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Ol' Tortoiseblossom posted:The crazy DX-specific show on Radio Havana, in between yammering about a lot of technical stuff that I didn't understand, was talking about how the solar flux is getting better for reception, so maybe we have some good reception times ahead. Anyway, we are at the rising component of the solar cycle right now, although still at the bottom part of the cycle. In about 5-6 years, the sunspot count will be high, which in turn will stimulate a thicker ionospheric layer, especially at night, and things will really start to cook.
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Jun 27, 2007 23:00
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| # ? May 10, 2024 00:24 |
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Yeah, I just HAD to get into SW during a solar minimum. Yawn. Seeing how the sun is a major impact on signal strength, this combines my hobby (radio) with my profession-in-training (Astronomy).
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Jun 27, 2007 23:32
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I just heard a hilarious show on 7415 khz at about 21:50 UTC. It was some show on WBCQ The Planet, I believe, and had a bunch of spoof commercials. As far as I know it was a broadcast of the Jean Shepherd show, although I'm not sure. It had a commercial for the Monolithic Chemical Corporation, who blamed the consumer for energy shortages. They killed the plants and birds to save energy, and suggested we put our elderly outside "like the eskimos do" to save energy. Good stuff.
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Jun 27, 2007 23:36
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AstroZamboni posted:Yeah, I just HAD to get into SW during a solar minimum. Yawn.
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Jun 27, 2007 23:42
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Halah posted:Oh, you should see it when things really fire up. I distinctly recall hearing WWVH in the daytime once. I've been able to receive WWVH on 15 mHz in broad dalight several times, sometimes stronger than WWV.
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Jun 27, 2007 23:49
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I don't know if I'm just too far away for that or what, but I can't usually hear it 
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Jun 28, 2007 00:14
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AstroZamboni posted:I've been able to receive WWVH on 15 mHz in broad dalight several times, sometimes stronger than WWV.
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Jun 28, 2007 01:01
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nmfree posted:In the mid 90s it wasn't too unusual to hear simulcasts on at least 3 of their channels... all day and well into the night. When solar activity is super high, the MUF at night can stay up around 14 or 15 mHz, which is, frankly, nuts. "MUF" means "Maximum usable frequency." In layman's terms, imagine a European station is beaming its signal toward North America on 12000. If the MUF is 10000, you probably won't hear it. If the MUF is 14000, it will probably come in clear as day. Personally, I have experienced MUF into the 30's, which is awesome. You can see a real time MUF map right here.
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Jun 28, 2007 02:49
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Wow, what a night! I rode my recently re-commissioned moped to a friends house at about 11:30 pm, headed up a hill and cast out ~60' of wire. I could not believe how long it too to get to 10,000 khz, there were so many new stations and coming in with such clarity that we would pause for several minutes every time we got an entertaining one. He's newer than I am to shortwave, so I had fun explaining numbers stations then making him listen to some conet stuff and watching him freak out. We got spanish lady, but I can't remember the frequency. To be honest, we didn't care much for logging or remembering what we got, it was just a great experience. I think I may get a couple more friends, some lawn chairs, snacks, and a heater of some sort and try it again, maybe on another hill.
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Jun 28, 2007 09:31
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Halah posted:You can see a real time MUF map right here. Tonight, I didn't hear much (anything?) above 10000khz.. So, this means that the evil shortwave faeries decided I couldn't listen above that frequency tonight?
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Jun 28, 2007 10:34
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AstroZamboni posted:You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar and an evil, soulless bastard. Way to drag somebody into the financially ruinous addiction. All I did was write about it, you're taking the drug dealer route. "Here kid, the first one's free!" hudibrastic is awesome! (thanks man!) I cant wait to try this stuff out. I have been following the thread for days. I have always been interested in numbers stations and the such and cant wait to listen. I will report of what I can hear from the SF bay area. Yay.
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Jun 28, 2007 12:10
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Am I the only one that receives WWCR (the C stands for Conspiracy, the R stands for Religion) stronger than pretty much every other station? 
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Jun 28, 2007 14:01
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Shastao posted:Am I the only one that receives WWCR (the C stands for Conspiracy, the R stands for Religion) stronger than pretty much every other station? I get that one pretty strong too. Crazy poo poo.
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Jun 28, 2007 16:38
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meatpotato posted:We got spanish lady, but I can't remember the frequency. To be honest, we didn't care much for logging or remembering what we got, it was just a great experience. Sounds like a lot of fun. I have a few pages in my presets set aside for "temp" storage, so that if I'm just scanning through stuff and don't feel like figuring out what they are, I can just store them and look them up later if I feel like it. Also helps if I'm picking up like 3 or 4 broadcasts that I want to jump around between but I don't want to bother with remembering which presets they are on my normal storage.
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Jun 28, 2007 17:17
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Pixelboy posted:There was a '10' right over Vancouver. Edit: Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:I really can't get my head around reading that map. Also, note that the highest MUF's are in areas of daylight, especially centered around the equator. These are the areas with the strongest solar influence. Halah fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jun 29, 2007 |
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Jun 29, 2007 00:31
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I really can't get my head around reading that map. Edit: And just as I post that it makes total sense. Still hard to read though.
