Messages

826

Amateur Radio / Re: 12M Band opening

« on: November 23, 2020, 1905 UTC »

I heard a weak station in there as well on 12M yesterday. Maybe I heard you doing a band-scan. Thought that it might be folks looking to get away from contestants.

827

Amateur Radio / Re: 6M Band openings?

« on: November 23, 2020, 1903 UTC »

Up where I am, May through early August has been prime 6M season Sporadic E. Then, there's the very short Winter "E" season right around Christmas to about the 1st, or 2nd, week in January. A bit longer for 10M, 12M, and especially 11M. I've had a 10M QSO via "E" a couple of days ago, so maybe we just might have a decent 6M "E" Winter season, for once. That would be nice. 

828

Equipment / Re: Keep your ground connections short if you want them to work

« on: November 21, 2020, 2119 UTC »

Thus far, the best GND conductors that I've used are trashed coax cable outer braids. You've got contaminated RG-8, or some other type of coax, use them as GND conductors. Might surprise you upon how well that can work, especially 5MHz and way under. Cheaper than 6" wide copper strip conductors.

829

Huh? / Well, this sucks! NSF begins planning for decommissioning of Arecibo Observatory

« on: November 19, 2020, 2144 UTC »

NSF begins planning for decommissioning of Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter telescope due to safety concerns,   https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=301674     Bye-bye ultimate DX.

830

10/11 meters / Re: 75' tower!

« on: November 18, 2020, 1945 UTC »

Oh yeah??? Here's a real test. Can you talk down to the PA border regularly? On Alma and North Hills in Allegany Co., a decent mobile station could easily hear the dudes up in Buffalo / Niagara Falls. Then again, most of them were running stupid power, so they didn't hear me at the time.

831

Amateur Radio / Re: Packet radio 2020?

« on: November 16, 2020, 1939 UTC »

Well, when I finally wanted to try VHF / UHF Packet in 1998, no one around my area was doing it anymore. It's like the 1st 3 years of the internet just dried it up. Well, FT-8 is being used heavily today, not only on HF, but 6M and 2M as well, and I would suspect 432MHz, as well. So, FT-8 is kind of packet done 21st Century style is my take of it, minus the burst clusters. But, that doesn't mean that Packet is dead. Isn't cell phone TEXT Massaging Packet, when you really think of it? Just my observation.

UPDATE: This is an interesting Packet info link,    https://opensource.com/article/17/9/packet-radio   

832

Amateur Radio / Last day to file re: FCC $50 proposed Fee on applications?

« on: November 16, 2020, 1858 UTC »

I was reminded of the following:

This is a reminder that today is the last day to file comments about the FCC increasing "application fees" to 50.00 each application.
A new ham could possibly up to $200.00 (50 for Tech, 50 for General, 50 Extra, and 50 if you'd like a Vanity Call.) and this does not include the VE charges to take the test(s).

Please make your filling today

PS forward this to anyone you think that hasn't entered their comment..

-  -  -  -  -  -
Amendment of the Schedule of Application Fees Set Forth in Sections 1.1102 through 1.1109 of the Commission's Rules
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express
Docket 20-270
 
Comments can be viewed at:
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings?proceedings_name=20-270&q=amateur%20radio%20fees&sort=date_received,DESC

833

Equipment / Re: Generic Handheld Radio (Numbers Station)

« on: November 14, 2020, 1851 UTC »

If you were to get you amateur radio license, the Kenwood TH-F6A is a Swiss Army Knife-like radio, 150kHz to 1.3GHz in all modes RX, but just FM TX on 2M, 222MHz, and 440MHz. It's been my go-to HT for listening to NBFM 175kHz wireless intercoms, the AM MW band, FM BC band, CH19 CB and CH38 LSB on 27MHz, my HF AM and SSB audio, and listening for my audio checks on 6M, 2M, 432MHz, and even 1296MHz, weak signal modes. And, many of these HT's are out there on the used market, since there were so many made and sold, until recently replaced by the new Kenwood TH-D74. Oh... And that 'lil speaker is nice and perky. And, even if you never use this HT to transmit on, these RX'ing capabilities are just nice. However, I still miss my Sony ICF-SW100S clamshell portable. That had succumbed to severed ribbon cables twice.  https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0066.html

834

Propagation / Re: ANOTHER BIG SUNSPOT?

« on: November 13, 2020, 1939 UTC »

And, there's this,     https://earthsky.org/space/photos-sunspots-ar2781-solar-cycle-25

835

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

« on: November 11, 2020, 2024 UTC »

Looks like Reciva, the company that has been the data base for Net and wi-fi radios for over 15 years, will be calling it quits. https://radios.reciva.com/   That will really suck for those of us that use these radios. the C-Crane co., had this to say about that:

"Yes, Reciva is closing. Grace Digital offers a WiFi Radio that uses another database if you'd like to take a look at the Grace Mondo Eilite Radio. I'm including the link below to the radio on our site as well as the link to Grace if you'd like to check them out. We do expect to come out with another WiFi Radio in the future, that could take 6-12 months as an estimate. At this time that is all the information we have available regarding Reciva.

https://ccrane.com/gracedigital-mondo-elite-wifi-internet-radio-alarm-clock-with-bluetooth-iheartradio-npr-and-radio-com/

https://gracedigital.com/    "

So, we'll see. I love my Net Only Radios, since they free up computers for streams and automatically reset the stream connection when the stream breaks. That, and the D/A converters just sound better in them.


UPDATE: The bad news is that Net Only Radios that use Reciva as the data base will be pretty much paperweights after 1/31/2021. (Yeah... I'm pretty pissed about that too.) So, some saving grace is Grace Digital,  https://gracedigital.com/      Hit the CHAT icon and ask if you can get a 20% discount on a new Grace Digital based Net Only Radio. Well, that's something, anyway. At least, as far as customer COMM's go, they've already been X1,000 % better than Reciva.

836

General Radio Discussion / Re: Ethernet As Unintended VHF Radiator

« on: November 11, 2020, 2004 UTC »

That's a battle with Ethernet cable here on the FM BC band, aviation, and even 2M band. I have ferrite chokes on every one here, as to not wipe-out the VHF Mid and High bands. With DSL internet here, there's no way that I get speeds close to 100MHz here. 10MHz, sometimes. BTW, that's the way Cold War espionage worked by RX'ing leaky data cables from various gov facilities. can still happen today.

837

Propagation / ANOTHER BIG SUNSPOT?

« on: November 03, 2020, 1846 UTC »

Here comes another one. Is Cycle 25 ramping up?     https://www.spaceweather.com/?s=03

838

Equipment / Re: flex 3000 for a transmitter?

« on: November 01, 2020, 1916 UTC »

Well, I've heard a Flex 5000 on AM 3885kHz last night, talking to the amateur radio AM big guns. And, thought that the Flex Op sounded near broadcast quality. Question is, what's the duty cycle of those Flex rigs for long time SSB, and especially AM, even at low power?

839

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / WLCR-AM Carrier Current Lewisburg / White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

« on: November 01, 2020, 0638 UTC »

I'd forgotten about this being a neat read,   http://johnbrashear.tripod.com/wlcr.html

840

North American MW Pirate Radio / Re: Throwback90s 1710 AM 0125 UTC 24 Oct 2020

« on: October 24, 2020, 2018 UTC »

Huh... I was wondering if we were going to start hearing pirates again on 1710kHz and 1720kHz. And, looks like the answer is, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssss.