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Shortwave Pirate Radio In North America And Around The World, And Other Signals That Go Bump In The Night
We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.
Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.
You're dealing with Canadian government. These are the people that are so uptight that when a new station signs on, they have to have a representative from IC come out and sign on the transmitter. I highly doubt they will retrofit an old transmitter with parts that would void its type acceptance.
+-RH
Yup, that's pretty much my experience. That said, a 50' vertical with 8 140' radials works OK on 1720KHz or so with reasonable performance. If you want to throw power at it though the loading coil will have to be very large. The numbers I ran found that such a setup can expect close to 20A of base current with 1KW on the input!
Even the places I like to use have barely enough room for an antenna that size.
+-RH
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77
Huh? / Re: So, what's up with all of these NOAA Weather Radio outages?
« on: June 01, 2022, 1714 UTC »Oh yeah!!!! I've always thought that made some nice sense to have a Weather FREQ broadcasting on the AM BC band. Well, if that is indeed a LPB AM-5, unless that took a big lightning hit and fried that, a decent tech shouldn't have too much trouble replacing anything on that transmitter. Even if a new crystal is needed, a DDS oscillator will do very nicely on that. I know this, since a friend of mine is running his AM Carrier-Current station with an AM-5 and a DDS OSC for his selected FREQ. So, far, rock solid for 8 years with him on that. So, can be done.
You're dealing with Canadian government. These are the people that are so uptight that when a new station signs on, they have to have a representative from IC come out and sign on the transmitter. I highly doubt they will retrofit an old transmitter with parts that would void its type acceptance.
+-RH
78
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio 48 via MRI 6860 USB 0033 UTC 29 May 2022
« on: May 29, 2022, 0307 UTC »
0306z 6860KHz USB "I used to suck dick for coke" 
Caught the end of it, including 'You can do magic' by America, and other 80's and 70's soft rock.
0318 Paramore 'I Caught Myself'
0319 Finest Sound MRI ID into 'What I Am' by Kai jack, a cover of Eddie Brickell
0322 MRI Proper People ID
0331 MRI Best Music ID into 'Games Without Frontiers'
The signal is doing very well tonight on a midsouth Kiwi, averaging about S9+10.
0335 MRI less BS ID, into Der Commisar' Mix has really upped his game with the ID's
2240 an old mix classic 'Back Into My Heart' by Chris Botti. Love it!
0344 'The look of Love' also by Chris Botti. Thanks brother!
0349 MRI ID into 'Eyes Without A Face' Billy Idol
0412 MRI ID into a track by Chicane, if memory serves. Playing a bit of around the world myself. Doing quite well into Ireland ATM, about S9!
0425 Petshop Boys 'Its A Sin'
I'm out. Thanks for the tunes, hope to hear you again soon!
Thanks for the show!
+-RH
Caught the end of it, including 'You can do magic' by America, and other 80's and 70's soft rock.
0318 Paramore 'I Caught Myself'
0319 Finest Sound MRI ID into 'What I Am' by Kai jack, a cover of Eddie Brickell
0322 MRI Proper People ID
0331 MRI Best Music ID into 'Games Without Frontiers'
The signal is doing very well tonight on a midsouth Kiwi, averaging about S9+10.
0335 MRI less BS ID, into Der Commisar' Mix has really upped his game with the ID's
2240 an old mix classic 'Back Into My Heart' by Chris Botti. Love it!
0344 'The look of Love' also by Chris Botti. Thanks brother!
0349 MRI ID into 'Eyes Without A Face' Billy Idol
0412 MRI ID into a track by Chicane, if memory serves. Playing a bit of around the world myself. Doing quite well into Ireland ATM, about S9!
0425 Petshop Boys 'Its A Sin'
I'm out. Thanks for the tunes, hope to hear you again soon!
Thanks for the show!
+-RH
79
Equipment / Re: Who here doesn't have a MFJ ATU?
« on: May 26, 2022, 1515 UTC »
I've always used properly tuned antennas for my stuff and don't use tuners with one exception. For a while, I had a FT-857 in my pickup with a CB whip on the back. I had an SGC autotuner in the bed feeding the whip. It worked pretty well on 40 and 20, not real good on 75M though.
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80
General Radio Discussion / Re: Becker bill to remove police radio encryption picks up support
« on: May 20, 2022, 2308 UTC »
Regardless, I fully support this. I shouldn't have to own a $3K radio and have a buddy get me keys just to hear how my tax dollars are being wasted. Anything to promote government accountability I'm in favor of.
+-RH
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81
Huh? / Re: Why is there so little interest in MW pirates?
« on: May 20, 2022, 1733 UTC »The other thing is that not that many people today have the real estate to string up a +100ft antenna.
^THIS!
~275' for an AM half-wave dipole at the top of the MW BCB band, and for most realistic deployments, a horizontal MW antenna is going to be so low as to encounter significant ground losses along with largely being a cloud warmer with what power it does radiate upwards.
There is the vertical route, but that also typically means serious loading to get a reasonably workable deployment, plus it is also dealing with ground losses unless deploying numerous ground radials or quarter-wave tuned elevated radials. Elevated radials can be loaded as well, but that typically incurs even further losses.
Now factor in the typical MW noise floor these days, plus how many even general radio enthusiasts have truly decent MW antennas optimized for weak-signal reception these days?
It is akin to an amateur doing 160m mobile. Even with a few hundred watts into an extremely-loaded vertical, the often resulting QRPp experience can be an exercise in patience.... or frustration, and that is on an band with (hopefully) other active participants having (again, hopefully) decent antennas for receiving.
Yup, that's pretty much my experience. That said, a 50' vertical with 8 140' radials works OK on 1720KHz or so with reasonable performance. If you want to throw power at it though the loading coil will have to be very large. The numbers I ran found that such a setup can expect close to 20A of base current with 1KW on the input!
Even the places I like to use have barely enough room for an antenna that size.
+-RH
82
Amateur Radio / Re: Dayton Hamvention
« on: May 20, 2022, 1722 UTC »
Prior to the kung-flu myself and the OP would make the journey every year. Dayton had its charms, and yes, I was there for 'Crapapocalypse'. Some of the key pieces of the station came from there, including both my previous linear amps. Xenia is a nice venue, sans the stench of a thousand horses from the stables. The down side is unlike Dayton, most of the flea market is on grass. If (when) it rains, it's mud city. Speaking of which the weather is always unpredictable. I've seen wind, sun, thunder, and sleet over the last decade.
I wish I was there. Fun stuff to look at, but with the price of gas and the work schedule what it is, I just couldn't make it this year. Maybe next one.
+-RH
I wish I was there. Fun stuff to look at, but with the price of gas and the work schedule what it is, I just couldn't make it this year. Maybe next one.
+-RH
83
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Ball Smacker 6960 AM 0059 URC 14 May 2022
« on: May 14, 2022, 0130 UTC »
Ballsmacker id at 0128 just strong enough to id on an r108 portable. "Baby come back" at present. Solid on very brief peaks.
0145-ish Coldplay "sky full of stars"
0149 Backstreet Boys? A mess of interfering signals now.
Thanks for the show!
+-RH
0145-ish Coldplay "sky full of stars"
0149 Backstreet Boys? A mess of interfering signals now.
Thanks for the show!
+-RH
84
General Radio Discussion / Re: Kevin Miller, KM6AU, "Al Fansome"
« on: May 09, 2022, 1643 UTC »
I'm very sorry to hear of this. I always enjoyed the banter between Al and Pigmeat. Its been a little darker around here since.
All the best from myself and the OP to you Corq and friends and family.
+-RH
All the best from myself and the OP to you Corq and friends and family.
+-RH
85
Equipment / Re: Shortwave car stereo (Sony CDX-G1200U)
« on: May 08, 2022, 1943 UTC »
Various manufacturers have included shortwave in their aftermarket radios over the years. As the years go by there are fewer and fewer. About 10 years ago, there was a guy in Israel selling them on ebay, new in the box. You have to be careful, as often the receive frequency ranges are limited, and often only sold for overseas markets like the south pacific and the middle east. Sometimes you're also stuck with 9 KHz steps on MW, or odd FM frequency ranges.
+-RH
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86
General Radio Discussion / Re: Video: My Secret Falklands War: When Britain's Military Took To The Airwaves
« on: April 13, 2022, 2252 UTC »
Neat docu, thanks for sharing 
+-RH
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87
For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: Looking for a Belar am Modulation Monitor
« on: April 13, 2022, 0319 UTC »
They pop up at hamfests and the like here, usually in the $200 US range. I picked up a broken one a few years back for $150 or so. I have two I use for testing and monitoring.
+-RH
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88
General Radio Discussion / Re: Season's Greetings - 50,000 watt Class A MLB AM Radio Broadcasters - 2022
« on: April 11, 2022, 1235 UTC »
10KW on 620 KHz is far from pathetic.
Anything that covers Milwaukee to Green Bay is doing pretty good, and that includes a good chunk of Wisconsin's large population centers, Madison aside.
+-RH
Anything that covers Milwaukee to Green Bay is doing pretty good, and that includes a good chunk of Wisconsin's large population centers, Madison aside.
+-RH
89
The RF Workbench / Re: This Amateur Radio Antenna Is Made From a Single Tape Measure?
« on: April 04, 2022, 2207 UTC »
Based on my experience using tape measures for ground radials, I'm not sure I would do this. The cheap ones have a tendency to tear when under tension, and especially as they rust in the weather.
+-RH
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90
General Radio Discussion / Joe Farley, one of our own, has passed
« on: March 09, 2022, 1746 UTC »
I got word a few weeks ago from his wife that Joe had underwent surgery for brain cancer and was on hospice. O.P. was digging around last night and found this..
https://www.adamswinterfieldsullivan.com/obituaries/Joseph-A--Farley?obId=24206974#/obituaryInfo
Myself and Zane met up at Joe's place in 2014 to hang out, and we used to chat on the phone from time to time. I wish his family the best as they navigate this rough time.
I still have one of his loops on my roof and use it!
+-RH
https://www.adamswinterfieldsullivan.com/obituaries/Joseph-A--Farley?obId=24206974#/obituaryInfo
Myself and Zane met up at Joe's place in 2014 to hang out, and we used to chat on the phone from time to time. I wish his family the best as they navigate this rough time.
I still have one of his loops on my roof and use it!
+-RH
