Messages

1066

Equipment / Re: Panaxis FME 500 issue

« on: August 09, 2018, 0251 UTC »

Does yours come with the IC sockets? If so, try prying up the IC's out, then reseat them back in. That's worked on Ramsey FM-25 FM TX's as well. Also, be sure that you have very clean P.S. powering it at +12VDC. Another thing is to check the AUDIO IN. Is it for standard AF, or optioned for wide MPX audio from the FMX unit? I've seen where you have to have an RFC in series with that. Couple of things to check. Hope ya get 'er going, and I like seeing Ernie's gear still rockin' after all these years.

1067

North American MW Pirate Radio / Re: UNID 1620 AM 1930 UTC 26 Jul 2018

« on: July 27, 2018, 1544 UTC »

Tis not I, from my massive PEP of 92mW on 1620kHz. And, that time period that you've listed would be The Alex Jones Show winding down, live. (And go figure that no one else in WV broadcasts him, thus my niche.) Anyway, what I keep hearing at night on the truck stereo on 1620Khz is Espanol. I've been told that this might be Cuba, but I hear it with decent signal strength nightly, when I'm on the road away from my 1620kHz. So, it makes me wonder just what you are hearing, and from where.

1068

Equipment / Re: Icom IC R-75 comms receiver performance...

« on: July 26, 2018, 1425 UTC »

       A friend of mine sold his IC-R75 recently, and it beats me why he did that, since I don't know what he replaced it with. He got rid of a TS-870 also. (That was a beautiful rig in every respect as well.) Anyway, In the long run, you'll get lots of enjoyment from this rig. I don't think that the "S" meter is bad in the R75, albeit I'll take that nice 'ol Icom classic analog meter in my IC-745 anytime over any digital bargraph meter. As far as having to power with an external power supply? In the long run, that is actually a better option. Why's that? It's been my experience that internal power supplies generate more than 1/2 the heat in a rig and age the components faster and cause FREQ drift. I experienced that 1st hand with a TS-711A 2M all-mode rig, (Cousin to the famed TS-440 HF rig.). I ran it for years with the internal Kenwood PS in it and it did indeed add to 5/8th more heat to the rig, even on idle receive. Then I read in the 1990's that one of Kenwood owner's biggest gripes were the failure of the Kenwood internal power supplies, and the heat that they pumped into the rigs that they powered. Long story short, I later ran my TS-711A with an EXT PS, and it indeed ran much cooler, but the damage was done, and today that rig is still wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy off FREQ on me. Come to think of it, I ran the internal PS in an old Kenwood R1000, and that 1st 30min, it would drift almost 1kHz, then stabilized. Bet ya that if I ran that with EXT PS the drift would have been less. (Damn, I miss that fun rig.) The point is, an EXT PS, especially if it's a linear power supply, and not switching, could help make that rig last almost twice as long and let you enjoy RX'ing with less noise. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, your idea of a GND line to a large-ass bucket of soil? Even better. Try a bucket of brine, i.e. salt water. Way more conductive than soil. Finally, try that R75 on DX'ing MW stations as well. It won't be the best sounding receiver for that, but you'll get some nice catches for sure. As far as audio quality goes on it? Got a bookshelf stereo speaker that you can add to it? And, I understand that there is a MOD to open up the audio in the R75, so that you can appreciate the audio from some of those catches. For that, and other neat MOD's, I believe that there's a Yahoo Group for that to join up.   

1069

Equipment / Retro bring-back, an FM to AM converter! Another Cuthbert Kit.

« on: July 24, 2018, 1459 UTC »

Yeah!!!! I remember those car radio FM to AM radio tuner converters from the 70's and even the early 1980's. Well, here's a portable one.   https://radiojayallen.com/cuthbert-fm-to-am-converter-mkii/    Radio Jay did a miss print there where he typed 15kHz, 14kHz - 16kHz, to really mean 1500kHz and 1400kHz - 1600Khz. (But gee, wouldn't super ELF be a neat kit to modulate? Hi-hi...) Anyway, what would you use this kit for? Most of you have SWL rigs and HF transceivers that do not have the FM BC band. This would be a unique way to add that. Well, sounds fun...

1070

Equipment / Re: Cuthbert AM Stereo C-Quam Transmitter Kit! It's here!!! Now to build, test,

« on: July 21, 2018, 1852 UTC »

       COOL!!!! Sean's C-QUAM kit came in. And, what little time I've had to check it out, it's put together very cleverly. The PIC instructions are much the way that assembly procedures were when I went to work for that RF Plasma Generator / MRI Generator company MKS Instruments back in 2006. I did change over the .BMP's to .JPG's. Ubuntu seemed to handle that better. The PIC's are defined high enough for really big blow-ups of close views. All in all, it appears very doable, indeed.
       The plan? Build the kit the way that Sean has it, test with the 3M wire antenna on the 3rd FREQ, like 1650kHz, then implement the FREQ safety change and EXT ANT MOD's. And then, after extensive testing, swap out the I Am Radio TX for the Cuthbert TX on AM1620. That's the plan, anyway. Then? See what can be done to have AM Carrier-Current, AM610, to go stereo. I do see that Sean has it so that the kit can go either 100mW, USA Part #15 allowable with the 10ft antenna, or 400mW, which would be fine going Carrier-Current operation. Now, to get time to build and test.

