Messages

136

Equipment / Re: How can I get into this hobby?

« on: August 20, 2018, 1444 UTC »

As others have already pointed out, you can use your computer to listen to shortwave via a whole slew of Web SDR radios. Here is a handy list of receivers that are located all over the world: http://rx.linkfanel.net/

137

Utility / Re: WWV & WWVH Time Signals to go?

« on: August 20, 2018, 1435 UTC »

I think that I speak for many, many shortwave radio enthusiasts when I say that it would be extremely sad to see the end of WWV. That faithful "tick tick" sound has been part of my life since I was old enough to spin a VFO.

Curt / W9SPY

138

Utility / Re: Bangkok Meteorological Radio 6765.1 USB 1059 UTC 11 August 2018

« on: August 11, 2018, 1911 UTC »

1059 UTC First time hearing this in many months....love that catchy little musical ditty they use for an Interval Signal!! YL at 1101 UTC....signal is just above the noise floor

I tuned into this just now and managed to catch the Interval Signal just as it started to play.

Curt / W9SPY

139

Spy Numbers / Re: F06

« on: August 08, 2018, 1911 UTC »

Ary:

Which program are you using to decode the F06?

Curt / W9SPY

140

Propagation / Re: Long delayed echo

« on: July 31, 2018, 2200 UTC »

The above all sound legit to me except for the TV station.

The link to the story that discusses the TV station is from Snopes.com. They debunked the story. Apparently, it was part of a fraud scheme that ended up becoming an urban legend.

141

Propagation / Re: Long delayed echo

« on: July 29, 2018, 1743 UTC »

Interesting thread and thanks for posting the sound file.

Coincidentally, I have been doing some reading up on Long Delayed Echoes (LDE) lately. Here are links to a few interesting articles that I found:

Radio Ghosts Have Haunted the Airwaves for Nearly a Century

The Five Most Likely Explanations for Long Delayed Echoes

Was a broadcast by Houston's KLEE-TV picked up in England three years after the station had gone off the air?

Curt/W9SPY

142

General Radio Discussion / Re: Analysis of hf transmissions following Amelia Earhart disappearance

« on: July 27, 2018, 1608 UTC »

Very interesting story, to be sure. I'm no firm believer in the TIGHAR hypothesis that Earhart crash-landed and later perished on Gardner Island/Nikumaroro, a remote South Pacific atoll. But I do find the idea intriguing. I first heard about "Betty's notebook" about five years ago and trying to understand how a young schoolgirl in Florida could hear radio transmissions from a remote island in the Pacific gave me my first lesson in propagation.

143

General Radio Discussion / Re: H.R.5709 - Pirate Radio Act

« on: July 24, 2018, 1811 UTC »

Your link doesn't work.

Text here.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr5709/text

+-RH

Fixed it. Thanks for the head's up. 

144

General Radio Discussion / H.R.5709 - Pirate Radio Act

« on: July 24, 2018, 0238 UTC »

Posted on my Twitter feed today: Full text of the Pirate Radio Act.

(To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for enhanced penalties for pirate radio, and for other purposes).

W9SPY/Curt

Edit: Fixed broken link

145

General Radio Discussion / Re: Radio Amateur to Pay $7,000, Face Restricted Privileges to Settle FCC Interferen

« on: July 06, 2018, 1506 UTC »

from ARRL website

07/04/2018

The US Department of Justice and the FCC have reached a settlement with Brian Crow, K3VR, of North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, to resolve allegations that Crow intentionally interfered with the communications of other Amateur Radio operators and failed to properly identify. The core component of the settlement calls on Crow to pay $7,000 to the US Treasury, the FCC and US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott W. Brady announced in separate July 3 news releases. In addition, Crow’s Amateur Extra class license will be restricted to Technician class privileges for 6 months, and he has agreed to discontinue contact with the individuals involved in this case. Crow’s Amateur Extra privileges will be restored after 6 months, “if no new violations have been found,” the FCC said.

http://www.arrl.org/news/radio-amateur-to-pay-7-000-face-restricted-privileges-to-settle-fcc-interference-case

Brian Crow/K3VR was/is one of the central players in the madness that could be heard almost daily on the infamous 14.313 Mhz. I used to tune into that frequency occasionally when nothing else was being heard elsewhere on the bands. The ongoing fights on there were very similar to listening to the type of trash-talking often found on CB radio. The fight had been ongoing for YEARS, giving you some idea of just how slow the FCC is to respond to things like this.

146

Other / Re: 6666.66 KHZ UNID CW

« on: July 04, 2018, 1624 UTC »

Received July 1 @ 8:40 AM PT from Southern Nevada.

Were you able to decode?

Curt / W9SPY

147

Utility / Re: have you recognized any grouping pattern in the EAM msgs?

« on: June 10, 2018, 1528 UTC »

Just chiming in to say that was an outstanding write-up on the nature of EAMs and military traffic, in general. It makes perfect sense that one cannot truly find a pattern in the transmissions of those messages. If a definite pattern was noted, I'd call it a general failure of our military/intelligence services. So it makes sense that there would be "bogus" transmissions sent at random times. In a side note, I've lost count at the number of emails that I receive from people who swear that an increase in EAM traffic means that WW3 is imminent. 

Curt / W9SPY

148

HF Mystery Signals / Re: Something interesting on HF maybe be related to our mystery 1 PPS UNID time tick

« on: June 08, 2018, 1328 UTC »

Hi I'm new to this section of the site. This post caught my eye but I may be way off base here.

So right now 694O KHz is beating sumthing like one pulse per second. With occasional double pulses or longer 2-beat pulses. And I can't tell if it's supposed to be LSB or AM... LSB i assume. Now it's 22:06z and I've been hearing this about 15 min.

Is this what you're talking about? Stuff like that?

I just checked that frequency and the signal is still transmitting. I'm pretty certain that it is a Link 11 signal.

Curt / W9SPY

149

Fishing Drift Net Beacons / Re: Asian Drift Net Beacons 2MHz...

« on: April 20, 2018, 0040 UTC »

As winter approaches the lower frequencies are starting to open up, especially the NDB band up to 4MHz.  The 2MHz band is populated with dozens of Asian drift net fisheries beacons and some are quite strong, just a sample:

1301z  2.127MHz  CW  "RJ7 RJ7 RJ7" preceded with a carrier at start and end of transmission, approx five minute key off period.  579 report.

1306z  2.170MHz  CW  "GW4 GW4 GW4" preceded with a carrier at start and end of transmission, approx five minute key off period. 599 report.

1316z  2.205MHz  CW  "BH4 BH4 BH4" preceded with a carrier at start and end of transmission, approx five minute key off period.  559 report.

1317z  2.215MHz  CW  "DG9 DG9 DG9" preced with a carrier at start and end of transmission, approx five minute key off period.  569 report.

I remember when I was on Nauru Island a few years back these beacons would wash up on the beach, huge orange drum base with long whip antenna.  They break loose from the anchoring lead to the net during huge Pacific storms. The transmitter was sealed in the drum base.

I would love to hear any recordings that you might have of these drift net beacons.

Curt / W9SPY

150

General Radio Discussion / Re: Sad news; ART BELL has passed away...

« on: April 14, 2018, 1559 UTC »

This is really sad news. I spent many an hour listening to Art. He'll be missed. W6OBB/Silent Key: https://www.qrz.com/lookup/W6OBB