Messages

841

MW Loggings / UNID 1620kHz AM 3/10/2020, 01:30UTC, playing Classic 80's hits.

« on: March 10, 2020, 0605 UTC »

Huh??? Left for work just before 9:30PM last night, and after I'd gotten past 1/2, I'd figured that this Cuban station be walking over my AM1620, but something else was in there. I could clearly hear Survivor - America Heartbeat, then The Police - Spirits In The Material World, then Madonna - (A slowly one of hers, but couldn't remember the title.), then Genesis - I Missed Again, then The Fixx - Saved By Zero. No ID... On the way back, it almost sounded like a weak station with dead-air, but the other DX stations were heard in the background on 1620kHz. So, any ideas whom that is? decent MOD, but not AM wide banded.

842

Amateur Radio / Re: Thoughts on HF verticals

« on: March 04, 2020, 1952 UTC »

I've always done great with upper HF VERT antennas, from 20M on up, but for 40M and below, in 2007 I tried out Shunt Feeding my 50ft tower that I had at the time. Simple set-up, a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver, MFJ-941D manual tuner, and a simple Shunt Feed to the tower using only four 100ft GND Radials. How did it work??? So-so on 100W TX on 160M, 75M, 60M, and 40M. I already had a 40M dipole, and no way did the Tower Shunt Feed beat that, but it was less noisy on RX. TX tune-up on the preceding lower bands seemed easy, but when I broke-in to several nets, several times I'd get back, "You are not strong, but we could hear you above the noise level." I actually had gotten into a 160M net in PA where folks said the same, "Not strong, but can hear you." 160M is the band where they seem kind of snobby, if you aren't at least an Arm Chair S+20/9 copy, they don't want anything to do with you. RX was a totally different story. Just about everyone was coming in at least S+20/9, and very, very low noise floor. But, medium wave was the big surprise! In the middle of the day, NYC's big 3, (660kHz, 770kHz, and 880kHz.), were all coming in at an S9, and NYC was 300 miles east of my QTH at the time. I was hearing 1kW stations from+100 miles away! So, on MW, that Shunt Fed Tower was a MW DX king. I didn't keep it for long, since I'd gotten rid of the tower, the FT-857D, and that 1,800ft ASL property, to get the hell out of Western New York. So, if I every do a Shunt Fed Tower as a VERT again, next time I'll invest into at least 20 100ft GND Radials. How do you do it? Just type in the search engine "Shunt Feeding A Tower", and several neat sites come up with various methods to do so. I still want to run a VERT insulated wire up the trunk of the tallest tree where I am now and see what that does. 

843

Equipment / Radio Jay Reviews The Sears Silvertone 800 Radio Series.

« on: March 03, 2020, 1813 UTC »

Anyone remember these portables?  https://radiojayallen.com/sears-silvertone-800-6223-6224-6225/

844

Huh? / Re: Radio Marti DRM

« on: March 02, 2020, 1832 UTC »

So, you can hear in DRM, "I am Maati! And this is my wadio!"? I miss Voice Of Laryngitis rippin' on that.

845

10/11 meters / Re: 11 meter private comms?

« on: March 02, 2020, 1828 UTC »

If you want to protect computers, iPads,loaded USB thumb drives, hard drives, and radios, from EMP's, store them in a trashed microwave oven. Yep, everyone out there has a Faraday Cage. When the megnetron blows up, just cut the line cord, take out the trays, and thar' ya iz, a free Faraday Cage to store static and pulse sensitive electronics. Back to digital packet bursts on MURS, in rural areas gas, electric, H2O, and other utilities, use that band a lot, and data transmissions are legal there. And yes, if you listen to some of those bursts while mobile, some of those carry for over +10 miles. On voice just about every Walmart uses CH's 4 and 5. One Walmart that I know is located on a hill, I've heard their employees from +5 miles away just using HT's. BTW, in WNY MURS CH1 was very popular from Buffalo, and some very early mornings, they could be heard down by the Pennsyl-tucky border via Tropo.(Not Pennsylvania. If you've been to Mckeen, Warren, Potter, and Tioga, counties, then you'll know what I mean. Hi-hi...) But, VHF MURS goes where 2M HAM does, and DX up by Lake Erie is inevitable. (Neat, but bare that in mind.) Also, in the land of P.O.O. (Province Of Ontario in Canada.), you will hear EMS and business tone out from there. I was able to hear London, ON ambulance tone out on MURS CH3 from about 160 miles away. Just some perk, and jerks, to consider.

846

General Radio Discussion / Neat Medium Wave page of various AM station facts and figures.

« on: February 22, 2020, 1831 UTC »

Boomer told me about this MW page,     http://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/2010/08/mediumwave-oddities-transmitter-power.html
It's kind of like the AM side of the late Bruce Elving's FM Atlas. Neat read, and free.

