Topics

16

FM DX Loggings / Good E-skip opening this evening 4-16-2020 0000z+

« on: April 16, 2020, 0240 UTC »

For fear of incrimination I will not list calls, but did observe many FM signals this afternoon, some of which overpowered LP rimshots.  I verified 4 stations, all around the 1K mile mark as heard on the factory radio in the mobile unit in a parking lot on a hill.  I alerted a friend of mine to the action, but have yet to hear back on his listening session.  He did note some activity last night, but signals were too weak to demod.  As expected, condx returned to normal around sunset.

+-RH

17

MW Loggings / Keep your ears open this week.

« on: March 17, 2020, 0836 UTC »

Under a declared national emergency, some stations may elect to run non directional at daytime power during overnights.  I'm hearing some of this now.

+-RH

18

General Radio Discussion / NAB cancels their annual radio show in Vegas

« on: March 11, 2020, 2108 UTC »

https://nabshow.com/2020/

+-RH

19

General Radio Discussion / Applaud/Smite Karma Ratings?

« on: March 05, 2020, 1913 UTC »

I see we have a new board feature.  Perhaps this shall foster better civility?

+-RH

20

Huh? / Red Ukrainian Borscht

« on: December 31, 2019, 1731 UTC »

I got the taste for this watching some of Bald & Bankrupts' video while bumbling through Belarus.

Ingredients;
1 16oz pkg pork sausage
3 medium beets, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 6 oz can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1/2 head of cabbage cored and chopped
1 8 oz can petite diced tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil
1tsp white sugar
salt & pepper
parseley
sour cream

In a skillet, add the pork and crumb.  Cook until done.  Drain grease and set aside.

In a large stockpot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.  Add pork, and once boiling again, add beets and cook until they have lost their color, about 10 minutes.  Add potatoes and carrots, cook until tender, approx. 15 minutes.
Add cabbage and can of diced tomatoes.

In a skillet, add oil and onion and cook until tender over medium heat.  Stir in tomato paste and water, and mix until well incorporated.  Add mixture to stockpot contents along with garlic.  Remove from heat, cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes.  Taste, season with salt, pepper, and sugar.

Ladle into bowl, garnish with some parsley and a dolop of sour cream.



+-RH

21

North American Shortwave Pirate / Variations on a theme of 'Disc Radio' 4240 KHz LSB 0115 UTC 15 Dec 2019

« on: December 15, 2019, 0119 UTC »

Some loungy sounding big band stuff.  S8-S9 here.  Occasional audio drop outs.
0127 OM talking about the music played. mentioned LPM2004
0140 a long rant about the evils of digital, loves the music on 33 1/3.  Beatles coming up.  True Disc Radio?
0142 Beatles 'Here Comes the Sun'
0145 Beatles 'You Never Give Me Your Money'
0146 Beatles 'Sun King'
0148 Mean Mr Mustard'  Occasional slow deep fades.
0157 OM, ID 'All Disc Radio', talking about the limitations of vinyl, mentions of next Saturday night, all music tonight off turntables, "none of that internet youtube crap"
0200 into a track from Columbia records Ray Conniff 'Warsaw Concerto'
0201 Ray Conniff 'Nocturne in E Flat'
0204 OM w/ ID as 'Real Disc Radio', mentions CR1415, hot off the turntable.  into Louie, Louie by the Sandpipers.
0210 OM, talking about listening off air on his studio monitors, not sure what it sounds like on the other side.  Maybe more discs next Saturday night.  Into Herb Alpert 'A Taste of Honey'
0212 off

Aircheck here..
https://archive.org/details/discradio1215201901150215z
 
Thanks for the show!

+-RH

22

The RF Workbench / High level SSB transmitter; and old dream come true.

