Messages

211

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 1202 UTC 17 Jul 2018

« on: July 17, 2018, 2054 UTC »

Fair reception, probably due to severe storms in vicinity.  Temperature dropped 15 degrees in past half hour (86 to 71), raining at a clip of 4.5 inches per hour.  Amazing I can receive anything, nice work  .  Thanks for the broadcast on this dreary afternoon.

2025z OM talking about international film festival and other local events.  I am guessing this is same Maine station relayed from other day.  Heard part of ID (WSNU?) but storms made it unclear.
2029z Very old Blues Song

hey CT Yankee, you are welcome.
this is just my usual random daytime broadcast where i play some tunes to listen to and sometimes rebroadcast WXNZ 98.1Mhz (excellent LP FM radio station in Maine)
looks like im about to be hit by some nasty storms so i might shut down, i could certainly use the rain here though.
its been tough listening to the tunes i play as most of the remote SDR's have shut down from the storms or suffer alot of lightening static.
edit - thanks for the informative and interesting email Mix Radio.
it would be really great to discuss technical things with you and share some details about my station setup via email but i cannot reply to the email (anonymous email cant be replied to).
i am extremely curious and very impressed with your station setup.

212

General Radio Discussion / Re: Kiwi TDoA Direction Finding Increases SW Pirate Institutional Paranoia Levels

« on: July 17, 2018, 1630 UTC »

While some of us have been posting DF maps of broadcast and utility stations, I expect that all users understand that it would be best to refrain from posting any maps of pirate stations.

Why not make that a RULE for this forum, Chris?  NO POSTING DF MAPS OF PIRATE STATIONS! (or other location information, for that matter).
There are certainly enough moderators to make it stick and quickly remove any such thing...

It would probably make a lot of the ops feel better.  What's worse than individual listeners being able to do this DFing, is if that information would become published or widely disseminated.  This would surely result in a reduction in stations and broadcasts...

We can make it even slightly more broad than that, no DOXing of anyone, operator or listener. This would include TDoA maps, real names, locations, etc. Both posting the information here, as well as links to such information on other sites.   Reasonable?

i agree and yes, that is very reasonable.
please apply this rule to the chat as well as the forum.
i would have these warnings posted as a sticky for all forum topics as well as for new members who register, they would have to read it and accept the terms before they can continue.
all moderators should be notified of the changes and immediately remove any content that reveals the location and other personal info of an OP or Hobbyist.
repeat offenders should be banned depending on how many times they infringe the rules (my opinion).
this is an excellent forum and hobby and although i do not mind that my location may be known, its better that everyone keeps that info to themselves since there is really nothing i can do to avert it from becoming known anyway (experienced individuals could easily obtain location info before TDoA on Kiwi, TDoA just made it easier for the average person).
hopefully, those who do know sensitive information about OP's do not spread it around using other means such as social media.
just about every HFU member is a respectable adult that knows better, so i dont expect any problems to surface as a result of TDoA on Kiwi though it is good practice to cover those bases.

213

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 1202 UTC 17 Jul 2018

« on: July 17, 2018, 1336 UTC »

thank you gentlemen.
as usual, this is just my random daytime broadcast at 50W listening to music (from a remote SDR) while i work.
have a great day.

214

Software / Re: Pitch shift idea

« on: July 15, 2018, 1907 UTC »

I've also used that and I like it, but it lags for me sometimes with the virtual cable. I just like the solidness of a DSP - knowing it's not going to lag or fail randomly.

what are you using for a virtual cable ?
if you have "stereo mix" in your audio control panel, that is preferred.
i use VAC (hi-fi version) as the default device for playback/recording (so it can be fed into ST) and have zero issues.
make sure all sample rates/bit depths match on all sound cards and on ST.
use WASPI for input/output on ST also.

215

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB 0237 UTC 15 July 2018

« on: July 15, 2018, 0312 UTC »

from the SDR in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

216

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: X-FM Relay 6880 Am 2305 UTC 14 July 2018

« on: July 15, 2018, 0142 UTC »

a big thanks to RedHat for collaborating with me to make this live transmission happen and a big thanks to everyone for listening to his awesome show.
i am honored and pleased to be able to do this for him - hopefully in the future, i will have C-QUAM working as well.
i am looking forward to doing this again and hopefully, band conditions for NVIS will be better too.
have a great weekend everyone !

