Category: Broadcaster's Lounge
Ok guys. This is a fun topic. I want to know what radios you have messed with, what kind of reception you got and things of that nature.
I have a few examples to start off with.
First off, my favorite radios to mess with are car radios. You get real good receprion on car radios. But the best ones i've ever messed with were found in ford, saturn, chevy, and in a grand vatara. Now what's real fun to do is if the driver doesn't mind turn up the highs to a good level and just listen to the static on the station and see how good it comes in.
Oh yeah another thing do to that's cool is at night flip around the am band. preferable on car and short wave radios but it's fun on any radio.
and sometimes when the weather is right fm radio can be loads of fun as well.
Now, the best radio to play with if you don't have much access to a car radio is a real good short wave radio. I have an eton e10 radio and enjoy it.
and one last thing i like to do is mess with fm and am transmitters. the best transmitter i have played with so far is the dlo transcast transmitter. oK all, share your stories of radio. What kidn of radio was it and things like that.
Have fun.
Boy, this is a fun topic. There's something about visually imjapaired people and their radios that is a real stereotype, and I have to admit to being one of those, particularly when I was younger.
We used to have the really old console style tube am shortwave radios with turntables that played 78 records in them. The radios were really neat.
It seems to me that almost every residential school for the blind had a long railing somewhere where people would go and put their radios on. The railing acted as a wonderful AM antenna. I only say this, because I used to do it when I ws a student in Maryland, I had two clients come through from other schools for the blind in Pittsburgh and Illinois who did the same thing, so I'm betting that where there are such railings available, the practice probably continues.
We had a little AM transmitter when I was in school. We'd run wires out windows to more railings, and I know we must have broken laws as kids, but damn it was fun.
hanks for starting this topic.
Lou
Yeah. I thought the FM/MW radios in those double cassette players were the bees knees. That was when I used to zonk to LBC radio, Mike Allen's show, when I was about 8 years old. Even shortwave radio rocked on them as well. I have to say though, shortwave radio's more or less died out, unless you count the French, Russian or Swedish stations you can pick up amid a load of crackling and whistling noises, so, hands up now, to DAB radio, where you can tune in to, well, just about anything you like simply by purchasing a DAB radio for £50.00 or under in the shops or, if you're more or less rolling in it, a talking DAB radio for £119.00 from RNIB Customer Services or Cobalt Systems ltd. That I have done myself, and I've never once thought I wanted to look back, buy yet another Sony cassette recorder and tune in to shortwave radio on there.
Jen.
My fave. FM radio is the Yamaha T-85 modified with select filters, and stereo muting bypassed. This of corse with a Windguard FM-only antenna with roter. I'm hopeing to soon get an antenna from Antenna Performance specialties. My fave, AM only radio have to be the Sony SRF-A100 or Sony SRF-42 which was AMAX certified and both radio's could receive AM Stereo.
John
that's cool man. sound fun.
Oh, I wish I still had my old GE Superadio II. Got it in 1989 and it lasted until about 1996, but what a wonderful DX machine for AM and very sensitive and selective ears on FM. When I was even younger one thing I loved was when the E-skip would come in on FM and TV. At that time and in the place where I lived, the FM band was empty save for two or three stations, so it was fun to hear bits of other stations as they faded in and out on FM. The tricky part was to keep tuning up and down the dial to see how many IDs you could catch, or at least mentions of a city or state. Same goes with tropospheric ducting, which brings in stations from closer by, but the signals are more stable. I recall back in about 1997 or so I got a station from down the coast from Fortuna, CA and I called them and talked to the lady who was spinning CDs on the station. Let's see. You're right about car radios. The ones in Dodge trucks seemed to have good ears on AM without any overload or birdies or stuff like that, although I suppose the ones I heard were digital anyhow. Never played with rails or anything at the school for the blind, because the Panasonic mono radio/cassette unit I had was prone to overloading easily anyhow on AM, sad to say. Can't quite recall which of all the boom boxes I had had the best AM section without a lot of internal interference. Perhaps the Sanyo, or a little Magnavox I had which I should have kept.
I ones had a radio with 2 antennas. the cool thing about this radio was, that I was able to pik up stations from, cuba. and also I was able to hear the air trafick from the airport near by.
The most sifisticated radio I've ever run for recieving was the ACS909. With just 100 feet of copper wire strung up between 2 trees, I was able to hear the world on the shortwave bands, and catch quite a bit of DX on the comercial FM band. From near Detroit, with speratic E, I have picked up stations as far away as Miami and Halifax, and tropo is fun too. Stations come in from as far east as Erie PA, and sometimes as far west as the quad cities out in Western IL and eastern IA.
wow scot. that's amazing. I researched that station you were taling about and that's a damn good ways. that cool man. Keep those stories coming.
Oh yeah, today i was in my friends blazer and pulled in wild 955 from west palm beach.
I think my most amazing DX experience was on FM. My wife was shopping, and I was sitting in the car. I live in Baltimore, MD and can usually pull in Washington D.C. stations without difficulty. All of a sudden, I started having trouble with them. I heard a public service announcement of sorts telling you to eat more beef. The tag line at the end said something like "sponsored by the American Beef Council and the Kansas Cattle Farmers Association." Well, I spent the next hour twiddling the dial and hearing all this neat local programming from Oklahoma and Kansas.
Lou
Hey guys. another adventure with a radio today.
first, i was listening to my ipod on a itrip fm transmitter in my friends car and it sounded clear as hell, i turned that shit up as loud as it could go and it sounded damn good.
and today, i got a station from orlando crystal clear. orlando is 100 miles away from palm bay. hahaha, it was fun.
oh yeah, i also turned on my dlo transcast fm transmitter as well and it sounded clear as hell too.
I heard, and talked to a station in Israel on 10.105MHZ just a few minutes ago. It sounded like he was right next door. Yay for HF!!!
I didn't know there was a ham band right above the 10-megahertz frequency of WWV if you wrote that frequency right. Unfortunately shortwave reception sucks here in Seattle as I think we're just in a hole and surrounded by too much manmade RFI. Maybe I'd have a diffferent opinion if I got a decent receiver that could accept an external antenna, but for now I'm in a hole.
Scott, you make me sick (lol). I really miss HF operations. When I was single and lived at my parents' I ha antennas and an HF rig. It wasn't much, but it was lots of fun.
Lou
Yeah, we have a small chunk of bandwidth from 10.100 -10.150MHZ, but you wouldn't notice as a shortwave listener because there is no voice there, only Morse Code and Radio teletype. Just because you don't have an external antenna jack, doesn't mean you can't run one. You would surprised what a copper wire thrown up in the air in to a couple of trees will do. Then, just trim off the shielding of a small portion of the wire that comes in to your house, and attach it to the end of the antenna on your radio. The fact that you haven't heard much lately doesn't surprise me, since the hf bands have been quite dead until last night as far as I can tell here in Michigan. Just give it a few more months, and things will pick back up a bit, but they will really start rocking and roling in another 2 years or so once we start heading back upward in the sunspot cycle. Speaking of WWV, I was actually hearing WWVH in Hawaii on 5 MHZ over it's counterpart just a few minutes ago. I talked to a station in Poland on 7.179MHZ, and a lot of other European stations up around 10.105MHZ earlier in the eveing. I think my most interesting contact was with a station on Corsica.
I remember the first time I experienced E-skip. I was five or six, and loved twiddling the FM dial. All of a sudden, this random country station came in loud and clear on a place on the dial where there had previously been just static. I listened for a while, intrigued. Turned out to be from Wyoming. I was so confused, and didn't figure out until years later what had caused a random Wyoming station to pop up in New York.
My dad had a shortwave radio when I was a kid, as he wanted to listen to programming from Brazil (where he's from). He never figured it out, but I did. "Dad, I've got Rio on the radio" totally blew him away.
I like messing wth Sat radio. I have Sirius and have had 4 different recievers. I started with the audiovox pnp2, and then went to a boombox jvc reciever. Then I got a sirius1 player wich is nice for a car because it is little. Finially I purchased a Stiletto100. I hear people talk about XM a lot and I don't know why. The stiletto is great, because it has voice tags that tells you the station your tuning to. Its vary small and so if your in a car you can turn the dile and stop and a voice will tell you the channel your on. I love this radio, plus you can record and schedule easily. It beats the Ipod for me because I don't have to mess with Itunes. As far as regular radio goes I have a big Sony sterio that I like. I don't have the model , but it gets good reception of fm and decent for am. I may get a shortwave radio because I would love to pick up more AM. Can anyone give me a suggestion on a cheep radio that can get good AM?
Lou I enjoyed your post abut Kansas.
Glad you did. The radio you mentioned with the voice tags: is that Sirius only? I don't think they've come out with combination units yet, but thought I'd ask.
Lou
Hey all,
One of the radios I have is the Super Radio 3. I love it. It has great reception and great sound. AM works very well on the Super Radio 3.
I also have some other radios that are very good. When I buy a radio, I make sure it is good.
Unfortunatley, xm doesn't have something like this yet, but I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before they do.
got bored lastnight and ended picking up 979 kiss fm from jacksonville. I also somehow managed to pick up x 1023 from palm beach as well.
i love this topic btw.
oh man. THis is one interesting topic. When i was tiney, i used to listen to that over comer station that came out of south caraliner. I thought that that guys voice sounded really strange. Man i wish we had a deasant sattalite radio provider in the UK. We only have world choice and they have to switch it off for the moment because they have to upgrade the satalites. It's because of some EU law. What a pile. The one day that really got me going was when i managed to pick up radio austrailia on the mediam wave. I was listening to radio wales and it just came in over the top of it as clear as a whistle. I use to listen to radio iceland as well.
oh shit!!! i picked up bob fm from ft mires tonight. it was crazy. i love the hell out of the radio my friend has in there blazer. I don't know the brand name but that shit is a damn good radio
I still have the old dx 398 realistic shortwave receiver which is comparable to the Sangy. Someone mentioned a while back about a shortwave receiver with a tapedeck, well the dx 394 had a tapedeck with it but I missed out on that one when it was readily sold at radio shack. We no longer have a radio shack here in Canada they've been replaced with an outlet called the source. Hardly a replacement however. All of the desk top shortwave rigs put out by radio shack had clock radio functions as well. If you hooked it up to a good sound system, you could definitely be woken in the mornings. The 398 is amazingly small and has a real accessable keypad for one to use for dirrect entry capabilities. Of course it goes with out saying that hooking the proper antenna to it externally will make receiving things way better. I have my 500 foot random wire connected to it and reception is wonderful. On the side of the radio you have an outlet beside the earphone plug in wich you can wire an external antenna too. I had a jumper made so's I can dirrectly plug my long wire in to it. My random wire is fed from the top of my five section tower and looped past the neibors back yard to the front roof of my house. At school I didn't have this rig. I had a hand held vertion which I don't remember the model of but it was also put out by realistic. This rig didn't have a jack for plugging anything in to it other than for headphones so I had to be creative. I took eighty feet of speaker wire and strung it up outside on top of an apple tree and use some lather line to bring it in to my room. With the tree I had a hite of 35 feet which is just under a wave lenth. That worked just as good as my set up at my home however, back at home I had to deal with lots of noise on the bands. Sometimes not pleasent for reception. At school before I rigged up this little set up for stationary work, I used to go up to the top floor the third floor in my dorm for radio work. It was great. Down stair there seem to be major obstructions for rf of any sort. I am not clear as to why that is. The whole school seem to be effected at ground level. Perhaps the machinery and other electronic devices was the cause I'm not sure. That thrid floor was magic though. I just wish I could have brought my 2 meter hand held up there. I bet I can pick up some good repeaters. But even though I had my ticket, I was sufficently poor and couldn't afford some of the things I buy at flee markets now almost fifteen years later.
someone talked about messing around with automobille radios. The reason why people find they have good reception is because most cars are equipt with fm antennas and the car itself gives you a good ground for any antenna you put on it. That's why ham radio and cb radio operators love going mobile. Mobile work in itself is another important part of the fun for both transmitting and receiving. I've heard of people bringing the car sterios in to the house. I guess you can use a standard power suply to juice up the radio in your house, it would just be kind of funny that's all. Most ham radios are mobile and people use them for base all the time, but I don't think I've ran across anyone that's used their car radio that way. Sometimes with a mobile anntenna, the entire car becomes part of the antenna. So it's not uncommon to have real good radio work in the mobile. I guess the common problem would be when you cross that tunnel or get behind a street car. As the engine of the street car tends to put out an rf signal that cuts threw the bands at close proximity, yah, I guess radioing wouldn't work too well. You get simillar interfarence when you're on an airplane. While hite is mite and works great for rf, the machinery doesn't agree. Just about 10 minutes drive from me are the Scarborough bluffs. Right there you way on top of the city so you radioing would be tremenduce. In your city when you drive up some high elevation you'll get the same thing. If you're on the two way, you signal will kick ass. If you trying to pick up something far away on your fm or am you should have better luck if any at that point.
oh shit!!! i found the jackpot on DXing. my grand parrents 07 saturn vue has the best fucking radio i'd ever DXed with. I'm in altamonte springs florida witch is just north of orlando and i got "wave 92.7" out of west palm beach witch is over 300 miles away on a clear night. that radio has steller sound quality as well. It makes "810 the true oldies channel" almost to fm quality when it's an am station. it's soooo fun.
Anyone borrow your friend's or family's car keys and dx with there car radios? I do and it's fun as hell. Let me know what kind of car radios you have DXed from. I've DXed from a 03 blazer but i defanatly like DXing from the 07 vue more. The 03 blazer did well but it's nowhere near the vue. Also, this radio in the vue kills my eton e10. my e10 is good but it can't touch the radio in this car.
Wow, I wish I knew people who had car radios that I could DX with. However, I did get a little Panasonic bookshelf stereo, and even with the little thin piece of wire they call an FM antenna, when conditions ar right on FM, I can receive some distant FM stations between our locals. No, they don't come in very clear, but they break the background FM hiss enough to be understood when conditions are right. I know I can get one or two from British Columbia in Canada. But this is my second bookshelf system from Panasonic and I see they have good ears on FM. AM is mediocre and pretty much good for listening to locals.
I think some of the nicest car radios I've ever seen in terms of a hot front end and good adjacent channel rejection were some of the old Pioneer Super Tuners. I remember being about 300 miles away from Washington, D.C. and receive ing a couple of DC stations. Our elevation wasn't outstanding either.
Lou
This must have been back in 2001 or so, but I am in British Columbia Canada, just west of Vancouver, I remember this one time I got a fm dx of a few calerado stations[KKMG, some urban on 97.3 playing that where my girls at song[was hot on the rhythmic charts at the time], smooth jazz 94.7 the breeze? etc]. I got this dx a few times before years before that, but since 1999 or so dxing started happening less frequently, at least when I was around. Now I live in the city and never get any good dx-ing conditions, even for closer places like seattle, partly due to new signals clogging the airwaves. On AM I can hear as far south as KGO, and at night as far east as Calgary.
back when I lived in Saxonburg Pa, on the real cold winter nights we'd get amazing am dx. Now in this town I visit even now, it's not the best location for rf. My immediate location is at a bottom of a hill with not only concrete obstructions but the lay out of the land is such that rf signals seemed to be absorbed so one would have to erect a high gain antenna to be able to capture anything. Even still I had fun at ground level as I put up a bundle of random wire strung around my entire property. It extends from my back yard to the front of the house. I use this set up for transmitting as well as I operate cw on many of the hf bands. I thought of running a vertical antenna with cimney straps or maybe a trypod on the roof but abandon the idea as vertical antennas all though can be good ears and mouth, pull in a lot of qrn or noise if you will. Man made interference things like machinery, and different electronical devices make both the listening and working of the hobby very unpleasent in deed. So run a wire and you can reduce all the noise allthough you still hear some of it of course. In the cold winter nights I could sometimes here kfi in los angelas. Now that's 3 thousand or so miles from my location so for medium wave that's magnificent. I can hear the other loud big guns from surounding cities but some dx from the west coast was a rare treat. Usually when the medium wave band got long, people said they could see the northern lights as it passes us and everyone else from other places would report seeing the northern lights. Usually in the mid fall when we get the aurora openings, that wouldn't always effect the low bands. Usually then six meters and the vhf and uhf bands will be real good. But on some of those nights, I can remember certain long openings on the medium wave band where you might not need a long wire to capture it. As I don't think anyone else on this site is from the place I mention, perhaps their findings on medium wave reception could be different. On the fm band the short openings were magical. I had no trouble with fm at my qth and sometimes heard stations bordering in to Western New York. Once or twice I could slightly hear 1520 wkbw in Buffalo. Other times I'd pick up dispatching companies on six meters from Alligainy county which is way the hell away from me, and here the fire dispatch in Kane where a real good friend of mine Fred ka3uvc and his friend Stan n3pl live. Now and then I could pick up the repeater they like to work. It's on 146 760 with an 88 5 pl and it's tied in to the Western New York interlink system the wb2jpq. They have a system stretched out way past Southern Ontario and in to Toronto of course and way past that. So the repeater has a footprint from Western New Yrok and in to the beginning part of PA. It's amazing that I'm not supposed to pick up that side of the state and I hear it on the warm summer nights. Some people call these neat openings short skip. It is, in a sense because the rest of the time in the year you get long skip. So you wouldn't hear signals close by like 180 miles or so because those are groundwaves and skywaves are completely different allthough more predictable at best. Sporadic E conditions are my favourite. It's easy the other times of the year to get on the ham bands and work Europe or South America. It's magical to work the other side of the state and further perhaps. Sometimes on ten meters I've worked Detroit. I've heard ve3 stations from unidentified parts in Ontario which were rare. I've heard 1 call staions sometimes in which I thought were New England stations from time to time. Once in 1988 on a warm August afternoon I heard some sort of construction company from South America maybe Columbia or something. That was a long contact on 49 megs I think below the six meter band. I can hardly wait for the next sollar cycle. People said the one we're in the 23 sollar cycle was bad. I beg to differ. I had loads of fun on all the bands from 2001 when it was at it's peek. It was loke that for a good 3 years afterwards. Around 2005 and in to 2006 it was dropping tremendously. I can hardly wait till it comes back and you shortwave fans will be happy. Just watch. I've lived threw a few of these sollar cycles which magic is an under statement when describing them.
I was diligently scanning about on my old Kenwood TS 450S and heard some short skip this afternoon. I was surprised but on some of these winter nights it's a treat to get sporadic openings. On fifteen meters I could heard W1AW. I distinctly heard one of their code practice broadcasts. So I knew the band was open for short distant work which I love. I later worked a station on 12 meters from New Oxford Pa. Here in Rockville that's a short hop. So at least for this afternoon, propagation is strange.
Does anyone know the where abouts and what happened to w3eu. He was a big gun on 80 meters. From his qth in New Kensington he would get on 3851 with a little night time group and they were funny as hell. I think he was a pirate ham. I can't get any info on him from the call books but he was a big power house let me tell you. He ran a loop stretching threw his entire property and I think he has at least 700 acres of land. He would get on the air and at the whistle putting out 35000 watts he'd blast away. He ran an abandon radio station amplifier which he obviously modified to go on the ham bands and he was a force to reckon with. They called him Peter the Pig farmer and when he keyed up those 35000 kilowatts the street lights in his neibourhood would dim down. At my qth here in Rockville he was always 20 over. Loud, great audio, kind of like a broadcast station. He worked am sometimes too. He'd get on 3885 and blast away there as well. I worked him several times on 40 meters cw and often enough, he'd have trouble hearing me but no trouble hearing him, I guaranty you. My favourite thing he'd do on 80 meters that would make me laugh was he'd simply fall asleep at the mike with his vox engaged. V O X on some of these new radios is a hands free feature. Kind of like speaker phone. You don't even have to key your mike. Once you program the sensitivity on the squelch it should transmit as soon as you speak or as soon as it hears a sound prompting it to key up. I don't like vox for the reason that mine in particular is too sensitive. Now Peter the Pig farmer falling asleep at the mike would go out on the air for everyone else to hear. Keep in mind he's got a strong signal so it was hard for people to talk around and over him. He basically shut down that frequency for the night. Lots of old people have done this before when using V O X. You could actually go threw the 75 and 80 meter band late at night and hear people either incoherently speaking or just simply past out. Especially when indulging in their favourite beverage as I would suspect people on this new years eve is fixing to do. Another station I haven't heard at all anymore either is na0T. I remember around 2000 on New Years weekend when he decided to shut down 3955. That is the frequency for the libertarian net. He had an axe to grind with people there so he too was a force to reckon with. I've noticed that a few of the east coast big mouths are from PA. They all have smoking stations on 75, 80, and 160. What is with you guys and your 80 meters? It's impressive at best, but curious. I myself don't have the best set up for 75, and 80 so most of you put me to shame easily. I do have a converted Pallamar 200 which puts out 300 watts on the lying meter which Kevin KKY set me up with. But realistically I think you're gonna get 200 watts pep at the whistle out of it and it's primarily tuned for 30 megahertz. He used it for ten meters for years and then shipped it to me to try out for a while. At his house we opened it up and rearranged the chips in it so it would be fooled in to working on the low bands. It's a low drive amp so the minimal power in to it is five watts. Then it should at maximum power put out under 200 watts. The watt meters says otherwise however. I traded him an old Henry amplifier for this one. I wanted it because it's smaller and I can put it in the mobile as well. His is like a fuckin bread box. I was glad to get rid of that. It's also a TVI bomb. This primary that I'm using for the present was made in the seventies. Straight solid state with class A parts. Unlike the new amplifiers nowadays with class C and D parts with hardly any shielding so they're notorious for rf leakage. Crunchy amplifiers nowadays, people often use them for the chicken band. Oh the Henry amp I gave to my friend puts out 350 at the whistle. Still no comparison with some of you big outfits out there with your 1.5 and more kilowatts. Sure wouldn't want to be sitting underneath those antennas. Could you imagine running a big box in the mobiles and being right underneath the antenna? That's rf to the head. I lost a dear friend w6alq over something like that. He died of cancer. I think the years of sitting underneath his mobile antenna plus messing about with tuning rods did him in. So someone should post and tell me, why do PA and su
I remembbefore I got on the air as a ham op 75 and 80 meters was a band for good old boys in the south. That's not the case anymore. Why do so many east coast stations use 80? That's what I tried asking on my last post but it cut off at the end there. Maybe too long winded.
ok. time for more radio stories.
one night here in altamonte i managed to get "country 92.9" from valdosta georgia witch is over 100 miles away. that was on my phillips stereo witch i am finding that has real good reception.
also a good friend of mine has a good car stereo in there rav4. and as for the pioneer supertuners, those are good car stereos. i have never messed with one but i have heard people talk about them. they are real good DXing radios.
I get really horrible reseption where I live, but if you travel south to the next town, every station comes in crystal clear and same if you travel a little north. All these stations are around the same area but the signal misses the area i live. Anything inexpensive I could to fix this? Oh the only spot where I can get a decent signal is next to the door and the window doesn't help either. Sorry to bug you guys. It's really anoying to listen to static all the time. Oh I forgot. Therre's this one really powerful station that bleeds through no matter where on the dial I go.
hey guys. i want to bring this one back. i have found the best short wave radio i have ever played with. it is called grundig g5 or it is sold as the eton e5 as well. this radio is real good!!! it gets am stations like it's nothing. i heard a station from chicago here in florida. i can't remember witch one at the moment. and some times at night i can get fm stations from like 400 miles away. i love playing with the radio. i have been known to stay up all night just to do it. now i have school so i can't play with the radio like i used to.. but it's all good :).
Often times when conditions drop or are poor on a particular shortwave band, it sometimes gets better on another. That's why the WWV, VOA, Radio Havana, and several others have multiple frequencies on various bands to broadcast on. Sometimes to help with receiving these stations, it's a good idea to try and figure out which band is open. In the day time when skywaves are near to non existent on the lower frequencies, chances of picking up long distant broadcasts are probably slim. You might have better luck on the higher frequency bands. Like 17 megs, or 18/19 meters. I've heard some strange outfits around the 24 MHZ range (12 meters.) Now at night time, this is turned around. The skywaves become stronger on the low frequency bands and they die out on the higher frequencies. So the 7 meg range and below would be your best bet. During the war times of last century, many propaganda stations took advantage of the nighttime openings on 40 meters (7 megs) to broadcast to a world wide audience. To this day Amateurs are fighting with the commercial outfits on that band because they are being crowded. For decades that band's been shared by hams and other interested outfits who want those frequencies for the magic that happens at night when it's open. Hams want to use the band to talk to each other and usually can't compete with the huge powerful broadcast stations they share with. A compromise is slowly being made where the commercial broadcasters have to move up in the bands so the hams can have some more space to spread out with less interference, they hope. After you consider propagation as a factor in your shortwave listening, you then need to decide what you want to listen to. Does the radio I have include the bands I want to hear? Maybe this radio shack handheld I secured for 90 bucks is good enough since it picks up chunks of the forty meter and 75, 80 threw sixty meter bands. Maybe I'll try a bigger radio. A desk top with perhaps the entire HF band so I have no frequency limitations. Does it have all modes such as A.M. and Single Side Band? These too are things you should consider when buying that first receiver. Maybe you're upgrading and buying a better receiver. One last thing to consider is what antenna system is behind the receiver? Am I using the little pull up antenna that came with the receiver, or have I strung about some carefully measured wire outside my yard and have it hooked in to the set? Antenna output is very important for reception as well as mother nature. Think about these things wisely and your shortwave listening should be pleasant. Remember that there's a lot of stations that are going on line to broadcast instead. Some of them have given up shortwave and have gone on to the internet. So you might not be able to hear them anymore. Of course, many others will still take advantage of the shortwave bands. So they'll always be things to listen too. Let's hope that quantity is balanced out with quality.
Related to the last post, concerning Internet radio, I'm wondering how accessible some of you have found the dedicated internet radio receibvers to be? I've been thinking about getting one, but haven't made any decisions along those lines yet. Again, the last post took me back to when I was really involved with ham radio, and used to run lots of 40 meeter morse code.
Lou
I like forty CW for a different reason. Maybe some can relate. I can always find a slow poke to work comfortably as my copying speed has dropped in the number of years. My experience with the other bands were that people are way faster and even more so nowadays with modes like RTTY. I thought of getting one of those code readers but dismissed the idea as I feel it would defeat the purpose of straight head copying. I'll leave you with a sort of queer tidbit of information. In the early morning as sun rises and Cuba comes in, I notice many of them have unbalanced power and so as they send, they sound very chirpy. I got the impression that lots of them are using home brewed rigs and often times do not hear what they send out. Anytime I hear this distinctive chirping sound, I can usually relate it to Cuba and parts of South America. I also noticed that a few years back, the Cubans were very aggressive when contacting North America.
A little tidbit about 12 meters. I tried to work a local station on that band and found that the Shake Spear Army Big Stick I use for the higher frequency bands doesn't seem to resonate on 24.792. I probably should have used the little sloper I have in line for other frequencies. I guess the Big Stick tunes perfect from 10, 15, 17, and 20, but 12 meters is a whole other matter.
I wish I could have figured out what the Antron 99 can do with it's tuning rings but I abandoned it in favour of the Army stick. I wanted to try it because I thought it had a higher DB gain performance and the ground plain kit I got for it was far superior to the little legs that the Antron uses. These legs for the Big Stick are at least 12 feet long. A far cry from the 3 foot ones the Antron uses. I'm doubtful to the DB gain factor of both antennas however. The Antron is rated for 9.9 DB but after taking it apart and looking at it, I don't see how. When you take apart the antron you can see it's just a piece of wire strung around a fishing poll. So at best you're running a half wave dipole. Unlike the Army Stick which is a gigantic fishing poll with a 5 8's wave wire. Both antenna's are supported with fibre glass. The antron is 17 feet long unlike the 22 or so feet of the Army Stick. Almost like the Imax 2000. That as well being a 5 8's wave for 10 meters. Oh and for your information, both these wips would make good shortwave receiving antennas. As long as you don't transmit out of band with them. At least not with out a sufficient tuner.
Yeah, I'm intrigued by the idea of the WiFi radio, and I've heard of one company that is supposed to have speech built-in to their WiFi radio for accessibility's sake, but not sure of the company or whether this is still just in the idea stage or if they actually have produced something. Guess I'll wait and see.
For now, though, I'm playing with HD radio. This is basically digital radio on the same frequencies as standard AM and FM broadcasts in the United States. Haven't run into any AM HD radio stations as of yet, even though I live in a large city, but most of our FM stations have an HD stream with a few exceptions. Some just have the main channel in HD and others at least have another set of programming on the HD2. I only know of two stations that use the HD3 channel, although it has some potential even though it's mono only and pretty much voice fidelity.
I went threw some old notes I had about a radio shack shortwave receiver I still use on occasion. The Dx 398, which now has been discontinued but remade by other manufacturers. As you may or may not know that radio shack sticks their name to other products made by Yunidon, G.E. Sonny and many others. Here's a write up about that receiver I thought I'd share with everyone and especially those who use this receiver.