1071

Equipment / Re: Antenna updates

« on: July 21, 2018, 1822 UTC »

Well, with all the antenna real estate that you have, ever try the WOG (Wire On Ground.)? JTA has tried that with decent results and less noise. I have rolls of trashed RG-11 cable here that I use to make various antennas with, and plan to make a WOG out of one of those rolls. No longer good for CATV anymore, due to water contamination, but those long lengths of rigid outer aluminum shielding work fine as various antennas. Yep... Practically nothing goes to waste here. And, if you want solid copper wire that's bigger than #10AWG, that's what the center conductor is in these RG-11's. Albeit, it takes some bit of work to get at that. (Damn, I'm cheap.)

1072

Equipment / Re: MFJ noise filters for NDB DXing...

« on: July 21, 2018, 1808 UTC »

What I had to do at my present QTH is physically move the antennas away from the house and power lines +50ft away. I have one leg of my Inverted - L going over the creek valley. (Which is fine since minnows, crayfish, and frogs, don't bitch about RFI.) I even had to move the wide-band Diamond Discone antenna since I was still getting power line noise on 2M, MURS, and even 222MHz, FM! WOW!!!! You actually got the power company to come out and do something? Huh, in WV if I even try to complain about power line noise, they say G.F.Y.S. and deal with it. So, I'm always looking for NR here as well, and thus far, distance seems the most effective, but at the cost of distant feed line loss. BTW, I also had an MFJ-9406 10W USB rig. A very fun rig indeed, whether portable, base, or mobile. Got a lot of QSL card requests from that rig's use in the 1990's. Even talked to the UK on a home brew dipole! Ended up selling it to a friend.

1073

FM Free Radio / Re: Antenna Height vs Gain

« on: July 20, 2018, 0445 UTC »

Well, not me, but someone whom kindda' resembled me, did well with 25mW, 40ft up a fur tree, on a home brew copper, 1.1:1VSWR tuned 1/4-wave GND Plane. It was heard over 5 miles away in one direction. Then, 400mW was heard almost 10 miles away in the next state. (Damn, that station is sadly missed.) And, even got a letter writing back to a Radio Garbanzo broadcast from a town over 70 miles away. Even Fearless Fred said, "Ya never know!". (Temp inversion that night?) CP wasn't done since it was just seen as wasteful. 1/2 the signal either goes straight up, or straight down. (OK for worms or ET.) FM is no longer done, due to the huge FM witch hunt the Federal Corporate Coddlers are so hard on about. Any chance to get your antenna in a tree, just above the tree? I remember a station, in fairly flat terrain, used just 3W up a 60ft pine tree on one of the custom made 1/4-wave GND Plane. It MAX'ed out to 19 miles in one direction! Huh... Wonder what ever happened to that dude whom resembled me? 

1074

Equipment / Sangean HDR-14 Compact AM/FM HD Radio, Radio Jay Allen Review.

« on: July 19, 2018, 1535 UTC »

This makes it the smallest, and most affordable AM/FM HD radio out there yet. And, even if you don't give a flying crap about AM / FM HD Radio in North America, you've got to admit that, at the very least, it is intriguing.     https://radiojayallen.com/sangean-hdr-14-compact-am-fm-hd-radio/

1075

Equipment / Re: Starting a pirate radio in Spain? Very helpful site for 60M and other bands.

« on: July 19, 2018, 1528 UTC »

Hola Diego!!! ¡De nada! To add to that, from España is a very useful propagation website interactive map,  http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&ML=M&Map=W2LN&HF=N&DXC=ING2&GL=S   Not just for 60M, like the example I have chosen, but almost spectrum-wide. Just hit the tabs for bands, region, and even check-off the weak signal modes, like digital and CW, and keep phone operators. This way it gives you a better idea what real propagation possibilities are in real time. You can also choose if the operators are recent posts, or the last 24 hours. This site is a very useful tool indeed. Not me, but someone close to resembling me, wished a site like this existed 30 years ago for pirating. Contento DX!

1076

Equipment / Re: Starting a pirate radio in Spain. 5MHz?

