Topics

211

Amateur Radio / RUSSIAN DX CONTEST - 2021, Weekend of 3/21.

« on: March 15, 2021, 1857 UTC »

Could make for some neat, rare, contacts this weekend:           http://www.rdxc.org/asp/pages/rulesg.asp?fbclid=IwAR13N0guKg6aQtxbuYL5q3IDv8WlrJrBhrMqyhxTjzxMe2pUQTQfG4JPL3Q

212

Huh? / WLW 700AM marks 100 Years this Dec. 2021!

« on: March 14, 2021, 1858 UTC »

Yeah, another rip from SWLing links:    https://www.wvxu.org/post/wlw-am-begins-100th-year-air#stream/0

A nice read on the history of WLW is the C1971 book, by Dick Perry, “Not Just A Sound, The Story Of WLW” . You may still find that in libraries and used book stores.  BTW, this is the station that tested at 500kW in the 1930's, so an interesting history, indeed.

213

North American MW Pirate Radio / Iron Maiden jammin' 1620 AM 0425 UTC 14 Mar 2021

« on: March 14, 2021, 1821 UTC »

Yeah... On the drive home from work, along with the usual Cuban and Pensacola 1620's, was another one jammin' Iron Maiden tunage. (You just can't mistake Bruce Dickinson's vocals.) No ID out of that, then squashed even more by my Part #15 AM1620, when I'd gotten in range, jammin' the local LPFM station here. I duh-know... That was different.   

214

General Radio Discussion / The WWVB broadcast system is being upgraded, and may have outages.

« on: March 14, 2021, 1807 UTC »

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwvb                   
       Even on the Windom, late nights, after midnight, I'll tune down to 60kHz and check WWVB's signal strength. On good night, I get it at S+30/9. Then, there are nights where it's just barely above the S7 - S9 noise levels. That Atomic Clock, a fairly cheap Chinese ceiling project clock that I have, switched to DST before midnight this time for the Spring Ahead +1hr. (Interesting.) Hey, I actually don't mind my tax $$$$ paying for this. Better than what our tax $$$$ usually goes for, but I'll digress, this time.

215

Huh? / Inventor of the compact cassette tape, Lou Ottens, passes away at age 94.

« on: March 11, 2021, 2118 UTC »

Cassettes are certainly a main point in free radio history, so an interesting read for those of us that grew up in the late 60's, the 70's, 80's, and even through the 90's.    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/amid-cassette-tape-creators-death-we-remember-his-legacy-%e2%80%93-the-mixtape/ar-BB1euz4i?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBnb7Kz

Then, there's this link:     https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/03/dutch-inventor-of-the-audio-cassette-tape-dies-aged-94/?

216

Shortwave Broadcast / KDUB broadcast on 9670 kHz March 7th and 14th, 2021

« on: March 06, 2021, 0801 UTC »

Ripped from SWLing, again:     https://swling.com/blog/2021/03/48008/

217

Amateur Radio / ARRL DX Phone Contest this weekend 3/6 - 3/7/2021.

« on: March 04, 2021, 1951 UTC »

Well, this is one way to find out on whether the upper HF bands are jammin', or not,    http://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx?fbclid=IwAR0xHumMWuNdREFrf2Fa7OIxhO7CslPC0ET4774YtAiUtOnBZ1aLBz2Av7g

218

Huh? / The Space Nation of Asgardia? Um, OK... Can we DX it?

« on: February 28, 2021, 2022 UTC »

https://asgardia.space/en/      Sure... Why not??? Question is, can we somehow DX this? Who knows... Someday, they may become the ultimate DX.

219

Software / Kenwood TS-2000 EQ, various software and settings.

« on: February 23, 2021, 2055 UTC »

Uh... The settings are in HEX? I haven't had to deal with that, since the late 1990's, when I had to deal with Toshiba CRT Test Machine Industrial Settings. But, for those of y'all being software tech savvy, and want the ultimate TS-2000 EQ controlling for both RX and TX, here you are,  http://dl7cg.wunstorf-luthe.de/ts2000eq/ 

220

Huh? / Format changes to stations in 2021? Here's a few.

« on: February 22, 2021, 2038 UTC »

Any of these around y'all?    https://radioinsight.com/category/headlines/format-changes/

221

The RF Workbench / Re-CAP'ing the GE Super Radio II. Rip from SWLing

« on: February 21, 2021, 1932 UTC »

I've always like the GE Super Radios. I have the III, but the versions I and II, just seem better quality, than the III. https://swling.com/blog/2021/02/chucks-re-capped-ge-superadio-ii-might-set-a-new-am-bcl-benchmark/

222

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Female ISS astronaut taking Q&A to a school on 145.500MHz FM, 18:00UTC.

« on: February 19, 2021, 1838 UTC »

Neat!!!! Using a Yaesu FT-70DR HT as my D/A C4FM scanner, ISS came in about S9 with answers from one of the female astronauts. Answers on riding the SpaceX Dragon, as compared to Soyus, weightlessness, and trying to enjoy the time during the work sched. Heard her for about 10min. At least, I believe that it was 145.550MHz, and not 145.800MHz. I have the alphanumerics on that HT. (I do, and don't like that feature.) I didn't catch what school this was for. Still, neat catch.

223

Huh? / We may be looking at severe shortages of some new ham radio gear due to AKM fact

« on: February 19, 2021, 1823 UTC »

I understand that this might affect production of car stereos as well,   https://swling.com/blog/2021/02/we-may-be-looking-at-severe-shortages-of-some-new-ham-radio-gear-due-to-akm-factory-fire/

224

MW Loggings / 1560AM WKDO, The Buck

« on: February 19, 2021, 0705 UTC »

The AM side of 98.7FM The Buck seems to walk in to WV tonight. I even e-mailed them to tell them that they now dominate the FREQ after dark,   https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WKDO&service=AM&h=D   and    https://chasinthebuck.com/    Huh??? Listed 'Daytime only' under Radio Locator? Guess not.

225

Huh? / 1560AM going bye-bye in NYC? Here's why.

« on: February 12, 2021, 2342 UTC »

I've heard why from a dude whom lives up that way. Clark, N1BCG, on a 3873AM QSO, told me that the station was offered $51M for, not the station and tower array, but for the +5 acre property alone! Whoa!!!! Somebody wants that space. O.F.W., at this point, is anyone going to miss it? Hey!!!! Maybe, another opening for Part #15 AM'ers.