The DX-398 a good DXers Portable Receiver
Most DXers use this receiver for most general DXing
and also pirate radio hunting. But it can be a wear out
out for most serious radio monitors. Also it contains
longwave, AM, and Shortwave radio bands as well as FM
coverage. This radio uses seperate LSB and USB
controls that does not need a BFO since most of this
stations on this radio are on frequency. There is more
to the DX-398. 1., The radio has an external SW/MW/LW
antenna jack on the left side of the radio and also has a
telescoping rod antenna and ferrite antenna that is broad
for LW and MW coverage from 153 to 1710 kHz. The
radio has shortwave radio frequencies from 1.711 to
29.999 Megahertz and 87.5 to 108 MHz and some 64
to 92 MHz in Russia nad also 76 to 108 MHz in Japan
and other areas. The DX-398 is a good user friendly
receiver once you read the manual first then you find it
easy to operate most of the times. The DX-398 uses
180 kHz ceramic filters for adjecent channel DXing while
others in older versions use 230 kHz filters for the FM bands. If you tend you use 150 or less in the FM chain
it will somewhat disable the 57 kHz data that will reduce
RDS coverage, so its best not to modify this radio at all
times.
FOR THE LONGWAVE RADIO BANDS
The longwave radio bands perform marginally well but
its not as good as the AM bands, so its not really a good
DX tuner for the longwave radio bands due to design. Now newer versions might have this fixed so its still best
to use a loop antenna and also another antenna called the longwire antenna to pull in LW DX. Another accessorie to use is a MFJ 956 or another preselector
or some kind of coupler that will bring in the longwave
radio stations. A VLF converter is a must below 153 kHz.
FOR THE AM RADIO BANDS
The AM bands a great on this receiver also does well
with other radio stations as well as the adjecent radio
stations thanks to good selectivitiy of the radio. Local
radio stations come in well with the ferrite bar antenna
, also a longwire antenna, or inductive loop antenna
is a great addition for AM radio DXing. If some stations
use LSB or USB it will be able to receive those, but its
rare that most stations use that mode. Image rejection
is really good also and the RF gain works well on AM.
FOR THE SHORTWAVE BANDS
For the shortwave broadcast bands. The radio has
meter buttons to quickly access the meter bands as
well as the other memory pages that have stations
already programmed in them. The LSB and USB
modes are a great addition to this receiver especially
when you want to receive HAM's, pirates, military,
and other non-broadcast radio stations. Some broadcasters use USB and LSB for to relay DX
broadcasts to another location. This radio requires
a preselector to reject other stations that are stronger
than others. I have never used one, but I am sure
hoping to get one hooked up.
FOR THE FM BROADCAST BANDS
This radio performs good on FM. Since FM DXIng is my
speciality I like it cause of the good sensitivity on FM also
the RDS works well, but it does not have a SCA input
jack. I once received a FM station from NE back in 2001
during the solar maximum which was called 96.5 KRGI
and the RDS came thru. Its also great tuner to have to
get started in FM DXing, but be aware that it can overload
in seriously intermod areas, so please understand that
your radio is not broken. I have that problem here in
Virginia Beach VA and Norfolk VA so its normal for me
to receive intermod. Still Sangean is working on it as best as they can to find ways to reject it. I still think
the circuits need to be more shielded better.
ABOVE ALL
This receiver performs better than my DX-390 and is smaller and better than my DX-380 receiver. And still
its a great little book sized receiver for i travelling
and local travel. Look out for them!
This radio is a great radio and I recommend it to others in the GCC and other hobby clubs who needs a serious communications receiver for travelling and
does not have room for bulky communications equipment and needs something bring aboard a ship or aircraft (with batteries out during flight or locked)
also I love it and I want to get
another radio such as the Super 909 that has more
strength and muscle than my other radios.
FACT: Did you know the DX-398 has newer filters than the older versions? I found that out
when compared to my older version the selectivity is better on
FM!
OPINION : I think the DX-398
performs better with the TERK
AM loop Antenna. Also its a
great alternative to longwires.
ADVICE: Lightning
protection is a must for any
radio equipment. Lightining
can desensitize your DX-398
making it only pick up strong stations.
SOLUTIONS TO RECEPTION FOR DX398
There are solutions to reception and one of them
is the longwire antenna. Longwire antenna kits
can be purchased at
Radio Shack
for about $11
and its a great addition to any listening post. They
come with insulators, lead in wire, and also copper
antenna wire about 75 feet of it which all of 75 feet would do very well for the LW/MW/ and shortwave
radio bands. Also DON'T forget the ground wire
and ground rods, since the advioe above recommends that you use a ground connection
as well as a gas filled protector you can find those
at
Universal Radio
and other places of interest.
LOOP ANTENNAS ARE GREAT FOR THE
DX 398 NIGHTIME AND DAYTIME
Loop antennas are a great addition to any radio
listening post cause you can preselect any DX
station or local radio station and also null out
others. I recommend the TERK AM Loop since
its readly available at most places. Of you can
join a
group
and get support in building your
own loop antenna that can be bigger and
have wider coverage than the TERK and the
select A tenna . Also the TERK does not cover
LW so thats bad news for Europe and other
countries with LW. There is another antenna
that is good as a loop antenna called the Justice
AM loop from
C Crane.
a99
The Antron 99 EXPOSED!
(By Tech 833)
Have you ever wondered what was inside the Antron 99 antenna?
A long time ago, I purchased a Solarcon Antron 99 antenna for my propagation beacon. The Antron 99 is
really a CB antenna, but with only slight returning, it works very well on the 10-meter band. In the Antron
advertising, it explains that it is a '1/2 wave over 1/4 wave variable mutual transductance tuned antenna'
with a dB gain of 9.9 dBi. No way I thought.... However, the price was low, so I bought it anyway. After
discovering that the Antron 99 performed worse than the 5/8 wave ground plane it replaced, I set out to
discover why. What follows are my findings after dissecting 2 separate Antron 99 antennas. Ask someone to show you a phto of it. you can see the insides of the Antron 99 laid alongside the shell it was once housed in for
size reference. You see what is inside the base and how it fits inside the base section. Except
for the lower 2 feet of the Antron 99, all the rest of the antenna contains nothing more than a straight piece
of #16 bare copper wire!
You can clearly see the small section of coaxial cable that connects to SO-239 connector in the
bottom of the mounting pipe and to the coils of the matching section. No 'magic' here at all. Just above the
coils is the capacitor coupling, which is made of a nylon spacer and brass tubing. The 'twin ring' match
merely changes the inductance of the outer tuning coil. You can look down inside the capacitor-coupling unit. Ennd looking back toward the base assembly. To get an idea of how this works, imagine plates of a battery.
Current can flow between them, right? The only difference is that instead of battery acid or gel electrolyte,
the nylon spacer assembly is the electrolytic for in this case, 'plates' of the capacitor. The wire going down
the middle does NOT go all the way through. Notice the
HORRIBLE soldering job! Obviously, there was not enough heat applied to this solder joint. Also, by
adding this much series capacitive reactance, there must be a lot of series inductance to offset it. A very
lossy approach!
SSince the Antron 99 is nothing more than a standard end fed 1/2-wave dipole,
the base impedance is nearly 1,000 ohms. In order to get a 50-ohm feedpoint on a 1/2-wave element, the
antenna is shunt fed. The inner coil provides the 50-ohm point at the base of the radiator. The outer tuning
coils adjust the reactance over the selected bandwidth. Once the reactance is at or near zero, the SWR will
be very low.
If you look carefully, you will be able to
see where the inner and outer conductors of the coaxial cable connect. If you look even CLOSER, you will
see that the coaxial cable's center conductor is not even soldered to the end of the outer tuning coil! The
copper strands are merely wrapped around the bare copper end of the tuning coil! This may explain why
this antenna was so unstable in windy conditions when the tower would vibrate. This also shows where the
outer tuning coil solders onto the outside of the brass tube, which provides one plate of the 2 coupling
capacitors. You can more clearly see the coils inside one another and also the unsoldered connection
from the coaxial cable center conductor to the outer tuning coil end. The clear plastic that the coaxial outer
shield runs through is only a spacer to keep the conductors from shorting to one another. It has no tuning or
electrical purpose. If you look closely, you can see that the solder connection inside the plastic shell is just
a 'blob job' as well.
The brass cylinder on the end of the wire form
the inner conductor or 'plate' of the coupling capacitor. There is an identical brass cylinder on the end of the
long copper wire, which forms the antenna element. The two cylinders fit inside the brass sleeve but they do not touch each other end to end. There is a small space left which would act like
a spark gap in the case of lightning strike. Notice here, the solder job on the capacitor components was
superb. So what is the TRUE gain of the Antron 99? Assuming a 1/2 wave shunt fed dipole in free space, minus the
losses associated with the series capacitance and inductance, according to my math, the Antron 99 has 1.8
dBi gain. That is to say, the Antron 99 has 1.8 dB gain on the horizon over an isotropic radiator.
Referenced to a center fed 1/2 wave dipole, which is the industry standard, the Antron 99 has a
NEGATIVE gain of 0.3 dB. This could also be stated as -0.3 dBd. As a reference, my old 5/8-wave ground
plane antenna had 3-dBi gain. So, the Antron 99 was a step 'down' so to speak. Replacing the Antron 99
with a new 5/8-wave ground plane antenna will result in a 1.2-dB gain improvement.
So, you ask... Why would I buy a $50 antenna only to cut it up? Because I knew for a fact that the
marketing hype was horribly overstated. Even IF you were to design a true 1/2 wave over 1/4 wave stacked
dipole antenna, you would not get 9.9-dBi gain on the horizon. But just in case there really was some
'voodoo' happening inside the Antron 99, I had to see what it was. As you can see, the Antron 99 has no
voodoo at all. The Antron 99 is just a 1/2 wave end fed dipole with extra capacitive coupling to isolate the
antenna base from high voltages in case the installer happens to drop it across power lines and the radiator
happens to make contact with high voltage.
CLOSING STATEMENTS: The Antron 99 will NOT outperform any of the other typical 5/8 or 1/2 wave
antennas like the popular 'Ringo'. However, for a modestly priced fiberglass antenna that is less visually
intrusive than the 'ground plane' style antennas, it will certainly meet those needs
Shakespeare ABS-1600 Army Big Stick CB Antenna
November 21, 2000
Shakespeare ABS-1600 Army Big Stick CB Antenna
Broadband, over 26 to 28.5 MHz - a "no tune" antenna
UPS shippable
21' length, three sections
5/8-wave performance*
High power handling ability
VSWR <2:1 over the entire bandwidth
Transmission line transformer
Common mode current choking sleeve
Meets Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations
UPS shippable
Consistent pattern over broadband width
Shakespeare's unique design allows low-angle radiation pattern to put antenna's power parallel to the Earth's surface.
Manufactured on the same production lines and to the same critical standards as U.S. and NATO forces antennas, passing or surpassing Mil-Std 810
Covers 10- and 11-meter bands
No Tuning required
Whether used onboard ship or on tactical base stations in environmentally harsh locations, Shakespeare's fiberglass reinforced composite military antennas
have won praise from U.S. and NATO military forces for excellent durability and strong communications capability.
Now, Shakespeare is making this military design experience available to civilian communications customers. Shakespeare's Army Big Stick™ is a broadband,
high-power, off-center fed 5/8-wave antenna with extended coaxial sleeve design. It has at its heart the technology that keeps the military talking.
Built to critical military specifications, this new Model ABS-1600 Army Big Stick™ antenna stands up to high RF power levels. It doesn't mind extreme environmental
conditions, and it won't even notice high winds. All the while, it'll provide exceptional high-frequency gain and bandwidth performance. These antennas
are designed to meet and exceed the rigors of MIL-STD 810 testing for both mechanical and environmental stress. No problem.
The right choice
The advanced design of the ABS-1600 puts its power pattern on the horizon, producing more gain than traditional end-fed designs. It allows high-gain, low
fade groundwave and skywave communications even in the heaviest QRM. Easy assembly and installation, too. For today's communications, for demanding base
station operations in fair weather and foul, the Army Big Stick™ is the ideal choice.
Shakespeare Composites & Electronics, P.O. Box 733, Newberry, SC 29108. Tel: 803-276-5504; Fax: 803-276-8940.
Protecting Electrical Equipment Against Lightning Damage
Caterpillar Announces 0% APR Financing On Compact Generator Sets
Robot Inspects Wind Energy Converters
Utility Heads Pull Together To Reverse The Economic Downturn
Alliance to Save Energy Touts 'Energy Efficiency Resource Standard' frame
On the ehams website I read some of the reviews for the shake spere army big stick.
Reviews Summary for SHAKESPEARE NBS-2010 /SHAKESPEARE ABS-1600 BASE ANTENNA
Reviews: 10
Average rating: 4.5/5
MSRP: $$89.00
Description: Army Big Stick
SHAKESPEARE ABS-1600 BASE ANTENNA.
GI0ZGB
Rating: 5/5
Nov 22, 2008 06:17
Tough Antenna Update
Time owned: more than 12 months
Some people expressed the view that fitting a groundplane to the ABS would detract from it's performance, rather than add. With that in mind I pulled my
spare ABS from rainy day storage to test the theory. Both antennas were mounted at exactly the same height, and with the help of a friend we conducted
a variety of TRX tests. On TX the modified ABS was noticably better, and on very weak signal RX the standard ABS could hear nothing, whereas the modified
ABS could report R4 audio with no S-meter reading. It was also observed that the modified ABS was more broadbanded probably due to to capacitance to ground
effect of the groundplanes. In a previous test with a modified eight ground plane Sirio 827 the Sirio was the better of the two having the edge in TRX
experiments and having more usable coverage before a matching unit was required.
KD8IFJ
Rating: 5/5
Aug 28, 2008 23:03
The 2010 is a real talker!!!
Time owned: more than 12 months
I have had the pleasure of using the Shakespear big stick 2010 and have alot of fun with this antenna!!I would not put a ground plane kit on this due to
the constuction of this antenna,this is different from the a99 1/2 wave verticle because the 2010 is a 5/8 wave off center fed coaxial sleeve die pole
and to put a ground plane would detact from not add to its performance,this antenna has a low wave angle and is good on 6m,10m,11m,15m,20m,40m,and i get
a very low swr on 80m as wellwith a cheap tunner its a real talker and i have great rst reports ,i am only running it 22 feet above the ground,i would
recomend this antenna ,i also see it take our Michigan winters and strong winds ,i have had it in the air for 5 years now with no issues at all,73
ZL1DOM
Rating: 4/5
May 18, 2008 01:37
Good Strong Antenna
Time owned: more than 12 months
Good antenna and with an auto tuner was easily ale to operate on everything from 15 meters to ten meters this antenna is rock solid and does not whip around
as much as the Imax 2000. Performance wise very similar to the Imax and suffers similar TVI problems. Here in Auckland New Zealand TV channel 2 tranmits
on 55-60mhz and working 27Mhz CB and 10 metres I did have TVI problems. Although with the use of low pass filters and high pass on the tv as well as ferrite
cores on everything I was able to reduce this to just a few small lines on our tv and thankfully not causing TVI to the neighbours. Now that our television
services are going digital via satellite the TVI should no longer be a problem. Numerous contacts to the United States and also into Italy, Spain & France
on both CB & 10 meters. Survived numerous mid winter storms with winds gusting up to 80mph.
