Messages

496

10/11 meters / 27065 AM CB Channel 9 27.065 MHz AM Active Spanish Language 1555 UTC 8 Sept 2021

« on: September 08, 2021, 1558 UTC »

Hearing two Spanish-speaking OMs on 27.065 MHz AM - 27065 AM - CB channel 9.  Strangely, 26585 AM, 26705 AM, 26715 AM are all quiet...but 27065 AM is busy.

The rest of the band is basically dead at the moment..

497

10/11 meters / Re: Morning 11m Latin American Taxi Dispatchers, etc. 6 Sept 2021

« on: September 08, 2021, 1557 UTC »

Yep, 27.015 AM is one of them (CB channel 5). 

Others to check when 27015 AM is active are:

26585 AM / 26.585 MHz AM and nearby channels (26.565 MHz, 26.575 MHz, 26.595 MHz, etc.)

26705 AM / 26.705 MHz AM
26715 AM / 26.715 MHz AM

and

27065 AM / 27.065 MHz AM - that's right, CB channel 9.  26705 AM and 26715 AM are very popular with stations in Florida, Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean.  26585 AM is one of the popular Mexican trucker channels. 

498

10/11 meters / Re: 11 meter beacons

« on: September 06, 2021, 1526 UTC »

I had very good reception of the 69BY beacon yesterday.

On which frequency? 27550 or 27610?

499

10/11 meters / Morning 11m Latin American Taxi Dispatchers, etc. 6 Sept 2021

« on: September 06, 2021, 1409 UTC »

Morning activity - not sure if the band is starting to wake up or if this is just sporadic-E

25695 AM - YL taxi cab dispatcher with roger BLEEP
25745 AM - Spanish language, presumed taxi cab dispatch
26175 AM - OM and YL chatting, Spanish language, possibly also a taxi dispatcher (weak)
26205 AM - YL taxi dispatcher - Spanish language
26365 AM - Spanish language, weak, OMs chatting...possibly truckers, does not sound like taxi cab dispatch lady
26455 AM - Spanish language chatter with roger beeps, possibly a taxi dispatcher
26515 AM - Spanish language, very weak
26565 AM - Spanish speaking OM heard
26585 AM - Spanish language, multiple stations at points, Mexican trucker and taxi common channel
26665 AM - Spanish language, weak
26705 AM - Spanish language, heard mention of Puerto Rico (the usual suspects here - expect 26715 AM and others)
26935 AM - UNID, AM voice activity, weak
27015 AM - Spanish language - CB channel 5

500

10/11 meters / Re: 11 meter beacons? Remember 27.145USB?

« on: September 06, 2021, 1355 UTC »

Huh... Does anyone remember what that purring, pulsing-like, beacon was around 1990-1991 on 27.145MHz, heard best in USB? (a.k.a. between CB CH's 15 and 16.) That was with a President HR2510, at the time, and a Firestix 4ft indoor GND-plane. I assume it to be ISM now.

I believe there is, or was, a beacon based in Thailand on 27500 (or close to 27500) - there are, or were, several beacons listed on or around the 27.500 MHz region

501

10/11 meters / Re: 11 meter beacons

« on: August 14, 2021, 2257 UTC »

There have been some heard on and around 27.500 MHz / 27500 kHz.  I know there was or is a QRP beacon on 27.125 MHz / 27125 kHz - CB channel 14 - ID "AOH" doing 36mW output power if I remember correctly, 

The area around 27.140 MHz - 27.145 MHz is home to the 14RS000 beacon and I know there is or was a beacon out of Russia on 27.140 or 27.141 or thereabouts.

There's also the 26510 kHz / 26.510 MHz beacon out of Germany and the 27.205 MHz FM channel 20 repeater in Sweden I believe. 

