Messages

1321

10/11 meters / Re: Truckstop Broadcasts on CB Channel 19 27.185 MHz? Oh yeah!

« on: May 14, 2017, 1611 UTC »

      I still keep a rig in my truck, and we're going to figure out where to stash a CB in my sister's Chevy Cruise. (Sucks that today's cars are so no radio-mounting friendly.) Anyway, still a good source for monitoring, bitching, wreck happenings, weather mess-ups, and even some interesting entertainment. A dozen years ago, I was on Rt 86 by the Arkport, NY exit, and over CH19 was a dude keying up just saying, "21 for head!". About every 1min he kept repeating that. One trucker keyed up asking, "Is he calling about a blow job!?!". Then, when ya went to CH21, ya heard truckers yelling, "WHERE ARE YOU?". Back on CH19, ya still heard that one dude repeating, "21 for head!", until I was about 10 miles away from there. That was different, but not as funny as what I heard in the late 1990's where a CB'er was told that he sounded like schyyt and too raspy. When that dude asked about what he could do about it, that other dude that said that he sounded like crap told him that his rig was probably too dry and that he needed to water it to make it sound good again. When that dude with the raspy rig asked where to do that on his rig, another dude keyed in and told him to pour a bottle of water into the radio's rear vent holes, but to do it while the rig is still keyed up. Then that dude keyed up doing the, "Well, I don't know...". More dudes keyed in egging this guy to do it. Then finally the raspy guy keyed up saying, "OK... Here we go. Let me know how it sounds." Then, ya heard a Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftt sound, then silence for about a minute. Then a dude keyed up L.H.F.A.O. saying, "OMG!!!! I can't believe he F'n did it!". Then that channel just roared with comments afterwards. WOW!!!!!! That was classic and I only wish that I could have recorded that. 

1322

Equipment / Re: 11 meter rig. Another good skip antenna, 1/4 -wave Ground Plane.

« on: May 10, 2017, 0950 UTC »

        Here's a great antenna you can build that's great for talking local (Within 20 miles.), and great for skip talking. The Quarter Wave Ground Plane. Check this link,     https://www.pinterest.com/pin/205054589259242247/      It has a pretty high angle of radiation, so it makes it great for this Summer's Sporadic "E" propagation, (What CB'ers refer to as short skip.), and can do decent F2 skip when that opens back up during high sunspot peaks. Good luck!

1323

Huh? / Re: A decade into Record Store Day, a new world of vinyl?

« on: May 02, 2017, 0313 UTC »

Too bad that most of the vinyl out there today is digital copies analoged on 180g vinyl. Then again, most millennials don't seem to give a crap. I still believe the best quality out there, sound-wise, are the original pressings from the 50's to the mid-80's recorded from the original analog tapes.  It sucks when you listen to 180g LP and hear the recording of a CD skip, or the harsh treble highs from MP3's.

1324

Equipment / Re: 11 meter rig?

« on: May 02, 2017, 0257 UTC »

        Yeah, I guess I've got to ring in on this as well. I still have my Uniden Washington that I bought new in early 1986 and a Silver Eagle D-104 mic. The Washington had the best TX audio bandwidth at 3kHz, where most rigs limited to 2.5kHz. Nice RX specs on that rig as well. Other rigs to check out are the Uniden Madison, which is really a Washington with more bells & whistles. 30 years ago, everyone wanted the Cobra 2000. I liked the Realistic Navaho bases as well. GE had the Super Base, (But try and find one of them. Anymore, almost as hard to find as a Tram base.) Not just 40CH rigs either, I still like farting around with 23CH ones. Although, you're not likely to find anyone whom remembers the old SSB channel of 16LSB. Check out this CB page for rigs past & present,      http://www.cbtricks.com/radios/index_all.htm     OK, I'm goin' 10-7 now.

1325

Equipment / Re: Portable with good ssb? Better have $$$$$$.

« on: April 17, 2017, 1013 UTC »

     I had a neighbor with a Drake SW8 portable, and I thought that thing rocked well on SSB. Then again, it is a table top unit in a portable package. But, if you have the cheaper portables that use the wobbly sounding BFO's, use a well regulated, non-switching, power supply, and then keep them away from transformers, induction fan motors, and your cell / smart phone. They'll still sound like schytt, but at least they'll be more stable. Trial and error with BFO's from a (Now ribbon defunked.), Sony SW100S, Sangean ATS-803A, and a Kenwood TH-F6A.

1326

Other / Re: Malicious Interference 3840 LSB 0625 UTC 16 Apr 2017? And 40M.

« on: April 17, 2017, 0952 UTC »

     I wonder of it's the same A-holes that mess with 7200KHz on 40M in the day. That's turning out to be the wild west there. Then, when the Libertarian Net tries to meet-up around 3995KHz, some douche keeps sound-byting "Black Lives Matter" recordings over that. Thank goodness for the 60M band, but the A-holes will be there soon enough. 

1327

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: 49.847 mHz Baby monitor? Yep...

« on: April 17, 2017, 0944 UTC »

        They still sell 49MHz FM baby monitors, and with two channels. CH1 = 49.870MHz, and CH2 = 49.850MHz. Ya got a good 6M, or a decent scanner, antenna and you can hear those sucka's a couple of miles easily.