847

10/11 meters / Re: 10M FM repeater activity

« on: February 21, 2020, 1951 UTC »

Oh yeah!!!! Over 20 years ago Hamburg, Germany had a 10M FM repeater on 29.690-MHz that boomed in with F2 PROP. Je ne c'est pas on the PL tone. Is that still active. About that time, I remember reading about 27MHz Russian repeaters. As big as that country is, I could see why they'd need them. Anyone ever heard them? I may have read about that here,   http://www.alfalima.net/ 

848

10/11 meters / Re: 10M FM repeater activity

« on: February 20, 2020, 1953 UTC »

Not in SW WV anymore. The repeater owners don't believe that it's worth keeping them up today. This is ironic, since most HF rigs sold today now include 10M FM with splits and CTCSS, so 10M FM repeater capable rigs today are more plentiful than ever. I went with building a 6M FM over a decade ago, since there seemed to be more of a desire for it. Unfortunately, 10M FM duplexers are huge, very expensive, and those rack mountable Fiplex Helical Duplexers are riddled with losses and other problems. Not many people want the sophistication of split RX / TX separation sites either. So, we still have activity on 29.6000MHz FM National Simplex. But, when Sporadic "E" happens, I keep my scanner on the 10M FM FREQ's to let me know of band openings. At least there are some 10M FM DX repeaters to still work. That one in Dallas / Ft Worth, TX on 29.660- comes in often. So, use those repeaters when you hear them. Now, if we can get the FCC to fully allow Tech Class HAM's to have full privilege to 10M FM. That could be a game changer.   

849

10/11 meters / Re: 18 Feb 2020 1915UTC - Big opening!

« on: February 19, 2020, 2032 UTC »

Well, in that case, anyone hearing WWV's 25.0000MHz signal yet?

850

Peskies / Music on 3886kHz AM? Uh-oh...

« on: February 17, 2020, 0539 UTC »

Some douchebag airing Van Halen - Eruption, followed by Iron Butterfly - InDaGaDDaDaVita, on 75M FREQ 3886kHz AM, 2/17/2020, 05:26UTC, S9 peaks, decent audio. But, certainly not going to make any friends there.

851

General Radio Discussion / Re: Another Pride of China portable radio, Radio Jay's review.

« on: February 16, 2020, 1942 UTC »

And, here's Radio Jay's review of this portable,       https://radiojayallen.com/retekess-tivdio-am-lw-sw-fm-stereo-radio/

852

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: 151.625 MHz Business Band Itinerant Analog FM vs. DMR Digital Voice 12 Feb 2020

« on: February 15, 2020, 1935 UTC »

Whenever I see the commercial tower climbing contractors going up and down that 600ft TV tower, about 1 mile from where I am, I hear all their COMM's on 151.625MHz NBFM. Makes me wonder just how far they're being heard from up there.

853

Amateur Radio / Re: FCC Invites Comments on 5.9 GHz Proceeding

« on: February 15, 2020, 1923 UTC »

The same thing with the 3.5GHz portion of the Amateur Spectrum,   https://www.multichannel.com/news/fccs-3-5-ghz-auction-to-begin-june-25-2020      I don't know of any amateurs whom operate up there, other than contestants and EME'ers. Ya know, if amateurs are will to give this up, they should try and trade a tid for tad.

854

Equipment / Re: Spitfire Am transmitter

« on: February 15, 2020, 1917 UTC »

You can go the other option of AM Carrier-Current Coupling, like some college stations still do. Most ops tend to stay away from that method, since coupling to power lines tend to scare away folks. Some ops are running like 30W into the lines, while others are 5W, or less. I turned mine down to the TX's MIN of 200mW carrier, since more transformers have been installed on my road. Today, it doesn't matter if I run 10W, or 100mW, Carrier-Current, since the power transformers are a brickwall RF stop. And, I'm Neutral Injecting the James R. Cunningham way. https://sites.google.com/site/lowpowerradio/home/low-power-broadcasting-by-james-r-cunningham   Still, some ops are getting out a few miles doing Carrier-Current, and it's totally Part #15 permissible still. 

855

10/11 meters / Re: Man without a life....

« on: February 11, 2020, 1949 UTC »

Huh... Some things just never change. Back in the 80's, there was an A-hole like that who pissed off folks in WNY and NWPA. Problem was, he was just down hill of me. How close? You could hear his 5th harmonic in the aircraft band on a scanner. And, he'd bug the crap out of everyone, no matter what FREQ you went too. His down fall??? He messed with the 10M Amateur Radio ops and interfered with EMS services. The Federal Corporate Coddlers cleaned him right out. Then, in 2003, when we had another A-hole like that, we were able to go to the license-free MURS FREQ's,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service   So, CB to MURS, back to CB. I also have a GMRS license. So, you have some alternatives now. If you can help it, you never want to really bring the Federal Corporate Coddlers around, since they'll want to check out more than just some offending A-hole. However, if they interfere with emergency communications and broadcasting stations, let them cook their own goose.