If I was able to I would rate this 4.5 but
I don't feel I could have given it a 5.
KC0YEF
Rating: 5/5
Sep 26, 2007 16:31
Exellent I have owned for 3 years
Time owned: more than 12 months
What a great antenna!!!
you can still pick these up in
Holland (Europe) for $350 dollars
I have had great results with a VSWR of 2.0 to 1
OR BETTER on all these
(Air Band 121mhz) (2m) (6m) (10m) (12m) (15m)
GI0ZGB
Rating: 5/5
Sep 21, 2007 05:54
Tough Antenna
Time owned: more than 12 months
I have always been impressed with the build quality of Shakespere antennas, in high wind they are simply the best! I have a couple of Army Big Stick 5/8wl
at the moment, fitted with eight A99 ground plane radials on a home brew hub. The radials are angled at forty two degrees and it now outperforms the Solarcon
i-Max 2000 a .64wl antenna. The i-Max is only useful down to twenty metres after that it's gone, but the Shakespere is useable all the way to 160 on RX
and with my modified SGC QMS-37 auto atu fitted at the base gives an acceptable account of itself from 160 through six metres! The claimed 12Db gain is
a CBer's ego trip, I calculate the gain on my ABS, as described, close to 3DBd. It's a shame this great antenna was discontinued, they are now as rare
as hens teeth, if you find one grab it! I would recommend this antenna without reservation and rate it 5/5 the build quality is outstanding!
N7HYF
Rating: 5/5
Nov 3, 2006 20:21
SHAKESPEAR-ABS-1600
Time owned: more than 12 months
I,ve own a Shakespear ABS-1600 5/8wave vertical,a good durable quick band antenna,great wideband capibility, than any other 1/2 wave 10 meter verticals
i have tried.I,ve used my antenna going on 10 years,it performs good from 18 to 54 mhz ,On 10 mhz it is resonance is a 1/4 wavelengh.With an antenna tuner,even
on 6meters ,it out performs my cushcraft 6meter vertical.its a hard antenna to find,,ive used other shakespear 10 meter pogo-stick vertical,there all great
products.they hold up to highwinds also very well.ABS-1600 designed around Shakespears military Antenna lines,are good products,,goodluck if you find One!
Canadian Time Standard CHU to move from long-time frequency
Time to change your shortwave radio dial! After seventy years of broadcasting Canada’s official time, the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA shortwave station
CHU will move the transmission frequency for the 7335 KHz transmitter to 7850 KHz. The change goes into effect on 01 January 2009 at 00:00 UTC. CHU is
a part of NRC’s system for disseminating official time throughout Canada, broadcasting 24 hours a day from a location approximately 15 km south-west of
downtown Ottawa. Listeners hear tones to mark the seconds, voice to announce the time in French and English, and digital data to set computers.
You can read the official announcement in PDF at:
http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/common_files/stories/chu/communique_e.pdf
Short-wave is still a big deal... Maybe
Old Knight Kit Span Master short-wave receiver kit from vintage Allied catalog
I could be listening to the repeater, reading a newspaper, checking out a story online... Sometimes something just pops out at me. This morning, for example,
I was checking through my email, and reading through the FCC's daily summary bulletin. One item caught my attention:
"INTERNATIONAL HIGH FREQUENCY Actions Taken Public Notice".
That link was worth following, so I took a look at the document on the FCC website. It turned out to be approval for several religious broadcasters to operate
on the HF bands. Googling the callsign of one of them took me to a Wikipedia article that confirmed that the station would be broadcasting near, but outside,
our 40 meter band. Whew!
WRNO Radio Worldwide's website makes the following interesting claim:
"Ten short wave radios exist for every cable and satellite TV, Internet address, and satellite radio. This 10 to 1 ratio allows individuals, as well as
families to hear broadcasts around the world." The website goes on to state that short-wave is used by governments around the world for international communication.
Now, I got to thinking about those statements, because I have been around the block a few times in this old world, and I seldom accept the first thing I
read as, um, "gospel truth", even when it is on a religious broadcaster's website. I know that the typical USA or European radio listener probably has
access to more alternatives than ever. Of course the Internet is quite simply taking over what used to be the short-wave broadcasting schedule. Even the
staid, old, reliables like the BBC have retired some HF transmitters in favor of Internet streaming audio. No doubt world governments do maintain some
short-wave facilities as backup communications for emergencies. I expect that the State Department here in the United States has an interest in a system
that remains independent of cables and Internet problems. Other governments probably do, too. But for day to day communications, you can bet that the emails
and encrypted audio connections have taken over!
Then there is that statement about the 10 to 1 ratio of short-wave receivers to every cable and satellite TV, Internet address, and satellite radio. The
problem is that even though it is likely true in some places in the world, it is tempting for those of us in the USA to assume that others do not have
modern communications amenities. Not so! Yesterday I heard a conversation between a couple of USA stations and a station from India on our favorite local
EchoLink repeater, the N0BVE machine. The topic turned to putting up TV antennas, and one of the USA stations wondered if a license was required to do
so in India. (It should be noted that a license is required in India to own a short-wave communications receiver and to be an SWL.) The station from India
replied that no TV antenna license was necessary, but added that cable and direct satellite TV were really more popular than old-fashioned TV antennas.
This is just one example of how new technologies are spreading rapidly around the world. I guess I'd assume that short-wave broadcasting is not nearly
as effective as the WRNO website claims that it is. Yes, there are a lot of old radios out there, but I think they probably are gathering dust as new technologies
sprout up. I think we can take heart that 40 meter and 75 meter broadcast interference will slowly fade away. At least we hope so!
It Seems to Us: Technology and Science, A Two-Way Street
By David Sumner, K1ZZ
ARRL Chief Executive Officer
February 01, 2009
We often link the terms science and technology, but in fact they are quite different concepts. Broadly speaking, technology involves the development of
tools. The modern radio transceiver — a complex combination of hardware and software — is a product of technology, but so is a hammer. Science, on the
other hand, involves the pursuit of a better understanding of the physical environment, not just here on our little blue planet but in the entire cosmos.
When we think of the relationship between science and technology it is usually in terms of the contributions of the former to the latter. Scientific advances
give us the ability to make better tools. Tools usually mean hardware, but not always. Currently the most exciting improvements in our transceivers come
from software, particularly software defined radios (SDRs). Software may be a purely intellectual product, but the ever-increasing capabilities of software
that we have come to expect (and that sometimes seem to be forced upon us even if we neither want nor need them) depend on the faster microprocessors and
the cheap and abundant data storage devices that are among science's end products.
But what about the contributions that technology can make to science? Specifically, what can we as radio amateurs do with our ever-more-sophisticated hardware
and software to contribute to human understanding of our physical world? The answer may be, more than we think.
There is no doubt that radio amateurs currently possess the world's largest pool of experience with -- and even more important, curiosity about -- radio
wave propagation. This is especially true of ionospheric propagation, which has not been of much commercial interest since the widespread deployment of
communications satellites. Military interest also has waned although that trend may have begun to reverse. Academic curiosity tends to follow research
grants, which have been flowing in other directions.
One natural focus of amateurs' interest is on trying to improve our ability to forecast propagation conditions. We want to know what time a particular frequency
will let us reach a specific place, or what band is the best bet to bridge a specific path at a particular time of day. Another focus is on anomalous propagation:
predicting or detecting unusual conditions that provide rare opportunities for long-distance (DX) communications. For the users of other services propagation
anomalies are a nuisance, whereas for us they provide a reward for hours of patient monitoring in the form of contacts with new countries, states and grids.
Learning how to improve the reliability of radio communication is useful. Chasing rare contacts is both educational and fun. Occasionally amateurs have
gone beyond these self-fulfilling activities and have contributed in an organized way to the science of radio propagation. Here are just a few examples.
List of 4 items
• For several years in the early 1920s, at the request of the Bureau of Standards the ARRL organized "fading tests" in which amateurs were asked to observe
and report on the nature of fading on short wave signals. The results of these tests contributed to the understanding of the influences on short wave propagation.
• During the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year the ARRL collected data on VHF propagation, with an emphasis on ionospheric scattering, under a contract
with the U.S. Air Force.
• Over a period of decades, sporadic-E propagation events have been exhaustively analyzed by amateurs in an effort to find correlations with other natural
phenomena. The quest continues for an understanding of what causes the "clouds" of intense ionization to form in the E layer.
• As reported in December 2007 QST, an effort to determine whether Marconi's claim of having bridged the Atlantic by radio in 1901 was credible led to
unexpected observations of long-distance daylight propagation in the medium frequency range (160 meters and the AM broadcast band).
list end
The December 2007 QST article included an intriguing reference to the relationship between the amount of nitric oxide in the D layer -- the concentration
of which is greater now than in Marconi's day -- and the daylight absorption of radio signals. The article suggested that absorption may have been less
in 1901 than now, yet many amateurs have observed that during the current solar minimum DX has been better than ever on our lowest frequency bands, 160
and 80 meters, and that -- contrary to conventional wisdom and recollections of past experience -- propagation sometimes commences well before local sunset
and lasts well past local sunrise. None of the current observers were around in Marconi's day, of course, but many among us have been DXing for decades
and so can draw on experience gained over half or more of that time.
We know that the protective "bubble" that surrounds our planet and makes life as we know it possible is constantly changing in countless subtle ways. The
history of radio encompasses just a fraction of the span of scientific observations of the sun and of environmental conditions here on earth. We tend to
be obsessed with sunspots, but are there other factors whose influence on radio propagation might be detected through long-term observation? Can we put
our new tools to work, collecting propagation data more comprehensively and accurately than ever before? By doing so can we contribute not only to the
science of radio propagation but to environmental science as well?
Why not?
Distress Beacons at 121.5 and 243 MHz Phased Out
Cospas-Sarsat
This graphic gives an overview of how the Cospas-Sarsat system works. First, a beacon is activated due to grave or imminent danger (1). Next, the Cospas-Sarsat
satellite systems receives the distress signal (2). The alert is re-transmitted to automated ground stations called Local User Terminals (LUTs) (3). Mission
Control Centers (MCCs) receive the alerts from the LUTs and process the signals and them forward them to the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) (4). The
RCC verifies the distress and alerts the nearest Search and Rescue unit (5). The Search and Rescue unit goes to the distress scene (6).
As of February 1, the
Cospas-Sarsat
(Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking) satellites are
no longer monitoring distress beacons
at 121.5 and 243 MHz. All mariners, aviators and individuals who use emergency beacons on those frequencies will need to switch to the newer, digital 406
MHz frequency if they want to be detected by the monitoring satellites. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (
NOAA)
claims that in 2008, beacons monitored by the Cospas-Sarsat worldwide system were responsible for almost 300 lives saved, including 203 people rescued in
65 in at-sea incidents and 12 people rescued in 7 aviation incidents.
"Over the years, many amateurs have played vital roles by monitoring frequencies that the satellites have stopped tracking," said ARRL Emergency Preparedness
and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD. "While the switchover to 406 MHz just occurred, there is still 'older' equipment out in the world, so amateurs
may want to continue monitoring, as they may save a person's life who doesn't have the latest gear, but is in distress and needs to be found."
According to NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (
NESDIS),
NOAA, the US Coast Guard, the US Air Force and NASA monitored these emergency beacons. According to NESDIS, problems in the frequency band that inundated
search and rescue authorities with poor accuracy, as well as numerous false alerts that adversely impacted the effectiveness of lifesaving services, were
some of the deciding factors to stop the monitoring of 121.5 and 243 MHz. The agency also acknowledged that two United Nations agencies -- the International
Maritime Organization (
IMO)
and the International Civil Aviation Organization (
ICAO) --
recommended the switchover to the 406 MHz digital frequency, even though the beacons for this frequency will cost more.
Cospas-Sarsat provides a satellite based worldwide monitoring system that detects and locates distress signals transmitted by 406 MHz Emergency Locator
Transmitters (ELTs, used in aviation), Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs, used for maritime) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs, used
by individuals). The system includes space and ground segments that process the signals received from the beacon source and forwards the distress alert
data to the appropriate Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) for action.
NOAA said that the 406 MHz emergency beacons have "superior performance capabilities" as
compared
to the 121.5 and 243 MHz beacons, as they "transmit a stronger signal and are more accurate, verifiable and traceable," and that the 406 MHz distress signals
can be "easily detected within a matter of minutes. Each 406 MHz beacon has a unique ID encoded within its signal. As long as the beacon has been registered
(required by law), RCCs can quickly confirm that the distress is real, who they are looking for and where they should look. This means that a search can
be launched even before a final distress location has been determined. Position accuracy means the search area is less than 2 nautical miles in radius,
which decreases the amount of time SAR teams must search."
Whither Shortwave Broadcasting?
By David Sumner, K1ZZ
ARRL Executive Vice President
July 27, 2001
Radio broadcasting was a latecomer compared to Amateur Radio, but shortwave (SW) broadcasting is almost as old as broadcasting itself. Also called high-frequency
(HF) broadcasting, it has two great strengths: it reaches people in isolated locations and it defies political boundaries.
HF broadcasting came into its own as a propaganda medium in the tense years leading up to World War II and flourished during the Cold War. Those of us who
grew up learning in school to "duck and cover" during air raid drills could go home and hear the propaganda war played out by Radio Moscow and other stations
from the opposite side of the Iron Curtain. Our counterparts on that side did much the same, tuning to Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, the Voice of America,
and the BBC when they could hear them through the jamming. It was the stuff of spy novels, brought to life in our bedrooms.
Shortwave listening (SWLing) was a common intermediate step between discovering the magic of radio and obtaining an amateur license. Many never saw the
necessity for a transmitting license, finding plenty to keep them enthralled just by listening. Many who did get a license maintained a serious interest
in SWLing, developing esoteric specialties (for example, collecting Indonesian tropical broadcasters) that require a knowledge of propagation surpassing
that of an Honor Roll DXer.
That, as they say, was then -- and this is now. The Cold War is over. The major international broadcasters now reach a larger share of their audiences through
local stations and the Internet than by shortwave. For example, in Prague you can now hear the BBC on an FM radio -- a far cry from 1968. Streaming brings
perfect digital audio to your computer, 24 hours a day, from a multitude of sources and in dozens of languages. Many cable systems carry international
radio broadcasting channels. Digital sound broadcasting by satellite is beginning to catch on. Nor are broadcasters and their audiences limited to audio.
Want to see TV news from around the world? You can get it by satellite, complete with English interpretation. Want the news from a German perspective?
Every night you can watch a highly polished newscast delivered in perfect English courtesy of Deutsche Welle.
The Gulf War may have been the last international crisis in which HF broadcasting played a major role in keeping people informed. By contrast, during the
more recent crisis in Yugoslavia it was possible to find representatives of every conceivable point of view, official and otherwise, on the Web.