217

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: X-FM Relay 6880 Am 2305 UTC 14 July 2018

« on: July 14, 2018, 2327 UTC »

hello everyone !
this is a live stream from RedHat - we are working out the "quirks" - everything seems to be operating well now except the band conditions arent too good at the moment - hopefully the band will get better as time goes on
hope everyone enjoys the entertainment and weekend - big thanks and hat tip to legendary RedHat for collaborating and working with me on this and making this possible !
edit - 0043z - the band has stayed "long" for the most part with a few occasional exceptions.

218

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 0315 UTC 14 Jul 2018

« on: July 14, 2018, 1938 UTC »

ah, you caught my late night test but no one seems to have heard the fellow at 6955Khz a bit prior to my test (not exactly how long though).
whoever it was appears to have been testing also.
they started out on AM, then USB playing "we'll never have to say goodbye again" from England Dan & John Ford Coley.
then it appeared to be a rebroadcast from an FM radio station on 103.1, i heard the call sign of the station but couldnt interpret it.
for the next 15 minutes or so, the 6955Khz station was intermittent with audio on USB and intermittent with a carrier on and off.
at one point, it appeared to be transmitting in FM but with deviation higher than NFM, somewhere between NFM and WFM.
whoever it was had really good audio too.

219

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio International 6910 USB 0413 UTC 12 Jul 2018

« on: July 12, 2018, 1805 UTC »

ive got to say, i am impressed by the 20Khz audio (40Khz bandwidth) Mix Radio produces, its the widest i have seen for AM/SSB.

220

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6880 AM 1423 UTC 12 Jul 2018

« on: July 12, 2018, 1623 UTC »

good day guys.
im testing at 500mw today for an upcoming possible surprise this weekend.

221

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 1647 UTC 9 Jul 2018

« on: July 09, 2018, 2145 UTC »

have a great evening gentlemen.
i enjoyed the broadcast today, the tunes helped me move along with busy work, mondays are always the busiest for work.
band conditions were fair to good for the most part today, i suspect they will be much better later on.
after i signed off, i see a slight carrier remaining that has heavy fades, could it be AMBC harmonic or something else ?
i may have free time this weekend coming up to broadcast, we will see if any plans come up.

222

Software / Re: Pitch shift idea

« on: July 08, 2018, 2102 UTC »

a better idea is to have a TX that has full audio range and use a professional sound processor to control, filter and tailor the audio to your specific desires.
obviously, loss of the audio amplitude level is greater at higher audio frequencies which is why (modified) pre-emphasis is used as an industry standard for AM broadcasting.
this is why many SWBC stations generally have their audio frequency set at 5Khz (10Khz total occupied bandwidth), audio density is greater with less bandwidth being used.

In terms of sound processing, I'm currently using an ADAU1701 DSP from analog devices. It works really well and I'd highly recommend. The DSP eval board is $200, but you can find Chinese clones of the board for cheaper on aliexpress.

It is controlled by a flow-chart type of software called SigmaStudio. It can be modified in real time to hear the changes to the audio. Cheaper and better than a pro-processor imo.

i use "stereotool", $35 USD it cost.
dont let the name fool you, this software is used on many commercial broadcasting radio stations.

223

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

« on: July 06, 2018, 1725 UTC »

I heard some jackass in the AM window on 40 operating in LSB about a khz off of 7285 with a solid amount of power wiping the AM guys out , and it's not the first time.  It happens on 75 and 40 to the AM'er's on a regular basis and has for decades.

I'm not a ham, and my opinion of the FCC is at the bottom of the scale, but I'm glad to see them actually do their job for the folks who likely respect them the most.

i listen to the AM guys at both 80m and 40m and often hear persistent deliberate interference to them.
its a shame because many of the topics they talk about can be pretty interesting to listen to, often better topics than whats heard on 40m/80m SSB, but the conversations always gets cut short because of some idiot.

224

Software / Re: Pitch shift idea

« on: July 06, 2018, 1717 UTC »

a better idea is to have a TX that has full audio range and use a professional sound processor to control, filter and tailor the audio to your specific desires.
obviously, loss of the audio amplitude level is greater at higher audio frequencies which is why (modified) pre-emphasis is used as an industry standard for AM broadcasting.
this is why many SWBC stations generally have their audio frequency set at 5Khz (10Khz total occupied bandwidth), audio density is greater with less bandwidth being used.

225

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Relay Station 6880 AM 17441817UTC 4 Jul 2018

« on: July 04, 2018, 1820 UTC »

happy 4th Chris
happy 4th Skipmuck, Ron and everyone else too !
going to shut down at 2105z, its way too hot in the radio room, +91F and the 8K BTU A/C cant keep up, the amp generates alot of heat, i am literally baking in here.
thanks for tuning in gentleman, i may be back on later if it gets a bit cooler - happy independence day to everyone !