Messages

586

Shortwave Broadcast / Vatican Radio, 11625 khz, 0415-0434 UTC, 5/3 -- tentative

« on: May 05, 2014, 1016 UTC »

Shortwave conditions here at my QTH, at least when I tune the bands, has been a bit spotty. The ham bands sometimes have some good activity (40 meters was kicking in well two or three nights ago), but the shortwave bands haven't really been delivering here lately.

About the only notable logging I've had recently is a tentative one of Vatican Radio on 11625 khz, Friday night local time. Heard a man and a woman speaking, sounded like news (mention of Al Maliki and Iraq), language sounded like a cross between Hindi and Arabic.  During recheck later at 0434 they were talking in African accented French. The online schedules say Vatican Radio broadcasts in Tigriya and Amharic during the 0400 - 0430 time period.

Vatican Radio is the only station that fits. Was cool to hear, even if I couldn't understand the language. But there wasn't much else on at the time, except possibly Turkey on 11980. The rest of the band was just mediocre, and the 31, 21, and 49 meter bands weren't any better.

587

Equipment / Re: 11 Meter SW BX Band....

« on: May 02, 2014, 1225 UTC »

I have never heard a SW broadcaster on the 11 meter broadcast band. The only thing I've heard in the 11 meter part of the SW spectrum is CBers (both legal and outbanders) and the rare studio to transmitter link.

You're right about the equipment being available, and it doesn't take much of an antenna to get out. I was able to work Mexico, Alaska, and the SE US on the CB sideband with a single quad loop.

588

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: taking the PL-660 for a stroll in the rain, 04/21, 0130 UTC

« on: May 02, 2014, 1209 UTC »

I think I've logged Club De Para on 4885, and one other Brazilian on the 60 meter band (I can't remember the name of the station, as I don't have my logbook handy).

I have never heard the 60 meter Brazilian stations very clearly. Reception is just too grainy to get a really good ID on them, beyond IDing the language spoken and type of music played.

I have also logged Radio Aparecida a couple times, and Bandeirantes a couple times over the years. I also logged Radio Voz De Misionaria on 9665 once about 2 years ago.

Usually I don't get very good reception to Latin America. Here in the NW we have more of a pipeline to Asia and the Pacific.  I always like hearing the Brazilians when I can get them, though. I love hearing the Brazilian DJ's, jingles and music.

 

589

General Radio Discussion / Re: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

« on: April 29, 2014, 0423 UTC »

No... but one of my college friends has told me of his ghost experiences when growing up in North Carolina, and others in his family had plenty of ghost experiences to tell.

590

General Radio Discussion / Re: YHWH - 4/27 update

« on: April 29, 2014, 0415 UTC »

I heard this station a few afternoons ago, 4/25, 0207-0241 UTC, 14350 khz. Ranting on about the Old Testament and stuff, quoting a lot from a book. When I tuned out he was still talking.

Two IDs, but didn't realise they were IDs until I recalled the station being mentioned here.

591

Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.

« on: April 24, 2014, 1526 UTC »

I have no idea why you are experiencing what you are experiencing.

I don't know what your lightning arrestor looks like, but depending on proximity of the 'gap' between antenna and ground I suppose it's conceivable that grounding the arrestor could provide some sort of capacitance or proximity effect

'Proximity effect' is when you place a radio's whip antenna within an inch or so from a longwire, you still pick up a lot of stations that way -- so maybe your lightning arrestor could be somehow bleeding off some signal towards the earth ground in the same manner; the proximity of the arrestor element to the antenna could be interacting with the antenna -- or course, this is just a guess. Others here who are more up on antennas probably could have a much better explanation.

I myself never used a ground with my DX-160. And any time I have tried using grounds, I never have had better results -- although I know others swear by them.

I personally only use grounds to ground an outdoor antenna when it is not in use, for safety reasons.

592

Equipment / Re: Educate me about antenna choice.

« on: April 24, 2014, 1516 UTC »

My uncle, who was a ham and a ship's radioman, said he thought the resistor was to lessen the Q of the circuit, to 'broadband' it, perhaps for audio reasons.

593

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: taking the PL-660 for a stroll in the rain, 04/21, 0130 UTC

« on: April 24, 2014, 1511 UTC »

There's another Brazilian that makes it up here to the NW periodically, a station called R. Super Deus E Amor.

It's on 11765 khz.

Lots of preaching going on, with a little music and grainy sounding slogans.

Another one I've heard more than once is Radio Brasil Central, on 11815 khz. It's in the city of Goiania, central Brazil. They play programming that is similar to Radio Nacional Da Amazonia -- music, call-ins to the DJ, etc.

You may have gotten these already, though....

Good catch on Radio 9 De Julho, I've never heard that one.

594

MW Loggings / Re: KGFR 1490 AM New station in Great Falls Montana

« on: April 24, 2014, 1503 UTC »

I once caught that station here in Washington state on a Realistic TRF, last year.

The station was local strength for about two minutes, and then faded into the mess. Very odd.

But got an ID, so it went into the log....

595

MW Loggings / Re: 1190 KHz 4/5/2014 20:30 UTC MW on LSB?

