Messages

256

10/11 meters / Late night "E" on 10M to 06:00UTC!

« on: January 09, 2022, 1922 UTC »

Glad to hear 11M and 10M jamming last night, when I got back home from work. Heard MN and WI, but worked three friends in the same town in MO, doing a round table, just after 04:30UTC on call FREQ 28.400USB. Then, seen a nice spike of a signal on 28.405USB, with a Texas station working Philadelphia, PA. When the Texas station later called CQ, I jumped-in with just 20W and worked him to 06:00UTC, when we signed. He worked with 100W, with signals from S3 - S9, and must have had that direct pipeline from WV to TX. NICE!!!!!

257

Amateur Radio / ARRL January VHF / UHF Contest Weekend 1/15 - 16/2022.

« on: January 08, 2022, 1925 UTC »

Sporadic E rarely rocks for this, but some Tropo by coastal areas and the lack of foliage absorption usually makes this contest decent for 222MHz and 432MHz.    http://www.arrl.org/january-vhf   Now... When's that AM Heavy Metal Rally?

258

Huh? / Time to Come Clean on AM Quality? Well, yeah!

« on: January 08, 2022, 1845 UTC »

Article from an ENG to Radio World,   https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/guest-commentaries/time-to-come-clean-on-am-quality

My $0.02 worth was that I believe that the noise levels are like X10 of what they were, even 30-some years ago, when I wrote back to him.

259

Pirate Radio History / Re: For anyone who hasn't seen this... Ah-huh...

« on: January 07, 2022, 0859 UTC »

Oh yeah... Posted that back about a 1 1/2 ago for the 30th anniversary of that. It's in here, some where. Every September, I re-air Radio Wolf International, since that's when they did the recording of that trio taping / broadcast with Franklin Video. That Youtube upload is a better copy than the VHS one that I bought back in 1991. But, thanks for reposting that, since there really wasn't anything like that in North American pirate radio coverage at the time. Not the best in production, even for 1990, but a great watch, nonetheless.

260

Amateur Radio / USS Midway on the air on HF.

« on: January 06, 2022, 1847 UTC »

FWR from K8RRT:

 A local museum radio team will be activating the aircraft carrier this weekend.

     NI6IW will be activating the ship on HF
7.200 LSB
14320 USB
14070 PSK.

Also they will be DStar .



    If you have a Facebook page there's a link below to get more info about working the USS Midway carrier.

       Good luck and have fun



https://www.facebook.com/groups/12699105116/permalink/10165946597150117/

261

Huh? / Re: Station changes, like formats, or ownerships?

« on: January 06, 2022, 0530 UTC »

Ahhhhh... Ask, as you shall receive, eventually.  Bram Stoker gave me,    https://nationalradioclub.org/  (Download the sampler.)

And, Cosmik Debris gave me,   https://www.fybush.com/     That one, I believe that you really have to me a member to get anything.

THANKS guys!!!!!!

262

Huh? / Station changes, like formats, or ownerships?

« on: January 05, 2022, 2000 UTC »

So, has anyone heard of any station changes in formats, ownership hands, coming on-air, or even going off-air?

263

General Radio Discussion / Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?

« on: January 05, 2022, 0742 UTC »

That's what I was going to ask on what coverage would be desired, regional, or other-side-of-the-world, coverage? Ya know, Sporadic E for Winter has just kicked-in, so be monitoring the CB 27MHz band for those short-skip stations that can be heard from early evening to even past midnight. There's still that little used 11M International Broadcast Band from 25.670MHz - 26.100MHz. 5W on AM to a 1/2-wave 11M dipole could do wonders there. The most listeners that ya might get would be CB Outbanders, but what comments might ya kick up after doing a broadcast. Certainly, can give you an idea that you have been heard. (Hi-hi...) Do forget to try and use DX Maps,    https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&ML=M&Map=W2LN&HF=N&DXC=ING2&GL=S

264

Equipment / Xiegu bangs-out another one, the X6100.

« on: January 04, 2022, 2000 UTC »

Huh... Still learning the Xiegu G90, but looks like Xiegu has found their niche market, which seems more than a niche.   https://swling.com/blog/2022/01/the-new-xiegu-x6100-is-it-a-good-sw-mw-broadcast-band-receiver/


And yes, I did move this over from RF Workbench. Duh-know why I put it there in the 1st place. I'll blame it on the coffee not hitting me, yet.

265

10/11 meters / Finally!!!! Winter 27MHz Sporadic E looks like it's back. Well, sort of...

