Topics

211

The RF Workbench / Wanna' communicate, and broadcast, with light? It can be done!

« on: April 15, 2022, 1844 UTC »

I've experimented with IR and white light LED's. Even thought of this as a station STL. However, this is Line-Of-Sight, so snow fall, heavy rain, even birds, will block this.   http://www.modulatedlight.org/optical_comms/optical_index.html     and    https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/optical      All neat, and legal to do.

212

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Wanna' build an SDR? This book could tell ya how?

« on: April 14, 2022, 1719 UTC »

https://www.amazon.com/Software-Defined-Radio-Transceiver-Construction/dp/B09WYP1ST8/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Software+Defined+Radio+Transceiver&amp&qid=1649851795&amp&s=books&amp&sr=1-3&amp&tag=swlcom01-20         Well, sounds intriguing. I've bought books like this before, and they are a nice resource to keep around.
 Yeah... Another SWL'ing rip.

213

Huh? / Anyone ever check-out this magazine, The Spectrum Monitor?

« on: April 09, 2022, 1948 UTC »

https://www.thespectrummonitor.com/     and      https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=14036   Apparently, most columnists are ex-Monitoring Times.  For $25.00, I might give that a go.

214

Weather / Well, Space weather. Cycle 25, where are we?

« on: April 06, 2022, 1740 UTC »

A friend of mine linked me to this,    https://spaceweather.com/

215

Huh? / Wanna' see where Jeff White works? WRMI tour.

« on: April 06, 2022, 0643 UTC »

https://www.radioworld.com/global/a-look-inside-wrmi-its-european-broadcasts       I always do like seeing these.

216

The RF Workbench / This Amateur Radio Antenna Is Made From a Single Tape Measure?

« on: April 01, 2022, 1827 UTC »

https://www.hackster.io/news/this-amateur-radio-antenna-is-made-from-a-single-tape-measure-95a0020726ea     I've heard of doing this, but never tried it myself, yet.

217

Huh? / The Cooling Radio Station & MUSA: The Ultimate SSB Receiving Site?

« on: April 01, 2022, 1823 UTC »

Yeah... Another SWL'ing rip, but a neat radio history read, nonetheless.     https://swling.com/blog/2022/04/the-cooling-radio-station-musa-the-ultimate-ssb-receiving-site/

218

Huh? / More Emergence TIS Stations upgrades, or more TIS Pests?

« on: March 30, 2022, 1924 UTC »

https://theradiosource.com/articles/news-2022-mar.htm        This includes, Communities that have received license waivers for increased signal and/or antenna height. So far, the only one that I hear is that NJ, Hudson Co. one on 1710kHz.

219

Huh? / Radio Jay Allen covers the rise & fall of AM Stereo.

« on: March 21, 2022, 0427 UTC »

Hey... AM Stereo is still out there and an option on some stations.   https://radiojayallen.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-hi-fi-am-am-stereo/

220

Amateur Radio / USB trend noticed on both 75M and 40M? As well as C4FM.

« on: March 21, 2022, 0419 UTC »

Has anyone else noticed this on both the 75M and 40M bands the last few months? I've been noticing USB being used more on these bands,  instead of LSB, mode. Now, as far as I know, there's nothing in the rules that says that an op can't do that, but even tonight, on 7296kHz, ops were in USB mode. Just an observation. Someone, around the AM portion of the 75M band, 3880kHz, is trying Yaesu's digital C4FM mode. They must be using the FT-991A, since it can do C4FM in HF. I have the FT-70D VHF / UHF C4FM HT, so it might me interesting to see if I can up-convert 3880kHz to 2M to decode that. (It would make for an interesting experiment.) 

221

Huh? / 10 Times Hackers Hacked Live Television? Leenks rip.

« on: March 03, 2022, 0607 UTC »

Most of us have heard about the the 1980's Chicago TV hacks of that Max Headroom-like dude, and I remember when HBO got hacked in 1986. Well, there's more!   https://listverse.com/2019/07/19/10-times-hackers-hacked-live-television/

222

Amateur Radio / ARN will have Ukraine news on radio-wise topics this weekend, for 2/25/2022!

« on: February 24, 2022, 2018 UTC »

Correspondence with Amateur Radio Newline's, Caryn, K2GUT, will top-feature Ukraine radio topics, and Amateur Radio related for sure. This might even include WRMI's news,   https://swling.com/blog/2022/02/wrmi-resumes-broadcasts-of-radio-ukraine-international/

223

FM Free Radio / Possible Franken-FM Pirate, 87.7MHz?

« on: February 11, 2022, 0739 UTC »

2/10/2022, 9:20PM EST, commuting from one job location to another and put the truck stereo on 87.9FM for possible pirates and Part #15'ers on satellite radio. Exiting from an industrial park, I was hearing co-channel bleed-over. It wasn't 88.1FM, but 87.7FM, to my surprise! (Possible Franken-FM on TV audio CH6, 87.750MHz? There were clues to tell me. Audio wasn't loud, but maybe 1/2-level of commercial FM, and MONO. Audio didn't sound compressed, but did sound limited, and no gain to quiet passages, like TV. Good, strong, full-quieting, signal that was heard for over 2 miles, when I rounded the valley side that I was traveling on. Unfamiliar with artist aired, but what sounded like a mix of modern rock with soul thrown in. After +2 miles, the signal went from full-quieting to faded gone within a few hundred feet of rounding a valley side. Signal, never recovered after that. This isn't the 1st suspected Franken-FM that I've heard traveling. The last time was in Western New York, almost 20 years ago, traveling through the Allegany Indian Reservation, jamming classic rock on 87.7FM. Heard that one for almost 10 miles, further than I've heard known analog CH6 TV LPTV and translators. Anyway, I thought that it was a neat catch, just wish that I had time to check it out more. 

224

Huh? / Might be an interesting time to monitor the CB band for a trucker's rally?

« on: February 03, 2022, 0548 UTC »

With the buzz of the truckers rallying up in Ottawa, there's now a buzz in the USA of such a rally in February 2022, somewhere. So, it might be interesting to scan the 40 channels for truckers talking about this, around CH19 and +/- a few channels from there. And, if there is such a rally(s), then CB scanning would be essential.

225

Amateur Radio / AM Rally this weekend 2/5-7/2022!

« on: February 01, 2022, 2039 UTC »

http://www.amrally.com/    This is always a fun one. ARRL doesn't seem to mention this, yet, for this year. Question is, will this week's CME squash propagation from 40M, on up. Tech Class can still get-in on this with 6M 50.40MHz AM. I use to do +40 miles on 20W with a Kenwood TS-60S with a 6M Halo. 2M AM can be had, albeit no one seems to have a good AM spot for there, but more locally 'try & see', like 144.300MHz AM. And, if there's some Tropo, even better. 73!!!!