Messages

136

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay station? 6880 AM 1453 UTC 05 OCT 2018

« on: October 05, 2018, 1911 UTC »

yes, i agree about XP, i had some serious un-correctable issues with windows 7 ultimate on the first disk drive, so i switched to the second disk drive (laptop has dual disk drives) that had windows xp pro on it as a backup in case i needed to repair the hive for windows 7 which unfortunately, could not be corrected, the backup hive in CONFIG was also non-usable.
i discovered that ST operates at 17% CPU on XP versus 34% CPU on windows 7 with the same settings (average CPU on a ten year old modified laptop used for the station).
i had to change the registry key to enable "POS" in order to get the windows updates (continuous through 2019) and "modify" firefox config settings as well as install the Adobe DRM content DLL's in order to play DRM protected content and H.264/AVC content.
it looks like i got all the issues and bugs corrected including the sample rate and bit depth for the sound card and sound control settings on XP to match for ST as well as buffer-underrun issues for those settings, windows XP does not have any GUI properties method to change the sample rate and bit depth for the sound settings as opposed to win 7 and win 10 which do.
XP actually operates much better on this ten year old laptop anyway, its perfect for this operation, CPU is much less and it stays much cooler.

1840. Yes that's what I liked about XP. It uses less CPU. As far as the sample rate with the correct sound card driver the app should be able to select the rate. I run 192 kHz M Audio card and a 4 channel behringer 192 KHz USB with no problem with SDR and sound editing. I like windows 10 but it has more background services running. When win 10 calms down it is very close to the low CPU as XP. To help this I sometimes stop some of the services. I still need to tweak Win 10 more. Cool on the updates on XP. You may want to look and see if anyone has written a GUI for XP.

i can certainly help you with win 10 to reduce running services among other things but the OS is designed to be dependent on certain services to boot up and operate because of its configuration build type, you may lose some core OS functionality with win10 if certain services at set to manual (never set them to disable, OS will crash on certain ones being disabled since the OS cannot "call" them if they are critically dependent and disabled).
my issue is i am using the built-in sound card on windows XP so there is no method to change the sample rate and bit rate other than using some third party tools.
the application for the built-in sound card also does not have the ability to change the sample rate & bit depth, id rather not buy an expensive sound card just to change the sample rate and bit depth especially on a ten year old laptop when it is possible to do it within XP albeit with some technical challenges, third party applications and intimate knowledge of the registry hive.
i may get around to installing windows 10 pro on the first disk drive since there is much more i can do on win10 versus windows XP without having to go to extreme lengths of registry hive modifications on XP in order to obtain the functionality that i desire for many applications that are no longer supported by those authors.
some x32 applications meant for windows 10 can be installed on XP in this manner, the Kernel is basically the same between win10 and XP except 16 bit applications are not supported in windows 10 at all.

137

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay station? 6880 AM 1453 UTC 05 OCT 2018

« on: October 05, 2018, 1758 UTC »

1650.   Good signal S7 on a online SDR no problem with the playlist of songs it is nice to hear good songs again. No need to apologize. That's what good radio is all about. I still run XP hear it was a really good operating system. Also running windows 10. Very nice audio response also with the lows and highs EQ' ed nicely. 

yes, i agree about XP, i had some serious un-correctable issues with windows 7 ultimate on the first disk drive, so i switched to the second disk drive (laptop has dual disk drives) that had windows xp pro on it as a backup in case i needed to repair the hive for windows 7 which unfortunately, could not be corrected, the backup hive in CONFIG was also non-usable.
i discovered that ST operates at 17% CPU on XP versus 34% CPU on windows 7 with the same settings (average CPU on a ten year old modified laptop used for the station).
i had to change the registry key to enable "POS" in order to get the windows updates (continuous through 2019) and "modify" firefox config settings as well as install the Adobe DRM content DLL's in order to play DRM protected content and H.264/AVC content.
it looks like i got all the issues and bugs corrected including the sample rate and bit depth for the sound card and sound control settings on XP to match for ST as well as buffer-underrun issues for those settings, windows XP does not have any GUI properties method to change the sample rate and bit depth for the sound settings as opposed to win 7 and win 10 which do.
XP actually operates much better on this ten year old laptop anyway, its perfect for this operation, CPU is much less and it stays much cooler.