There's a list on the HFU Wiki too

502

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: Some random VHF/UHF logs

« on: March 25, 2021, 1520 UTC »

The 161.670 MHz to 161.790 STL/remote broadcast pickup band regulations permit use of offset frequencies, 15 kHz or 7.5 kHz offsets...putting that band in-line with the standard 7.5 kHz VHF high band band plan:

161.6700 MHz
161.6775 MHz - offset
161.6850 MHz - offset
161.6925 MHz - offset
161.7000 MHz
161.7075 MHz - offset
...
up to
161.7825 MHz - offset
161.7900 MHz

The railroad band is another interesting segment - 160.2000 MHz to 161.5650 MHz...15 kHz / 7.5 kHz channel steps.  Most railroads are still using the 15 kHz channel steps but the railroads are updating their licenses for NXDN (aka NEXEDGE) narrowband digital voice (4K00F1E emission).  I live in a city that operates as a major railroad junction for CSX, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak and I'm yet to hear any digital voice on the railroad frequencies.  All the activity is also still on the 15 kHz channels. 

The railroad systems are interesting compared to other land mobile systems in that they're relatively low powered (usually the base stations are licensed for 20-50 watts output power) and there's very little use of CTCSS.  There's a massive CSX classification yard about 1 mile straightline distance from my QTH and yard control radio is very active - same with the Maintenance of Way channels (which are usually also within the 160.200 to 161.5650 AAR railroad band) The yard also uses a voice/data paging system on 462.925 MHz...also licensed for 25 watts.   The most active frequencies are the road and yard control frequencies, which can be monitored on a handheld radio easily.

 


Also check out the HOTD/EOTD (Head-Of-Train-Device and End-Of-Train-Device) UHF telemetry frequencies are other ones to look at:

452.9375 MHz
457.9375 MHz

There are other telemetry/datalink frequencies used by railroads, including others in the 452.9250 MHz - 452.9750 MHz range, the 44.5800 MHz BNSF telemetry network and others. 

A few weeks ago I monitored a drone operating crew that was using a drone to survey/inspect a railroad right-of-way...they were using 151.8050 MHz (which is one of the regular old VHF high band business/industrial radio service frequencies).  One of them sounded like they were in a chase vehicle while the other was in a fixed position.  The itinerant frequencies are also sometimes used (VHF high band itinerants are 151.5050 MHz, 151.5125 MHz, 151.6250 MHz, 151.7000 MHz, 151.7600 MHz, 154.5275 MHz, 158.4000 MHz and 158.4075 MHz). 

503

10/11 meters / Re: Music and AM voice on 27195 AM 27.195 MHz - 14 June 2020

« on: June 26, 2020, 1549 UTC »

Almost every time there's a band opening and there's activity on the lower channels (almost always AM voice traffic), there's also AM voice on the A channels 26.995 27.045 27.095 27.145 27.195.   27.145 MHz and 27.195 MHz seem to be the most popular...but I have heard folks chatting on 26.995 MHz and 27.045 MHz as well.  27.095 suffers from QRM from channel 11 27.085 MHz (just like 27.195 suffers from QRM from channel 19). 

It makes sense too - hiding on one of the five A channels vs. using an out of band channel is probably better as far as antenna performance goes (presuming the CB antenna you're using is tuned for the center of the band, which, of course, is 27.185 MHz ).   That being said, the low channels - 26.515 MHz - 26.955 MHz - are often just as busy when the band is rolling as they say.  The frequencies above 26.6 MHz or 26.7 MHz seem to be the most popular, see the channels that are "down one band" from the popular AM DX frequencies (the obvious exception being 26.905 MHz and 26.915 MHz, both of which are very popular when the band is open).  26.955 MHz seems to be used by truckers and hobbyists alike.

27.255 MHz has had some data on it during recent band openings...although nothing strong enough to overwhelm the voice traffic on frequency.  26.995 and 27.255 are the two frequencies most commonly used by the serious (4-watt or 10-watt) data link and telemetry systems so those are the ones I'd focus on as far as finding hidden data networks within the CB band.

