Messages

571

Huh? / Vinylthon 2021, this SAT, April 17th.

« on: April 13, 2021, 2000 UTC »

Locally, our LPFM is doing this,   https://wtsq.org/   I am more surprised upon what stations are not on the Vinylthon list,     https://www.vinylthon.com/stations         Sounds like fun, anyway.

572

Equipment / Re: Best MWDX antenna?

« on: April 12, 2021, 2055 UTC »

I've made one of those gods-eye antenas for MW, with a variable air CAP, and done well both indoors and out. They are, however, very bi-directional. http://167.250.5.172/docs/Radio/Antennas/Am_Loop_Antennas_2004.pdf
The other thing that can be done is to make an inductive loop coupler to the End Fed Longwire. Me??? I still want to lay down the W.O.G., (Wire On Ground.), since that's suppose to be excellent in noise reduction. Hopefully, this Fall 2021, that will happen.

573

Equipment / Re: A big surprise for under $20.00? Yorek YK-901tested on EXT ANT's!

« on: April 12, 2021, 2024 UTC »

I've modified a newly bought used, $6.00, Yorek portable with a BNC connector, to shielded RG-174 coax, to chassis GND. And??? 1st, I've tried the Windom Antenna, that I use in amateur radio TX/RX'ing. One leg is 100ft, going over a creek valley, and the other leg is 62ft, along the hillside. The center is fed by a 2kW rated 4:1 Voltage Balun. As expected, IMD and front-end overload throughout the SW bands. The only signals that I've heard fairly clearly were both CHU's, 333okHz and 7850kHz. Everything else was flooded with IMD crap. A little better on the AM BC band, with just some of my Part #15 station, AM610, coming though. FM??? Local stations, and multi-path noise. I then connected the radio to my Diamond Discone D-130J, which I use for 6M FM, 2M, MURS, 222MHz, 440MHz, and various VHF / UHF monitoring. To my surprise, SW was cleaned-up and performed well. Both the 90M and 40M CHU's came through clear. 6070kHz CFRX Toronto was clear, (At 1kW ERP.). Also heard AM HAM's well on 3880kHz. WBCQ 7490kHz and 9330kHz, both came in well. And, heard WWV at 5MHz, but not at 10MHz. Being, it was dusk here, I blame that on piss-poor propagation. I'll try this test again, when propagation above 10MHz is better. FM??? I'd gotten IMD from a couple of the big-guns here, but was able to hear some weaker stations on it. Multipath was also evident, being in this valley. However, this test gave evidence that if I wanted a simple mobile antenna to portable set-up, for super cheap SW in the vehicle, it could happen.  Now, what engine and fuel injector noise will be like is a guess, but will be at least present, as in MW and CB.

574

Software / Re: Will Net Radio Data Base Reciva go bye-bye? Alternatives? And UPDATE!

« on: April 11, 2021, 0503 UTC »

And them, you have this method.   https://swling.com/blog/2021/04/robs-tips-for-uncovering-radio-station-stream-urls/   Hey... If it works, yea!!!! Some of these Reciva based radios went for $400.00. It would be nice to get a little more use out of them.

575

Equipment / Re: Titus II DRM? Yea, or nea?

« on: April 08, 2021, 1918 UTC »

Huh... I've actually did put in a pre-order on the Titus II over 4 years ago, and haven't heard crap for at least 3. So, has anyone heard anything about this portable? It would still be a nice novelty to have, but with tech marching on, it will soon be ancient history. If you ask me, this project is a loss.

576

General Radio Discussion / Re: Pirates helping communities during COVID?

« on: April 05, 2021, 1927 UTC »

If I had to guess, the answer would be YES from those pirate FM stations that are serving the inner city ethnic communities. However, unless you know the stations' ops and supporters, don't expect much info from them, since they are being demonized more today, than ever before, for their unlicensed broadcasting activities. You may have to do what the BBC did 4 years ago and go undercover to gain trust and any info. That was a fascinating report from them, and if you look-back far enough in The HFU pages, you may still find the link for that and download. Granted, this was all before the COVID-19 BS, but I suspect that these stations would be the ones that are performing the answer of exactly of what you are asking. 

577

Amateur Radio / Re: 2M SSB - Is it worth the cost? That depends, but it is fun!

« on: April 05, 2021, 0528 UTC »

In the mid-90's, I paid about $1,100.00 total into 2M SSB. That includes a used Kenwood TS-711A, a Mirage modified 2M 140W repeater linear amp, a Hamtronics 2M GaAS FET preamp kit, LMR-400 coax, and a homebrew copper 5 element HORZ beam. At that time, I knew several people into 2M SSB, and even 432MHz SSB, and that 140W PEP talked weekly into the St Lawrence Seaway, CT, NJ, PA, and even into D.C. off the back of the beam. At the time, I was living near the bottom of the Newtown Creek Valley, my beam was only 30ft up, yet just cleared the rooftops and trees close by. +300 miles, without DX enhancement, seemed to be the norm. It seemed to be about on-par with my 6M SSB system. 432MHz SSB, with 30W and a 3 element beam, got me out to Erie, PA, or about 175 miles. So, was it worth it? At the time, I'd thought YES, plus the experience that I've gained in doing it that I can apply today. Just don't ask how much I've spent on 222MHz FM and 1.2GHz. I probably should include the Astron RS-70M power supply, as well, that powered the rigs and amps.

578

MW Loggings / Re: WQFG689, with CW beacon under it!