138

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay station? 6880 AM 1453 UTC 05 OCT 2018

« on: October 05, 2018, 1520 UTC »

1453:  Pink Floyd "Shine on..."  S1-2 with deep fades. SIO 222 ish
1457:  Pink Floyd "Fat old sun" (according to Siri).  Signal pumping up ....S3-5, SIO 344
1503:  Continuing w/ Pink Floyd!  "What do you want from me".  Signal trying to settle down to a stable S3. 
1508:  Pink Floyd "Time". 
1509:  Big time (lol) fade.  Still have the carrier at S4 but no audio.
1511: Back on the air.  Must have been changing carts or turntables.  LOL! (Siri ID) "Charity" by someone. 



Thanks for the workday show!

good morning, happy friday rwfisheriv  !
im doing a workday daytime broadcast today at 50W with a mix of various tunes (playlist i made with about 80 tunes) also testing out the windows XP installation (modified as a "POS" to get the updates) that hosts the music and sound processor.
a few issues were noted as may have been heard (skipping audio), we'll see how this system holds up for the day since i have not had a chance to fully test out the operation.
i hope the tunes and sound quality are okay for anyone who may be listening and enjoying them, apologies if you may have heard them already from my last broadcast awhile back, this is really just a test today since i have had some serious antenna issues and PC issues that i have since corrected.
hmm, ill have to figure out how to get H.264 playback.
its great to see you guys here in HFU
finally - got H.264 playback to work using FF on windows XP.

139

Equipment / Re: Panaxis FME 500 issue

« on: October 03, 2018, 1403 UTC »

Salvage the good parts and the case, then smash the rest with a hammer. You'll feel better.

id rather take it and overhaul it to find the cause of the issue but thats just me

140

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio International 6870 USB 0059 UTC 28 Sep 2018

« on: September 28, 2018, 1425 UTC »

SDR recording catch. No ID, but the 15 kHz wide audio and frequency choice helps me guess

0059 sign on, rather weak, SIO 111
0110 Up to SIO 222
0130 SIO 333
0135 SIO 444
0138 SIO 555. Stevie Wonder "Superstition"
0142 QRT. The signal was still SIO 555. S9+20 in fact.

plus, your favorite song Chris ! 

141

The RF Workbench / Re: New here, and my journey building a SW xmtr

« on: September 27, 2018, 1632 UTC »

Just avoid using 6910 kHz and 6915 kHz as these frequencies are used by the U.S. Government for disaster relief operations and other emergency communications.

and 6855Khz, this is used by the US Military.

142

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 1250 UTC 27 September 2018

« on: September 27, 2018, 1304 UTC »

good morning gentleman, thanks for the reports and kind words.
ill be playing 80's classic tunes for most of the day (at 50W) provided the PC is finished with windows updates as that is causing the audio to cut-out ruining the tunes im enjoying on this workday morning 
i suspect conditions will gradually become poor as time goes on though.

143

The RF Workbench / Re: New here, and my journey building a SW xmtr

« on: September 25, 2018, 1233 UTC »

"i would tend to believe using highly shielded coax as feedline to the dipole is akin to bringing the TX right at the center fed part of the dipole."

I've seen things that should work not work and things that should not work work before.

as strange and as illogical as it may sound and be, my current antenna setup works very well and better than expected after a few years of trying different antenna and feedline configurations.

144

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 1645 UTC 24 September 2018

« on: September 24, 2018, 2203 UTC »

after long a trace,
2150 very weak music, 2154 some talking above or inside the rcord, or QRM ?
2157 blank ?

hi Ray.
im about to sign off but maybe the next time around 2145 on my next random daytime broadcast, ill turn on the amplifier and see how well i reach you from 21445-2200.
thanks to everyone here for the reports and comments, have an excellent evening, i hope the bands improve for the rest of the fine OP's out there

145

The RF Workbench / Re: New here, and my journey building a SW xmtr

« on: September 24, 2018, 2126 UTC »

I must be missing something. Please describe your antenna and feedline for me.

