Messages

136

General Radio Discussion / Re: HF Underground and Facebook?

« on: February 10, 2021, 0941 UTC »

I would agree with you if APPLE, GOOGLE, FACEBOOK and TWITTER had any viable competition.
They don't.

Then you also have this aspect of information dissemination:
https://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6
https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-6-companies-that-own-almost-all-media-infographic/

Granted, these particular articles are from 2012 and 2017, but I don't think much has changed since then. A different side to the coin, maybe.

137

General Radio Discussion / Re: HF Underground and Facebook?

« on: February 09, 2021, 2021 UTC »

What's the difference between the 1933 book burnings in Germany and the 2021  Big Tech censorship going on today?

(Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but there's nothing funny about it).

Tech companies are just that, companies.
A private company or a forum can pretty much do what it wants.

If administration here (or any other social media site) says we can't talk about a particular subject, that's their right.

While what you say is true, those tech companies number just a handful, and control the political and other speech of hundreds of millions of Americans and probably a few billion people worldwide. The power they wield over the nation's (and the world's) dialogue and communication of ideas is considerable.

And while there are some concerns over the power and control these large social media companies have, there still is quite a large breadth of opinion and speech freely available on them. On just one of them, I can see anything from left wing rants to right wing religious conspiracy theories, and everything in between. I don't think we've reached the point yet of everything being controlled. Far from it.

138

Propagation / Re: Solar cycle 25 . Very interesting? I have my doubts.

« on: January 19, 2021, 0413 UTC »

Yeah, MW is sucking this season, and HF has a few mornings where you can hear about half of what could be heard 8 years ago, the rest of the mornings are mostly static.

And I don't think that's due to stations going off the air, as I haven't read of Chinese CNR1 jammers going off the air lately.

They are just not heard as well due to the propagation.

139

General Radio Discussion / Re: Empty HF frequency band for emergency coms

« on: January 19, 2021, 0410 UTC »

If society collapses, just choose a usable frequency and a time to communicate with others beforehand, and probably it would be best to keep such transmissions short, should the TEOTWAWKI events take place. Not to protect yourself from authorities, who will undoubtedly be preoccupied with trying to hold together, but from potential marauders.

I doubt the military will be taking any measures against individuals using HF spectrum, they will have enough other problems to deal with aside from a few survivalists. CB would be handy in short range comms, as the equipment is portable, easy to use, and still plentiful.

And yeah, the spectrum is all 'spoken for', but in reality much of it is empty. The frequencies surrounding the CB band have been assigned to various governmental agencies for as long as I can remember and yet I have never in my life heard anything on those frequencies that remotely resembles a government agency transmission. Just outbanders.

140

Equipment / Re: Sangean ATS-909X2 Launch + Pre-Order

« on: January 14, 2021, 0252 UTC »

I'm glad to see that Sangean has continued the ATS-909 line. Not so glad to see so many issues.

It seems that in moving to DSP they've had more problems with their top of the line SW radio than when it was all analog. Sad to see. Their other DSP radios (the PR-D5 and others in that series) seem to have good overall performance without the big glitches.

141

General Radio Discussion / Re: Proposed Shortwave Station in Illinois Prompts an Objection

« on: January 12, 2021, 0458 UTC »

Where would be the other end of the data link ? Wall Street ? or in Europe? or elsewhere ?

The PDF of the application (linked on the Radio World page) says the station is to 'specifically serve the areas of Europe that may be authorized by the Commission". The PDF also has info on the type of log-periodic that the station plans to use. It looks like it's beam / azimuth is 47 degrees from true north -- aiming the signal NE towards EU.

142

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pirate radio station shown on Google Maps

« on: December 30, 2020, 1146 UTC »

Maybe the name of a legit station?

143

General Radio Discussion / Re: Proposed Shortwave Station in Illinois Prompts an Objection

« on: December 30, 2020, 1144 UTC »

I see it as a non-starter, aside from the mercantile data transmissions.

Who are they going to broadcast to that isn't already served by present day broadcasters? It doesn't make sense. 20 years ago, it would still have made sense. Not in 2021. I mean, how many DRM receivers are there worldwide, really?

144

Equipment / Re: equip question : new member: first post, i need help

« on: December 24, 2020, 0516 UTC »

Nice looking CB radio.

145

General Radio Discussion / Re: Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 in Covid Stimulus Package

« on: December 24, 2020, 0513 UTC »

Nothing like taking advantage of a nation in crisis to shove through whatever legislation that you couldn't get through Congress otherwise.

146

General Radio Discussion / Re: IBOC list

« on: December 15, 2020, 1250 UTC »

Interesting list... it's a bit outdated, though. Shows just how many stations dumped IBOC, though. Because I doubt even a quarter of the ones listed as active on that list are truly IBOC active.

147

General Radio Discussion / Re: Introductions! Just got a Tecsun R9012. Any stations I should look for?

« on: December 15, 2020, 1245 UTC »

If you were tuned to the Shortwave spectrum, the UK accents may have been the BBC to Africa in English, or possibly Radio New Zealand Int'l, which slams the West coast and probably is heard inland as well.

148

MW Loggings / Re: Radio Progreso 640 AM 0530 UTC 19 Nov 2020

« on: November 25, 2020, 0206 UTC »

Funny you say that; I was hearing music underneath KOFI the other night that I was trying to ID. Is Radio Marti also still on 1180?

I believe it still is. It was a few years ago. Haven't heard them in a while, though.

Easiest way is match it with 5025, which comes in fairly well even off the whip on most of my SW portables.

149

MW Loggings / Re: Radio Progreso 640 AM 0530 UTC 19 Nov 2020

« on: November 22, 2020, 0650 UTC »

Don't forget to check 1180 from time to time. Radio Rebelde can be heard during good conditions under KOFI. You can parallel the audio with the Rebelde outlet on 5025 khz. I've heard them on just a portable, more than once, and I'm in the PNW.

150

General Radio Discussion / Re: RIP Universal Radio

« on: November 22, 2020, 0647 UTC »

I'm a bit surprised no one is purchasing the online store. I'm sure the website gets a lot of traffic.

Not a good harbinger for the radio hobby in general.