like the actual 35 ft antenna run to be as thin and discrete as possible.The far end would be attached to the guy wire of a small telephone only wooden pole  ( no power lines on pole) .It is NOT authorized and technically, NOT supposed to be there.

A Slinky would probably give a bit more of a visual profile than I would like.Also , one is much better off RF wise with the brass ( or even gold) plated Slinkys.Tough to find and a little deeper than I want to go.

Anyways, it’s really fun to bounce ideas around .

OT , my people are from Galway.

Again, I REALLY appreciate your looking at my post.

Thanks,

NQC

13

The RF Workbench / Pushing a SHORT Antenna With Loading Coil

« on: July 24, 2024, 0058 UTC »

Hey All,

Kind of between a rock and a hard place.

The only spot on my apartment building property to try a wire antenna is a run limited to 35 ft long and  maybe 9 ft up at  the far end sloping to around 6 ft up at the radio end.

I would like a temporary “ set up, use and then take  down “ type of arrangement for a GOOD double tuned crystal set Dx  use at night, every now and then.


These limitations present a pretty dismal prospect, especially for the low end of the broadcast band.But pretty much all I have to work with.

Ideally 100 ft long and 30+ ft up is what one wants for crystal sets.



“Generally” ,short antennas need inductance (and overly long ones need capacitance).

So I am not sure if there is any role for series variable capacitance anywhere in the feed line .

 

This antenna MAY just be crying out  for inductance only.

 But it as also WAY  off from optimal design specs .

So I am definitely open to other unforeseen factors,ideas and  viewpoints.

FWIW , the radio’s antenna tank coil can be switched for parallel or series variable cap .There is also a full range of coil Z taps for the feed line.

But in the case of a short antenna I understand parallel tuning the radio’s ant coil is the way to go.





Just looking for opinions and ideas as to whether a simple loading coil ( it must be located at the radio end)  is really going to perk things up enough to be worth my while.

I am thinking that trying to goose such a short and low antenna into “ some” measure of improvement simply by inserting a “magical “ / “cure all “ load may really not cut it.

IF ( IF) I did go for it, I would envision something BIG  diameter (2-3 ft ?) with the turns spread out as much as is practical , yet still have a decent inductance.A compromise of turn spacing would be necessary ( ie 1-3” ?).

Is my load design off base?

Maybe a half baked LONG shot, but does anyone have any ideas of even a prayer of improvement on such a crumb ball antenna?

I know receive antennas are FAR less critical vs. transmit antennas.

Yet I still kind of feel like I am really pushing the envelope.

Obviously, I can experiment on my own, but just looking for ideas from other folks.

My ground may end up being a 25 ft bare copper run laid in the garden and kept wet.

So at least the ground return may
be “ good” with a ( hopefully) low resistance.

ANY input is welcome.

de NQC

14

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WDOG 6925 USB 0118 UTC 22 JUL 2024

« on: July 22, 2024, 0147 UTC »

0137Z .Poor on indoor antenna.

Unknown music in QSB.

NQC

15

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WIND 6951 USB 2349 UTC 14 Jul 2024

« on: July 15, 2024, 0103 UTC »

Weak music 0102 Z

NQC