Messages

1036

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Ye Poor Man's EAS. Cheap, very cheap. The catch? You have to build it.

« on: April 04, 2020, 0627 UTC »

Boomer brought to my attention that someone on www.part15.org bitched that Part #15 ops are not required to have an Emergency Alert System (EAS). And no wonder... When I worked in TV broadcasting, that station owner picked up a used EAS for $3,000.00. Hmmmmmmmmmmm, that more than most Part #15 complete stations out there. Someone did come up with an idea there to use a Kenwood car stereo with an EAS feature for $100.00. Yeah, way better. Well, for years I've pondered on using a SAME Weather Alert Radio and came up with the following put-together project for around $50.00!   https://archive.org/details/yepoormanseasrev2.1/mode/2up    Works great! And the price is certainly right. And, you really don't need that much in electronics experience to build and put it all together. Might not be a bad idea to have something like this on our stations with the conditions that we are experiencing today.

1037

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Part #15 gear out there.

« on: April 04, 2020, 0616 UTC »

(Yeah, this was moved from RF Workbench.) Lots of home brew radiating gear, (For the 10ft FCC Part #5 compliant stuff.), but you have companies like, www.sstran.com , www.chezradio.com , www.am1000rangemaster.com , www.theradiosource.com , www.pll.gr , www.vectronics.com , www.iamradio.net , and there's others out there. Some companies even got-in on doing the 10ft Part #15 antenna like, www.isotronantennas.com , (Tell them that you want Part #15 compliant. Not cheap, but....) So, there's stuff out there. And, anything that's Carrier-Current, (Where you permissibly couple to the power lines.), from LPB, Inc., and Radio Systems, gets bought out almost immediately from ebay. So, somebody wants that gear.

1038

10/11 meters / Sporadic "E" on 11M / 10M Sunday evening.

« on: March 30, 2020, 1708 UTC »

With the dull drums of the upper HF bands, and now lightning crashes plaguing the lower HF bands, some late March "E" Sunday evening, 23:00UTC, on 11M and even 10M, was welcome. On CB, the usual skip chatter on CH's LSB38 and 39, then the broadcaster wanna' bes on AM CH 28, then the mudducks on Superbowl CH 6, 11, and 15. Tried calling CQ on 10M 28.400MHz, but only heard one station try coming back to me. Too bad that I couldn't make that out. 11M from states MO, KS, OK, and IL. Well, that's why they call Sporadic "E" sporadic.

1039

Software / Tis the season to get ZAPPPPED! Real Time Lightning site.

« on: March 28, 2020, 1958 UTC »

Did someone post this site before?    http://en.blitzortung.org/live_dynamic_maps2.php?map=30      Scroll west to North America, then use the +/- to zoom in. About a 7se - 20sec delay on this map seeing what you have LIVE. Tis the season.... Too damn soon.

1040

10/11 meters / Re: People who live in glass houses...

« on: March 23, 2020, 1901 UTC »

Back in the 80's, there was a very close analpore 1/2 mile down the hill from me whom pissed-off two states, four counties, and every town he'd visit. He even ran fake call signs on the 10M band, and back then you could get away with it, for a while. However, even when he ran so-called barefoot power, he still spurred a harmonic at X5 the fundamental FREQ. i.e., CB CH19 = 27.185MHz X 5 = 135.930MHz. I had a scanner that did AM aircraft band, so when that dude keyed up on CB CH19, I knew it right away over the scanner. A bit more difficult on CH38 LSB, but you could still do that to tell that someone very close is keying up there. 27.385MHz X 5 = 136.930MHz. When the scanner stops and unsquelches on SSB in AM mode, then you'll know he's there. And, when these dudes ran power with CB's, they almost always kick spurs more into the aircraft VHF band. Hey, no doubt that he covertly monitors YOU, so here's a way to keep monitoring HIM. Certainly nothing illegal about monitoring that way. Oh BTW... Don't have a scanner that does AM aircraft band? Then try an analog tuning FM receiver at the very end of the dial, i.e. 27.185MHz X 4 = 108.740MHz. Many of the older analog receivers can go there. If anything, this is a nice experiment to show and learn how harmonics work.

1041

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Part 15 MW?

« on: March 22, 2020, 1829 UTC »

While you're on this Part 15 kick, here's another site,   http://boomerthedog.net/radio.html

1042

General Radio Discussion / Re: Interest in Ham Radio soaring as country grips with virus outbreak

« on: March 22, 2020, 1823 UTC »

Yeah... This month we've got new HAM's and Generals upgrades. Ironically, not more repeater activity, but I did talk to one of the new HAM's on our area 10M USB chit-chat FREQ.

1043

Amateur Radio / Re: HF activity is on the rise

« on: March 17, 2020, 2036 UTC »

And, more activity on 17M (18MHz), centered around 18.140MHz, during the daytime.

1044

Amateur Radio / Re: Back on HF again!

