Messages

121

Huh? / Re: Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, Is Dead at 81

« on: March 20, 2019, 1909 UTC »

Pigmeat: I really appreciate your memories. The gig was in AZ,  probably 2006-8, somewhere in there. I really regret not having made the effort to meet the man. (always a grave mistake to assume that larger than life folks will return or be around forever)

122

Huh? / Re: Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, Is Dead at 81

« on: March 20, 2019, 0036 UTC »

My band opened for him maybe ten years ago. I met his crew but not Mr. Dale himself, he arrived via the parking lot, strolling into the very crowded venue like a space alien just landed, with a wireless rig for his guitar. I must assume that he had not changed one iota from his earlier days, rather like Link Wray, another Great. His philosophy of life was and is saner than most rock n' rollers, not to mention most people. R.I.P. 

123

Utility / Re: 11175 USB

« on: March 20, 2019, 0011 UTC »

Thank you very much for the video. ;-)  I didn't hear that particular discussion but then sometimes the "triple one seven-five" guys/gals don't get noticed by this author  till 7AM+ local. 8992 usually has same, only louder.

124

General Radio Discussion / Re: Bitcoin Coders Send International Lightning Payment Over Ham Radio

« on: March 13, 2019, 2001 UTC »

That's a very interesting story with a lot of implications for the future.

"“The equipment is currently the hard part: You need a radio that supports these frequencies. "

Uh, 20 meters? Oh no, you might need more gear than a phone. And an FT8-worthy antenna?

125

Spy Numbers / Re: S06S 6930 USB 0715 UTC 12 Mar 2019

« on: March 13, 2019, 1952 UTC »

Impressive catch! That skyloop is kicking butt...

126

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID - Tibetan drone (?) w/SSTV 6950 0130 UTC 4 Mar 2019

« on: March 04, 2019, 0202 UTC »

Caught the tail end of whatever this was, sounded like Tibetan monks droning, very strong signal here. At first didn't know what it was, around 0132 they signed off w/ SSTV transmission. Whoever did this strangely beautiful broadcast, thank you!

127

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6950 to 3440 USB 0033 UTC 10 FEB 2019

« on: February 10, 2019, 0207 UTC »

Bits of very cool music are coming through here in spite of the noise. Thank you very much for the show Wolverine!

128

Other / Re: Classic Rock 7200 LSB 8 Feb 2019

« on: February 09, 2019, 1959 UTC »

I heard an interesting (hic) liquid discussion in one of the 80M SSB saloons last night about whether the FCC would do anything about this sort of thing any time soon, or took much interest in the subject. The answer seemed to be no.

129

HF Mystery Signals / Re: All 1 PPS pip / pulse / tick logs here please

« on: February 09, 2019, 1950 UTC »

UNID time signal/pip was on 14304 kHz this morning (2/9)  a few minutes before 1900UTC, it sounded exactly like T's recording.

Tried to get recording together but was off at 1900. Anybody else heard it lately?

130

Peskies / Re: 5555.5 kHz USB Spanish Speakers - Pescadores or Fishermen 2200 UTC 21 Dec 2018

« on: December 31, 2018, 1906 UTC »

I heard voices in Spanish last night (sorry, didn't log) in USB on 5555 kHz (local receiver with wire), hadn't seen your post yet.  Will monitor freq and see if they show up again. My Spanish is slowly improving listening to these guys and the Mexican amateurs on 80 meters, who are often more interesting than the saloon jamming activity.

131

General Radio Discussion / Re: Over and out: CB radio-maker struggles to adjust to Trump tariffs

« on: October 22, 2018, 2004 UTC »

Your points are also well taken. I don't know if it's 50/50, but it seems to me that the ham community that is interesting these days has a lot of action in QRP stuff and DIY. But I've certainly heard tons of the guys you're talking about. I heard a W2 turning his mega fantastic 20 over S9 beam around, just for kicks, to show how bad-arse the reverse beam was... 80 years old. He was very funny. More power to him, I say.

Also, with the long list of "Silent Keys" in each issue of QST, there's a lot of really good gear that's been fawned over, i.e., a Kenwood ts-820 I got for $0 that was barely used, and another person  just brought over coax and an antenna turner, and in these cases my friends thought I was doing _them_ a favor by taking stuff they'd never use. Also, a TenTech Century 21 thrown in... There are ridiculous deals out there if one is patient and ignores Ebay; a lot of the Kenwood stuff from 70's-80's was really well made (not to mention the classic American Swans/Hallicrafters and so forth that I missed out on, from same friend...)

Gotta add that anyone who takes the FCC exams is told that the antenna is the most crucial part of the rig. $1000 transceiver doesn't mean so much with crummy antenna. To really do what I want has meant DIY for me; I don't have an Elmer (yet).

I heard a lot of action on 10 meters during the "Cal QSO party", not so much since, would love to hear more on your home-made Yagi. A CB would be nice to monitor propagation as you and others have (I believe) suggested... As for 20 meters, I hear a lot of guys using 100 watts. The nightly saloons on 80 meters are usually using big amps and God knows what for antennas. YMMV.

73's and best to you!

132

General Radio Discussion / Re: Over and out: CB radio-maker struggles to adjust to Trump tariffs

« on: October 18, 2018, 2202 UTC »

the remaining hams are generally well-heeled

Gotta beg to differ; well, maybe half of them, the guys with 200 ft towers and $5K SDR's and the latest, always, from Icom/Yaesu/Kenwood...

The remaining hams are _cheap_... cheap, worn as a badge of honor. A truly great American tradition that represents the true hacker spirit. If you buy an antenna, to these guys you are a loser. If you think there are arguments here, you should see Eham and qrz.
In this tradition, I've been enjoying a 1974 copy of the ARRL antenna book, which cost me $3 (too much I'm sure), and the glories of copper wire in spools from HDepot.

Speaking of cheap, that Recent transceiver looks amazing, hell, Baofengs are amazing for the price -- Shenzhen attitude in action.

133

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6965 AM 0133 UTC 6 Oct 2018

« on: October 06, 2018, 0205 UTC »

Excellent and clear signal here with great music. AM sig to die for, I synch-selected it w/joy until QRN or something clobbered it fifteen minutes ago. Thanks very much to whoever broadcast this.

134

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Clever Name Radio 6925 USB 0122 UTC 22 July 2018

« on: July 22, 2018, 0237 UTC »

Good S7 here with occasional fading.

135

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio 6885 USB 0147 22 July 2018

« on: July 22, 2018, 0206 UTC »

Lots of fading and noise here, SIO 323, but definitely legible. Thank you for the show!