Request for high-quality recording of WWV/WWVH tsunami warning test

[Fansome]

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:21:21 -0400
From: Richard Cuff <rdcuff@gmail.com>
To: Discussion list for the Winter SWL Fest <swlfest@hard-core-dx.com>
Subject: [Swlfest] Request for high-quality recording of WWV/WWVH
   tsunami   warning test
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   <AANLkTineGaS4InKP6OawtzRtyWzK1n6NzTVmnIxCPgCS@mail.gmail.com>
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Apologies if you're seeing this note several places.
 
Remember Myke Weiskopf from past Winter SWL Fests?  One of his
passions has been archiving shortwave audio, and he's asked for help
with a project later this week.
 
WWV and WWVH are running a one-hour tsunami warning test at 1759 UT on
Thursday, July 22nd.  Myke is looking for someone to record
high-quality audio from the stations...meaning you'd probably have to
be in Colorado or Hawaii in order to catch the ground wave vs. the
skywave.
 
Check out the link below for details -- Myke is willing to pay some $$
for your effort.
 
If you know of someone in CO or HI able to help...perhaps you can
forward this note and connect them with Myke.
 
Thanks!
 
http://dodgeblog.nfshost.com/wordpress/?p=862
 
--
Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA? USA
 
International broadcasting / shortwave blog:
http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com
 
PS:  I have already mentioned this in the NASWA and ODXA groups; if
you participate in other SW e-groups that would be relevant for this,
please forward this note along.  Thanks.
 
RC
 
 

[SW-J]

BTTT

[Tube Shortwave]

I recorded it.  WWVH actually started sending announcements before the top of the hour, and I got one of those too.

The 'test' was pretty lame.  Just announcements every 2-3 minutes between the usual time announcements that "this is a test".  Sounded like telephone line quality audio.  Not much better than the weather forecasts on WWV.  It was the same recording on both WWV and WWVH.

Except for an occasional phase noise, my recording is fairly 'hi-fi'.  If your friend is interested, let him/her know.

As a side note...  About 40 minutes before the 'official' start at 18:00 UTC, there was a flub on WWV.  A voice was on the air speaking with someone trying to troubleshoot something.  It was kinda funny.

73, TS

[SW-J]

...
Sounded like telephone line quality audio. 
...

Worse; sounded like a 50-year old, compressed-granule carbon-element microphone mouthpiece element ('government-issue' phone system/PBX in Ft. Collins or NOAA WX?) ... as many will attest today, 'landlines' can sound quite good today (sample any talk-show listening with a critical ear to caller phone quality). It seems to be the 'user' equipment that sounds quite lame (the free 'Sports Illustrated phone' reference seems quite fitting here) on occasion today ...

IMHO that is where they need to make the biggest change, improve that d*** audio and make it understandable! As it stands right now, only a small portion of the population will 'copy' anything (let alone correctly) that they have to say with audio like they have had for awhile now ...

73, SW-J

P.S. Recorded in four 15-min segments, digitally, directly after the synchronous demodulator using a Winradio WR-G303e (no intervening audio A/D operation via a sound card involved) using an in-building 2' diameter tuned-loop antenna.

[Seamus]

Someone got a copy of said crappy audio to share?
I'm curious not only about the audio, but the contents of the test.

[SW-J]

Someone got a copy of said crappy audio to share?
I'm curious not only about the audio, but the contents of the test.

Let's see if this works - WWV 10 MHz 1816z thru 1828z:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/4a27nnd878e8xc1/WWV_2010-07-22_1816_1828.mp3


Update: I just clicked on the link, got the file downloaded and played it okay ...

[Seamus]

Wow.  It's like receiving emergency instructions from Charlie Brown's teacher.

[SW-J]

Wow.  It's like receiving emergency instructions from Charlie Brown's teacher.

Pretty much ... 'horrid' is the word that comes to mind ...

[Tube Shortwave]

My recording sound a lot more 'hi-fi' than that.  Weird...  I was also tuned to 10 MHz.

Receiver here was Kenwood R5000 using pre-filter audio out to laptop computer.  Can hear the 100 Hz. time code quite nicely in my recording.  Almost missing in yours.

[SW-J]

My recording sound a lot more 'hi-fi' than that.  Weird...  I was also tuned to 10 MHz.

Receiver here was Kenwood R5000 using pre-filter audio out to laptop computer.  Can hear the 100 Hz. time code quite nicely in my recording.  Almost missing in yours.

Hmmm ... might I suggest you upgrade speakers (laptop speakers usually won't cut it) or use a good headset? ... just checked the original wav file and the encoded mp3 and can hear the 100 Hz just fine here. Can't testify at the moment to any adulteration/recoding thru the mediafire web/file server.

As to hi-fi; that's not my claim ... poster requested to hear said 'crappy' audio and I obliged. Also, my audio is probably as 'flat' (unaltered) as one can get (save for the IF filter response determining ultimate BW) ... the claim I will make is a limited SNR is probably no better than 30 dB at the best points and 10 dB during signal fades all owing to propagation and a weird carrier I had in the passband of the lower sideband just below 10 MHz.

I have an idea, why don't you post a segment of your recording and we can all do a comparison?