« on: March 13, 2020, 0638 UTC »

Really??? Your IC-718 isn't open to 5MHz on TX? That OCD and a tuner would do it. I too use a home brew OCD, with a 1990's 4:1 W2DU current balun. The auto tuners on both the semi-older Kenwoods won't do 60M, (They can't seem to decide to use the 40M, or 75M, settings.), but my MFJ-941D manual tuner goes there very nicely. And, with 60M, you are on par with everyone else, USB, or CW and FT8, at 100W ERP MAX. Well, except for the military, they no doubt run stupid power. And, you'll hear them from time to time, even doing military to amateur radio call-in tests. And, during the day, 60M is a great regional NVIS antenna set-up band. At night, coast to coast is very possible, even to the UK. And, with the band channelized to 5 FREQ's, you know that some douche that's only 2KHz away from you won't be keying up a kW. I enjoy it, and the three rigs that are opened up to TX there do it nicely. I put each of the 5 FREQ's into their own memory channel and alphanumerics, so that there's no mistake in FREQ / channel tune-in. Passing thoughts... 73!!!!!!!   

1045

Huh? / Charleston Hamfest CANCELLED this SAT March 14TH!!!!

« on: March 12, 2020, 2046 UTC »

FROM: Mike, NU8LL,     FYI:

I just received formal notice from one of the hamfest committee members that the Charleston hamfest has been cancelled for this year.

I am sorry to hear this.  I was still planning to attend.  But I stand behind their decision, as they do it in the best interests of everyone.

Please feel free to pass this information on, as it is a late announcement.

73,
Mike
NU8LL

1046

Amateur Radio / Re: Back on HF again!

« on: March 11, 2020, 1827 UTC »

GOOD!!!! Now you can also work those dudes in the afternoon on 60M, and later Sporadic "E" 10M around May. Speaking of which, caught a dude on 28.415MHz USB whom just upgraded to General Class and threw together a 102" whip and home brew GND radials to get his Anytone rig on 10M. But, wait until you try a 102" whip on other bands with just RX. Then, TX with a tuner down as low as 20M. Even MW isn't half-bad to DX with such an antenna. Be lookin' for ya on 10M! Even the OCD does decent on an "E" opening.

1047

MW Loggings / UNID 1620kHz AM 3/10/2020, 01:30UTC, playing Classic 80's hits.

« on: March 10, 2020, 0605 UTC »

Huh??? Left for work just before 9:30PM last night, and after I'd gotten past 1/2, I'd figured that this Cuban station be walking over my AM1620, but something else was in there. I could clearly hear Survivor - America Heartbeat, then The Police - Spirits In The Material World, then Madonna - (A slowly one of hers, but couldn't remember the title.), then Genesis - I Missed Again, then The Fixx - Saved By Zero. No ID... On the way back, it almost sounded like a weak station with dead-air, but the other DX stations were heard in the background on 1620kHz. So, any ideas whom that is? decent MOD, but not AM wide banded.

1048

Amateur Radio / Re: Thoughts on HF verticals

« on: March 04, 2020, 1952 UTC »

I've always done great with upper HF VERT antennas, from 20M on up, but for 40M and below, in 2007 I tried out Shunt Feeding my 50ft tower that I had at the time. Simple set-up, a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver, MFJ-941D manual tuner, and a simple Shunt Feed to the tower using only four 100ft GND Radials. How did it work??? So-so on 100W TX on 160M, 75M, 60M, and 40M. I already had a 40M dipole, and no way did the Tower Shunt Feed beat that, but it was less noisy on RX. TX tune-up on the preceding lower bands seemed easy, but when I broke-in to several nets, several times I'd get back, "You are not strong, but we could hear you above the noise level." I actually had gotten into a 160M net in PA where folks said the same, "Not strong, but can hear you." 160M is the band where they seem kind of snobby, if you aren't at least an Arm Chair S+20/9 copy, they don't want anything to do with you. RX was a totally different story. Just about everyone was coming in at least S+20/9, and very, very low noise floor. But, medium wave was the big surprise! In the middle of the day, NYC's big 3, (660kHz, 770kHz, and 880kHz.), were all coming in at an S9, and NYC was 300 miles east of my QTH at the time. I was hearing 1kW stations from+100 miles away! So, on MW, that Shunt Fed Tower was a MW DX king. I didn't keep it for long, since I'd gotten rid of the tower, the FT-857D, and that 1,800ft ASL property, to get the hell out of Western New York. So, if I every do a Shunt Fed Tower as a VERT again, next time I'll invest into at least 20 100ft GND Radials. How do you do it? Just type in the search engine "Shunt Feeding A Tower", and several neat sites come up with various methods to do so. I still want to run a VERT insulated wire up the trunk of the tallest tree where I am now and see what that does. 

1049

Equipment / Radio Jay Reviews The Sears Silvertone 800 Radio Series.

« on: March 03, 2020, 1813 UTC »

Anyone remember these portables?  https://radiojayallen.com/sears-silvertone-800-6223-6224-6225/

1050

Huh? / Re: Radio Marti DRM

« on: March 02, 2020, 1832 UTC »

So, you can hear in DRM, "I am Maati! And this is my wadio!"? I miss Voice Of Laryngitis rippin' on that.