Topics

31

MW Loggings / 1630kHz KCJJ back to booming-in at SW WV, 00:50UTC.

« on: October 21, 2022, 0700 UTC »

Had KCJJ, again, to listen to on a job site commute. And, surprise, the female DJ was live, talking about the 1st tune she heard at the time when 1st working there as a teen in 2015, and then playing it as her choice. (WOW!!! A commercial station that still let´s you do that? That´s rare, today!) Top of the hour ID, CBS News, and local Iowa city, IA news, then back to 10-year-old hit music. Nice, to have this to listen to, again, with it getting darker earlier.
https://www.1630kcjj.com/

32

Equipment / Radio Jay Allen reviews the NordMende GlobeTraveler II!

« on: October 18, 2022, 1736 UTC »

https://radiojayallen.com/nordmende-globetraveler-ii/
Heck, I´d take one today. That 5¨ X 7¨ speaker must be a treat for a portable. I use to have those as car stereo speakers in the 80´s.

33

Huh? / Uh-oh... Not going to get a g.d. thing done with a Doctor Who channel on.

« on: October 14, 2022, 1831 UTC »

Ok... I know that a lot of radio buffs are Whovians out there, and since I´ve been show that Classic Doctor Who channel, on Pluto TV, I might be hard-pressed to get a damn thing done around here late at night.  https://pluto.tv/en/search/details/channels/doctor-who-classic/   From 1963 - 1989, from William Hartnell to Silvester McCoy. And, surprise!!!! Reanimated fill-in episodes of the BBC trashed 79 episodes, where the audio tracks were still saved, and original scripts. What I don´t like is that these are presented in the 30min chapters, instead of the 90min ones that PBS did in the USA in the 70´s and 80´s. Hey... During that 1980´s sci-fi depression, Doctor Who was the great fill-in, back then. There!!!! Now, you too have a reason to not get anything else done.

34

Huh? / SWL´ing rip: WRMI repairs campaign, after Ian´s damage.

« on: October 12, 2022, 2121 UTC »

https://swling.com/blog/2022/10/campaign-to-help-wrmi-after-extensive-hurricane-damage/

Somehow, I suspect that a lot of stations are in this state of ´need repairs´ in Central FL.

35

Equipment / New Multi-band, Multi-Mode, toys? The Q900 and HS2!

« on: September 29, 2022, 1901 UTC »

Well, these seem intriguing.   https://qrznow.com/q900-version-3-all-band-all-mode-hf-vhf-uhf-transceiver/

and  https://www.ailunce.com/Product/HS2/Overview

Hmmmmmmmmmm... Which is the better of the two?

36

MW Loggings / It´s what I am not hearing. Cuba, on 1620kHz, 9/28/2022, 0330UTC.

« on: September 29, 2022, 0429 UTC »

Hearing earlier that Cuba´s power grid was down, I tuned to 1620AM, to see if that station from there, was off-air. Apparently, it seems to be. I hear Pensa Cola, FL and another classic hits station, in there, on the drive home from work. So, those MW , and maybe SW, FREQ´s, that are normally dominated by Cuban station might be freed-up for a few days. 

37

Amateur Radio / Hurricane Watch Nets reminders, due to Ian.

« on: September 28, 2022, 0602 UTC »

https://swling.com/blog/2018/09/how-to-listen-to-hurricane-watch-net-frequencies/    Info from 2018, but still pretty much valid. And,   https://www.hwn.org/policies/activationplans.html

Could make for some interesting monitoring these next few days.

38

Propagation / Will last week of Summer be great for Tropo on VHF / UHF?

« on: September 18, 2022, 1923 UTC »

Looks like a last hurrah of hot, summer-like, temperatures, around the 1st day of Fall, THUR 9/22/2022, then crash to around lower 70´s, or Fall-like weather for where I am. So, could this be a possibility that we could see some nice VHF / UHF Tropo Propagation? https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html   The last time that I´ve DX´ed those conditions was in late September 2004, where 2M, VHF MURS, 222MHz, 440MHz, and 462MHz GMRS, acted like daytime 40M. From North Hill, in Southern Western New York, to London, ON, Canada was had on 446.000MHz Simplex with just 4W! (About 160 miles!!!) On a MURS FREQ, (For USA.), the London, ON ambulance corp., could be heard toned-out, like it was a local! Rochester, NY TV DX´ers were watching TV channels from Beckley and Bluefield, WV! So, could we see those conditions, again? Let´s hope so.

