Messages

181

Equipment / Re: The Best Active Loop Antenna 2019 = MLA-30?

« on: January 04, 2021, 0620 UTC »

I bought one of the MLA-30+ about a year ago.  Compared to the 30' vertical in the backyard, the MLA-30+ is about 20dB noisier.  Signals that are discernable on the vertical are buried in noise with the loop.  The noise floor of the amplifier is just too high, and that is with a home made power injector, not the provided one.  I love the loop concept, but the front end needs work, and there are many solutions out there that I'm sure perform better.

...But for the price, it's hard to beat.

+-RH

182

QSLs Received / Re: X-FM 25 August 2019 eQSL and play list.

« on: January 04, 2021, 0614 UTC »

Your welcome!  It takes about 3 hours of computer time to manually transcribe the log, sort out email and log posts, then assemble the QSL master, run them, and email...per show.  It works out to a solid 40 hour work week once a year.  Putting the annual disc together takes another several hours.  It is work.

+-RH

183

QSLs Received / Re: X-FM 25 August 2019 eQSL and play list.

« on: January 04, 2021, 0108 UTC »

And with that, 2019 is 'in the can'.  We issued 194 QSL's for 11 shows.  I will start working on the 2020 QSL's next month, and hope to have any postal items rolling soon after.

Thank you all for your reports and email!  We'll see you soon with a decade in music recap show live from 'somewhere under the stars...'

+-RH

184

Peskies / Peskies 4188 LSB 3 JAN 2021 0005z+

« on: January 03, 2021, 0016 UTC »

Weak but audible.  Presumed spanish.

+-RH

185

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Ball Smacker Radio 4030 AM 0158 UTC 02 Jan 2021

« on: January 02, 2021, 0242 UTC »

First run with the new Airspy HF+ on a linux PC and GQRX.  Homemade power injector for the MLA-30, but lower noise with the MW transmit antenna on the SDR.
No calibrated carrier measurement at this time, signal peaking to about S4 S6 here, assuming my math is correct.

0235 a mellow piano piece in a minor key.  Too close to the noise for identification.
0239 some kind of ID followed by a new song.  Motown kinda sounding?
0244 a dance version of the new years eve song.  Sounds like Mariah Carey.

Carrier looks to be about 50 Hz off.

Thanks for the show!

+-RH

186

General Radio Discussion / Re: IBOC list

« on: December 18, 2020, 2241 UTC »

Agreed, the data is old.  AFAIK, all the Entercom stations turned theirs off.  Due to the somewhat fluid ownership state, stations seem to drop on and off periodically.  It really doesn't bother me if they run IBOC during the day, but nighttime operation should be revoked, unless you are running MA3 mode (digital only).

+-RH

187

The RF Workbench / Re: Watch out for those cheap components

« on: December 18, 2020, 2230 UTC »

             
                                          How long before fake humans?

A quick survey of the internet and the media should yield many fine examples of such...

+-RH

188

General Radio Discussion / Re: Dear redhat, what I want for Christmas is...

« on: December 12, 2020, 2331 UTC »

I'll see what I can do.  I had professed to take a vaca, at least until I can afford to go out again.

...and, no, not that I know of.  Although I did recently have a dream that wtww contacted me wanting me to build them an exciter for their continental.

+-RH

189

General Radio Discussion / Re: Keyed Up on 6925 usb

« on: December 08, 2020, 1717 UTC »

Depends on what you consider dangerous.  IF the rig has been modified for all band transmit, and the antenna is sort of matched, no harm done.  If you haven't modified the radio, and its out of band, nothing will happen.  Even if the radio has been modified, and the antenna is not matched, most modern rigs will fold back output power to prevent damage to the PA.

..As to the legality of such, this is a pirate board after all

+-RH

190

Software / Re: audio editing software

« on: December 08, 2020, 0525 UTC »

Audacity is a good FREE program. Lots of tools and features. There is better software to buy but expensive, Audacity should be good enough.  Plenty of YouTube tutorial videos.

https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

+1  It can do just about anything Audition can, and is fine for my needs.  Several commercial stations I know of use it as well, as they just could not justify the ongoing costs of Adobe.

+-RH

191

Huh? / Re: Computer Security

« on: December 02, 2020, 1724 UTC »

Yup, got to that kind of extreme, then leave the default passwords in a switch...

+-RH

192

Equipment / Re: Airspy Black Friday Sale: HF+ Discovery SDR $118.30

« on: November 27, 2020, 0133 UTC »

The price was too good to say no.  We'll see how nicely it play with my linux desktop.  It would be nice to be able to listen again.

+-RH

193

General Radio Discussion / NASWA Winterfest info?

« on: November 23, 2020, 1946 UTC »

I haven't heard anything in regards to next years fest.  Anyone else have any word?

+-RH

194

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: FMUser CP100 elliptical circular antenna (CZH) - anyone have this?

« on: November 15, 2020, 0249 UTC »

I've built a number of them over the years as emergency antennas for stations.  The length of the elements sets the resonant frequency, the position of the arms adjust the match.  The two do interact.  It should be mounted with the feedpoint straight up.  Also proximity to its mounting structure and size of such will also affect the match and center frequency.  Usually the match was around 1.2:1 or so.

A sweepable analyzer of some sort will make life a lot easier.  I now use a return loss bridge and a service monitor so I can see the adjustments in real time.  Doing it the old way with an exciter and a wattmeter was always a maddening experience.

+-RH

195

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pneumatic Antenna Line Launcher

« on: November 02, 2020, 2327 UTC »

That is a very strange looking attachement for a potato gun!  I like it!

+-RH