Messages

316

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Another new SDR

« on: August 03, 2014, 0329 UTC »

i suppose there's always the afedri or SDR-IQ; other than a sensitivity much better than my Sony portable, the only other requirement i have is that the radio is controllable under Mac OS or at least a *nix flavor.

317

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6940 USB 0241 UTC AUGUST 3, 2014

« on: August 03, 2014, 0310 UTC »

Caught the tail end of the broadcast in central MD...some rappy sounding song.  SIO 212.

318

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Another new SDR

« on: August 02, 2014, 2219 UTC »

ooooh.  And here I was contemplating a R75.  Only three questions come to mind: 1) what's the HF sensitivity like, 2) does it play nice with GNURadio et al, and 3) how soon can they get one to my door?   

319

Equipment / Re: Sky loop...height vs diameter

« on: August 02, 2014, 1901 UTC »

After I get my ground rods pounded in and my bulkhead box mounted I'll dig out the fishing bow and see what I can get into the trees....

320

Equipment / Sky loop...height vs diameter

« on: August 02, 2014, 1435 UTC »

This may have already been discussed but for some reason tapatalk doesn't want to let me search through posts....so here goes.

For a sky loop antenna, which variable has the largest effect on reception...height above ground or diameter?  It's a practical question since I could put a loop around the top story of my house (guessing a 28 m loop....maybe 60m if I shoot a line to the backyard trees) without much effort, but while a loop around the entire house would be twice the diameter (up to 120m perhaps, again including a treetop run) the loop would only be ~3 meters above the ground on the front .  The house is on the side of a hill so the front is much closer to the ground than the back.

I -might- be able to rig up a valley span longwire, but it would be in the bottom of the valley (running SW to NE) and probably only 10m or so high so it might not be worth the trouble.  That's also assuming I can get enough tension on it, otherwise I might close line folks passing by in their kayaks

321

Shortwave Broadcast / Radio Havana 6000MHz AM 0339 UTC

« on: August 01, 2014, 0341 UTC »

Just the news (including updates on the pineapple crop) and a bit of music.  Nothing terribly exciting but a good strong signal.

322

FM DX Loggings / Re: Skip OK to MD 1400 UTC 31 July 2014

« on: July 31, 2014, 2057 UTC »

Was quite a surprise as WAMU is usually weak until I'm out of my garage, and this was coming in at S9.  The announcers were unfamiliar too but when they started talking traffic reports for OK city that clenched it.

323

FM DX Loggings / Skip OK to MD 1400 UTC 31 July 2014

« on: July 31, 2014, 1717 UTC »

Picked up a very strong dx on 88.5 MHz from KZTH in Piedmont, OK.  Was strong enough to drown out WAMU on 88.5 MHz.

My QTH was Frederick, MD and rx was on a stock car radio(!)

324

Other / Re: Link-11(?) ~6945 USB 0145 UTC 28 July 2014

« on: July 29, 2014, 0351 UTC »

....and now it's gone.  Me and my big mouth.....

325

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: NooElec RTL-SDR, Ubuntu, and MacOS X....

« on: July 21, 2014, 0007 UTC »

might have to hang up the hat on the old G4 laptop.  None of the linux distros are doing much in the way of PPC these days....

326

SDR - Software Defined Radio / icao db files for decoding mode-s?

« on: July 20, 2014, 2136 UTC »

I've spent some time searching, and while i've found several online db containing aircraft info (particularly aircraft type) I am having trouble finding data that can be downloaded and used to decode mode-s on a local machine.  I'm particularly interested in milair, since the CAP has been flying overhead since yesterday AM.  I did manage to find a file listing aircraft type by tail number, and if there is a file somewhere with the ICAO codes and tail numbers I could always merge the info.

Oh, I posted this in the SDR section because I'm using my R820T

Thanks!
-R

327

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: What's a decent mid priced SDR for LW/MW/HF?

« on: April 06, 2014, 1448 UTC »

Way late to this party...but wondering what one could do with an array of $600 worth of $20 Rtl-sdrs.....(!)

328

SDR - Software Defined Radio / NooElec RTL-SDR, Ubuntu, and MacOS X....

« on: March 19, 2014, 0141 UTC »

Some trials and tribulations.  Bought a NooElec RTL-SDR off Amazon, and configured an old Powerbook G4 with Ubuntu 12.04 to run it.  Installed gnuradio, rtl-sdr, etc from source  (miraculously) without issues.  Was able to build some simple radio/fft devices with gnuradio-companion but everytime I tried to demodulate a signal I received volk memory errors.  Rtl_test shows the dongle is working, but rtl_fm wouldn't demodulate wbfm signals to anything intelligible (static was all i could make out!). 

At this point I was fearing I had a deaf RTL-SDR, and decided to at least try it on a different hardware/software combo to be sure.  Installed Gqrx on an intel Mac running 10.7...and BINGO.  It was pulling in WBFM (and NFM) just fine. 

So...some ups and downs.  Haven't tried using the dongle with Gnuradio on the intel mac yet but that's in the near future.  Not sure what to do about my Ubuntu PPC system yet....I might try downloading individual components and recompiling.

329

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: $100 SDR

« on: December 11, 2013, 0514 UTC »

Anyone know if this sdr will work w/ any of the *nix flavors?

330

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: HDSDR on Mac OS X

« on: December 11, 2013, 0506 UTC »

Any updates?  Was going to order a nooelec dongle for my Mac.....gnu radio is compiled and ready to go but I'm worried about whether the dongle will be recognized.