39

Equipment / Receivers Introduced at pre-IBC Event to be Seen at RAI on Sep 10th, DRM.

« on: September 14, 2022, 1610 UTC »

https://www.drm.org/receivers-introduced-at-pre-ibc-event-to-be-seen-at-rai-on-sep-10th/    I understand that there are some Part #15´ers experimenting with DRM, so it would be nice to have gear to test with. Might be the only way to get DRM on to the AM / FM bands in the USA. Still, waiting to see if if catches on SW here.

40

Huh? / Expansion of FM Band, a.k.a. Wide-FM, 76-88MHz, back in the news.

« on: September 11, 2022, 1836 UTC »

FWD from Boomer:   https://recnet.com/node/3601      and      http://wide-fm.com/      Now, will this actually help-out LPFM´ers and even Part #15´ers? I doubt it, especially with the 800lbs gorilla called The NAB in there.

41

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Hurricane Intelligent AM Medium Wave Broadcast Transmitter MW. Part15 compliant?

« on: September 03, 2022, 1830 UTC »

I´ve heard about this. Boomer just linked me to the ebay site.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/184784608562   To me, this looks like an AM version of the ´ol Ramsey FM-30B in menu set-ups.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

UPDATE 9/7/2022: Well, chances are, this maybe, spec-wise, Part #15 compliant, but not Part #15 certified by the FCC. Could get around that by having it in kit form.

42

Amateur Radio / 75M AM HAM's at sunrise? Apparently...

« on: August 31, 2022, 1928 UTC »

When I don't want to fall asleep to a dull C2C AM show, I have have a 1989 Sangean ATS-803A portable as my bedside radio. And, with an extra 10ft of quick hook-up RG-174 coax, I can plug-in that radio to my W.O.G., (Wire On Ground.), antenna and reduce the crashes of lightning on MW and lower HF. This morning, just before 7AM EST, 3885AM was hopping with AM HAM's. Some strong signals and calls that I didn't recognize. So, if you're up at the crack of dawn, and it's not T-storming, check-out the AM'ers from 3875 - 3885kHz. That reminds me, the Collins Net should be coming back soon, like early October, and I have signed into that several times. Happy DX'ing...

43

MW Loggings / Classic Hits on 1410AM at night? Who's that???

« on: August 31, 2022, 1833 UTC »

With local 1410 WSCW still off-air where I am, since a truck hit and collapsed their tower, (OOOOPS!!!!), I've been trying to figure out what this classic hits station is on that FREQ after dark. I could never catch the damn ID, but the station has a very mid-FREQ audio response to it, like it's EQ'ed for talk and not music, but music is what's playing. Any clues??? THANKS!!!!

44

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / 1978 "PEEWEE" STATION | The MICRO-BROADCASTERS COMMUNITY Forum?

« on: August 28, 2022, 1929 UTC »

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10eNrTvn7TkxD8mfI-tALOnHO2e8LNn5r/view

Boomer FWR that to me from the ALPB posts. A neat-read for sure.

And, thread link:   https://mbcf.boards.net/thread/3077/1978-peewee-station

45

The RF Workbench / Turn Off the Stereo and See What Happens? Radio World???

« on: August 26, 2022, 1750 UTC »

https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/guest-commentaries/turn-off-the-stereo-and-see-what-happens
 FM mono??? This tells you how tech has changed over the years. 30-some years ago, if you wanted FM mono, you reached over to a switch and flicked-off the STEREO mode. Today, since most, if not all, FM analog tuners, made today just don´t have that option. So, they have to suggest that at the transmitter end? Uh-huh... Don´t you see the irony here?  Damn... I still remember the excitement when Panaxis, then Ramsey FM-10, TX´s, featured FM stereo at the milliwatt level. Even Part #15 FM TX´s, that broadcast less than 100ft TX, in FM stereo. What would be a better article is to tell folks, whom want a MONO feature on an FM radio, is to tell them how to install a switch to GND-out the 19kHz pilot carrier. Instant mono, problem solved...