Messages

1111

Equipment / Re: Well as Ground. Wish now that I did that!

« on: October 24, 2017, 1044 UTC »

Back at P.O. Box 452-land, there was a +200ft deep well pipe that was put in back in 1969. In January 1986, an Earthquake in Quebec was felt even as far south as that, and the ground underneath shifted and sheared away the well. However, the pipe still existed there unused, and I've wondered just how well of an RF GND that would have been for LF, MW, and HF. Thus far, the best GND that I've had was 20 years ago, when I pounded a 3 rod array right into a river. The biggest expense was the large AWG cable leading to that, but worth it. That was the best MW / HF GND I ever had and work fantastic as the independent AM Carrier-Current broadcast station GND. However, if I ever come across another deep well metal pipe, I'd most certainly would try is as a radio GND for sure.

1112

Equipment / Re: ICOM-R70? Yea!!!

« on: September 25, 2017, 0322 UTC »

       Very nice indeed! You are going to love the ears that rig has, if it´s anything like the IC-R71, or the transceiver side of it, the IC-745. Yeah, SSB audio won´t be anything exciting, however, that rig should pull out some weak pirate and utility DX that many of today´s deaf rigs can´t. And I´m not at all impressed with the DSP technology that today´s rigs employ to make up for that deafness. One question. Even if found N.I.B., wouldn´t the Li battery be well drained by now, leaving the CPU VROM brain dead? Even I had to do the PIEXX board for my IC-745 to keep that from being an Icom paperweight. 

1113

General Radio Discussion / Re: 135.7-137.8 KHZ (2200 METER) AND 472-479 KHZ (630 METER) BAND AMATEUR RADIO

« on: September 16, 2017, 1808 UTC »

        Hell yeah!!!! I just did it, and y´all should too. And even if you never intend to use those new LF / MF amateur bands, do you have those plug-in innercoms? They use the Part #15 1750M Experimenter´s Band from 170kHz - 190kHz. So, if you apply with intention to use that band, you are not lying. Here in WV, one can not bitch enough about the power line noise here.

1114

General Radio Discussion / Re: X-FM is headed for dry dock

« on: September 12, 2017, 1425 UTC »

Been there, had to do that. Put broadcasting, and other hobbies, into dry-dock for a couple of years until I´d gotten my financial schytt together. It usually happens when I´m on the verge of moving. However, when you do come back, not only will it feel like a great rush, but you´ll be kicking-ass!

1115

General Radio Discussion / Re: Home generated RF interference...

« on: September 11, 2017, 1054 UTC »

          For septic here, we have a Clearstream septic tank / UV purifier system. Unfortunately, that power supply for the underground UV light purifier spectrum-wide threw hash of over S9 from LF to to the 6M band. So, two .1uF 250VAC CAP´s, one on terminals of the UV´s AC input, and the other on the UV´s DC output. Now, you have to have a portable´s antenna right over that UV power supply to hear that hash. Panasonic appliances are also notorious for spectrum-wise spurs from DC to light. Heavy investment into ferrite chokes helps to a degree. Then, there´s DSL MODEM´s. Ferrite chokes on every cabling going to and fro that unit. Then, there´s CFL´s and LED´s lighting cheap power supplies. Choke them, where ya can. Now, the AC BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ that comes from the band-aid fixes from the utility power lines? Move your antennas as far as possible away from that, since the power companies will not want to spent one cent of their quarterly bonuses to have to fix those. And I can hear that all the way into the 222MHz band. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

1116

MW Loggings / Re: CIAO 530 Toronto 1847 UTC 29 Aug 2017

« on: September 05, 2017, 2043 UTC »

Could you ID what language it was, either Russian, Chinese, Korean, etc? And, have you ever know such a station to have  such a weak, but huge, footprint just about everywhere? Got to admit, they are handy for tuning up a MW receiver for the lower portion of the band.

1117

MW Loggings / Re: 1620 WDHP U.S. Virgin Islands? Want a real 1620 challenge?

« on: August 16, 2017, 0106 UTC »

If you want a real 1620 challenge, try to get my 1620kHz Part #15 station with a massive PEP of 92mW to a 102" CB whip. I totally have it covered over by skip about 1/2 a mile away at night. (And at times, not even that far away.) Here's a hint, it will most likely be the only 1620 with Heather Wade's Midnight In The Desert on the weeknights, I plan to upgrade that CB whip with a 3 meter long, 3/4" copper pipe, with a tophat, this Fall 2017. Still, if you should get that, then you'd be the MW DX king, fo' sure!

1118

10/11 meters / Re: Does your area still have CB "home channels" or "town channels"? Oh yeah!