1328

Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Re: Buffalo Chicken Wings. Memories of the 'ol P.O. Box 452-land.

« on: April 12, 2017, 1012 UTC »

       Coming from around the 'ol P.O. Box 452-land, I was spoiled by wings almost weekly. Yeah, the Frank's Sauce wings are OK, but if you ever get to Buffalo, few beat the Anchor Bar where they originated from. That's a Western New York treat fo' sure! Then, chase 'em down with a Canadian bought Labats Blue that ya went across either the Peace Bridge, or Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge, to buy. YUM!!!!!

1329

General Radio Discussion / Re: Fabulous Automated Networked Confirmation Organizer?

« on: April 03, 2017, 1403 UTC »

      Yep. Now that this technology has funneled down to our level, consider what the FCC, and other gov agencies have. And, how they may just apply that. Uh-huh...

1330

General Radio Discussion / Re: WHITE HOUSE BUDGET INDICATES CUTS AT FCC?

« on: April 01, 2017, 1148 UTC »

     Well, with today's SDR technology, automation takes over. One office can remotely monitor all monitoring stations, if they aren't already. Where I suspect everyone will feel the pinch is waiting for licensing approvals and renewals. I suspect that will now take longer to do.

1331

General Radio Discussion / Re: Wikileaks exposes covert US operation using CB? No doutb.

« on: April 01, 2017, 1131 UTC »

          I remember hearing stories on how CB outbanders were delivering phone traffic from USA based spies based in Central and South America back in the 1980's and early 1990's. So, the Wikileaks article is not so far fetched.

1332

Other / AM Rally going on April 1st - 2nd on HAM bands. No April Fools here.

« on: April 01, 2017, 1120 UTC »

        For those of you that have AM only SW receiver, this might be of interest. An AM only rally contest, [www.amrally.com] I plan to try to make a few contacts. Thus far, I've had some nice AM QSO's running less than a 20W carrier on a rice box, a Kenwood TS-2000, on 75M, 40M, 10M, and 6M. What helps me is having a D-104 mic behind that rig. That link lists most popular AM FREQ's. One set of FREQ's not mentioned, but possible, is 14.320MHz - 14.330MHz on 20M. And in some of the AM threads, there seems to be confusion as to where to operate AM on the 2M band. My $0.02 worth here? 144.250MHz - 144.270MHz. Below that is SSB'ers, while above that is propagational beacons. Enjoy and Happy AM mode DX'ing!

1333

10/11 meters / Re: Some actual activity on 11m? Sporadic E?

« on: March 24, 2017, 0213 UTC »

Sporadic E propagation isn't that unusual in March on 27MHz. Anyone hearing anything in the 10M beacon region (Around 28.397MHz, or WWV on 25MHz?

1334

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Re: MW / A.M. Tx? Why expensive in USA?

« on: February 22, 2017, 1722 UTC »

      Here in the United States of Amerigo Niguchi the it is very expensive to have a transmitter approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). That in itself jacks up the price for transmitters that are. Even thought the Greek made TX isn't FCC approved, I am using it for Carrier-Current means and there is double the amount of harmonic suppression, so I am not worried there. The 100mW, 3 meter antenna, scene is way more popular here, and growing.  There seems to be also some innovation here to make those 3 meter long antennas as efficient as possible with loading coils, copper elements, and capacitive tophats. I am looking at doing that myself since I know that I can do better than the 2.5 meter long whip antenna that was with my Radio Systems I Am Radio transmitter that puts out a massive 92mW PEP. Oooooooooooooo, what a flame thrower. Check out     http://www.part15.us/     and        http://thealpb.com/equip-info.htm       also        http://mram.50webs.com/index_files/Page672.htm       

1335

FM DX Loggings / Re: What is the farthest station heard? How about this one?

« on: January 29, 2017, 1623 UTC »

        When FM station WJQZ Wellsville, NY received their construction permit for 93.5FM, on-air testing started right during the 1985 summer Sporadic "E" season. And two of the DJ's and one of the station's co-owners said that they had a QSL request from Egypt! No, not Egypt, NY either. I certainly remember them doing this testing. I'd be driving around and they would play a Top 40 tune, then live announce, "Conducting tests, conducting tests only. WJQZ Wellsville.", after every tune. They did this for a few months before officially going on-air January 1986. But anyway, with them doing an actual legal ID after every test song, during a Sporadic "E" condition, that QSL claim from Egypt is certainly plausible. Pity, that stations don't do tests like that anymore. They just come on-air, feed satellite programing and roll with that.
        And, Bruce Elving FM books are still invaluable. I'm keeping mine. I'd buy up his Toko 110KHz IF filters and put them in AM / FM walkmans, car stereos, home receivers, etc. I still have them in a GE Super Radio, a Sangean ATS-803A, my Bose Accoustic Wave System, and a 1990 Radio Crap headphone radio. When you did that to car stereos, they were a FM DX machine. That headphone radio was unreal and I could walk around listening to FM stations from Toronto, ON, Canada near the PA border. Sadly, that was ripped-off from me.  Ahhhhh, the DX memories.