991
General Radio Discussion / Re: Surprises of the Faraday Cage
« on: August 02, 2016, 0646 UTC »
Interesting read, thanks for posting!
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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 permissable in your locale.
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992
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: GNU Radio Conference 2016
« on: August 01, 2016, 0909 UTC »
Well, since your going to be in their backyard, it might be cool to see if NIST will do a tour while your there...
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993
FM Free Radio / Re: Question on pirate radio
« on: August 01, 2016, 0842 UTC »
The definition of 'wide audience' is a matter of perspective. MW/SW pirates have the potential to reach far greater audiences than the average FM pirate, simply from a signal footprint aspect. Receiver availability or signal quality are other concerns, but I'm still in awe of the fact that 100 watts can cover a continent on SW, whereas at 100 MHz and a good location, your generally limited to a dozen or so miles.
It is likely in the future that we will play on 1720, but for reasons already pointed out, its a tough cookie to crack, the footprint of the antenna system is the biggest hurdle I see. A 300' circle is hard to fit into the average suburban lot, and low dipoles at those frequencies don't work that great either.
Part of me thinks, at least from a professional aspect, the MW will continue to decline, probably starting with some of the rimshot stations with complicated directional arrays that either cost to much to maintain, or don't generate enough revenue to subsidize the land taxes and power they consume, to say nothing of licensing and staffing costs. This may be one of the silver linings of the AM translator debacle; if the FCC decides that AM's with translators can let the AM plant go dark and maintain the FM signal. It would lead to a new cry for FM spectrum, but may provide a new means for some of these struggling stations to stay afloat.
There is also the matter that FM doesn't seem to have the appeal it once did either. The number of nights I gave out a phone number on a relatively high powered FM pirate and never got calls told me a lot. I'm sure its a different story for ethnic stations that have a built in audience to support it, but the average joe is just pushing buttons, or listening to itunes.
I have a feeling there are more people listening to shortwave than any of us would guess based on some of the email I've received over the years. You never know whose out there, and that's what makes it fun.
Time will tell,
+RH
It is likely in the future that we will play on 1720, but for reasons already pointed out, its a tough cookie to crack, the footprint of the antenna system is the biggest hurdle I see. A 300' circle is hard to fit into the average suburban lot, and low dipoles at those frequencies don't work that great either.
Part of me thinks, at least from a professional aspect, the MW will continue to decline, probably starting with some of the rimshot stations with complicated directional arrays that either cost to much to maintain, or don't generate enough revenue to subsidize the land taxes and power they consume, to say nothing of licensing and staffing costs. This may be one of the silver linings of the AM translator debacle; if the FCC decides that AM's with translators can let the AM plant go dark and maintain the FM signal. It would lead to a new cry for FM spectrum, but may provide a new means for some of these struggling stations to stay afloat.
There is also the matter that FM doesn't seem to have the appeal it once did either. The number of nights I gave out a phone number on a relatively high powered FM pirate and never got calls told me a lot. I'm sure its a different story for ethnic stations that have a built in audience to support it, but the average joe is just pushing buttons, or listening to itunes.
I have a feeling there are more people listening to shortwave than any of us would guess based on some of the email I've received over the years. You never know whose out there, and that's what makes it fun.
Time will tell,
+RH
994
General Radio Discussion / Re: We're Secure!
« on: July 28, 2016, 1601 UTC »
Some of the Amazon ads are still broken. Interestingly enough, when the Amazon ads don't load correctly, the page lock indicator is happy. When the Amazon ads do load correctly, I get an error message stating that 'This site does not provide identity information.'
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995
Huh? / Re: Teens used Pokémon Go app to lure robbery victims, police say
« on: July 25, 2016, 1723 UTC »
And failing that, there's always xtube 
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996
Equipment / Re: Car Shortwave radio
« on: July 21, 2016, 0520 UTC »
Both Cuban outlets on 5025 and 5040 (I think?) are running 10 KHz audio, and they do tend to splatter over each other and other stations. That is not the fault of the radio...
Sounds like a neat toy!
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Sounds like a neat toy!
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997
General Radio Discussion / Re: FCC sets the stage for the next generation of wireless services
« on: July 15, 2016, 0151 UTC »
There sure seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors in this prophesy. Nothing creeps me out more that 'smart' (read DUMB) appliances. I really don't need a higher authority to know how many eggs are left in my fridge.
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998
General Radio Discussion / Re: Pro-94 squelch problem
« on: July 15, 2016, 0148 UTC »
Everything in the world that is wrong is probably related to bad caps. I would start there.
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1000
General Radio Discussion / Re: Russia briefly detains, deports US broadcasting chief
« on: July 14, 2016, 0108 UTC »
True, last I checked Russia Today (cleverly rebranded as RT to sound innocuous) is still on Galaxy 19 KU. I used to get a hoot out of some of the stuff they put up there. I think FTA is the shortwave of the 21st century, just as unknown to the average joe.
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1001
General Radio Discussion / Re: FCC Pirate Radio Efforts Increase But Fall Short
« on: July 13, 2016, 1827 UTC »
+1
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1002
Equipment / Re: Car Shortwave radio
« on: July 10, 2016, 1507 UTC »
This looks like a good solution to the problem of the lack of availability of in dash shortwave receivers, at least domestically. My kenwood in the X-mobile has shortwave, but it came off ebay from some guy in Israel, and this seems to be the norm these days.
The Prof and I were thinking about building a bluetooth shortwave receiver with sync AM and stereo decoding. It would certainly be possible with todays technology, you just need to find the right guy with the know-how. The nice thing about bluetooth is all the controls for the receiver would be available on your bluetooth car stereo, including signal strength and presets.
Something to consider...
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The Prof and I were thinking about building a bluetooth shortwave receiver with sync AM and stereo decoding. It would certainly be possible with todays technology, you just need to find the right guy with the know-how. The nice thing about bluetooth is all the controls for the receiver would be available on your bluetooth car stereo, including signal strength and presets.
Something to consider...
+-RH
1003
QSLs Received / Re: X-FM Radio QSL
« on: July 09, 2016, 1729 UTC »
And with that 2015 is 'in the can'. We issued 249 QSLs last year for 10 shows, 61 of those QSLs were for the Halloween show.
Thanks all!
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Thanks all!
+-RH
1004
Equipment / Re: Effects of modification to gutter antenna
« on: July 04, 2016, 0356 UTC »
I still do not recommend operating in a residential area, particularly in this 'zero lot line' era with houses stacked upon each other. The risk of causing problems for other and getting the knock is just too great.
Do as you wish, but be extremely careful.
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Do as you wish, but be extremely careful.
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1005
Equipment / Re: Effects of modification to gutter antenna
« on: July 03, 2016, 2216 UTC »
I second Elite's comments. I would highly discourage operating in such situations. HOA 'subjects' tend to be more Nazi-like and if your screw up their enjoyment of sex in the city, your going to hear about it. I imagine this is why FM pirates get busted a lot, most of them are in residential areas running big power.
My best advice is find a friend out in the country that will let you use their barn or back lot and go portable. You won't get in as many shows a year, but your chances of getting busted are far far less. Plus with fewer things in the way building wise, you may get better reports.
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My best advice is find a friend out in the country that will let you use their barn or back lot and go portable. You won't get in as many shows a year, but your chances of getting busted are far far less. Plus with fewer things in the way building wise, you may get better reports.
+-RH