« on: April 24, 2014, 1501 UTC »

You won't hear an LSB broadcast on the MW.

My guess it that you had to have heard an image from a shortwave utility station interfering with the regular AM station you heard on 1190.

It's possible you may have an RTTY-like FSK utility station somewhere in your vicinity.

596

Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.

« on: April 18, 2014, 0813 UTC »

DX-160's are great receivers, but for longwave you probably need an antenna tuner.

What you are probably experiencing (the Latin stations on LW, etc.) is AM band stations bleeding over into the LW spectrum on the DX-160, or possibly some shortwave stations, as Pope Jim suggested. There aren't any longwave broadcasters in the Western Hemisphere.

The DX-160's antenna trimmer just control matches the antenna impedance to the RF section of the DX-160, which helps improve performance, but it won't eliminate or reduce images from local AM stations that are probably bleeding over into the LW spectrum on your radio.  

For that, you will need an antenna tuner, or build a tuned loop for longwave (like a box loop with a tuner across it, and a sense loop hooked up to the radio).

You could also turn down the RF Gain a little bit, it might reduce the images and still let the LW beacons through. The RF Gain is also useful for SSB -- sometimes the DX-160's AGC (even when set to 'slow') will overreact on strong sideband signals. Backing the RF Gain a little bit can often make it easier to clarify strong SSB.

As for the chugging noise, it is probably RFI of some kind.

Glad to hear you're getting better reception with the new antenna, and getting some good reception with your DX-160.

597

MW Loggings / Re: 1566 khz, 1410z, tentative HLAZ, South Korea

« on: April 01, 2014, 2308 UTC »

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see it until now.

I'm in Western Washington.

I've been in West Virginia, once, a long time ago. Beautiful state.

598

General Radio Discussion / Re: Propagation question

« on: April 01, 2014, 2305 UTC »

From my own viewpoint that would depend on how much daylight, and which SW band you're talking about.

I've heard 40 meter band hams and 41 meter band SW broadcast stations from SE Asia here in the NW US when it's daylight here, and obviously dark in Asia.  Usually they fade out about two hours or so into daylight here, depending on overall SW conditions. A lot of what I just described could be what they call "grey line propagation".

With pirates that could be more of a problem, because they are much lower power than the stations I'm referring to. But I'm just saying it's still a possibility. Most of the SW pirates I am aware of seem to use the band just below 7000 khz., and propagation would be similar.

As far as hearing pirate SW stations, I've heard maybe 2 or 3 broadcasts just below the 40 meter ham band, and when I've heard them it was early evening, Pacific time.  I think at least once I heard them during the weeknights.  FYI I just use a 25 ft wire and a portable digital SW radio for SW.

599

General Radio Discussion / Re: I'm new to all this.

« on: April 01, 2014, 2256 UTC »

The controls sounding scratchy is sort of normal; it happens with controls as they age, as they get used, or as they get a little oxidation or whatever inside them. Cleaning them with some tuner cleaner or control cleaner (deoxit is a popular brand) will reduce or eliminate the scratchiness.

I don't know what you mean by 'jiggling the knobs to get static', but you may want to exercise the bandswitch a little bit to get it to work correctly.

A lot of older radios with real bandswitches can go a little funky if they've not been used in a while.  I had a DX-160 with dead bands until I turned the bandswitch back and forth a few times, which cleared the oxidation off of the contacts, and reception cleared up.

Cleaning the bandswitch with contact cleaner will also help -- but you would want to be *really* careful, some contact cleaner cans emit spray at a high pressure, and you don't want to get contact cleaner sprayed on the tuner dial drum. 

So try exercising the bandswitch back and forth a few times, it should clear that problem up (if that's the problem you are having).

RE: pressing your finger to the antenna connector and getting more stations: you may want to attach a wire to that connector, 20-30 ft or so to start with, and see if that helps bring in the stations. Whip antennas are great on radios when SW conditions are really good, or if you live in an area where SW signals are strong -- but oftentimes you need a wire antenna to really get the most out of any radio.

Hope this helps.

600

General Radio Discussion / Re: I'm new to all this.

« on: March 31, 2014, 1209 UTC »

TransOceanics are good radios, if they are working correctly. Some of these marvels have issues from age, but there are a lot of aficionados on the web who can help if the radio has problems.

You won't need to worry much about needing a fine tuner -- on the 7000 (like several of the previous TransOceanic models) the SW band is actually several separate 'bands', each one covering a SW broadcast band.

I.e., one TransOceanic SW 'band' covers just the 31 meter band, another TransOceanic SW 'band' just covers the 25 meter band, etc.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 49, 41, and pirate broadcast bands are all in one TO SW 'band', but if memory serves, the main tuning on a TO is fine enough to pick up and separate signals fairly well on those SWBC bands.

If it's working well it should bring in plenty of SW and MW broadcast stations.

Just make sure you use batteries. Forget using wall warts. They can overheat the output transistors on TransOceanics. TO's are fickle about correct voltages. They also are scrimpy on battery usage, so a set of batteries should last a long time.