Big news in May was that the venerable BBC had decided to drop its shortwave broadcasts to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands
effective July 1. Service is being shut down on nine frequencies to North America and on four to the Pacific. "The Beeb" will still be heard here via transmitters
intended for Central and South America and Asia, but we are no longer a target area. This made the headlines because the BBC is so highly respected, but
in reality it is simply the latest in a string of shortwave service curtailments over the past decade. Cost is the dominant factor: Big HF transmitters
are expensive to maintain and operate.
With this backdrop you may wonder: Why are broadcasters looking for more spectrum between 4 and 10 MHz? Why is 40 meters such a problem? If they are already
losing HF listeners, why are they spending money to develop a digital system for HF that will require listeners to buy new receivers?
Taking the last question first, there is a huge question mark hanging over HF digital broadcasting. Broadcasters are hedging their bets. They want to rewrite
rules that now require them to abandon double-sideband AM no later than 2015. They want to be free to use both AM and digital for the foreseeable future.
In other words, they want to abandon the quest for spectrum efficiency that was mandated by the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference. Whether they
will be allowed to do so is one of the questions that will be answered at the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference.
Whether they see their future as digital or AM, some broadcasters place a premium on the spectrum between 4 and 10 MHz. With fewer political barriers to
worry about they are changing their transmitter placement strategy. In some cases, transmitters that are located in what used to be "enemy territory" are
now available for lease! For reliability they want to use transmitters that are one ionospheric hop from their target audience, and for that the frequencies
below 10 MHz are ideal. Even with the service cutbacks the stated requirements for broadcasting channels below 10 MHz still exceed their allocations.
Internet streaming is coming much more slowly to some parts of the world than to others. In most countries, Internet service is not available for a flat
monthly fee and heavy use is prohibitively expensive. Some countries continue to limit their citizens' access to certain Internet content.
The Cold War is over but there remain regional tensions in many parts of the world. Even the BBC is adamant that it remains committed to shortwave to reach
audiences in the Middle East, The Gulf, and Asia.
HF broadcasting has one unique feature that means it will never be entirely written off by those responsible for foreign policy. Unlike any other means
of reaching a distant audience, there is no "gatekeeper." The friendly administration that allows your program to be aired on a local FM station today
may be gone tomorrow. Internet and telephone connections can be cut. Even satellite feeds can be disrupted.
HF remains the medium of last resort. Of course, if you're a ham you knew that!
Intruder Plagues 20-Meter Service Nets
An intruding signal that appears as a high-pitched heterodyne or squeal continues to trouble 20-meter service nets, despite
efforts by the ARRL and IARU Region 2 Monitoring systems to remedy the situation. The bothersome signal--possibly a harmonic from a South American domestic
broadcast transmitter--has been troubling the Maritime Mobile Service Net and Intercontinental Traffic Net on 14.300 MHz.
"We continue to work through formal and informal channels to resolve the matter," said ARRL Monitoring System Administrator Brennan Price, N4QX.
Recently, the Maritime Mobile Service Net was forced to work around the heterodyne interference to assist the US Coast Guard in the rescue of a vessel adrift
in the Caribbean.
Efforts to remedy the intruder problem have been under way since May, when Virgin Islands Section Manager John Ellis, NP2B, alerted ARRL Headquarters to
the squealing signal. Ellis, a controller for the two nets, provided the initial characterization necessary to identify the signal--language, programming
and frequency. The AM transmissions of music and speech are in Spanish, and the signal's frequency fluctuates within a few kHz of 14.301 MHz.
spectrogram of the intruder signal on 14,301 kHz
A spectrogram of the intruder signal on 14,301 kHz captured by IARU Region 2 Monitoring System Coordinator Martin Potter, VE3OAT. The chart shows how the
frequency of the intruder varies. [
larger image]
Price relayed Ellis' report to IARU Region 2 Monitoring System Coordinator Martin Potter, VE3OAT, who said information and an audio clip he had received
May 21 from Eric Mackie, 9Z4CP, in Trinidad and Tobago, clinched the identification as "Radio Majagual." Potter said his own monitoring verified the Radio
Majagual identification. The station ID is unique to domestic AM broadcaster HJQX in Sincelejo, Colombia, which transmits on or near 1430 kHz.
Potter notes that in early 1998, HJQX was logged by short-wave listeners on a third harmonic of 4290.3 kHz. "The 10th harmonic of 1430.1 is, of course,
14,301 kHz, exactly the frequency now being observed," he said. Potter concedes, however, that he and other monitoring authorities are puzzled that such
a high-order harmonic could cause such significant interference. "I still find it hard to accept a 10th harmonic," he said.
Potter has not ruled out the possibility that the signal could be a spurious or mixing product of some sort, and not necessarily a harmonic. "In fact, knowing
how complicated the 'knitting patterns' of some mixing products can be, I wouldn't be surprised at anything," he said.
Potter said that, although 14,301 kHz is outside of the amateur-exclusive 14,000-14,250-kHz portion of 20 meters, the Broadcasting Service is not a legitimate
user of the band 14,250-14,350 kHz.
HEAR THE AUDIO
OF THE INTRUDING SIGNAL, CLEARLY IDENTIFYING AS Radio Majagual, HJQX. [00:37]
With Potter's report in hand, Ignacio Barraquer, HK3CC, IARU liaison with Liga Colombiana de Radioaficionados (LCRA), contacted the general manager of HJQX
about the suspected harmonic. While the manager expressed doubts that his station was the cause of the interference, he promised to try to take care of
it.
When it became apparent that this approach hadn't worked yet, ARRL asked the FCC, through its periodic intrusion reports, to file a formal complaint through
administrative channels. On July 12, the Colombian Ministry of Communications informed the FCC that the complaint had been forwarded to the appropriate
department.
FCC OFFICIAL MEETS HAMS ON THEIR OWN TURF
The FCC's Amateur Radio enforcer, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, turned up in an unexpected place January 13--75 meters! In what could be an unprecedented
move, Hollingsworth, legal advisor for amateur enforcement within the FCC's Compliance and Information Bureau, showed up on 3894.5 kHz to discuss enforcement
and encourage compliance.
"A couple of them were pretty shocked," he said. "This has never been tried before," Hollingsworth said the next morning. He said he broke in on an argument
that was growing increasingly nasty in an effort to settle things down, then stayed to discuss enforcement with the hams on frequency.
Hollingsworth says he thinks one key to compliance is just getting people to listen to what he has to say. "Most people, if you can just get to them on
a one-to-one basis, they'll listen," he said, reflecting his overall enforcement approach to attempt to reason violators into voluntary compliance rather
than writing them up. During his time on the air, Hollinsgsworth confronted one individual he'd already been in touch with about alleged on-air misbehavior.
Among other things, he told those on hand that noncompliance and inappropriate on-air behavior could even threaten the hobby's HF allocations. Hollingsworth
advised hams to be more tolerant and patient and to avoid confrontation or retaliation.
"We all have to realize we're on a mission here--to save Amateur Radio," he said the day after his 75-meter appearance. "There are going to be licenses
lost and fines owed." The jammers already are well on their way to "hanging themselves" right now, he said.
Even as he preached better behavior, Hollingsworth says he understood from the others on frequency that someone was attempting to jam his signal. "I hope
the monitoring folks were on the frequency too," he said.
Hollingsworth advised the hams on 75 to contact him with enforcement problems, and he gave out his e-mail address and telephone number (
rholling@fcc.gov
; 717-338-2502). "I don't know what effect it will have," he said of his on-air foray. Hollingsworth says he'll "do what it takes" to improve amateur compliance,
and that could include future on-air visits with amateurs.
"I've gotten a lot of feedback this morning by phone and e-mail asking me to do it more often," he said. "We'll be listening more and asking to be allowed
in QSOs more."
Hollingsworth, who's based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, took over the FCC's most recent Amateur Radio enforcement initiative last September (see
related story).
FCC WARNS ALLEGED MAJOR AMATEUR OFFENDERS
The FCC has issued strong warnings to two amateurs in Indiana and a third in New York who are on the Commission's top ten list of alleged major amateur
offenders. The FCC's amateur enforcement point man, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, says the warning letters sent earlier this month are the last step before
the FCC initiates formal enforcement proceedings. One case primarily involved malicious interference on VHF repeaters, while the other two involved interference
to an HF net.
"We have been cutting bait a while, now it's time for us to fish," said Hollingsworth, the legal advisor for enforcement within the FCC's Compliance and
Information Bureau.
The FCC did not make the names or call signs public, but Hollingsworth said all those who received the letters were put on the FCC's Alert List with FCC
field offices. "The Alert List is the FCC equivalent of an all-points bulletin," Hollingsworth explained. He said Field Office monitors would be making
a special effort to listen for further violations by stations on the Alert List.
Since taking over Amateur Radio enforcement within the CIB last fall, Hollingsworth says he's sent out dozens of warning letters of a much milder nature.
"Now, we're distilling that activity to the worst offenders," he said of the latest epistles. Hollingsworth indicated that similar actions were imminent
in other major cases of alleged amateur rules infractions. He also said he has sent out another three dozen or so routine warning letters "generally based
on a collection of complaints received over the holidays."
The letters sent out January 7 and 8 spell out the agency's expectations in no uncertain terms. In the case of the alleged HF offenders, Hollingsworth's
letters state that the Commission "has additional evidence that you have been deliberately and maliciously interfering with the operations of other licensed
amateurs," primarily a 75-meter net. Both hams--whose cases are related--already had received official Notices of Violation last fall for similar conduct,
and the FCC had imposed restricted operating hours on one of them. But the FCC says that the troublesome behavior has continued.
Hollingsworth said the alleged illegal activities not only put the hams' licenses in jeopardy but open them up to possible fines and even put transmitting
equipment at risk of seizure. He said he also has cautioned the controllers of the net involved to not engage hecklers or those attempting to harass or
interfere, nor to call up the net on a busy frequency. "One thing these nets have to understand is that the nets don't own the frequency," he said.
The case of the alleged VHF offender had a similar pattern. The amateur license of the ham in question already had been suspended at one point, but violations
are said to have continued, even during the suspension period. Beyond amateur violations, Hollingsworth said that the FCC's evidence indicated the amateur
had threatened FCC employees and others. He told the ARRL that additional warning letters went out to eight other individuals whom he described as "cohorts"
to the alleged prime VHF offender.
Hollingsworth requested that all of the amateurs contact him immediately to discuss the allegations. After a lengthy telephone conversation with one of
them, Hollingsworth expressed optimism that the situation would be resolved.
In an unrelated case, Hollingsworth recently mailed warning letters to six individuals in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area regarding alleged malicious
interference on VHF.
hi all. living in sydney allows me to pick up w quite a few interstate station. since the age of 6 or so I have been listening to radio and my interest slowly grow. I love to listen to regional radio especailly interstate abc like the BBC and NPR. I bought myself a Sonny radio wehn i was 12 and got nice reception on am up to 100 miles away. as years passed I got my self more radios over the years until my 18th birthday when I bought meself a Llenix radio for au 100. It can pick up Am 90 miles away and FM at least 50 miles. The way i determining a good radio: is. If I can pick up the out of sydney horse racing radio station, dcalled 2Ky on 1314KHZ 2LT Lifco in the blue moutains on 900KHZ west of Sydney and 2HD on 1143KHZ. in Newcastle about 75 miles away to the north. for FM if I can pick up 2Go central coast 107.7 and abc illawarra about 55 miles south of sydney then its a great radio.
OHIO VOA ANTENNAS COME DOWN
Ham visitors to Ohio--perhaps on their way to the Dayton Hamvention--sometimes found it hard to keep their eyes on the highway when passing the Voice of
America's Bethany Relay Station. The vast antenna farm off I-75 north of Cincinnati consisting of 14 rhombics and a huge Sterba curtain easily distracted
most hams.
At one time among the most powerful shortwave stations in the world, the Bethany Relay Station was shut down a couple of years ago. Earlier this month,
the towers supporting the majestic Sterba curtain and other wire arrays came crashing down--to make way for commercial and recreational development and
a university campus on the 625-acre site. Among those on hand to watch the spectacle was Tom Rupp, W8TCR, a VOA engineer for 26 years who retired in 1993.
Work will continue to remove the other towers and structures. Most of the towers will be pulled from the ground with a crane. Forty towers, ranging from
90 to 150 feet tall, will be salvaged. Crews will finish clearing the towers by February.
A report in the Cincinnati Enquirer quoted ham radio operator Joe Goforth, WB8NFJ, who lived less than a mile from the VOA site for two decades. "I used
to talk to the engineers all the time," he told the paper, noting that VOA broadcasts sometimes interfered with his ham gear. "But I guess I'm a little
disappointed to see it go," he added.
For a look at one of the Sterba curtain support towers coming down, see
http://www.palmtop.net/img/voa.jpg
. For more info on the Bethany Relay Station, visit the Jim Hawkins' (WA2WHV) Radio Room,
http://www.exit109.com/~jimh/voaohio.html.
--thanks to Mitch Hamm, N8XS, and Jim Hawkins, WA2WHV
NORTH POLE NET
Thanks to ham radio, several hospitalized kids in the Omaha area got a chance to visit with Santa Claus earlier this month. Sixteen members of the Ak-Sar-Ben
Amateur Radio Club were called into action by Santa to activate the North Pole Network on December 13. This marked the fourth consecutive year that net
coordinator Pat Joseph, NØHPP, has organized the event that uses ATV and Amateur Radio to allow Santa Claus to visit area hospitals.
Working with Santa and the nurses and technical staff of area hospitals, the children could see and hear Santa on their hospital room TVs and talk to him
via Amateur Radio. This year, three hospitals had children who wanted to talk to Santa, and 24 kids had a chance to have a visit from Santa and discuss
their Christmas lists. The hams used the KØ0USA 2-meter repeater, which is owned and operated by the Ak-Sar-Ben ARC, and the WBØCMC ATV repeater which
is sponsored by WOWT Television. Both repeaters are located on the WOWT broadcast tower.--Pat Joseph, NØHPP
HAM RADIO HISTORY
In a whimsical mood, here's a lighthearted look at ham radio history. The original version of this was posted on the Contest Reflector a few months back.
* 4 Billion BC--Earth is a swirling ball of flames. Propagation is extremely poor.
* 1 Billion BC--First dry land appears. It is divided up into grid squares.
* 500 Million BC--Second patch of dry land appears. First DXpedition; DXCC credit disallowed because of questionable licensing agreement.
* 400 Million BC--Flowering plants and grasses evolve. Rotary beam invented, but sales stall for lack of suitable mounting structures.
* 300 Million BC--First tree appears and is immediately cut down, stripped of branches, placed in a concrete base and called a telephone pole. Beam sales
pick up.
* 200 Million BC--More beams sold. Installer falls from top of pole. Safety belt is invented.
* 100 Million BC--First mountain appears. The repeater is invented.
* 50 Million BC--CQ is adopted.