« on: December 10, 2019, 0459 UTC »

Some guys finally figured out how to do this with modern parts.  They claim 80+% efficiency @ 500W PEP out, 160-10 meters.
https://www.polex-tech.com/

A white paper covering the fundamentals of operation is here
www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Mar-Apr2017/MBF.pdf

+-RH

23

The RF Workbench / A 25W experimental transmitter for medium wave (AM)

« on: November 18, 2019, 1121 UTC »

This is something I threw together in about 5 hours.  To be honest, I'm kinda surprised it works as well as it does.  It uses a class D audio amplifier IC as the modulator, and a conventional current mode class D output stage.  The output transformer serves double duty as the tank resonator.  It is currently on 1720 KHz as thats the oscillator I had handy.  PA fets are IRF530's, drivers are TC4452's, and the modulator is a TI TPA3122.  Phase splitter is a 74LS86.  More circuit details to follow soon.



It is pretty ugly, but this was meant as a 'proof of concept' more than anything else.

+-RH

24

The RF Workbench / I need some help writing some arduino code for RS232

« on: September 04, 2019, 2100 UTC »

This could very well become a community project.  See related video here https://youtu.be/EwMDEjv1Hfc  I have built a DDS based VFO, but need some way to control it once embedded in the bowls of various pieces of equipment.  The basic idea is this; the project listens to an RS232 port for valid commands.  if it receives something like "f=6925<CR>" the VFO output frequency is set to 6925 KHz and echos "f=6925<CR>".  It would also be nice if other commands like "RF ON", "RF OFF" and "f+5", +10, etc could be implemented.

I've looked all over and haven't really found anything like what I need.  The biggest problem seems to be how to get the serial data into a string, and then begin processing it once it detects a carriage return.  if/then/else statements could then be used to carry out the desired functions.

Thanks in advance,

+-RH

25

General Radio Discussion / X-FM Halloween 2018 Gear

« on: July 28, 2019, 2026 UTC »

Things have changed quite a bit since the last time I posted one of these.  We have a different board for the big setup, now running an AudioArts A-50 rescued from the trash of a commercial station.  An extensive rebuild video I posted on youtube is here.  https://youtu.be/2N3s6NkVdSU.



Enjoy!

+-RH

26

Huh? / Grumpy cat has died

« on: May 23, 2019, 0757 UTC »

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/grumpy-cat-face-thousands-internet-memes-has-died-n1006811



Internet celebrity Grumpy Cat, the face of countless memes, has died at the age of 7, her owners confirmed Friday.

Grumpy Cat — real name Tardar Sauce — shot to fame as a figurehead of online culture thanks to her permanent frown apparently signaling displeasure at anything and everything.

The official Grumpy Cat Twitter account announced that she died on Tuesday due to complications from a recent urinary tract infection.

"Grumpy Cat has helped millions of people smile around the world — even when times were tough," the statement said.

+-RH

27

General Radio Discussion / Border blasters and goat glands, an unlikely american radio story

« on: February 09, 2019, 2244 UTC »

The professor ran across this article a few weeks ago.  Its a good one!

http://www.ominous-valve.com/xerf.html?fbclid=IwAR2y_g_1mYT2MSGxP625erNnBSZhpspc2l3JtrJb3hSvqGUtmh0rJoomobY

+-RH

28

Peskies / UNID 6990KHz LSB 2-9-2019 0840z

« on: February 09, 2019, 0854 UTC »

On with OM doing long mic checks, then very long repetition of the word 'annita' very strong, pushing S9+10dB

+-RH

29

Software / Windows 7 SP1A download

« on: January 05, 2019, 0040 UTC »

I've heard that support for windows 7 ends soon, and there is a final service pack for it you will need if installing systems.  Any idea where to find the link?  Microsoft's website is a mess.

Thanks,

+-RH

30

Propagation / HFU Propagation page ionosondes seem to be missing

« on: January 04, 2019, 2158 UTC »

Not sure if the gubermint shutdown is affecting this, but I noticed most of the ionosonde links are not working.

Just an FYI...

+-RH