Messages

1396

10/11 meters / Re: 11 Meter Band Activity 7 June 2017? Um, yep!

« on: June 08, 2017, 0114 UTC »

      Awh, yeah... Talked to 5 dudes around the Rochester, NY area this afternoon on 10M SSB 28.405MHz, but it was the scanner that clued me in to Sporadic E opening up that way when I heard the Avon, NY 10M FM repeater over it on 29.620MHz. Also the scanner was hearing the Dallas 10M repeater again on 29.660MHz.

1397

Huh? / Re: A real "Inconvenient Truth" And counting!

« on: May 21, 2017, 1406 UTC »

   Yep,  that's the problem with Billery and Hill. Ya get too close to them and find out stuff, there leads a trail of a body count. Might be time to bring back out the blast from the past the Vince Foster Suicide Action Figure Doll. And, didn't anyone learn anything from the movie Primary Colors? Oh wait... That was fiction. Right?

1398

10/11 meters / Re: Activity 20 May 2017? ^m, 10M, and 11M rockin'!

« on: May 21, 2017, 1353 UTC »

    Awh yeah! I was making all sorts of new contacts, and a couple that I've worked from last year, Saturday 5/20/2017. 1st on 6M SSB to TX, LA, and MS. Then, later to the Mid-West on 10M SSB centered around 28.400MHz USB from OK, AR, and IA. But, when that wound down, activity continued to the Mid-West on CB CH38LSB. Oddly enough, the Superbowl CH6 was quite. Hmmmm??? And the early evening ended with some rare E-skip on 10M to Long Island, NY. So, several contacts from there before T-storms shut me down. Glad to have E-skip back, to make-up for the rest of the HF bands sucking from CME's. 

1399

The RF Workbench / Re: Stretchyman Pirate Radio Video? Puts me to shame.

« on: May 20, 2017, 1509 UTC »

 Oh yeah! That dude's work puts my work to shame. 3 1/2 years ago I made a 13.560MHz AM mW TX for the Part #15 portion of that bad. 900uW - 18mW output, EXT modulated with a 1/2W of audio, and all made from used components on hand. The only thing new in it was a donated 13.560MHz crystal from Fearless Fred. I stuffed it all in an old Pace CB chassis. Looks like hell, but works great. Stretchyman's TX is like the 21st Century's version of the Radio Animal Grenade TX, when I contemplate about it.

1400

Equipment / Re: 11 meter rig. Jan Crystals for CB rigs.

« on: May 20, 2017, 1451 UTC »

To answer the question earlier about CB crystals? With ICM gone bye-bye, there's still Jan Crystals in Florida,     http://www.jancrystals.com/   A decade ago I called them for crystals to a 460MHz Regency old taxicab transceiver to use for my GMRS repeater. They asked me for the make and model # of what the crystal were going into, and they pulled up the data from their library of photofaxes and told me what I needed to get, and for what TX / RX FREQ's for each crystal. If they don't have the make and model #'s of the rig you have, they may request a .PDF copy of that from you to: (1.)  Determine what crystals will work for your needs. (2.) To have that info for their own library. Tid for tad. 

1401

Equipment / Re: Antenna tuner for random wire/longwire

« on: May 20, 2017, 1430 UTC »

Well, for a schematic of the tried and true MFJ-941D tuner, scroll down to page 4,    http://www.tgc-ares.org/mfj-941d.pdf      Actually, you can make this tuner better than MFJ with delron insulative washers and not using "rivets to aluminum" on the chassis. I've improved my 941D tuners by soldering GND braids from circuit board GND to daisy chaining the outer SO-239 connectors. You can tune just about anything from 160M to 30MHz. I mainly use mine to make-up the lack of auto tuning on the newer 60M band. Many older auto tuners, and rigs that have the built-in auto tuner just won't do do it, but my MFJ-941D manual tuner works great there. I haven't tried it on 30M, but it should work great. Best of luck!!!!!

1402

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. 

1403

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!

1404

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.

1405

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.

1406

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.

1407

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. 

1408

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.

1409

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!!!!!

1410

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...