Messages

46

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: November 04, 2021, 0025 UTC »

Thanks for the recommendations, Jim.

It's pretty easy to configure a Kiwi to keep folks from parking on it.  It's a shame.

47

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: October 23, 2021, 0038 UTC »

Hooray!

Can't hear it tonight as the ))#$(&%  WSPRdaemons are parked on KFS , but will keep trying.

Thank you , whoever did the work!

48

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: October 15, 2021, 2308 UTC »

Windy is certainly weaker than it has been by quite a bit.

It could be any of the reasons you suggest .... battery hasn't gotten any worse or better than it has been in the past 6-8 months.  Occam might suggest antenna damage. 

49

Pirate Radio History / Re: Radio Metallica history website

« on: October 03, 2021, 1927 UTC »

and no sooner do I post, than I find. Here.

:-0)

http://blog.amdxer.com/wjdi/

50

Pirate Radio History / Radio Metallica history website

« on: October 03, 2021, 1924 UTC »

There used to be a website with some photos that described the history of R. Metallica along with the history of the operators of the station. I recall a story about the op blowing up a transformer or some such service equipment and having to bluff the repair people who were out to repair it.

At least...that's what I seem to recall.   RMWW used to run some huge power back in the late 90's and lived to tell about it, after some other high-ish  power SW stations (Hope R. ) had gotten the knock.   10 kW comes to mind as the output power IIRC.

Anyone recall where this might have been on the web?  Might have been a thread off a ham radio AM webpage (imagine that!) , but I've been looking without success.

51

Pirate Radio History / Re: Vintage reception report MEGA THREAD!

« on: October 02, 2021, 1739 UTC »

Hi Andre

Was fun to look though some of your PiPa issues, and I did find some of my reports in there. Truly the "golden age" of SW piracy!

52

Pirate Radio History / Re: Great Halloween Massacre of 1998

« on: October 02, 2021, 1733 UTC »

I sure remember that event. "The Great Reset".

53

HF Beacons / Re: Mid Atlantic Beacon Loggings

« on: September 23, 2021, 2301 UTC »

What antennas are you using Chris? Did you make up a special rig like you were considering earlier this year?

About time to hook up my loop again, now that most of the lightning is gonzo.

54

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: September 01, 2021, 0001 UTC »

I've heard this happen too (but not very often).   

Pray for a breeze or a lot of sun! :-)

55

HF Beacons / Re: The Desert Whooper

« on: August 26, 2021, 2227 UTC »

Will renew my efforts for a direct reception when T-storm season is over. Thanks for the really fun DX target!

56

Latin American Pirate / Re: AD 149 Radio (tentative) 6934.9 AM 2308 UTC 6 Jun 2021

« on: August 26, 2021, 2222 UTC »

Some good greyline dx by you guys!

57

The RF Workbench / Re: Corsair transmitter and 6KHz limiter PCB made up

« on: August 24, 2021, 1317 UTC »

Crickets.....................................

58

HF Beacons / Re: HF Beacon Frequencies

« on: August 21, 2021, 1351 UTC »

I'd guess that originally they spring up where they are  because of the availability of cheap crystals :-)

59

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: This Knight lit up a lot of potential broadcasters!

« on: August 21, 2021, 1240 UTC »

Lit up is a good term, with that transformerless design!

60

The RF Workbench / Beacon Keyer hardware

« on: August 20, 2021, 1807 UTC »

I've been playing with a Tiny85 as a beacon controller, due to its efficiencies

 I  lowered the clock speed to 1Mhz from 8. Nothing about a keyer needs 8Mhz clock.

I built an external high side switch circuit (2n3904 /  3906 pair) keyed from a digital output from the tiny to turn the 12v to the transmitter OFF when it's not actually sending something.  There's no use burning up power in the bias circuit if it's idle.

Transmitter runs off 12V, of course the Tiny needs 5. A  2950 regulator is fine for supplying the 5V.

I put the Tiny into SLEEP mode (there's some libraries out there on the web to do this. Not so many for the Tiny, but there are some) when it's not doing anything useful (between transmissions, etc). This keeps the Tiny running but shuts down most other functionality (inputs/outputs/DAQ's etc)  to save power. The transmitter is a Pixie (with no RX circuitry) and output is about 550 mW into 50 ohms.  I'm pretty sure I can do better than this by replacing the lossy molded inductors in the LP filter with small toroid versions.

Anyway, here's some supply current numbers with the results.   These numbers include the current to the ATTiny and the transmitter

Vcc 12.5

Icc (Transmitting) = 92 mA
Icc (Transmitter biased but not being keyed) 16mA
Icc (Transmitter disconnected , Tiny in sleep mode)  0.45 mA

That last number (0.45 mA for the whole system in sleep mode) is a nice one if battery capacity is of value to you.

If I recall correctly, the Arduino Nano pulls about 24 mA doing nothing, which is why I spent the time looking at the Attiny.  This is just a hint of a way to go that might help if you're looking to run off a battery.

Syfr