504

10/11 meters / 11 meter radio net on "low channels" 26815 kHz AM 26.815 MHz AM

« on: June 25, 2020, 1411 UTC »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIMeV-LSJ8

Heard several stations chatting on 26815 AM 26.815 MHz AM before I started the video recording.  I actually was able to speak to two of the stations (after I stopped recording) using the CRE 8900 radio in the video...and the antenna I used was less than ideal for sure.  Transmitter power output is around 8-10 watts AM carrier power, good band conditions recently on 11 meters. 

505

10/11 meters / Music or tones/data and AM voice on 27145 AM 27.145 MHz - 14 June 2020

« on: June 25, 2020, 1407 UTC »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oucMzYLCR1E

506

10/11 meters / Music and AM voice on 27195 AM 27.195 MHz - 14 June 2020

« on: June 25, 2020, 1406 UTC »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYsu4cjCDe0

Recorded during a big band opening on 11 meters back on 06/14/20. 

507

10/11 meters / Re: Very strong RC signal 27147 kHz 1715 UTC 6 Jun 2020

« on: June 25, 2020, 1405 UTC »

What sort of signal?  FSK?

I noticed tones and music (as well as regular AM voice traffic) during one of the many recent band openings on 27145 kHz / 27.145 MHz as well as 27195 kHz / 27.195 MHz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oucMzYLCR1E

508

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: 49 MHz Room Monitor / Open Mic With Some Serious Range 49.830 MHz

« on: May 06, 2020, 2300 UTC »

This seems to be a baby monitor used for an old folks' home or to monitor an invalid neighbor or elderly family member.  I did some more listening today with a better antenna.  Previously I was using a 1/4 wave VHF antenna tuned for the 140-160 MHz region, today I used a ProComm JBC1500 60" base-loaded CB antenna tuned for just below CB channel 1, 26.6 MHz or 26.7 MHz or so, as a 1/4 wave.  That makes almost a half wave at 49 MHz....and what a difference that made.  I could hear the 49.830 MHz signal nearly full scale for 1500+ feet in all directions, extending out to 3000 feet or so before the signal completely dropped off. 

I also was able to listen to it on a purpose-built 49 MHz FM walkie talkie - specifically a Maxon PC-50 (same thing as a RadioShack / Realistic TRC-512) 5-channel 49MHz handheld, with 49.83 MHz as Channel A.   I got took two more videos:

49.830 MHz FM range testing part 1 - https://youtu.be/BOfuappHakw

49.830 MHz FM range testing part 2 - https://youtu.be/KYPXazfNeMk

509

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / 49 MHz Room Monitor / Open Mic With Some Serious Range 49.830 MHz

« on: May 06, 2020, 1352 UTC »

49.83 MHz, pretty wide signal (sounded good on 49.825 MHz and 49.835 MHz in addition to 49.830 MHz).  I was using a VHF high band 1/4 wave antenna, which is certainly not the best antenna.  Noted at least part of the signal on 49.840 MHz too. 

https://youtu.be/sJizl4V45sA

It sounds like somebody has a room monitor just on, you can hear a TV or radio in the background...at 0:59 or 1:00 in you can hear somebody say "oh you ready?".  More chatter around 1:30 and 1:40.  Interestingly enough, my scanner actually decoded too different CTCSS tones - 192.8 Hz and 196.6 Hz, on frequency. 

510

FM Free Radio / 107.7 FM Virginia House Radio - Richmond, VA 6 May 2020

« on: May 06, 2020, 1346 UTC »

Virginia House Radio coming in very nicely this morning on 107.7 MHz FM in downtown Richmond.  Music - faded into a relay of the local NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards station WXK65 (162.475 MHz). 

Receiver is a factory stock Toyota AM/FM car radio with factory FM whip antenna (a real 1/4 wave steel FM whip antenna).

I managed to get two videos of the activity on 107.7 MHz:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/Y5c3H7YibM8

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/CiOycvrTz7o