« on: April 03, 2021, 1950 UTC »

Work wasn't ready for me Friday night, so I DX'ed MW on the truck stereo. Listening to that Hudson Valley TIS on 1710kHz, at 03:20UTC, I heard CW under the main TIS signal, but not for long. So, I didn't ID that. The TIS provided the carrier, and that CW beacon must have been a couple of kHz off FREQ. So, did I hear one of those Part #15 CW MW beacons? Possible, but it was very short. Anyone else hearing that?

579

Equipment / Re: The Sony FX-300 Jackal: AM / FM / TV / Cassette REC from late 70's.

« on: March 31, 2021, 1953 UTC »

Well, since Japan analog TV was also the North American NTSC format, this would have worked pretty well over here. Granted, PAL and SECAM, were superior colour analog formats, but North America was their biggest market. We still have Digital off-air ATSC to analog NTSC converters over here, and I can still show-off a black & white 5 inch portable TV that I have from 1979. So, good chance that Sony TV / radio / cassette combo was not made for a PAL format TV market, but could still play as a novelty here. Interesting insight, thought. Merci & soixante-treize.

580

Software / Anyone else on Minds.com, besides me? Here's their update info.

« on: March 31, 2021, 1935 UTC »

As an ALT to facebook, Twitter, Tumbr, Instagram, etc., I was told years ago about Minds.com,   https://www.minds.com/      So, I toe-dipped with my page there,   https://www.minds.com/groups/profile/876322093051867136/feed     As you can see, I haven't been too active there, mainly since I weekly hit-up my VK.com page, my ALT to facebook and the de-funked myspace. Anyway, we'll see if this integration that Minds.com is doing is anything neat, or pure BS,   https://www.minds.com/minds/blog/minds-is-now-listed-on-uniswap-here-s-what-it-means-1221912862054379520?__e_ct_guid=876319834726473743&campaign=global&topic=minds_news      So, does anyone know anything about Uniswap? Thought I'd ask...

581

Equipment / A big surprise for under $20.00? I'm actually impressed with the Yorek YK-901!

« on: March 30, 2021, 1820 UTC »

Radio Jay Allen comes again with what was a $10.00 impulse buy for him, the new Yorek #YK-901 pocket AM / FM stereo / SW DSP portable. He got his for around $10.00! Mine, was around $22.00 total with with shipping and WV state tax. Now, why did I buy one? For the SW FREQ coverage of 3MHz - 21.850MHz continuous coverage. I want to use it as an on-air monitor tool of 3885kHz AM, 7290kHz AM, 20M AM, 17M AM, and even 15M AM. So, a handy little tool for on-air monitoring myself on Amateur Radio in AM mode. This thing, in size, is about as big as my now de-funked Sony ICF-SW100S clam shell portable. AM MW is about what you would expect, although more sensitive above 1MHz. That 'lil 15" telescopic whip is indeed short for SW, but at sunset here in WV, I was able to RX CHU 3330kHz, HAM's on 3880kHz AM, WWV's 5MHz, WBCQ's 7490kHz, CHU 7850kHz, WBCQ 9330kHz, WWV's 10MHz, and propagation sucked here above that for the time. The big surprise was the FM RX. This portable RX'ed most of the hard-catches for where I live. My DX portables to compare too are a Sangean ATS-803A, Eton E-10, and a C-Crane Radio +. Unreal!!! Just the 15" Yorek's whip, it pulled-in everything that they did. I expected maybe just the local Charleston, WV major stations, but this thing is pulling-in the not too easy to RX translators, Huntington, WV stations, Beckley, WV stations, a couple of KY and OH stations, and even that 104.1FM from Portsmouth, OH, over +80 miles away! WOW!!!!! I did not expect that. The downside??? The two < > button tuning is tedious, at best, with this wide of a FREQ span to tune. Fortunately, if you preset the 32 Memories to like 1MHz each, you can launch-tune from them. But, don't take my word for it, here's Jay's review:   https://radiojayallen.com/a-10-radio-the-yorek-yk-901-amfm-sw-radio/  Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Now, if you are clever enough to built a 'lil BFO for this portable, for SSB and CW RX'ing, then this would be a treat, indeed, for under $20.00! BTW, I was using 1/2-ass charged NiMH  AA batteries. What will it do with fully charged alkalines in it?

582

Software / Re: Will Net Radio Data Base Reciva go bye-bye? Alternatives? And UPDATE-UPDATE!

« on: March 29, 2021, 1857 UTC »

Then, there's this. Can I still use my 2007 Sangean WFR-20 wi-fi via this technique? Duh-know, yet, but I'll try it. https://swling.com/blog/2021/03/how-to-give-your-reciva-wifi-radio-a-second-life-before-the-service-closes-on-april-30-2021/

583

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: Some random VHF/UHF logs? Metro Rail hang-out?

« on: March 27, 2021, 0740 UTC »

I know that when I was a Test Tech for testing the radios on the Atlanta, GA MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rail Transit Authority.), they had Motorola 800MHz, Israeli made,  rigs installed. In order to test the radios, we requested an HT programmed for the MARTA FREQ's and PL tones. They did, but no charger! Needless to say, my tests were brief. Still, interesting insights there.

584

General Radio Discussion / Re: George Zeller, lead story on ARN!

« on: March 26, 2021, 1955 UTC »

Yep, they lead with that. (Thanks Caryn, KD2GUT!!!!!!)    https://www.arnewsline.org/

585

For Sale / Wanted / Barter / Sell diodes, and save the USCG!

« on: March 26, 2021, 1952 UTC »

There ya go. Sell stuff to the US Coast Guard!  https://hackaday.com/2021/03/14/rare-diode-threatens-coast-guards-arctic-ambitions/    I kindda' know what they're going through... Read my $0.02 worth way down below.