Messages

46

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: May 18, 2017, 1735 UTC »

Thanks for the freqs, do you use the 2006 for mil air? The 2006 was my first mil air rx back in the day, good enough to catch satcoms sitting on the kitchen counter with just the factory whip antenna screwed into the case.

Thanks for the resources!

No, right now the 2006 is next to my bed with a whip scanning the local HAM repeaters.  I've been using the 780XLT attached to the outside antenna to search for milair because the software will record the frequencies it finds.  Back in the day, I had a pro-2035 (I think that's the model) with an optoelectronics board in it.  I bought it used for that purpose because I couldn't deal with the thought of carving up my 2006 to put the opto board in. 

I will probably use the 2006 for milair once I get a cache of frequencies.  I also plan to make and use an antenna tuned for that band (right now I'm using a discone).

47

General Radio Discussion / Re: Tragedy at Honda

« on: May 18, 2017, 0846 UTC »

Always looking for a good book.  Added it to my "To Read" list.  Thanks!

48

General Radio Discussion / Re: Solar Minimum

« on: May 18, 2017, 0845 UTC »

I wonder if sales of export radios and modified CB equipment will slow down with the solar minimum.

Don't know about that, but I suspect the sale of 8 pill and higher linear amps will go up. 

49

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: May 18, 2017, 0838 UTC »

Here are the VHF/UHF milair frequencies I've been able to log so far this month.  I'm new to milair, so I'll be able to give better logs once I figure out what they're saying.     Hopefully a log of frequency use in the area is useful.

This is from my QTH in WA state near Seattle.  Diamond Discone @ 25' , BC780XLT, ProScan software

225.5750
227.8500
227.8750
234.5500
245.3250
249.4250
249.9000
256.7000
257.8000
270.3000
273.6000
285.6500
306.9000
307.6500
309.2250
341.7000
342.6000
349.4000
350.1000
351.1250
354.9500
363.3000
364.6000

50

Peskies / UNID 3118.7 USB 0741 UTC 18-May-2017

« on: May 18, 2017, 0746 UTC »

RS 55

2 OM having a conversation.  Not sure about the language.  To my untrained American-centric ear it sounds close to Spanish, but could be Portuguese.

At 0745 UTC it seems like the conversation is over; haven't heard anything for about a minute now.

51

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: YHWH 7585 AM 0306 UTC May 17, 2017

« on: May 18, 2017, 0351 UTC »

0349 UTC - 18 May 2017 - SINPO:  45422

Usually he comes in pretty good in the PNW, but lots of fade and weak modulation tonight.  The signal is S7-S9 and no visible or audible QRN or QRM, but difficult to understand.

52

Equipment / Re: Uniden Announced New BearTracker 885 Hybrid CB Radio/Digital Scanner

« on: May 18, 2017, 0342 UTC »

I used to have a Bearcat 4 channel scanner that was an 8 track plug in.  A scanner built into a body that could be plugged into an 8 track player, then the audio played through the 8 track player speakers.

Wow, that's a sweet collectible.  Nothing says the 70's more than 8-track.

I had one album on 8-track:  AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (I was part of anti-Disco back then; actually still am, lol).  The Shack had those portable 8-track players in different colors like the Flavoradios.

My oldest Uniden that I bought new was a BC70XLT hand held.  Not sure of the year - late 80s?  Still works fine, though getting harder to find the battery pack.  It's a simple one, so I could probably build a new NiCd pack if necessary.  That scanner is what eventually led me to a DX440 and HF listening.

53

10/11 meters / Re: Some 11m activity 1750 UTC 16 May 2017

« on: May 17, 2017, 0411 UTC »

Getting a lot of skip out here both on my SDR and CB.  I'm running the CB barefoot with a low antenna, so I'm not getting out myself.

54

Equipment / Re: Coax Connector Failure

« on: May 16, 2017, 0435 UTC »

Thanks RST111.
it checked OK at DC. Continuity where it should be and no shorts.

Maybe something goofy happened like the insulator shifted and it started acting like a capacitor between the shield and signal.  RF is magical like that.  As you said, suspect everything!

55

Equipment / Re: Uniden Announced New BearTracker 885 Hybrid CB Radio/Digital Scanner

« on: May 16, 2017, 0431 UTC »

Nice.  If it had SSB and I hadn't just got a 980SSB, I'd be looking at it for double-duty in my shack.  I have a BCD536HP and it looks like this uses a similar programming system which is a lot easier to deal with than 1000 channels of banks, especially with trunking.

I've had Beartracker scanners before, and the Beartracking part didn't work that great.  What it does is look for strong signals on the police repeater inputs, and if it sees one, assumes that the cops are nearby.  Not very reliable, as one might imagine.

56

Equipment / Re: Coax Connector Failure

« on: May 12, 2017, 0459 UTC »

Suspect everything.

A useful approach for life in general.      Glad you got the problem sorted!

57

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: YHWH 7615 AM 0343 UTC 5/12/17

« on: May 12, 2017, 0448 UTC »

04:44 UTC 5/12/17  SINPO: 53544

Getting stomped on by QRM occurring on 7618, but can hear clearly tuning ECSS-LSB

04:47 "Christianity Greatest Hoax Ever" - discussing phony texts placed in Old Testament; Jesus usurping Yahweh's rule.

04:52 QRM mostly disappeared; new SINPO: 54544  - discussing if Yahweh is pleased by burnt sacrifices or obedience

58

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Unknown Name Radio Network 6880 AM 2137 UTC 10 May 2017

« on: May 11, 2017, 0206 UTC »

Seattle signal report.  02:06 UTC - About 1.5 hrs before sunset here.

SINPO:  25411  Getting slightly more audio than carrier; enough to detect speech is going on.  Meter shows S3 with my RF gain set to 2db (increasing gain isn't helping right now; just pulls up the noise floor).

59

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: YHWH 7615 am 0232 UTC 5/6/2017

« on: May 07, 2017, 0451 UTC »

04:50 UTC 5/7/17  SINPO: 55444 out west tonight.  Tiny bit of fade and some QRN.

60

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio Free Whatever 6940 USB 0230 UTC 07 May 2017

« on: May 07, 2017, 0257 UTC »

Still not even dusk out on the west coast, but am able to get a tiny bit of signal enough to make out a human voice and then some type of cosmic-sounding music.  02:56 UTC SINPO:  15221

Video signal report from 03:03 UTC  https://youtu.be/MTiEcga6vOA