Messages

5836

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pirate radio stations hijacking the airwaves in Brooklyn

« on: September 08, 2014, 0345 UTC »

"I'm fascinated by the pirates', Hull said."

That's the same thing a certain fellow in Virginia told me a couple of years back via email when I called him out on giving up pirates to the FCC.

I wonder if the guy in Virginia has a website, maybe something like, "patspiratebusters.com" or "thefrn.net"?

5837

Huh? / Re: Al, what do you know about whales?

« on: September 07, 2014, 1839 UTC »

Don't get hysterical, Skip. The sharknados will get them on the beaches. We have Tara Reid on our side.

Al, your great grandfather, the Emperor Norton, would be so disappointed. There was a man of vision.

Whales in the Great Lakes? Hmmm..... I'm seeing the potential for profit growing exponentially. Killer whales will eat the silver carp all the fisheries biologists are shaking in their waders about.

No doubt about it, whales are the wave of the future.

5838

Huh? / Re: Al, what do you know about whales?

« on: September 06, 2014, 2308 UTC »

I saw a news blurb earlier today. California blue whales have recovered historically high levels. We could set up harpoon batteries on the bluffs and cliffs from Pacific Palisades to Humbolt County to harvest the critters. Why we'll corner the market on whale oil!

BTW, what happened to those genetically modified shrimp you turned loose off the coast of Florida?

5839

Huh? / Re: Al, what do you know about whales?

« on: September 05, 2014, 1515 UTC »

Just on Thursday's around the equinoxes. The rest of the year we work on cold fusion.

Al, I understand paleontologists recently desecrated your Uncle Dread's grave in Argentina. Time to fire up that war surplus V2.

5840

Huh? / Re: Al, what do you know about whales?

« on: September 05, 2014, 0141 UTC »

Why we'll be up to our necks in flukes! One of them will surely work.

5841

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: Thankgiving

« on: September 05, 2014, 0050 UTC »

That's nothin'. I can make the Voice of Turkey by blowing on the side of my hand.

5842

Huh? / Al, what do you know about whales?

« on: September 05, 2014, 0043 UTC »

Specifically, their oil content.

I'm thinking we could solve the energy crisis by powering Sterling engines with whale oil to generate electricity.

The decades long ban on whaling has restored strategic whale oil stocks. Whales reproduce on their own, they're a renewable resource. We could genetically modify them for maximum oil production. We can then use the whale oil to power giant Sterling engines for all of our electrical needs.

The meat could be used to feed the poor. Everyone wins.

Float it by your Cal-Tech pals and see what they think.

5843

Equipment / Re: Interesting Loop Amplifier & Delay Line Modules

« on: September 03, 2014, 1652 UTC »

Radio Netherlands used offer instructions on a 1 meter square MW loop, which worked fine by itself. However they included a schematic of a simple low noise preamp you could use with it. (Building the RN MW loop is the step that started my addiction to the things. Be careful! )

I've got the schematic of the amp but my copy is so grainy I can barely make it out as is. Maybe one of the web wizards that reside here can find a clear schematic of the RN MW loop pre-amp online?

5844

General Radio Discussion / Re: help wanted: Director of Operations, Arecibo

« on: September 02, 2014, 0119 UTC »

Besides, you would have been arrested for exceeding the daily limit on chupacabras before you were there a month, D. Boone Fansome.

They're not the challenge those Sierra Sasquatches that you cut your teeth on are. Most people use throw sticks like you would for a rabbit, for chupacabra.

5845

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: An SDR even Al Fansome could love, it has knobs

« on: August 29, 2014, 1421 UTC »

Universal Radio is blowing out Commradio CR-1 SDR. Looks like a standard tabletop receiver, w/ enough knobs and buttons to occupy Al, but at it's heart it's an SDR.

It's about a tenth of the price of that Commie spy box and made right here in the good ol' USA.

5846

General Radio Discussion / Re: Radio Gramox

« on: August 29, 2014, 1405 UTC »

I may have to organize a one man dx-pedition to old man Bailey's upper hayfield for this one.

However, it may have to wait until the armed boutique farmers start to clear out in mid-late September. They're not the friendliest sort of people.

5847

Huh? / Re: Spot the International Space Station

« on: August 29, 2014, 1341 UTC »

Women have no sense of humor, Al. That was one of my favorite jokes back in 4th grade.

Start wearing tube socks with sandals when the two of you are out and about. The chicks really dig it when you make the effort to look sharp on date night. That ought to mollify her.

If not, plan a romantic evening around the movies of Don Knotts and the true food of romance, refried beans.

5848

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: UNID Spanish broadcast over the WWV signal at 15000 KHz

« on: August 28, 2014, 2243 UTC »

I agree on the overloading and probable cause, but there are a couple of other possibilities

!5000 khz. is close to the third harmonic of Radio Cristal on 5010. They have a notoriously drifting signal. However Cristal is tough to hear on it's fundamental frequency, so I doubt that it's them.

Now, if the Cubans are using 7500 khz. all bets are off as 15000 khz. is it's second harmonic. The Cubans are all over 49 and 41 meters these days.

BTW, try checking 5900 khz. if you hear it again. A portable with too much antenna is prone to images from 900 khz. above the frequency it's tuned to. You became the ground side of the antenna when you picked the radio up, which caused the overloading.

5849

Equipment / Re: HF Reception on a MW Ferrite Loop Antenna: Anyone Know about this Oddity?

« on: August 28, 2014, 2209 UTC »

I've got the Tecsun version of the same loop. It does the same thing. All loops will tune to frequencies that are multiples of the ones they were designed for, but you lose the directional properties and efficiency as you go up the bands.

You ought to try to build one, it's dead easy. Check out JFarley's loops in the blog section and build your own. He tells you all you need to know in a clear and concise manner.

BTW, you could plug a 3 foot hunk coax into that ICOM and hear something. Those radios are sensitive.

5850

Huh? / Re: Spot the International Space Station

« on: August 28, 2014, 2123 UTC »

Did you hear Bob Hope do that joke at the premiere of "The Big Broadcast of 1938", Al?

Tell your SO the ball peen hammer of adjustment is in the mail.