« on: August 10, 2017, 1118 UTC »

Deep within the bowels of West Virginia, CB CH 12 is very much a staple where I am locally, (Which is surprising when any skip rolls in, CH 11 has terrible bleed over from those over MOD mud ducks.). Just the next county south of me, CH 35 is active nightly. Some of the coal trucks in the daytime, I hear them on CH 8. And, when the weather gets cooler, there's an on / off group that likes to meet on LSB CH 39 on various evenings regionally around the WV, KY, and OH, tri-state. There seems to be a small group in the Capital area on CH 26. And, with Routes 64, 77, and 79, here with their multitude of wrecks, CB CH 19 is a necessity for sure, with truckers being boots on the ground to 1st bitch about any mess-ups. Certainly a reason for me to keep a CB in my truck, fo' sure. Oh... And I've heard various, weak, traffic on CH 2. albeit, I don't know where they're coming from. So, very busy CB-wise in WV.

1119

General Radio Discussion / Radio Survivor to hit up LPAM.

« on: August 08, 2017, 1044 UTC »

Boomer alerted me to this,   http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2017/08/07/low-power-lpam/     At the very least, we should still keep the topic alive.

1120

Equipment / Re: Icom IC-735 Rotary Encoder Photo Transistor Substitute?

« on: August 05, 2017, 1510 UTC »

Well, good to know, as the main tuning knob on my bro-in-law's IC-735 has a flaky dead spot on it as well. It's been that way for years, but hasn't died, yet. Right now, I just use that rig to listen to my AM Carrier-Current station AM610 with a 2" wire on the SO-239 connector. Surprised on how well that transceiver sounds on AM RX with a decent speaker behind it. Score one for Icom there.

1121

General Radio Discussion / DRM+ tests in South Africa sound very promising. Now, will it happen in USA?

« on: July 31, 2017, 1856 UTC »

Ripping from SWL'ing, again, but sounds neat about DRM+, the digital alternative to analog wide-band FM,

http://www.radiomagonline.com/around-the-world/0020/south-african-station-tests-digital-radio-mondiale-features/39070

Huh,  they should use NYC, LA, or even Chicago, as a DRM+ test bed over here. Question is, will they, with the HD Radio IBOC foothold? Hmmmmm...

1122

General Radio Discussion / Neat AM broadcasting article FWR to me. Neat read.

« on: July 18, 2017, 2246 UTC »

COOL!!!! Boomer was nice enough to FWR this to me, and it's quite a read:

http://www.insideradio.com/bumps-remain-on-long-path-to-am-revitalization/article_cbbd1766-54b6-11e7-9742-a37b51b593b5.html

I'd love to see AM stereo make a foot hold again, and although we might not be too happy being stuck with Motorola's C-QUAM, (Due to those phasing and wowing effects at night.), it does sound good and work pretty well, overall.
What the article doesn't hit upon is to open up AM for LPAM, for those that have been totally shut out of LPFM, due to the flood of FM translators on now. Maybe we should e-mail Tom King, president of Bristol, TN-based Kintronic Labs, to encourage his company to be forward thinking on AM, and see what he'd think about being on the LPAM bandwagon. Passing thought, [www.kintronic.com]

1123

General Radio Discussion / U of AK does HAARP tours! Wanna' go?

« on: July 15, 2017, 1316 UTC »

Yeah, ripped from SWL'ing:  http://swling.com/blog/2017/07/haarp-open-house-august-19-2017/#respond

Heck yeah, if I was up there still, I'd do it. I've already been to the U of AK, albeit that was back in 1985.

1124

General Radio Discussion / Re: WWV 25 MHz Signal Swapped to Circular Polarization, Reception Reports Invited

« on: July 14, 2017, 0240 UTC »

  I'm was so glad to see this 25MHz side come back to WWV. Not only is it a great propagational beacon for F2 and Sporadic E, but I have, and will still, use it to retune radios' master oscillators too. My Kenwood TS-2000X was a rig that came out of the factory with a slightly mistuned master oscillator. (Enough so that you would notice it on 2M SSB, 432MHz SSB, and especially 1296MHz.) By zero beating the 25MHz in CW, then testing in LSB and USB, I was way more on FREQ with that rig. Tested that against an Icom IC-745, where the manual actually tells about the WVV / master oscillator tune-up procedure. Next, I plan to retune a Kenwood TS-50S rig that I know is about -50Hz off FREQ. It's enough so that I notice that on 10M SSB. Like I said, a very useful, rock solid, 25MHz signal source, just too bad that I can't RX it every day.

1125

General Radio Discussion / Re: Horns Across America: The AT&T Long Lines Network. Oh yeah...

« on: July 14, 2017, 0218 UTC »

       One of the biggest, and highest sites of these old AT&T towers is in the old P.O. Box 452-land. You can see it for miles, and from hilltops more than 20 miles south of the PA border. It is said that either Lake Erie, or Ontario, can be be seen from there at the tower's top. (Don't know how true that is.) It would be a prime tower spot for FM, TV, or a repeater. What stops folks from setting up such a station on these AT&T towers? American Tower bought up a bunch of these towers and charge absolutely outrageous tower space prices, so they stand today bare and unused. Yep...