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Author Topic: Running Log From Tonight  (Read 3504 times)

Offline Shortwave_America

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Running Log From Tonight
« on: August 26, 2010, 0456 UTC »
Chicago reception reports:

9.790.00Khz - China Radio International / Chinese Broadcast with a signal of 20 to 40 over S9. Heard at 11:30PM Central time.

7405Khz - Jammer throwing the kabosh on what sounds like possibly a Spanish station. Lots of loud, strong, hash with this signal at 15 over S9. 11:32Pm Central Time

7273Khz - Arabic station received w/ weak audio but just with the noise level at a floor of 15 over S9. 11:33PM Central Time.

6174Khz - China Radio International, Chinese Broadcast. 11:34PM Central Time. 20 to 40 over S9.

MW AM Receive:

1690Khz - Talk Show in regards to Dr. Laura's recent use of a derogatory racial term. Sig is 5 by 7 and some music from a station on the same freq trying to compete for the frequency.

1530Khz - Sports Show sig 5 by 9 exactly

1510Khz - ?

1430Khz - Weak music station possibly? sig was 5 by 9 exactly

1420Khz multiple stations competing for the frequency

All the rest of the freqs all the way down to 500 Khz were the usual local stations and usual stuff from surrounding states most of you also hear not worth noting.

 


Offline Token

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Re: Running Log From Tonight
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2010, 0004 UTC »
A couple of observations for you.

Number one, times are best expressed in UTC and 24 hour format, this is a near universal radio convention.  Broadcast schedules are pretty much always published in UTC.  If you say Central Time you assume everyone knows what that is and is willing to convert it to something useful to them…say the UTC that printed schedules will be in.  In most cases people will just ignore such a post rather than convert back and forth.  In some cases people in other countries will not understand what you mean by Central Time.  UTC is the same for everyone, and does not change through the year.  And IF you use UTC, don’t forget to also express the date in UTC, for example 1100 PM for you might be 0500 UTC, but it will be 0500 the next day on the calendar, and some broadcast schedules are day specific.

Number two, frequencies for short wave broadcast stations are most often in even 5 kHz steps (there are exceptions, but they are a small percentage).  It is best with SW BC stations to assume the nearest 5 kHz step until you can confirm otherwise.  Your 1134 PM 7273 kHz Arabic posting would be 0534 UTC, and that most likely means you had the 7275 kHz broadcast of RTV Tunisia, in Arabic.  Your 6174 kHz listing is harder to resolve, unless you heard an announcement of "China Radio International" I suspect it was not that.  Regardless, confirm the freq, and do NOT just peak the sound by ear for an AM station, that will not always give you the honest center frequency.  If you have a radio that is USB/LSB capable you can select either of them and "zero beat" the carrier.  If you have a radio with a BFO knob that technique might not be accurate.

Number three (OK, this one is a nit pick ;) ), what is "5 by 9 exactly"?  The RST scale is not related to the S meter on your radio, so S9 on the meter is not necessarily the "9" in 5 x 9, 59, or 5 and 9, regardless of how you express the term.  The second digit in the RST usage is a relative number, from 1 to 9, with the 1 being the weakest and the 9 being the strongest.  Yes I know it is very common these days to say something like "59 +20 dB", and places like Wikipedia say this is normal (but not the amateur radio specific wiki), however this was not the intent of the RST scale.  In the intended usage this would mean the stations was “perfectly readable” and a “very strong signal, plus 20 dB”.  Not everyone’s S meter is calibrated to the same scale, and on some radios the very strongest station might only push an S7 on the meter, that station would still be "5 and 9".  Remember that not all radios even have an “S meter”, and not all signal strength meters are calibrated in S units, some are simple 0 to 10 scales or something similar.  This was particularly true when the RST system was developed.

T!
Mojave Desert, California USA

Offline Shortwave_America

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Re: Running Log From Tonight
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2010, 0720 UTC »
Thanks for the reply, Token. Guess I just got a bit lazy. I didn't intend to cause any confusion to anyone and apologize for any difficulty in understanding my post. I kinda made the assumption that people on the board went to the settings menu and selected their time and date for forum usage, posting, etc.

Date differences are always confusing even for me! I get your nitpick on signal reports. Just a habit for me to note signal strength on my radio's meter since years ago. But, you do have a good point about meter calibration!

Offline Token

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Re: Running Log From Tonight
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2010, 1337 UTC »
Thanks for the reply, Token. Guess I just got a bit lazy. I didn't intend to cause any confusion to anyone and apologize for any difficulty in understanding my post. I kinda made the assumption that people on the board went to the settings menu and selected their time and date for forum usage, posting, etc.

People probably do set the time and date for forum postings, but that is not the same as reception reporting.  For receptions the convention is UTC time and date.

Date differences are always confusing even for me! I get your nitpick on signal reports. Just a habit for me to note signal strength on my radio's meter since years ago. But, you do have a good point about meter calibration!

I also note the signal strength on the S meter, and I try to keep my meters correctly calibrated, at least as correctly as I can.  The meters on SDRs are simply fantastic for keeping in cal.  However, S meter readings and RST are two different things, just as SINPO is another signal rating system.  It is not unheard of in my log to find all three listed, S meter, RST, and SINPO, although my default is simple S meter unless the signal is other than perfectly readable.
T!
Mojave Desert, California USA

Offline Andrew Yoder

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Re: Running Log From Tonight
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2010, 1450 UTC »
I agree with everything that Token said & would also like to mention that MW/AM callsigns are really helpful. "Weak music station possibly" and "multiple stations competing for the frequency" could apply to nearly every frequency on the band.

That said, please keep logging! I really appreciate seeing your logs and everyone else's, too. Not that many people seem to be doing it any more...or they're only logging the difficult-to-hear truly DX stations. It's always interesting to see what others are tuning in.
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Offline Shortwave_America

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Re: Running Log From Tonight
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2010, 2352 UTC »
Yoder,

Thanks for reading the log! I try as hard as I can to get a station ID and other time, just can't get it so I post in in the log here to see if anyone can put a call to the station to identify it. Kinda keeps our radio wits sharp and helps keep us in practice!