« on: January 04, 2022, 1950 UTC »

Got back from work last night to hear Texas stations on CH38LSB at 11PM EST, so that can't be F2 that late. No 'Needle-Benders' there, but the strongest station was around 5lbs. Now, can we wake-up the 10M gurus?

266

General Radio Discussion / Re: US CB to get FM. Looks like CH 31.

« on: January 03, 2022, 1848 UTC »

There seems to be a buzz on the West Coast to use NBFM CH 31, 27.315MHz. Sounds like a good place to start to me.

267

Pirate Radio History / Pirate Radio Ships, RNI, VID footage.

« on: January 03, 2022, 1844 UTC »

Since the weather really sucks, now, this might be a good time to check out the uploaded VID's on the WBCQ Archive site and watch, or even download, the VID's of Radio New York International. https://archive.org/details/pirate-radio-ships     The RNI one is 1.2GB in .MOV format, but seems to play OK on what I have. So, enjoy!!!!!

268

Amateur Radio / Re: Xiegu G90. Did the EXT Speaker MOD, and discovered weird Split FREQ feature.

« on: January 02, 2022, 1901 UTC »

Not having an EXT Speaker Jack option really bugs me about this rig, so I did one. Using leftover ribbon cable, I used 3 strands to work that through the top side of the back ACC Port and tapped from the INT Speaker that way and ran the EXT OPEN / CLOSED circuit 1/8" connector. Works pretty well. There's only a 1/2W of audio, but it's enough to drive EXT speakers for better audio, than the 1 1/4" top-side INT speaker. And, a weird feature showed-up in Memory Mode. Now, I've known that this rig has Split VFO A/B, and in theory, you can work non-PL'ed 10M FM repeaters that way. But, I didn't know that the Splits also seem to work in Memory Mode. So, when it seems that I'm not being heard by anyone, I am still TX'ing, but not where the Main FREQ Display shows. I can't even find that feature in the manuals, and want to disable that. Yeah, I can easily match RX / TX but hitting the A/B VFO button, but I never came across a rig that did that in Memory channels. Huh... So, I'm apparently still learning this rig. Weird....

269

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / New AM Part #15 Transmitter Kit on the Market? Maybe....

« on: December 31, 2021, 1952 UTC »

Boomer alerted me to this dude.    https://www.ebay.com/itm/203708056581      Hmmmmmmmm... Kind of like what Ernie of Panaxis did to sell bare minimum parts and plans as a CYOA campaign to keep the FCC off of his back.

270

Amateur Radio / Re: Equipment Recommendations?

« on: December 31, 2021, 0727 UTC »

Hmmmmmmmmmmm... My 1st HF rig was, (And I still have.), an Icom IC-745. Great receive on that rig, but very much just communication grade audio. I bought it from a friend in 1993 for $650.00 and later upgraded the VRAM board to the PIEXX battery-less VRAM re[placement. It has the same receive capabilities as the famed IC-R71A receiver, which is a big reason that I chose that.  https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=508   A somewhat newer rig is the Icom IC-735. Better audio here, especially in AM RX / TX.  https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=381     Going Kenwood, I still like my TS-50S, and that even has the CTCSS PL tones for 10M repeater work, when you get to that with Generals and Extra upgrade, but a very good 10M SSB rig for Tech Class.   https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=411  (I have the 6M TS-60S version of this rig as well.)  If you want a Swiss Army Knife-type rig, there are a lot of Kenwood TS-2000's out there second and even third-hand.    https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=1249     BTW, try to find ones that are 2007, or newer, so that they have the updated softwares and not the DC voltage to TOKO IF filter problems. (Yaesus have been known to have that problem as well.) Mine serves me well on All-Modes.  Another Kenwood considering is a decent TS-440. A good all-around older performer that I'd still take, today. They sound great. Yet another Kenwood rig that I've worked many stations that were mobile is the TS-480S, and the later flavors. https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=8695    Every TS-480 that I've heard, and worked, sounded excellent just from their stock mics. Another Swiss Army Knife rig, that I use to have, was the Yaesu FT-857D. Very compact, punchy SSB. FM was OK, but AM just sucked.   https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=3046    All these rigs are the 100W variety, but if you don't mind stepping down to 20W, I'm diggin' the new Xiegu G90.   https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=14255    I have yet to write my Perks & Jerks review on this there on eham. If tubes don't scare ya, a Yaesu FT-101, (The 1970's version, not the FTDX-101 out now.), is a excellent all-around performer.     https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=4539     And, even the Tempo One.    https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=1239    Certainly, research these eham reviews and links.   https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=14  BTW, I have used both those preceding tube rigs at friends' QTH's, and would take either one, today.    Hopefully, this will help ya start-out. Good luck!!!!!!