Messages

166

Equipment / SWL´ing TEF6686 chip radio? Neat!!!!

« on: December 15, 2022, 2047 UTC »

https://swling.com/blog/2022/12/ivan-checks-out-the-new-tef6686-chip-radio/    Looks like a kit, but I like that display.

167

Amateur Radio / Santa Nets are back for 2022!

« on: December 12, 2022, 1831 UTC »

Came home last night to hear them wind down the list of 20 stations that had kids that wanted to do the Santa talk. FREQ = 3916kHz LSB, and the site to do the net and request your kids to be on this is:  https://www.cqsanta.com/   This year, they are also doing one-way ´Shout-Outs´ for just RX´ing SWL´ers and are using the neat tool of other folks´ Kiwi-SDR´s, which they had to do list night when 75M made it so one of the requested kid´s station couldn´t be heard by the ´Signed-In´ net stations, even with seven net stations in AL, FL, TX, NY, and MI. Still, they made it happen. This seems to be more of an East Coast / Mid-West thing, since the one stations for the West Coast had problems. So, if you want to try a unique way to combine radio fun, Christmas, and Amateur Radio coordination, on this annual net, check out 3916LSB and that CQ Santa site. 

168

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Part 15 X-mas station, near me, is back!

« on: December 09, 2022, 1914 UTC »

Tis the season, for Part 15 FM X-mas stations. And, that dude, about a mile from me, is back with the wholly-kow decked-out yard X-mas display, is back on 101.3FM. True Part 15, with it MAX´ing-out at maybe 400ft away with my good truck stereo receiver. Good audio and levels, and no distortion, so he knows what he´s doing. And, ya know that he´s not the only one out there doing that. So, watch for, and tune-in, to these annual holiday stations, while you can.

169

Software / Audio Test Generator: Level Meter with Digital readout combined with a Sine Wave

« on: December 07, 2022, 1908 UTC »

 I haven´t tried this, yet, but looks like it could be indeed a very useful audio tool to download and use.    https://www.darkwooddesigns.co.uk/pc2/testgen.html

170

Amateur Radio / Re: Mobile hamstick vs tuning 102' whip? Hamstik story.

« on: December 04, 2022, 2042 UTC »

The only Hamstik that I´ve used is the 6M one with an MFJ-9406 10W rig, and raked-in QSO´s from ¨7¨ land in the mid-90´s. However, in 2006, a co-worker of mine had another friend do a professional install with the Hamstik mounts to his new GMC Sonoma pickup. The rig was a barefoot, 100W PEP, Yaesu FT-857D. He had it to where he paid only $20.00 per Hamstik per band, (75M, 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M, etc.), and he had the 75M Hamstik dead-nuts matched to 3799kHz to work the UK stations from his drive home from work at 1AM, no EXT tuner. He lived in the New York, Finger Lakes Region, and he was giving those dudes in the UK an S9 peak signal routinely. I actually heard his mobile QSO´s on 3799kHz and could hear him and the UK stations, when I removed to the WNY Southern Tier for months afterwards. Anyway... Bottom line... A well matched and installed Hamstik can indeed get the job done.

171

General Radio Discussion / Re: Discussion on Russian Mediumwave Pirates?

« on: December 03, 2022, 0741 UTC »

Interesting. Well, with all of that massive real estate that Russia has, a small community could possibly get away with a MW pirate for years. I´ll bet some Russian bands would love to be on those, since a rep from the band Master, has told me that there´s no way that rock & metal artists would be aired on gov-run AM / FM stations there. Which is why Master appreciated getting aired on Part #15 AM, LPFM, and even WBCQ, with programs like this one:  https://archive.org/details/the-underground-jam-slate-no-tuj-09122021-review-of-master-master-of-time

As far as Russian to English translating goes? DeepL seems to be way better, than Google Translate:  https://www.deepl.com/en/translator

 Anyway... Interesting that this topic re-popped back up, since Master recently e-mailed me about their 35th anniversary from their separation from the band Aria. Nothing like timing.

