316
General Radio Discussion / Re: Applaud/Smite Karma Ratings?
« on: March 06, 2020, 2039 UTC »
My karma ran over my dogma long ago.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Shortwave Pirate Radio In North America And Around The World, And Other Signals That Go Bump In The Night
We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.
Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.
There is, perhaps, something of a "band plan", from personal observations:
The Russians are usually on 1700 to 1800 KHz. (You can see their bad VFOs drifting and FMing on your SDR waterfall display. Clean signals do not seem to be their priority.)
The Dutch are often (but not exclusively) on 1610 to 1650 KHz (roughly).
The Greeks are often 1610 to 1750 KHz. In the mornings they tend to gravitate more toward 1650 to 1700, and especially 1690 KHz.
The Serbians are in there wherever they can fit in and not get stepped on by the other three, especially the Greeks and Dutch running multi-kiloWatt TXs.
I think that these guys aren't paying much attention to who else might already be operating on a particular frequency. If a Greek station wants the frequency, they take it because they feel that their signal will overpower the Dutch station already on there within their local listening area. The Greeks stations don't seem to care about reception outside their area, although they certainly can be heard in northern Europe at night.
On the other hand, the Dutch stations seem to cultivate reception reports from outside of NL. They live in a small country so when you run 10 kW, you are going to be heard outside of the Benelux pretty easily.
If you are uninitiated to this sort of thing, you might be surprised at how much the VSWR/return loss/input impedance changes as your hands and body get close to the antenna, how it changes as you take the antenna off the car and then put it back on again, or as you move the antenna location, etc.
Also, you may be surprised to know that HT antennas and mobile whips are not perfect loads and the impedance changes a lot between 144 and 148 MHz.
Five Six hours after Chris first reported them....their TX is still on. The band is going long and reception in northeast US is degrading.
So the answer is "yes".
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317
Huh? / Re: Oregon Engineer Makes History With New Traffic Light Timing Formula
« on: March 06, 2020, 2000 UTC »
They could use some revision to the light timing formula in California. I've never seen such ridiculously short yellow lights anywhere else in the world.
318
Huh? / Re: Start the "audiophiles are dumber than a box of rocks" jokes now
« on: March 06, 2020, 1951 UTC »
It's truth in advertising. It's literally earth ground.
Oh wait. No, it's charcoal. Oh, I get it. A "purifier". Ahhhh yeah.
Also note the gold-plated SMB (in the second photo anyway) connector. Very important for those 20 KHz signals. We don't want anydistortion VSWR introduced by the connector before it encounters the open circuit 0.0000000001 wavelength later.
Oh wait. No, it's charcoal. Oh, I get it. A "purifier". Ahhhh yeah.
Also note the gold-plated SMB (in the second photo anyway) connector. Very important for those 20 KHz signals. We don't want any
319
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Radio Casanova 6130 AM 1100 UTC 1 Mar 2020
« on: March 01, 2020, 1130 UTC »
Very weak. Just above the noise in Norway at 1130 UTC.
320
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Unid 6905 AM 1121 utc 01 Mar 2020
« on: March 01, 2020, 1129 UTC »
Very weak in Norway at 1129 UTC.
321
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Radio Merlin Int. 6305 AM 0907 utc 01 Mar 2020
« on: March 01, 2020, 1128 UTC »
SINPO 34333 on a Norwegian SDR. Telephone and email address given at 1128 UTC.
322
European MW Pirate Radio / Re: Bad channels MW at night 22 Feb 2020
« on: February 28, 2020, 0025 UTC »Today it's dense in this band, but you have to leave the frequency of the UTIL station alone: network costal meteo USB 1785,1782, 1728, 1710, 1692, 1674.
At 1680 some Greek is trying to break through hours of digital transmission.
There is, perhaps, something of a "band plan", from personal observations:
The Russians are usually on 1700 to 1800 KHz. (You can see their bad VFOs drifting and FMing on your SDR waterfall display. Clean signals do not seem to be their priority.)
The Dutch are often (but not exclusively) on 1610 to 1650 KHz (roughly).
