Messages

106

Huh? / Re: Red Ukrainian Borscht

« on: February 06, 2020, 1329 UTC »

I made another batch of this last weekend.  This time I shredded the carrots and beets, per the original recipe.  The soup seems thicker, just as good though.  It also seems like it is slightly better the days after, maybe the flavors get some time to 'gel'.



+-RH

107

Huh? / Re: Rush Limbaugh Has Lung Cancer

« on: February 04, 2020, 0230 UTC »

Like a lot of industry veterans he was a heavy smoker previously, and has hinted at this over the years.  Likely the damage was done long ago.  An old radio mentor of mine used to say that people like him 'Had a voice that comes with gargling gasoline and razor blades'.

+-RH

108

Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio Int./Cool AM Radio 4175 USB 2345 utc 31 Jan 2020

« on: February 01, 2020, 0101 UTC »

4175.005 KHz USB 2-1-2020 S8 signal on peaks with kickin' bass!  Fighting with some local RFI from the dishwasher ATM, otherwise nice signal with Kim Wilde's Cambodia at 0057 according to Shazam.
An ID @ 0100z with a music clip in it that sounded like the theme to Youtubes 'Proper People'.
Nothing further heard after ID's.

Thanks for the show!

+-RH

109

Propagation / Re: Poor conditions (noob)

« on: January 31, 2020, 1804 UTC »

Conditions have been wonderful on the lower bands, Lately I've been receiving pirates from Greece on MW. And it is nice to not have nearly continuous solar flares and CMEs, wrecking the geomagnetic field for days or weeks.

Solar minimum isn't a bug, it's a feature. 

Agreed.  Poor conditions on higher frequencies doesn't mean that there isn't fun to be had elsewhere.  Take our operation for example; when conditions on 43M started taking a nose dive, we modified out operating practices.  We are using more power than before, but not by any large magnitude.  The real difference was made by going down to 4 MHz during the winter months, and 6.3 MHz during the summer, where the MUF was more usable, and with less interference.

I also remember a number of nights closer to the peak where I would be heading out, only to find out after I was setup that we had a CME and conditions were poor.  Mimimum is not a bad thing!

+-RH

110

Equipment / Re: 1/2'' Hardline coax LDF4 connections

« on: January 28, 2020, 1859 UTC »

Lately I've been aiding some guys doing TV repack work.  There, 7 & 8" line is common, all air dielectric.  Jacketed flexible line I think is only available up to 4".  Above that, its all 'plumbing'.

+-RH

111

Equipment / Re: 1/2'' Hardline coax LDF4 connections

« on: January 28, 2020, 1832 UTC »

Most of the larger coaxial cables are solder free.  Getting that much heat into the cable to solder will almost always damage the dielectric and create a VSWR hot spot.  The captive connectors are OK as long as you get the right kind from a reputable manufacturer.  I like the Andrew (now commscope) connectors and should only run about $20-30 each end.

The instructions come with the connector and they recommend the use of a hacksaw and file.  I have found the installation to go much smoother with a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel, then use a file to smooth the edges.  I have terminated up to 3" cable using this method, although a portable bandsaw works better on larger cable.

+-RH

112

Shortwave Pirate / Re: XFM 4185 AM 0100 UTC 25 JAN 2020

« on: January 25, 2020, 0530 UTC »

You’re a class act, Redhat.

Senseless conflict has no place here.  We're all here for the same reasons, great music and comaraderie.  Lets do what we can to keep it that way.

+-RH

113

Shortwave Pirate / Re: XFM 4185 AM 0100 UTC 25 JAN 2020

« on: January 25, 2020, 0203 UTC »

We are up.  Antenna is screwed, the harmonic filter is broken, but the show must go on!

+-RH

114

Huh? / Re: You still slip and fall afterwards...

« on: January 24, 2020, 1458 UTC »

Seems about right.

+-RH

115

The RF Workbench / Re: Solar SLA charging and maintenance for unattended transmitters

« on: January 24, 2020, 1452 UTC »

I think the power consumption vs performance would still be better with a pi which uses a maximum of 15 watts.  Power budget is pretty thin as it is, and no one wants to put up a 200W array to run this thing.  Either way, a big battery will be required, probably around 100AH.

+-RH

116

The RF Workbench / Re: Solar SLA charging and maintenance for unattended transmitters

« on: January 22, 2020, 2250 UTC »

The idea was to put something out in the hinterlands of nowhere.  Like the beacons of the SW, put it up in a state park, wilderness area, etc.

+-RH

117

The RF Workbench / Re: Solar SLA charging and maintenance for unattended transmitters

« on: January 22, 2020, 1541 UTC »

This has stirred an interesting idea.  Use a prepaid lte modem to get an internet connection to the transmitter.  Have a raspberry pi or similar to poke an internet stream, and if available start up the transmitter and process the audio.  Should the battery get too low, throw noises in the audio and shut down.  A max time limit could also be placed on any day based on weather conditions.

+-RH

118

Equipment / Re: The SW200 LPAM, Part #15, Amateur Radio AM, Audio Processor.

« on: January 19, 2020, 2100 UTC »

The blue box on top of the orban is a symetrix 528e mic processor...I've rebuild a good number of them. The previous generation 528's were gray and all through hole.  They also had weird terminal strips on the back for i/o.  People used them for everything, including cleaning up rpu feeds, but were mono.   My first phone hybrid was a ti-101 by symetrix from about the same era.

+-RH

119

General Radio Discussion / Re: Huge military exercise could jam GPS for small planes flying in the Southeast

« on: January 19, 2020, 1633 UTC »

For the record I did not...don't really care.  What does any of this have to with the original post about gps outages.

I come here to get away from all the crap on other sites and the media.  Please keep your doom and gloom, and your politics to yourself please.

+-RH

120

General Radio Discussion / Re: Huge military exercise could jam GPS for small planes flying in the Southeast

« on: January 19, 2020, 0955 UTC »

Don't do a search for pence pompeo end times...   

~

Its awfully dark and gloomy in that cave of yours, isn't it?

+-RH