Messages

31

WEFAX and SSTV / FAX: JMH Tokyo, Japan, 13988.5 USB, 21:37 UTC July 3 2022

« on: July 03, 2022, 2205 UTC »

I'm shocked that I'm hearing this from my QTH in western MA, but it's there! Signal is much too weak for me to get an image (other than a very faint vertical black sync line) but I can hear the tones in my headphones and they're unmistakable. Signal has faded almost entirely into the noise as of right now but was stronger 20 or so minutes ago.

32

Longwave Loggings / Re: Receiving LWBC in North America

« on: April 26, 2022, 2237 UTC »

Thanks for the good info! I'm familiar with beverage antennas and I'd love to set one up, but I just don't have the real estate for that on my quarter-acre lot. I hadn't heard of beverage-on-ground antennas, though - that's interesting. Maybe one day I'll live somewhere with the room to set up something like that.

I don't know as much about propagation as I'd like to, so I had no idea that the solar minimums were actually good for LW propagation. I wonder how many LWBC stations will even be left when the next one rolls around. I do some casual NDB listening and I've logged a bunch of them from Quebec and Ontario but never anything I'd really call awesome DX. But I've done all that with my Wellbrook loop, which is great, but I realize it's no beverage.

The rising QRN is really frustrating, as is locally-generated noise.

33

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: WDOG 6950 AM 2306 UTC 5 MAR 2022

« on: March 06, 2022, 0023 UTC »

Hearing it loud and clear here at around S7.

0019Z Talking Heads
0020Z WDOG ID
0021Z The Cars, "Shake it Up"

34

Longwave Loggings / Re: Receiving LWBC in North America

« on: March 01, 2022, 0419 UTC »

Thanks for the ferrite primer! I've been meaning to build some ferrite rod antennas, and maybe a ferrite sleeve loop at some point. I have some 200 mm rods, including some that are 30 mm thick or so which are MnZn of an unknown mix. I'm curious how well those will perform on longwave. I might stick them end-to-end inside a piece of ABS pipe and see if I can make a giganto-ferrite rod!

35

Longwave Loggings / Re: Receiving LWBC in North America

« on: February 28, 2022, 0154 UTC »

I'm not hearing anything at my QTH right now, so maybe I missed it. I sure wish DIW would get decommissioned, though! Speaking of, I do see the characteristic "bumpy" carrier at 198 kHz that tends to imply there are actually two carriers there, probably BBC4 and DIW.

36

Longwave Loggings / Re: Receiving LWBC in North America

« on: February 27, 2022, 2000 UTC »

Thanks! I've already put a bunch of effort into reducing electrical noise and while things are far from perfect, I don't have any huge amounts of crap in the LWBC band. I've been meaning to experiment with a loop-on-ground antenna for a while now, too, and I have the parts to build one; I just haven't gotten around to it (plus there's still a bunch of snow on the ground at my QTH for now). I have other radios I can try, too, so I'm not limited to just the KiwiSDR. I should probably invest in a few more ferrite toroids and the like. There's still so much noise coming out of my house! And I do have an AM BCB filter around here somewhere, so I'll experiment with putting that in line.

37

Longwave Loggings / Receiving LWBC in North America

« on: February 26, 2022, 1900 UTC »

I'm wondering what it takes to receive any of the longwave stations from Europe / Africa in the US, specifically at my location in Massachusetts. With my existing setup I can occasionally get the faintest of signals - I can see a carrier but not hear audio, and one time I even got faint, unintelligible audio from BBC 4 at 198 kHz (I could tell it was the shipping forecast, confirmed by checking the internet stream). I'd love to hear more, though. For those of you who've done it, what kinds of antennas worked well for you? Times of day / year? Locations (I've read that being on the coast helps a lot)? Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

38

Utility / Re: 16806.5 2022-02-06 18:20 UTC NAVTEX - where from?

« on: February 06, 2022, 2040 UTC »

Thanks! I think I even have a link to that page saved somewhere; I just totally forgot about it.

39

Utility / 16806.5 2022-02-06 18:20 UTC NAVTEX - where from?

« on: February 06, 2022, 1825 UTC »

I'm receiving NAVTEX on 16806.5 kHz right now. Where is this transmitter located? It's a known NAVTEX frequency and the station identifier is C, but I can't find anything about this frequency in the HFU wiki.

40

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 4185 USB 0125 UTC 30 Jan 2022

« on: January 30, 2022, 0146 UTC »

0145 - S3 - S4 at my location.

41

Shortwave Broadcast / UNID 9666.66 AM 01:00 UTC 19 Jan 2022

« on: January 19, 2022, 0107 UTC »

Signal is a noisy S5 - S6 here. Sounds like it might be Spanish or Portuguese. Shortwave.info suggests it could be KCBS from North Korea or Radio Voz Missionaria from Brazil on 9665. The frequency being so far off suggests North Korea, and while the language sounds like it could be Portuguese, the general format of the broadcast sounds much more like commercial radio. Any idea what I'm hearing?

42

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Lucky 13 6925 USB 2205 UTC 16 JAN 2022

« on: January 17, 2022, 0003 UTC »

Coming in with a noisy S3 - S4 at my QTH.

43

ID and Translation Requests / Re: UNID 9.108.5 USB

« on: January 08, 2022, 2352 UTC »

US Coast Guard station NMF in Boston transmits WEFAX on 9110 KHz. That's probably what you heard.

44

ID and Translation Requests / Re: Vilseck, Germany antenna site

« on: January 08, 2022, 2350 UTC »

Here's an explanation

How is that an explanation? It doesn't explain anything at all about the antenna site.

45

Shortwave Broadcast / WWCR off the air - any idea why?

« on: January 05, 2022, 0437 UTC »

I just noticed that WWCR seems to be off the air on all frequencies. I usually find them at 4840 and 3215 at this time of night, but nothing's there, so I checked their other frequencies and... nothing. Anyone know what's up?