Messages

301

General Radio Discussion / Re: Lawmakers demand investigation into FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

« on: November 15, 2017, 0344 UTC »

Political posturing. TV viewership is in decline, TV news has less and less influence, and people are cutting cable to watch Netflix and other internet-based entertainment and social media, where increasing numbers of people get their news anyway (30% of Americans get their 'news' via Facebook, according to one recent study).

Some of these politicians just can't stand the idea that a conservative oriented company like Sinclair exists. But unfortunately, they don't realise that TV companies like Sinclair have less and less influence, while internet news sources (of all types) have more and more influence. If a company like Sinclair bought newspapers in 72 percent of the markets in the US, would they still be complaining?

Probably not.

TV isn't too far away from where newspapers are. The entire media picture is changing -- TV won't disappear, but it's become part of the whole -- internet, social media, streaming, radio, TV, print, etc. It's a whole new world today.

302

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Preacher Teacher" Alert

« on: November 12, 2017, 1255 UTC »

Jim Bakker was busted for something and went to prison. He had a prison ministry there.

RE: Benny Hinn: I know some people who are acquainted with his ministry, and I went with them to attend a Hinn appearance here a few years ago.

The lowlight of the evening, you could say, was when he led the assembly to curse themselves with death if they didn't support his ministry efforts. I was -- needless to say -- thoroughly appalled.

Religion has its place in America, but -- like politics -- too often it is used as a means of gain for some people.

RE: Shortwave: a lot of the ministries ignore shortwave because they have TV and satellite. Brother Stair's teachings are probably odd enough that the mainstream Christian networks won't carry him, so he uses MW and SW.

303

General Radio Discussion / Re: Hacker Hijacks North Korean Radio Station, Plays ‘The Final Countdown’

« on: November 12, 2017, 1240 UTC »

Ya never know. It could happen, but the North Koreans themselves seem to be rather tech savvy (they managed to hack the South Korean military's site and download multipage documents showing US/S Korean war plans) -- I would think that their version of internet security at the radio station is pretty robust.

Plus, Radio Pyongyang grobably isn't connected to the internet at all, unlike many US FM stations which have been hacked.

304

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: What The...

« on: November 07, 2017, 0747 UTC »

Yikes. I couldn't understand a word.

305

Peskies / Re: 6790 kHz USB Spanish Language - Rural Radio Telephone Service 1 Oct 2017

« on: November 07, 2017, 0321 UTC »

Interesting info here. Probably no chance of hearing deep into South America on 6800-7000 at this location (NW US) but still very interesting to read about it.

Thanks for posting all the info, especially to FFM.

306

Equipment / Re: Electronic Dog Fence Wire as Antenna

« on: October 30, 2017, 0533 UTC »

My guess is if it is used as a dog fence, it should hold up in weather.

307

MW Loggings / Re: 21 Aug 2017 Eclipse Day on MW

« on: October 30, 2017, 0531 UTC »

Late to the logging party here, but I heard 1670 KQMS Redding; then 1660 KBRE The Bear, Merced faded up; then 1110 KBND Bend OR and 1290 KUMA Pendleton OR; then I heard 1060 KSL Salt Lake City -- all on my Sangean PR-D5. All roughly about 400-500 miles or so distant, with KSL being farther away than that.

There were probably a few other DX stations, but I concentrated on the X band and some regional channels because I knew more what to expect on those channels.

1190 KEX Portland was in louder than usual, as was a 1600 kHz station near Bellingham WA -- but sometimes both of those stations come in during 10 in the morning so I didn't count them particularly as Solar Eclipse DX.

Was a fun way to "view" the eclipse... I used a paper plate with a hole in it to project the eclipse on a dark cardboard folder -- but DXing was more fun than that.

308

General Radio Discussion / Re: Next Global HF Weekend: November 3-5, 2017

« on: October 30, 2017, 0520 UTC »

Thanks for the heads-up on this event. Shall have to take a listen. 

309

Equipment / Re: Electromagnetic Pulse Web Page

« on: October 27, 2017, 1019 UTC »

Interesting articles. Thanks for posting the link.

Looks like some transistor radios could survive an EMP -- if not attached to an external antenna. That was interesting to read.

310

General Radio Discussion / Re: "Preacher Teacher" Alert

« on: October 25, 2017, 1123 UTC »

One thing to bear in mind is that these religious organizations that use SW stations in the US probably lower the rates for the non-religious people who broadcast over the same stations.

In a weird way, people like Brother Stair (or his similar counterparts) keep the rates down for those programs that aren't so extreme, and other programs that are more entertainment oriented (I have heard of a couple of them, although I haven't heard them personally -- except for the foreign broadcasters that thankfully use WRMI).

Religious organisations tend to pay whatever rate a station charges -- that is how they feel about getting their 'message' out.

If it weren't for religious organisations, the stations would undoubtedly go off the air.

311

General Radio Discussion / Re: A Visit with Victor Goonetilleke

« on: October 25, 2017, 1120 UTC »

I have heard of Victor, and recall reading some of his articles / reports in either PopComm or MT. God bless him, he's a veteran DXer and was one of the DXer voices from a part of the world that many of us knew little about.

312

General Radio Discussion / Re: The entire global financial system depends on GPS, and it’s shockingly vulnerabl

« on: October 24, 2017, 1803 UTC »

I may be old school, but I would never try to navigate on sea or in air without at least a rudimentary knowledge of dead reckoning, use of a sextant, and the other old school navigational aids. It just seems practical. I love most new technology, but some of it is just too sketchy in the long term to trust your life on it without a backup.

313

General Radio Discussion / Re: Shortwave Station Bends But Doesn’t Break

« on: October 16, 2017, 0725 UTC »

The diagram accompanying the article was very cool. Rhombics everywhere. I was always fascinated with that antenna. Never built one, though....

314

General Radio Discussion / Re: All India Radio to expand global services; To cover Japan, Germany, Canada

« on: October 12, 2017, 1124 UTC »

"AM-FM radio cassette recorder"... sounds like it might have been a boombox.

Boomboxes often had very good radio sections. I've always been pleasantly surprised. Did some of my best DXing on one back in the 1980's.

315

General Radio Discussion / Re: All India Radio to expand global services; To cover Japan, Germany, Canada

« on: October 09, 2017, 0610 UTC »

Josh, you are correct, I noticed this when I was in India and Pakistan, many people, who had the money to buy batteries, still using shortwave receivers in villages and semi rural areas.

Same applies to the majority of islands in the Pacific, many villagers in remote islands that have no aviation service and only get a ship every two or three months still rely on shortwave radio to stay abreast of events. They were shocked when Radio Australia pulled the plug back in January.

Not long back some aid agency was giving away "wind up" power shortwave receivers to some islanders, a similar programme operated in Africa some years back I recall.

Now there's not a lot for the Pacific islanders to listen to, just Radio New Zealand, Radio Vanuatu and Solomon Islands BC on shortwave, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Caledonia have terminated their outer island services on HF altogether.

However, with a decent piece of wire strewn through the coconut palms they tune Australian and other Pacific stations on Medium Wave, better than nothing.

Hi LookingGlass,
Wasn't aware that Pacific Islanders had any concerns about Radio Australia discontinuing... I figured they would, but hadn't heard it expressed in fact.

Luckily New Zealand is serving the islands. Sounds like they don't have any intentions of stopping, at least for the next few years.

The islands seem to have a strong connection with NZ, I know that Pitcairn, at least, was administered through an office in NZ (if memory serves).

I wonder which MW stations can be received in the islands with a good portable, without an external antenna.