This website:

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/antenna_theory/antenna_theory_full_wave_dipole.htm

Says this:

Disadvantages

The following are the disadvantages of full-wave dipole antenna.

Heat dissipation

Wastage of power

No radiation pattern

No directivity and no gain

Due to these drawbacks, the full-wave dipole is seldom used.

it appears from the drawing diagram, that they are including open wire feedline as part of the antenna.
i have coax fed right to the top of the dipole.
it did not operate as expected using full-wave with open wire feedline but worked perfectly with coax.
since im using a single frequency, coax will work in my situation.
i would tend to believe using highly shielded coax as feedline to the dipole is akin to bringing the TX right at the center fed part of the dipole.

146

The RF Workbench / Re: New here, and my journey building a SW xmtr

« on: September 24, 2018, 1143 UTC »

All you need is a coax-fed, half-wave horizontal dipole cut for your operating frequency.  Mount it as high as you can.  No tuner required, and about as simple as you can get for good performance.

exactly this.
except that my horizontal dipole is full wave instead of half wave and its about 30-35 feet above the ground in the clear which is why i cant use 5150Khz, it was just too long and unstable.
after trying many different antenna/feedline designs and heights over the years, this works the best.
the downside is not being able to use other frequencies with 1.0 VSWR although VSWR isnt "everything".

147

The RF Workbench / Re: New here, and my journey building a SW xmtr

« on: September 24, 2018, 1138 UTC »

Thanks for the suggestions everyone -

Will reply in detail later but suffice it to say I'm testing at the moment with a quick and dirty half wave dipole, since I have room for it and I don't have the resources to put up an inverted V yet. I'll figure that out at some point. But in the meantime, this dipole gets my signal a fair ways out, by which I mean about 2 miles. Ha, some optimization will be in order.

Of course I do wonder what it's doing skywave wise.

what frequency and UTC times are you testing at so i can look out for you?

148

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6880 AM 1224 UTC 20 SEPT 2018

« on: September 20, 2018, 2057 UTC »

on 6880,0
2002 utc, trace (weak carrier, no audio)
2047 music at threshold level

that has got to be some receiver and antenna setup you have, id love to see photos one day.
checking the U-Twente SDR, i see the same thing, carrier traces and the occasional brief fade up with audio.
perhaps my horizontal dipole antenna is working better after the repair i did to it sunday & monday.

149

North American Shortwave Pirate / Yeah Man Radio 6925 AM 1637 UTC 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

« on: September 20, 2018, 1640 UTC »

S5-S7 with fades on Warrenton, VA SDR, playing "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder.
1642 - signed off
1739 - back on again with "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder using the Uniontown, PA SDR with about S5-S7 with fades.
1744 - faded up strong with OM saying "...looking for the relay station" - couldnt catch the first part, Uniontown SDR has alot of noise - back into "Superstition" again
1748 - its Yeah Man Radio ! playing Chris' favorite song (he doesnt appear to be around today) - thanks for the quick broadcast, yes, your test worked perfectly ! (off at 1749) - also heard on the Cleveland, Ohio SDR with same stats of S5-7 and fades

150

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6880 AM 1224 UTC 20 SEPT 2018

« on: September 20, 2018, 1433 UTC »

Oldies music.  Good copy at S4 above a S3 background...periodic fades w some QRN.

Thought I heard a pretty professional sounding ID/ segue but didn’t catch the ID

1228: ID?
1228: Stevie wonder “superstition”
1302: Carrier still up, can't make out any audio
1422: Audio back. 
1425: EBS alert for the state of XX?  WTF?

good morning rwfisheriv.
this is a random daytime broadcast i sometimes do during the weekdays at 50 watts carrier.
i am currently relaying WXNZ-LP 98.1Mhz FM (i actually like this station alot).
the EAS you heard was an EAS test from their station which is located in Maine.
at 1228z, i had turned on the amp (500W carrier) for the song "Superstition" until the ending of the song, then it was turned off (50W carrier).
considering my location (anyone can do a TDoA and find out), this is actually pretty darn good for 50 watts AM to your location of Hatteras, NC especially during the daytime, that is actually amazing to me but i am also reaching Cleveland, Ohio at a steady S7-S9 so its no surprise.