« on: July 18, 2018, 1555 UTC »

Well, to answer your question in the 5MHz, the 60M band, it's a very good band to use. The military uses it extensively. In the daytime, it has nice regional coverage from 50km to over 500km, and is a good choice for NVIS, (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave.), antenna. Meaning, the dipole is low to the ground, like 10 meters, or less, and you are using the ground as a reflector to intensify more signal going to the F2 layer, and bouncing back regionally. (If I understand the theory correctly.) At night, this band goes long, very long. More than 1,000km, and can skip over the first 400km. Amateur radio operators and the US Army actually did a test exercise last year to see if they can talk coast to coast to each other, and they did, with 100W, or less. The downside of 60M? This time of year it is very noisy with lightning crashes at night. I am trying to think what is on this band for you to monitor 60M for yourself to study propagation. WWV right at 5MHz even comes to mind from Fort Collins, Colorado. Then, there's WBCQ on 5130kHz,     http://www.wbcq.com/   Anyway, bottom line is, 5MHz, a.k.a. 60M band is indeed a good choice.

1077

Equipment / Re: Starting a pirate radio in Spain?

« on: July 15, 2018, 2320 UTC »

One question is, when do you plan to broadcast, day, or night? If it is nighttime, then the upper MW and lower SW bands will always get you out there, especially in winter when thunderstorm lightning crash static is way lower. Right now, in mid-July, MW and lower HF bands suck with nothing but lightning crashes at night. If you are looking at daytime, the HF low bands will get you out regionally, while the mid-HF bands are come and go, 31M, 25M, 22M, and 19M, bands. Being that we are in the bottom of a sunspot cycle, upper HF bands really suck now, with the exception of Sporadic E on the 11M Broadcast band, 25.670MHz - 26.100MHz. But, that too is so hit and miss. (Albeit, a good way to stay one step ahead of the country's monitoring authorities.) However, around 13MHz, (22M), with no skip that band has a decent local coverage with a few watts going to a vertical antenna. What is interesting is that I'm starting to see more International Broadcast Stations start up in this band, so there must be something to that. One thing that you do not want to do is to broadcast in one place for too long, or you are an easy target, sitting duck. If possible, have a mobile set up, where you can goto several parks, and do a quick broadcast that way. You have a studio set up? Make up pre-recorded podcast-like programs to air later. In North America, hit and run gorilla warfare-like broadcasting has been done for decades to elude the FCC and DOC. Now, as far as gear to start off with? Many started out with what was called Boat Anchors, a.k.a. 1950's - 1960's tube gear that was so discarded in the 1980's and and 1990's for dirt cheap. You still may find classic tube gear for the HF bands. That is changing today where these rigs are now collectibles where they are collecting top dollar, or Euros, for them. Still, you may be able to find at junk stores, flea-markets, hamfests, and even estate sales, people wanting to get rid of these rigs for cheap, but time is ticking there. And, if there is not too much wrong with a rig, you can repair the problems yourself, and rock 'n roll on-air. BTW, not me, but someone very closely resembling me, may have had experience with all this. Transmisión feliz, ¡y setenta y tres!

1078

General Radio Discussion / Re: New ALT to Youtube to launch 7/4/2018 by Mike Adams! Response to YOU!

« on: July 02, 2018, 1703 UTC »

I've shared the HFU link of your concerns to Real Video. And, here's the RSVP:

 "Jul 2, 09:49 CST
Hi Tha Dood,

Thank you for sharing the link to us.  We did expect all kinds of comments from people and hesitations to join the platform and we respect that.  We cannot force everyone to believe and follow up right away. 

The site was built from scratch and needs a lot of improvements. Some decision to use third party providers is because of cost and efficiency.  The idea to create a new video sharing platform came to Mike just last March of this year, therefore, a lot of things are needed to be done right away since there is a target launch date.

Zendesk is a third party ticketing system and is used so we can  easily communicate with creators and other site visitors that may have  concerns or inquiries with the site.  Zendesk is widely used by other companies (big and small) because it provides features that a support and other  customer service people needed.

Thank you,
Glenn Burton"

Me? I look at it this way, they are certainly starting a service that sounds appealing, but they certainly can't rush it, and have to dot all the I's and cross the T's. So, give 'em your concerns. From the sounds of it, they could use the help and advice. Just my $0.02 worth. THANKS!!!!!!!

1079

General Radio Discussion / Re: New alternative to Youtube to launch 7/4/2018 by Mike Adams! Who' he?

« on: July 02, 2018, 1518 UTC »

Mike Adams? Who' he? The Health Ranger,     http://www.healthranger.com/Health-Ranger-Biography.html     And yes, he has been on Alex Jones Show before, as well as other various talk shows. He's not the only one. I liked that dude they had on Saturday evenings on Berkeley Liberation Radio. A straight to the point, no non-sense dude, that told it like it is about the USA poisons we ingest. Too bad he isn't on any more.

1080

TV DX Loggings / Re: I miss analog TV! Zenith US Space Command. Wish we still had that.

« on: June 30, 2018, 1726 UTC »

Awh yeah... Back in 1978, my cousins, whom had a 25V Zenith Console TV, grabbed the Space Command remote, took me across the street over 100ft away, and we changed channels through the screen door from across the street. I have one of those that I've liberated from a 19V 1979 set. I was going to see if I could MOD / DEMOD  ultrasonic some day. I wanna' try one of these millenniums. I'd bet that US Patent is up for grabs now.