* 4 Million BC--Humans replace swine as dominant species. The name ham operator hangs on, however.
* 3 Million BC--Dugout canoe invented. Maritime Mobile Net formed on 14.313 MHz.
* 2 Million BC to 800 AD--Nothing much happens for a long time.
* 900 AD--Chinese invent gunpowder. BY1AA is first "Big Gun" DXer.
* 1790 AD--Ben Franklin invents long wire receiving antenna. Ground switch invented.
* 1961 AD--Second repeater erected. First repeater group refuses to change frequency. First repeater coordinator appointed.
* 1997 AD--Amateur Radio humor sinks to a new low.
K4AZV
BPL Testing - Nelson County, VA
Conducted 8:30 am-1:00pm on 12/8/2004
Introduction – Signals vs Interference
To fully appreciate this report it is important to review a few terms. For the purpose of this
report a signal is an intentional emission of intelligence using allocated spectrum in the radio
frequencies. Interference at these frequencies can be from natural sources or man made. When
one signal makes it difficult for the other to be received, it is said to interfere with that signal.
There are specific rules for dealing with interference. Frequency allocations are made by the
Federal Communications Commission to licensed services. The Commission also has rules for
secondary services and for “unlicensed” devices. The rules for unlicensed devices are referred
to as Part 15. When a Part 15 device interferes with a licensed service, the Federal
Communications Commission places the responsibility to resolve the interference problem on
the Part 15 emitter.
It is important to note that the nature of the BPL signal is fundamentally different from the
signals typically found within this portion of the radio spectrum. In the HF spectrum signals
are normally discrete, that is they occupy a small portion of the spectrum and it is normally
possible for an operator to avoid the interference by tuning away from the undesired signal.
Where BPL signals are encountered this is not possible because they occupy a large portion of
the spectrum with the exception of the pass bands where they are notched out.
In December 2004, the BPL committee of the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club conducted an
initial test of the BPL system installed by IBEC at the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative
(CVEC) in Nelson County, Virginia. IBEC’s system employs a notching scheme intended to
reduce BPL signal strength in the HF amateur radio bands. IBEC provided a copy of their
spectral mask showing the location and depth of these notches, which is included as Appendix
A. The test was designed by the BPL committee and conducted with the cooperation of IBEC
and CVEC. The test had several objectives, namely:
1. To determine the effectiveness of IBEC's notching of the HF amateur radio bands. 2. To determine the level of potential interference to Short-wave Listening
Bands, the low VHF public service frequencies, the frequencies used by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the frequencies used by the air traffic
system. 3. To model the behavior of the system when the number of active users increases and traffic approaches saturation.
4. To determine the potential impact of amateur radio transmissions near the BPL system.
Test Equipment Used:
(K4AZV) Kenwood TS480SAT w/Hamstick antennas, noise reduction and digital noise
limiting.
(KD4BMQ & WK4Y) Icom IC-706 MKIIG with a Tar heel antenna
(AD6JV) Elecraft K-2 with Hamsticks in Vertical and Horizontal polarization
(KB1DOE) Radio Shack mobile scanner for low band VHF
The testers assembled at various points along the BPL system. Two mobile units were at
the site where the signal injector is located-one with a scanner and one with an HF radio.
One mobile unit with an HF radio was positioned at the site of a regenerator unit that was
close to an active BPL customer. One mobile unit was positioned at the site of a remote
regenerator where there were no customers in the vicinity. It must be observed that the
mobile stations using the Tarheel ™ and Hamstick™ antennas in this initial test are not as
sensitive as the equipment and antennas found in most home based amateur radio stations.
Test observations as Follows:
Throughout the system and noticed by all testers, including the chief engineer for IBEC
who was accompanying one of the testers in a vehicle our observations were:
There was no perceptible BPL signal received on the 160-meter 80-meter or 40-meter bands.
On the 60-meter band, a considerable amount of "typewriter" type BPL signal from just above the noise floor to S6 interference levels.
At the signal injector site, S9 BPL signal levels were heard just below the 20-meter band with readings at S1 to S3 in the band.
In the 17-meter, 15-meter, 12-meter and 10-meter bands there was no BPL signal heard.
There were S1 typewriter type BPL signal levels at 6-meters.
On the SWL frequencies the testers heard BPL signals between S3 and 30 db over 9 noise levels depending on the position along the transmission line.
There was no BPL signal heard around the 120 MHz airline band.
The public service band between 38 MHz and 47 MHz experienced harmonic interference from the main signal.
The WWV at 5 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz experienced noise from S3 to 20 db over 9 depending on the receivers’ position along the transmission line.
The strongest signals during the testing were in the 4 MHz, 5 MHz and 11-13 MHz areas.
These signals stretched evenly through the bands. Relative signal strength received does not
change by tuning to different frequencies but rather by moving along the MV distribution line.
Test Results - Conclusions vs. Objectives
1. On this day of testing
we did detect BPL signals in the 60 –meter, 20-meter and 6-meter
amateur bands while measuring directly underneath the power-lines. The BPL signal on the 6-
meter and 20-meter bands diminished when one moved beyond a distance of 100 –feet from the
power-line. The BPL signal was also detected on short wave listening and WWV frequencies.
No BPL signal was detected on the amateur 160-meter, 80-meter, 40-meter, 17-meter, 15-
meter, 12-meter or 10-meter bands or the air traffic control bands.
No testing was performed on the amateur VHF above 54 mHz or UHF frequency bands.
Harmonics of the BPL signal were received in the public service band and the 6-meter band when
parked directly under the power-line. These signals were detected up to 100 feet from the
power-line. Amateur radio operators using the HF spectrum often operate using weak signal
modes. It remains to be seen whether or not the 60-meter band will be effectively notched out
by the second generation BPL equipment.
2. There was considerable BPL signal noted on the short wave listening (SWL) frequencies and
on the WWV frequencies at proximity, however some SWL and WWV signals were readable.
It is believed by those in the amateur community that a fully populated system makes
listening annoying and difficult. This level of interference is unacceptable for it renders these
frequencies useless for anyone in close proximity to the lines and would obliterate any SWL
signal or WWV signal.
The low VHF public service frequencies experienced detectable harmonics from the main BPL
signal. This is unacceptable as several of the local fire and rescue organizations depend upon
these frequencies for communications. Because the regenerators act as packet relay devices,
there is never more than one transmitting in a region at a time (within 1-1.5 miles). Because of
this, radiation from the units will not combine to form a coordinated stronger signal than that
produced from an individual device. The effect of a fully populated system here cannot be
determined. We did not have the appropriate equipment to test with regard to the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory frequencies. There was no noise detected during the test in the
VHF air traffic band.
3. The test was unable to determine the impact of a fully populated system. At the time of the
test, IBEC had upwards of 70 customers actively taking service utilizing the BPL system.
IBEC did assist us by downloading several large files during the test. The nature of the IBEC
system is such that data transfer will always be “bursty” in nature and separated by periods of
inactivity. These files proved to be inadequate to simulate a fully saturated system. A fully
saturated system will fill in the spaces between th
CHU Time Service
Note: On January 1, 2009, the 7335 kHz transmitter was moved to 7850 kHz. For more information check the
INMS communique
. The program remained the same, with the announcements of time with the voice and digital data. The frequency of the carrier is still synchronized to an
atomic frequency standard and can be used as a new reference frequency.
Time accuracy superior to telephone time accuracy is available throughout Canada and in many other parts of the world by means of NRC's radio time signals
broadcast continuously from short wave radio station CHU. If corrections are made for the propagation delay from CHU to the user, and for delays in the
user's receiver, an accuracy of better than 1 ms can be obtained. Signal availability at a user's location depends on ionospheric conditions. CHU also
broadcasts a time code which can be decoded with common computers and modems.
Three frequencies are used: 3330, 7850, and 14 670 kHz. The transmission mode, upper single sideband with carrier re-inserted, provides time signal service
without requiring a special SSB radio, and also provides three standard frequencies. The frequencies are derived from one of a trio of closely synchronized
atomic clocks located at the transmitter site. Three clocks are employed to permit majority logic checking. CHU time signals are also derived from these
clocks. The clocks at the CHU transmitter site, about 20 km from NRC's time laboratory, are compared daily with the NRC primary cesium clocks.
Normally CHU's emission times are accurate to 10-4 s, with carrier frequency accuracy of 5x10-12, compared to NRC's primary clocks, which are usually within
10 microseconds and 1x10-13 compared to UTC. UTC is the international official time reference. It is constructed by the Bureau International des Poids
et Mesures (BIPM), based on the average of laboratory and commercial atomic clocks located in laboratories around the world. It is steered in frequency
using the primary cesium standards (such as those at NRC) located at some of the major time laboratories. UTC loosely follows the irregularities of the
astronomical time scale UT1, which is needed in astronomical observations and in celestial navigation. Since 1972, leap seconds have been used to keep
UTC within 0.9 s of UT1. The difference [UT1- UTC] is called DUT1, and this fraction of a second [-0.8 s to +0.8 s] is broadcast by means of an internationally
accepted code. To decode the size of DUT1, in tenths of a second, a user counts the number of emphasized seconds markers in one minute. For CHU, the emphasized
seconds pulses are split, so that a double tone is heard. When the emphasis is on seconds 1 through 8, DUT1 is positive; and when DUT1 is negative, seconds
9 through 16 are used.
The first minute of each hour commences with a full 1 s pulse of 1000 Hz tone, followed by 9 s of silence, and then the normal pattern of 0.3 s pulses of
1000 Hz at one-second intervals. The normal pattern for each of the next 59 minutes starts with a 0.5 s 1000 Hz pulse, followed by the DUT1 code employing
split 0.3 s pulses where required, and normal 0.3 s pulses up to and including that at 28 seconds. The pulse at 29 seconds is omitted. Following the normal
pulse at 30 seconds, for a 9 s period, 1000 Hz pulses of 0.01 s occur, each followed by the CHU FSK digital time code described in
CHU Broadcast Codes
. The pulses between 40 and 50 seconds are of normal length. In the final 10 s period of each minute a bilingual station identification and time announcement
is made, with the 1000 Hz seconds pulses shortened to "ticks". Each minute's announced time refers to the beginning of the pulse which follows. Since April
1, 1990, the announced time is always UTC.
The CHU station is located 15 km southwest of Ottawa at 45º 17' 47" N, 75º 45' 22" W. Main transmitter powers are 3 kW at 3330 and 14 670 kHz, and 10 kW
at 7335 kHz. Individual vertical antennas are used for each frequency. The electronics systems feeding the transmitters are duplicated for reliability,
and have both battery and generator protection. The generator can also supply the transmitters. The announcements are made by a talking clock using digitally
recorded voices.
Historical Information
Radio station CHU is operated by the Institute for National Measurement Standards at the National Research Council of Canada.
The call letters CHU were first used for Canadian time transmission in 1938, on the modern frequencies, 3330 KHz, 7335 KHz and 14670 KHz. Before that the
call letters of essentially the same transmissions were VE9OB. The carrier frequency has been the specified standard since 1934; before that the quartz
oscillators had been tuned to standard wavelengths. Continuous transmissions at a wavelength of 20.4 m had started in 1933, joining the 40.8 m and 90 m
transmissions, which began in 1929 (daytime only). Daily transmission on a wavelength of 52.5 m had begun in 1928 under the call letters 9CC (later VE9CC),
but ceased with the startup of 40.8 m operation. 9CC had started experimental time transmission in 1923 on 275 m, and license 3AF had operated in 1922.
Thus there is quite a range of possible dates to assign to the establishment of CHU; we lean towards 1929 as being the start of daily time transmissions
at essentially the modern frequencies. Of course there has been quite a change in equipment and accuracy over the years, but the largest improvement was
with the change to cesium atomic clocks in 1967. In 1970 the responsibility of operating CHU was transferred from the astronomers at the Dominion Observatory,
to the physicists at the National Research Council.
Since 1970, the National Research Council has been charged with maintaining official time for Canada. The short wave radio station CHU is one, but only
one of the ways that official time is disseminated across Canada.
Following internationally accepted recommendations, Canada and other countries have official time scales in agreement within 10µs. Since CHU's transmissions
are well within 100µs of official Canadian time, for all distant users of CHU, the dominant source of time error comes from the radio wave path reflecting
off the ionosphere as the radio signal travels from the transmitter (in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) to the user. The time delay is 3.3µs per km of path, and
generally varies by less than 1ms, due to uncertainties in path including the uncertainty in the number of skips made by the radio wave (reflections down
from the ionosphere and back up from the surface of the Earth). For a fixed receiver when the number of skips does not change, the variation in the path
delay will usually be less than 100µs. A small additional delay comes from the radio receiver, and may be significant.
Before April 1, 1990, CHU's time announcements were given as Eastern Standard Time. Since that time CHU's time announcements have been given as Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC). The change from EST to UTC was done to remain in the spirit of the recommendations of the International Consultative Committee on
Radio: 'that the standard time broadcasts on standard frequencies be given in UTC'. In a narrow sense, since CHU does not broadcast on the frequencies
allocated for frequency standards, one might argue that these recommendations do not necessarily apply to CHU. However, since CHU is received across Canada's
six time zones and around the world, we made the change when it became possible technically to change from EST to UTC without difficulty.
The warble tone at seconds 31 to 39 allow any computer with a Bell 103 compatible 300 bps modem to receive and decode an accurate source of time. The details
on the CHU broadcast code can be found here.
Reception reports from around the world, are gladly accepted from listeners. We will respond with a QSL card. Please send reception reports to:
Radio Station CHU
National Research Cou
"Hello!" Not surprisingly, it was the first word to be heard over the radio some 100 years ago.
From the time he was a young boy, Canadian Reginald Fessenden was fascinated with the idea of transmitting voice. Upon hearing his uncle describe Alexander
Graham Bell's demonstration of the telephone, the 10 year-old reportedly asked, "Why do they need wires?" He then spent much of his life trying to figure
it out.
His early attempts at voice transmission were unintelligible. With government backing, Fessenden, and his assistant Thiessen, kept trying various improvements
unti they met with success.
Listen to Fessenden's first voice transmission on December 23, 1900 -- he says, "Hello! Test, 1, 2, 3, 4. Is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen?"
Fessenden –
Quicktime |
Windows
Fessenden formed the National Electric Signaling Company (NESCO) with a pair of Pittsburgh millionaires as backers after his contract with the government
ended, and began working with the United Fruit Company helping perfect their wireless communication between land stations and ships at sea. With the powerful
transmitters and antenna systems at this disposal, he began more earnest experiments in voice transmissions and in June 1906 successfully transmitted a
message from his Brant Rock, MA office to a receiver at Plymouth, a distance of about 12 miles. Improvements to the antenna installations at Brant Rock
continued through the summer with more successful experiments until Fessenden was certain the process would work properly.