The Greeks are often 1610 to 1750 KHz. In the mornings they tend to gravitate more toward 1650 to 1700, and especially 1690 KHz.
The Serbians are in there wherever they can fit in and not get stepped on by the other three, especially the Greeks and Dutch running multi-kiloWatt TXs.
I think that these guys aren't paying much attention to who else might already be operating on a particular frequency. If a Greek station wants the frequency, they take it because they feel that their signal will overpower the Dutch station already on there within their local listening area. The Greeks stations don't seem to care about reception outside their area, although they certainly can be heard in northern Europe at night.
On the other hand, the Dutch stations seem to cultivate reception reports from outside of NL. They live in a small country so when you run 10 kW, you are going to be heard outside of the Benelux pretty easily.
323
Equipment / Re: NanoVNA for dummies
« on: February 27, 2020, 2346 UTC »I will try to do some test tomorrow with an HT antenna and a 2M mag mount .
If you are uninitiated to this sort of thing, you might be surprised at how much the VSWR/return loss/input impedance changes as your hands and body get close to the antenna, how it changes as you take the antenna off the car and then put it back on again, or as you move the antenna location, etc.
Also, you may be surprised to know that HT antennas and mobile whips are not perfect loads and the impedance changes a lot between 144 and 148 MHz.
324
Equipment / Re: NanoVNA for dummies
« on: February 27, 2020, 0034 UTC »
I don't have any experience with the nanoVNA but working from general VNA principles you can:
1) connect your antenna to port 1 and then measure S11 or
2) connect the antenna to port 2 and measure S22.
The two would be equivalent in this case. Just don't connect your antenna to port 1 and try to measure S22. That's not right.
The lower the result (more negative) in return loss, the better.
Here is a conversion chart between return loss and VSWR (ignore the negative sign in the return loss you read from the VNA): https://www.amphenolrf.com/vswr-conversion-chart/
1) connect your antenna to port 1 and then measure S11 or
2) connect the antenna to port 2 and measure S22.
The two would be equivalent in this case. Just don't connect your antenna to port 1 and try to measure S22. That's not right.
The lower the result (more negative) in return loss, the better.
Here is a conversion chart between return loss and VSWR (ignore the negative sign in the return loss you read from the VNA): https://www.amphenolrf.com/vswr-conversion-chart/
325
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Mix Radio International 5125 USB 1650 UTC 26 Feb 2020
« on: February 26, 2020, 2153 UTC »326
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Coast FM 1494 AM 1754 utc 26 Feb 2020
« on: February 26, 2020, 2056 UTC »But that loop is just on the Algiers to Dublin axis, and Moldova is not far from the transverse axis.
So the answer is "yes".
327
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Charleston Radio Int. 5140 AM 1713 utc 26 Feb 2020
« on: February 26, 2020, 1944 UTC »
Appears to be gone as of 1945 UTC.
328
European Pirates and Private Stations / Re: Coast FM 1494 AM 1754 utc 26 Feb 2020
« on: February 26, 2020, 1938 UTC »
Ray, do you have to null Radio Moldova with a loop to hear Coast FM?
Moldova seems to overpower anything else on this frequency on many of the SDRs I have tried in continental Europe.
Moldova seems to overpower anything else on this frequency on many of the SDRs I have tried in continental Europe.
329
European MW Pirate Radio / Genghis Khan Radio (Serbian) 1720 AM 1940 UTC 22 February 2020
« on: February 22, 2020, 1958 UTC »
Serbian music.
ID at 1955 UTC then let the carrier drop and went into QSO-mode with other operators, playing music and talking.
ID at 1955 UTC then let the carrier drop and went into QSO-mode with other operators, playing music and talking.
330
European MW Pirate Radio / Romeo Radio (Serbian) 1685 AM 1915 UTC 22 February 2020
« on: February 22, 2020, 1941 UTC »
Serbian music.
ID at 1939 UTC.
Sign off announcement at 1943 UTC.
TX off at 1949 UTC with "Ciao".
ID at 1939 UTC.
Sign off announcement at 1943 UTC.
TX off at 1949 UTC with "Ciao".