172

Amateur Radio / The bad-use for an on-line Kiwi-SDR to HAM´s? Oh yeah.

« on: November 28, 2022, 1931 UTC »

Just last night, I was listening, before bed time, on 3892kHz LSB. Some douche was continuously messing with that group, keyed-up. What was crazy was that in seconds the usual 3892 group made comments about this douche, that douche was commenting about what they were saying back, while the douche was still TX´ing. The 3892-group figured out that this douche was using an on-line Kiwi-SDR to listen, while keying-up and harassing! (Uh, great...) Yeah... What a use for on-line Kiwi-SDR´s, huh? Make it a full-duplex TX/RX harassment device.

173

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Boomer posts the 13.560MHz AM Milliwatts Transmitter!

« on: November 24, 2022, 2032 UTC »

http://boomerthedog.com/part-15/13560.html          It was still a neat project, but it really ticked-off the Beacon Freaks. Even Glenn Hauser wrote-in to suggest that AM on 13.560MHz, even at Part 15 levels, wasn´t a good idea. So, if you were to use this ´lil transmitter, a Hamfest, or even something like Winterfest, events would be perfect. Use this at an event, then tear-down and get out afterwards.

174

General Radio Discussion / Re: Hobby Broadcasting Radio. Andrew, on C2C AM 9/10/2001, and this VID!

« on: November 19, 2022, 1854 UTC »

And, don´t forget that Andrew was on C2C AM, with host the late Art Bell, from Monday night 9/10/2001. That can heard heard, and downloaded from here:  https://archive.org/details/andrew-yoder-on-art-bell-c-2-c-am-mon-9-10-2001-edited
A big CONGRAT´s to Andrew, for getting his new monthly podcast.

While I am at it, might as well revisit Andrew on Inside Pirate Radio documentary.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l48gp6iFko

175

Amateur Radio / ARRL November Sweepstakes?

« on: November 17, 2022, 2053 UTC »

http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes       With the weather begin so terrible, this might be well worth checking out.

176

Huh? / Grimeton Radio Station broadcast Nov 16, 2022 to celebrate UNESCO 50th, on 17.2k

« on: November 14, 2022, 1814 UTC »

Well, this will be a good test of your VLF capabilities.    https://swling.com/blog/2022/11/grimeton-radio-station-broadcast-nov-16-2022-to-celebrate-unesco-50th-anniversary/

177

Equipment / Re: C.Crane’s new CC Skywave SSB 2? What Radio Jay says about it.

« on: November 13, 2022, 1807 UTC »

Here´s what Radio Jay has to say about the Skywave SSB2.   https://radiojayallen.com/c-crane-skywave-ssb-2/

178

General Radio Discussion / Re: WTWW QRT? That would be ashame.

« on: November 11, 2022, 1836 UTC »

  Well, this would suck... Especially, for the Amateur Radio community, that likes getting various info on that station.

179

General Radio Discussion / Re: Cold War Radio history..... Got in late, but got to hear it, still.

« on: November 06, 2022, 1929 UTC »

I consider myself a late arrival into shortwave listening, Spring 1981. That´s when I was gifted a Realistic DX-40 AM / FM / 4 - 22MHz SW, portable. Local AM station was a 1kW over 3 miles away and no local FM stations, at the time. Closest station was a 40M CW neighbor. So, that portable and a 75ft longwire went well for listening back then. However, it was the height of the Cold War era, and lots of stations to check-out. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/radioshack_realistic_dx_40_12_775.html

180

Equipment / A review of the Tecsun H-501x portable shortwave radio receiver. SWL´ing.

« on: November 06, 2022, 1905 UTC »

https://swling.com/blog/2022/11/a-review-of-the-tecsun-h-501x-portable-shortwave-radio-receiver/

Hmmmmmmmm... That limited AM Bandwidth kind of bugs me. Just my picky take.