Working in secrecy, he planned a surprise for a 9 p.m. broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1906. With the assistance of his wife and trusted employees, he scripted
a program of music and Bible readings. Shipboard operators had been tipped to listen for something special during the December 24 transmission, but no
one could have anticipated what was planned. At the appointed hour, radio operators across the North Atlantic were surprised to hear voice coming from
their radios, calling "CQ, CQ". It was Fessenden beginning the first "radio" program. After a brief introduction, Handel's "Largo" was played from an Edison
wax cylinder phonograph, followed by the inventor playing "O, Holy Night" on his violin. The planned Bible reading by Mrs. Fessenden and his secretary
had to be quickly covered by the inventor as the first reported cases of microphone fright and dead air occurred when both women froze.
After Fessenden's historic feat, thousands of inquisitive hobbyists began to experiment with this new fangled technology called Radio. They were, and are
still, called "amateur" radio operators. Commercial broadcasting didn't begin for another 14 years after Fessenden's historic Christmas Eve broadcast.
They labored in attics, barns, garages and cellars to perfect what we now call radio.
In 1912, Congress passed the first laws regulating radio transmissions in the U.S. By 1914, amateur experimenters were communicating nationwide, and setting
up a system to relay messages from coast to coast (This is where the name "ARRL - American Radio Relay League, and then The National Association for Amateur
Radio" came from!). In 1927, the precursor agency to the FCC was created by Congress and specific frequencies were assigned for various uses, including
the ones set aside for Amateur Radio.
Amateur radio operators, also known as "hams", continued to be at the forefront of developing technologies years in advance of when they are rolled out
to the public. FM, television, and even cellular telephones were all used by amateur radio operators many years ahead of the public.
Listen
to students today speaking to the Space Station!
Learn more about
ham radio,
why people love it
, and find out how you can
become a ham
!
Home |
100 Years of Voice |
What is Ham Radio? | "
Why I Love It!" |
Become a Ham |
More Info
The ARRL - The National Association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT, 06111-1494 USA
Tel:+1-860-594-0200
hq@arrl.org
FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy. [FCC Photo]
NEWINGTON, CT,
In a seeming shift away from "Broadband Nirvana," FCC Commissioner
Kathleen Q. Abernathy
this week specifically cited Amateur Radio concerns about the interference potential of Broadband Over Power Line (BPL). In remarks prepared for delivery
at her alma mater, the
Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law
, Abernathy said BPL should not be widely deployed before dealing with ham radio's interference fears.
"I recognize that Amateur Radio licensees have raised concerns about harmful interference," Abernathy said, "and that is something that will have to be
addressed before any mass market deployment can occur." She addressed the convocation "The Journey to Convergence: Challenges and Opportunities" January
22 on the school's Washington, DC campus.
Abernathy said that if engineers can find a way to prevent harmful interference to other radio services, BPL would represent "a tremendous advance for consumers,
because it could bring broadband to any home that has electricity."
In her speech, "Overview of the Road to Convergence: New Realities Collide with Old Rules," Abernathy called BPL "another promising technology" that electric
utilities have already successfully field tested. As an "add-on service to the existing electrical grid," she said, BPL might be a cost-effective alternative
to provide broadband service to rural and other "underserved communities."
Missing from her remarks was any mention of interference worries that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA) have expressed to the FCC in the BPL proceeding.
Abernathy drew fire from the Amateur Radio community last September after she expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL in a talk before the
United Powerline Council's
annual conference. In that talk, she'd suggested that BPL was a step along the pathway to "Broadband Nirvana."
The ARRL led the barrage of strong objections in the wake of Abernathy's characterization. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, told Abernathy that technical showings
submitted in response to the FCC's Notice of Inquiry in ET Docket No. 03-104 "clearly establish that BPL is a significant source of radio spectrum pollution"
that "cannot be implemented without causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio services."
Abernathy's office later conceded that her "Broadband Nirvana" speech may have failed to make sufficiently clear the commissioner's concerns about potential
BPL interference. Sumner called Abernathy's subsequent clarification "most welcome and reassuring news."
More than 5100 comments--many from the Amateur Radio community--have been filed in response to the FCC's BPL NOI and are available for viewing via the FCC's
Electronic Comment Filing System (
ECFS).
operation
A Florida Citizens Band enthusiast accused of jamming Amateur Radio
operations and transmitting without a license was convicted in
federal court June 19 on eight misdemeanor counts. Willam Flippo of
Jupiter was found guilty of four counts of operating without a
license and four counts of deliberate and malicious interference.
Federal District Court Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley noted that, while
the charges were misdemeanors, it was important that the amateur
airwaves be free of interference in the event of an emergency. He
ordered that Flippo remain in custody and undergo a psychiatric
evaluation prior to sentencing.
The prosecutor in the case, Neil Karabdil, credited members of the
Amateur Radio community with bringing Flippo to justice. The list
included ARRL 1999 ARRL International Humanitarian Award winner Ed
Petzolt, K1LNC, who helped the FCC gather evidence in the case; Bert
Morschi, AG4BV; Palm Beach County Emergency Coordinator Dave
Messinger, N4QPM; and Chuck Mulligan, N4SDW.
''This is a very good day for Amateur Radio, and a very good day for
justice,'' Petzolt said following the trial. ''Let the word go out
that we will not tolerate this sort of thing on our frequencies, and
you will be caught.'' Petzolt cited local amateurs and the efforts of
the FCC, including Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley
Hollingsworth ''and everyone else who kept the faith,'' for helping to
bring the case to a successful conclusion.
''Never give up and never surrender,'' Petzolt advised those facing
similar malicious interference situations. ''If you do, they win.''
According to Petzolt, who testified in the trial, Flippo primarily
had targeted the Jupiter Tequesta Repeater Group for jamming and
regularly interfered with amateur operations, especially on 10 and 2
meters, over an approximately three-year period. Following up on the
amateurs' complaints, personnel from the FCC's Tampa District Office
visited the Jupiter area at least twice in 1999 and reported
tracking the offending signals to Flippo's residence.
Federal authorities arrested Flippo in July 2000. The criminal
charges of which he now stands convicted covered violations
allegedly committed between June 1999 and April of 2000. The
defendant already faces a $20,000 fine levied in 1999 for
unlicensed operation, willful and malicious interference to Amateur
Radio communications, and failure to let the FCC inspect his radio
equipment.
Hurley said he was worried that Flippo might not return to court for
his sentencing hearing and ordered him returned to jail. Flippo
reportedly hung his head after the jury returned a guilty verdict on
the second count. He had no comment for a reporter as he was led
back to jail.
Sentencing could take place in about a month. According to the FCC,
Flippo faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison--one year on
each count. He also faces up to $80,000 in fines.
NNNN
/EX
Radio jammer Jack Gerritsen gets seven years, fines
It was a day a lot of radio amateurs in Southern California had been
anticipating for a long time. On September 18, US District Court
Judge R. Gary Klausner sentenced convicted radio jammed Jack
Gerritsen, now 70, to seven years imprisonment and imposed $15,225
in fines on six counts -- one a felony -- that included transmitting
without a license and willful and malicious interference with radio
transmissions. Before sentencing, Gerritsen apologized to the
federal government, the FCC and the local Amateur Radio community,
which had endured the brunt of Gerritsen's on-air tirades and
outright jamming. "I'm sorry, and I apologize to everyone here,"
Gerritsen told those in the courtroom.
Gerritsen's contrition did nothing to convince Klausner toward
leniency. The judge berated Gerritsen as a repeat offender and said
he believed Gerritsen would continue to commit similar offenses. The
sentence even exceeded US District Attorney Lamar Baker's
recommended 46 months incarceration.
In addition to the prison time, Klausner fined Gerritsen $225,
payable immediately, and an additional $15,000 to be paid through
the Probation Department. Klausner tacked on two years' supervised
probation and recommended Gerritsen remain in custody in Southern
California during that period.
Klauser further ordered Gerritsen to participate in a substance
abuse program at his own expense. He told Gerritsen he could not use
any identification, including his previous Amateur Radio call sign
KG6IRO, other than his real name when identifying himself, and he
told Gerritsen he could not own, possess or use any radio
transmitting equipment.
The FCC had been investigating complaints of illegal radio
transmissions linked to Gerritsen for four years. According to court
documents, the FCC investigation revealed that Gerritsen transmitted
both prerecorded messages and real-time harassment and profanity for
hours at a time, often targeting local Amateur Radio repeater
systems and precluding their use by licensed operators.
Following trial last December, Gerritsen was found guilty of causing
malicious interference with a communications system operated by the
United States -- a felony. The court also found him guilty of two
misdemeanor counts of willful or malicious interference with radio
communications and three misdemeanor counts of transmitting radio
signals without a license. Gerritsen has been in custody since his
conviction.
The FCC has already levied $52,000 in fines on Gerritsen for
violating its rules and the Communications Act.
FCC SUSPENDS ALLEGED GRIZZLY PEAK CONTROL OP FROM VHF/UHF
The FCC has taken another step in its investigation of alleged rulebreaking and impropriety on the K7IJ Grizzly Peak repeater system. In the latest action,
the FCC has notified Blake B. Jenkins, N6YSA, of Berkeley, that his amateur VHF/UHF privileges were being suspended for 120 days as of March 5. Jenkins
has been identified as the primary designated control operator of the four K7IJ VHF and UHF repeaters. Citing what it called "an alarming and unacceptable
lack of control" over the operation of the repeaters, the FCC on March 2 shut down the K7IJ system for 120 days while it continues its investigation. FCC
officials have not visited the site in person, however, and no equipment has been seized.
In a letter to Jenkins dated March 3, FCC Amateur Radio enforcer Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, said FCC monitoring indicated that Jenkins "encouraged and
solicited unlicensed radio operation on the repeaters." Hollingsworth also accused Jenkins of using his ham station "to solicit the jamming of other licensed
repeaters" after the K7IJ repeater system was shut down.
The FCC letter seeks information from Jenkins on his role and activities while K7IJ repeater control operator. Hollingsworth's letter also referred briefly
to the "Ham Radio Jamming" section on the N6YSA Web site, "on which you provide circuit descriptions of jamming devices and techniques." Pages dealing
with jamming hardware appear to be no longer available. Hollingsworth said the FCC continues to look into the conduct of an alleged secondary control operator
Steven R. Rossi, KE6LNH.
Meanwhile, Hollingsworth said he and K7IJ licensee Bruce Wachtell spoke by telephone after Wachtell--a shipboard radio operator now in the Pacific--reached
port in Hawaii. Hollingsworth said the FCC still expects a written response from Wachtell addressing the Commission's concern about the repeaters' operation.
In a related move, the FCC also set aside recent license grants or upgrades of four operators while it continues its investigation. The FCC also issued
warnings to two other individuals.
FCC TACKLES HF "SPLATTER" CASES
The FCC has written nearly two dozen Amateur Radio licensees whose 20-meter SSB signals were said to be "unusually wide, overpowered, or both." The FCC's
Riley Hollingsworth did not identify the specific licensees involved, but he said some of them were believed to be over-the-road truckers operating mobile.
Licensees were in several locations, including Illinois, New York, Mississippi, Arkansas, Puerto Rico, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida. Hollingsworth's
letter said information received by the FCC indicates that the stations involved "ignored requests from other licensees operating on adjacent frequencies"
to do something about the wide signals. He said the operations in question were believed to be confined to the high end of the 20-meter band, above 14.300
MHz.
A letter from Hollingsworth to 22 Amateur Service licensees requests fixed and mobile station information about the use of and specifications for any linear
amplifiers employed on 20 meters as well as the use of automatic level control (ALC) and mike gain settings.
Hollingsworth cited Section 308(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 as authority for the inquiry, calling it "our most powerful inquiry tool." He said
the section "gives the Commission the authority to require information from a radio licensee during the term of the license that will enable it to determine
whether that licensee is qualified to retain a license."
The affected licensees have 20 days to provide answers to the FCC. Hollingsworth's letter pointed out that hams are prohibited from occupying more than
the necessary amount of bandwidth for the particular mode and that hams must use the minimum power "necessary to carry out the desired communications."
Hollingsworth emphasized that the letters were not warning notices but letters of inquiry.
Powerful Solar Flare Disrupts HF Communication
GOES-12 Satellite X-Ray Image
The GOES-12 Satellite X-Ray Image showing the active region of the sun as of 2050 UTC on September 7. The dim green disk is the sun, while the bright spot
is the flare. NOAA/SEC Image
"severe" or R4 event on NOAA's R1 to R5 scale. NOAA's GOES-12 satellite observed the flare at 1740 UTC. R4 events typically occur about eight times during
each 11-year solar cycle, and today's was the fourth largest in 15 years.
"This event created a complete blackout of high-frequency (HF) communications on the daylit side of Earth," NOAA's Space Environment Center (
SEC
) reported. "Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems
may also have experienced a period of significant degradation." R4 events also can disrupt satellites.
The effects of the X17.1-class solar flare began at 1717 UTC, peaked at 1740 UTC and ended at 1803 UTC. X-ray flux exceeded M5 at 1726 UTC.
A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed, but the material was not Earth directed. An S1 to S2 is expected following this eruption, but
it won't begin until late today or early September 8.
GOES-12 X-ray flux chart
The GOES-12 X-ray flux chart. [NOAA/SEC Graphic]
Over the past two weeks, the same active region of the sun has produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side
of the sun. "Significant eruptions are expected in the coming days," the SEC said. "Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions
over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, HF communications, and low-frequency navigation systems."
As of 2030 UTC, the SEC was reporting minor (R1) radio blackout conditions. That means weak or minor degradation of HF radio communication on Earth's sunlit
side and occasional loss of radio contact.
Solar activity is expected to be moderate to high. Old region 798 is rotating onto the visible disk and is expected to significantly increase solar activity
levels.
The September 7 event drove the Boulder 24-hour running A index up to 15 between 1500 and 1800 UTC. The Boulder K index for the same period was 3.
More information is available on the
SEC
Web site.
I've herd of the short wave radio craze, but never had one myself. It might be worth a trip to ebay to see if I can find something fairly inexpensive. Any sudgestions?
really depends on what you want to listen to. You can decide on whether a hand held unit is good enough or a desk top. It helps to know which bands on shortwave you want to hear. Maybe all of them. In that case the radio would have to include the entire HF band.
Surfin': Revisiting Radio Monitoring Memories
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
November 21, 2008
This week's Surfin' reveals new information about broadcast band and shortwave listening.
Surfin Screenshot 2008 Nov 21
Who knew that the FBI would be interested in the successful quest for
this QSL card
(as displayed at the SWL QSL Card Museum)?
Four weeks ago, this column, "
Clandestine Radio in Uncle Tom's Corner,"
wondered who were the men behind the curtain at Radio Swan, aka Radio Americas. In response, Donald Wilson, K6DSW, wrote that On the Shortwaves' DX History
Web page
contains a link to a copy of two Popular Communications articles by Tom Kneitel about his 1968 visit to Radio Americas on Swan Island. By the way, the DX
History Web page also contains many other links to interesting items related to radio history.
Two weeks ago, in "
How We Got Here,"
I reminisced about shortwave listening during the Cold War. My father worried that all the propaganda I received from
Radio Peking
would land me in an FBI file folder labeled "Persons of Interest." Maybe Pop was right!
Greg Dome, KE5LDO, wrote that he had a similar experience with
Radio Habana Cuba.
Greg was in high school and received a QSL from
Arnie Coro
himself. Subsequently, Greg's mom -- who was the local draft board lady -- got a call from the FBI and Greg had to explain why he was "in contact" with
Radio Habana. When he explained that he was just a shortwave listener, the FBI told Greg that if he never contacted Radio Habana again, his mother could
keep her job!
Until next time, keep on surfin'!
Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, wishes he was still listening with his Hallicrafters S200 receiver. To communicate with Stan, send him
e-mail
or add comments to his
blog.
By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed
here,
so go look it up.
Also this week we consider the final courtesy of a radio contact: The QSL card.
Surfin Screenshot 2008 November 27
The QSL Card Gallery of the
Medium Wave Circle Gallery
includes QSL cards from a stateside AM radio stations.
At the conclusion of a radio contact, the final courtesy is the QSL card. So, to conclude the recent run of Surfin's dealing with radio memories, it seems
apropos to look at the QSL cards.
I recently inherited a shoebox full of QSL cards from the 1930s, '40s and '50s. It provided a mini-education in Amateur Radio history, and also revealed
that there was an active ham who lived just five houses down the street from my parent's home where I spent my youth and early years as a ham. I recognized
the name on the QSL as the maternal grandfather of one of my pals from back then, but I assume he pulled the big switch before my time because I never
saw any evidence (antennas) that a ham was active five doors down.
After perusing my box of antique ephemera, I wondered if the QSLs had any value, so I entered "QSL" in the
eBay search engine
and checked the listing for completed auctions. The results shocked me!
A 1940 QSL from Kansu Province, China, recently went to the highest of seven bidders for $1225. A 1938 QSL from Howland Island went for $777. Those were
exceptional, but the other completed auctions were not too shabby either, ranging in final bids of $28 to $179. Like I said, I was shocked.
I wondered who was responsible for all this, and after a little Web searching, I found the
Who invented the QSL card?
Web page of the
QSL Collection Web site.
The article considers the roots of the QSL card and concludes that 8VX of Buffalo, New York, issued the first QSL in 1916.
QSL cards are on display throughout the Internet. Visit the
K8CX QSL Card Gallery
that includes my favorite ham radio QSL cards --
QSLs from ARRL Deleted DXCC Entities.
Also be sure to check out
Old QSL Cards
from Bob Green, W8JYZ, that I
featured
in a Surfin' column earlier this year.
In the broadcast spectrum, there is the
SWL QSL Card Museum
featuring QSLs from 234 countries and 904 unique shortwave stations. Also, there is the
QSL Card Gallery of the Medium Wave Circle Gallery
displaying 130 QSL cards from medium wave stations throughout the world, including a bunch of stateside AM radio stations.
ARRL Seeks Clarification of FCC Response to BPL Interference Complaint
FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) Deputy Chief Bruce A. Franca
replied
July 22 to an April 27 BPL interference complaint from Thomas A. Brown, N4TAB, of Wake Forest. Brown had complained of BPL interference to his amateur HF
mobile station emanating from a Progress Energy Corp (PEC) BPL field trial in the Raleigh area. In his letter, copied to ARRL, Franca said an on-site investigation
had concluded that PEC's BPL trial "is in compliance" with FCC rules and that the company's ham band notching efforts "are effective" to avoid the potential
for harmful interference. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, however, cited evidence to the contrary.
BPL-PECtruck-ant-1
Progress Energy has been operating its "Phase II" trial in three neighborhoods south of Raleigh since early January. [Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, Photo]
"It is not at all clear that the tests and measurements taken by the FCC . . . established the absence of harmful interference to licensed stations," Sumner
responded
July 22. He said the League would like the OET to make its test report available to the general public or at least to the League for technical review and
comment. The ARRL also wants to know what steps PEC took between April 27 and June 28--when the FCC began its testing--to address interference complaints
from Brown and several other radio amateurs.
The FCC defines as "harmful" any interference that "seriously degrades, obstructs or repeatedly interrupts a radiocommunication service operating in accordance
with the Radio Regulations."
According to Franca, FCC personnel "undertook extensive testing and measurements" of the PEC BPL system between June 28 and July 2. The complainant--Brown--says
the FCC delegation never contacted him while it was in North Carolina. Franca says FCC measurements indicated notch depths averaging 24 dB below Part 15
emission limits, which he characterized as "sufficient to eliminate any signals that would be deemed capable of causing harmful interference, including
interference to amateur operations."
Franca maintained that "in no instances" were signal levels high enough to "cause serious degradation, obstruction, or repeated interruption" of amateur
mobile or fixed communications. He conceded, however, that notching on 10 meters was somewhat less effective at the low end of the band and said the FCC
would instruct PEC and its partner, Amperion, to widen its notch there.
Sumner noted that the Part 15 device operators "must eliminate all harmful interference, and therefore in some cases must achieve more--in certain cases,
considerably more--than a 24 dB reduction in order to be in compliance." He also cited recent reports from amateurs in the area indicating that strong
BPL interference continues in parts of the PEC trial zone.
"From consulting with the amateurs who have been and continue to receive harmful interference from the Progress Energy trials, we find that while the interference
has been reduced (but not eliminated) in some parts of the amateur bands, it continues unabated in others," Sumner told Franca. Amateurs in the Raleigh
area on July 17 and again July 22 monitored a BPL signal "at full strength and causing harmful interference" from 14.290 to 14.350 MHz. "Harmful interference"
also was reported in the first 100 kHz of 15 meters as well as on the WWV/WWVH frequencies of 15.000 and 20.000 MHz and on several international broadcasting
bands.
A pole-mounted BPL extractor in the Progress Energy Corp system. [Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, Photo]
"Even in the notched bands," Sumner said, "the interference was still evident on ordinary amateur equipment." He said it's clear to ARRL that the system's
Holland Church Road site--where the most recent amateur measurements were taken--is in violation of Part 15.
For his part, Brown--an engineer with considerable RF experience--said he was glad the FCC finally took some action but found some of Franca's assertions
"very troubling." He told ARRL that his 14-page complaint cited interference "sufficient to mask a weak signal," although it did not register on his S
meter. "S0 is still microvolts of signal level," he pointed out. An active Amateur Radio Emergency Service District Emergency Coordinator, Brown said it's
not unusual to have to copy similarly weak signals during an HF emergency net.
"This was an action on behalf of the FCC simply to show action," Brown asserted. "I suspect the principal reason for their coming down here was to say they've
actually done something." He also worried that the FCC was attempting to define a standard of "acceptable interference" within the framework of what constitutes
"harmful interference."
"If it interferes, it interferes," he maintained.
In his letter Sumner also requested that the FCC clarify some additional aspects of its testing and measurement, including specifics on tests at two fixed
Amateur Radio station locations where Franca said the FCC observed "no BPL interference" on ham frequencies, and what kind of amateur equipment was used
to "show little field strength or observable signal levels in the notched bands," as Franca reported.
"Until these points can be clarified," Sumner concluded, "we trust that the Commission will not permit its conclusion to be erroneously represented as having
given the Progress Energy trials a 'clean bill of health.'"
Quartz Hill--A Chance of a Lifetime for Hams the World Over
By Robert N. Wilderman, K3SRO
Ever dream about operating from a site offering 100 acres of antennas including V beams, a rhombic, Beverage and 160 meter loop? Here's how one US amateur
got to do just that, from what might well be one of the best QTHs in the Southern Hemisphere.
Inspiration
a
A few Wellington ARC members pose with their new honorary member, K3SRO/ZL (center). Left to right: Brian Miller, ZL1AZE; Mike Kerr, ZL2BCW; Bob Stewart,
ZL2AMI; Bob Vernall, ZL2CA; Martin Millane, ZL2DU and Ralph Sutton, ZL2AOH.
My journey to Quartz Hill began after I read "The Quartz Hill Story," by Mike Kerr, ZL2BCW, in the February 2000 issue of QST. Quartz Hill is 974 feet above
mean sea level in the southwest corner of the North Island of New Zealand, 25 miles from the city of Wellington and overlooking the Cook Strait. The area
is called Makara.
I often dreamed of being on the other side of a pile-up, having countless stations calling me for a chance to work a new one, or confirm the last country
needed for a DXCC award. Now I finally had my chance to live out this lifelong dream.
A Lucky Break
In May 2000 I met Bob Stewart, ZL2AMI, at the Dayton Hamvention. I noticed he was wearing a baseball style cap with his call letters on the front. My heart
started to race. Wow, this is my chance to meet someone from New Zealand who could help me with my plans to visit Quartz Hill. I had read about the fantastic
antenna farm that most hams would die for. Bob Stewart was gracious enough to give me his address and phone number. We chatted for about 25 to 30 minutes
before going our separate ways.
When I returned home to Lansdale, Pennsylvania, I had doubts whether Bob would actually respond to my e-mail message. He did more than I ever imagined.
He and his lovely wife Kaye managed to schedule operating time at Quartz Hill for my brief stay in Wellington. I would have one full day to operate on
the HF bands before having to board the ferry to Picton, located on the South Island of New Zealand.
On Location
Bob and Kaye drove in two cars to meet my family at Wellington airport--I had warned them earlier that we were not traveling lightly. They took us to our
hotel in central Wellington and waited while my family checked-in. Then, Kaye invited my wife Linda, my son David and his friend Jason to see the beautiful
city of Wellington, shop and have lunch. Bob made it his responsibility to help me obtain my HF permit from the Ministry of Economic Development, Radio
Spectrum Management. The office is in downtown Wellington. Within an hour on July 23, I had my permit in hand. I would operate as ZL/K3SRO.
The Wellington Amateur Radio Club site is located in the middle of a vast sheep farm, about a 25-minute drive from Wellington. Approximately 35 thousand
farms are home to 60 million sheep of 17 different breeds in New Zealand. The total population of the North and South Islands of the country is 3.8 million
people. Sheep definitely outnumber the citizens.
The club is very active in many contests, but each member must reserve his own individual operating time and bring his own equipment. ZL2AMI brought his
station--a Yaesu FT-1000MP, a Drake L7 linear and a Drake MN-2700 matching unit--from home to the radio club site. The club does not have its own ham gear
for everyone to use and share, but this is a minor inconvenience considering the antenna farm awaiting any ham wishing to operate from this wonderful location.
If you think you might be interested in visiting Quartz Hill, contact Ralf Sutton, ZL2AOH, bookings manager for the Wellington ARC. His e-mail address is:
z12aoh@ihug.co.nz .
Time To Operate
b
K3SRO/ZL operates from Quartz Hill using equipment owned by ZL2AMI.
Bob and I entered the main radio room. He turned on the main power to the building, switched on the FT-1000MP, tuned-up the Drake L7 amplifier, adjusted
the SWR with the Drake MN-2700 and found the best antenna for the current propagation conditions. My heart raced from excitement as I called CQ a few times.
The receiver came to life with lots of strong signals--mostly from the US. There were some signals from Canada and Australia, but there was no propagation
to Europe, Asia or Africa. I received many favorable reports of 5-9 plus 10 to 20 dB over S9. I chose not to operate in the traditional contest or DXpedition
style, preferring instead to spend more time with each ham worked. In each QSO, I described the Quartz Hill site and my New Zealand and Australian itinerary.
Using this method of operation I managed to make 91 QSOs during my five hours on the air. I regret not having 3 full days to make many more contacts with
hams from around the world.
My family and I had planned this journey for several months. Our trip included four days on the North Island, 10 days on the South Island and two weeks
in Australia. We visited Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington and the Waitomo Caves--on the North Island, and Picton, Nelson, Motueka, Able Tasman National Park,
Greymouth, Franz Joseph Glacier, Queenstown, Invercargal and Christchurch--on the South Island.
On my own, without my family, I went hiking, bird watching and fishing on Stewart Island, which is 20 minutes by plane from Invercargal. I highly recommend
staying at the Stewart Lodge, located on Half Moon Bay. This is a great location to operate QRP. I planned to bring my Elecraft K2 on this trip, but I
already had more bags than I could handle. I regret not having three more days to operate from Quartz Hill as well as tour the beautiful city of Wellington.
Meeting the Members
ZL2AMI introduced me to other members of the Wellington Amateur Radio Club who operate from Quartz Hill. I brought them gifts purchased at Dayton 2001.
The members presented me with their QSL cards, the official Quartz Hill QSL--bearing the call sign ZL6QH--and the official Quartz Hill users' guidebook.
I also became an honorary member of the Wellington Amateur Radio Club and made many new friends that evening. I will always have fond memories of my wonderful
experience.
c
The Wellington ARC, ZL6QH, antenna farm at Quartz Hill, New Zealand is literally part farm. Note the sheep. [Photos by the author]
I should point out some of the main features of this location:
100 acres of antenna farm including long wires, V beams and rhombic antennas
low levels of manmade RF noise
an elevation of 300 meters above sea level with good low angle takeoff in all directions
a building that includes five operating rooms, two sleeping rooms, kitchen and bathroom with shower
only 30 minutes drive from central Wellington
Departing Wellington
Bob and Kaye arrived at our hotel at 5 AM July 24. They again drove in two cars since our luggage had grown even more. This time they took us to the ferry
terminal in central Wellington. We sadly made our good-byes, hugged, shook hands and took some last minute photos. As we boarded the Lynx ferry, the sun
was beginning to rise. Our journey across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton was a very pleasant experience. The sea was calm and the sky very blue.
A few days earlier, the ferry was restricted from crossing the Cook Strait due to very high seas of 30 to 40 feet.
I concluded my ham radio journey on the South Island of New Zealand. I stopped to visit Russ Garlick, ZL3AAA and his lovely wife Zelda, ZL3AAB, who live
in Motueka. Russ and Zelda have a beautiful home surrounded on two sides by a private golf course and club. Our visit would not have been complete without
a visit to their ham shack, antenna farm and workshop. We took photos just before departing on the next leg of our journey in New Zealand and Australia.
Thanks to Bob Stewart, ZL2AMI; Kaye Stewart; the members of the Wellington Amateur Radio Club, ZL6QH; Russ Garlick, ZL3AAA and Zelda Garlick, ZL3AAB, for
their
hey guys. i looooooove this topic. man it was so much fun reading about old radio stories. now i own an eton g8 traveler radio. it's ok. one weird thing about this radio is when fm stations have a week signal it forces them into mono. i have not played with car stereos but i think this topic re-ignited my love for dx. my grand parrents still have that saturn vue with the same radio so maybe i should try to dx again.