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Jun 29, 2007 00:33
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Last night's reception was horrible for me. Anyone else having problems, or was I getting local interference?
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Jun 29, 2007 15:46
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AstroZamboni posted:Last night's reception was horrible for me. Anyone else having problems, or was I getting local interference? The rain here last night kept me inside. However I'll be way out in the country over the weekend by San Antonio visiting the parents, so here's hoping for some good weather!
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Jun 29, 2007 17:05
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One real pisser (I'm not sure which frequencies) is that somewhere very nearby to where I am is a local Radio Disney affiliate which transmits in AM AND Shortwave. They tend to cause godawful interference all over the place.
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Jun 30, 2007 00:53
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I had big time problems, a victim of summer storms in the South. They were all over last night.
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Jun 30, 2007 01:31
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Halah posted:I had big time problems, a victim of summer storms in the South. They were all over last night. Be glad of summer storms! I'm stuck in 113 degree weather that feels like your skin is literally burning off whenever you go outside. Ugh, what I wouldn't give for rain!
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Jun 30, 2007 06:51
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Insert the obligatory "but it's a dry heat" comment here  It was something like 94 here today, but dammit, hot is hot. Reception is kinda spotty tonight as well. Some bands are coming in well, some suck. Overall, it's crap. I'm just picking up the usual suspects. Anyone having better luck?
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Jun 30, 2007 07:24
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AstroZamboni posted:One real pisser (I'm not sure which frequencies) is that somewhere very nearby to where I am is a local Radio Disney affiliate which transmits in AM AND Shortwave. They tend to cause godawful interference all over the place.
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Jun 30, 2007 09:08
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Just recovered from a ~20 minute power outage, in which I decided to break out my E5 and see what I could pick up  With just the whip, sitting on my bed in the middle of a third floor room in Ohio, I was able to faintly make out WWVH on 5000 kHz where normally I can't receive anything on that frequency with the whip pushed up against the window. It was really, really weird. I could tell the exact moment the power came back on because the amount of noise doubled.
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Jun 30, 2007 09:39
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nmfree posted:Are you sure you're not picking up harmonics from their MW transmitter? Nope. They transmit on one Shortwave frequncy, and announce it duriing their programming. I'll try to find out the frequency so I can send them angry reception reports! Halah posted:Insert the obligatory "but it's a dry heat" comment here gently caress this dry heat poo poo. At 118 degrees (which it got to for one day last week) in a dry heat, you feel like your skin is being burned off. Humid heat feels like a sauna. Dry heat is more dangerous, ultimately.
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Jun 30, 2007 17:14
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I've got too many radios! If anybody's interested in a black Grundig S350DL with the original box and everything let me know. Also it's a nice 68 degrees today. EDIT: I'll post it up in SA Mart later so I don't get in trouble for making GBS threads this thread up with wheeling and dealing. Right now I've got to get going though! Dog Case fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jul 1, 2007 |
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Jul 1, 2007 18:41
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Dog Case posted:I've got too many radios! If anybody's interested in a black Grundig S350DL with the original box and everything let me know. $60 plus shipping? Oh god... I'm really interested (though I shouldn't be, I have too much stuff already). There are two problems, though; first off, I'm all the way across the country from you, and shipping could be kind of pricey. Secondly, I have my Paypal set up so I draw money from my bank account in individual amounts, which means it might take me a couple days to get the payment to you. At least, I assume you'd be using Paypal. I guess it's up to you in that regard. But if you find out how much shipping would be I'd be very grateful.
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Jul 1, 2007 18:53
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Maybe we should set up an SA-Mart "sister thread" to this one which will serve as a goon swapmeet for shortwave equipment? I've never used SA-mart, so I'm not familiar with the rules associated with something like this. Anybody who has mart experince want to set something like this up and I'll link it from the OP?
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Jul 1, 2007 20:43
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Well, I picked up a Grundig G5 for $150 and am enjoying it. I listened to a couple English broadcasts from China and Japan last night, as well as a few ham transmissions. I know I'm going to end up getting a scanner though. There's just too much above 30 MHz I want to listen to.
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Jul 1, 2007 21:03
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I got the DX-375 from hudibrastic! I was able to hear something at 6000khz I think it was radio havana or something. I was even able to hear those crazy jesus nuts. This is pretty fun. I will try to hear more tonight after work. This is cool stuff!
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Jul 1, 2007 23:10
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SpunkyRedKnight posted:Well, I picked up a Grundig G5 for $150 and am enjoying it. I listened to a couple English broadcasts from China and Japan last night, as well as a few ham transmissions. I know I'm going to end up getting a scanner though. There's just too much above 30 MHz I want to listen to. Added to the financial drain. Eton/Grundig must be really happy with me these days.
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Jul 1, 2007 23:19
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Got my Sony AN-LP1 antenna yesterday. The thing is really nice. Inconspicous, just a big frisbee looking thing you suction cup to a window, and it folds up even smaller. But wow, does it ever pick up a good signal! Even with the crap reception during the day today, I was still able to pull in Radio Netherlands and Radio New Zealand pretty clearly. I haven't had a chance to try it after sundown yet, I will tonight. The only downsides I can see to it are that there is no AC adaptor, so I'm stuck blowing through batteries, and that it has that dial to select which shortwave band I am on, so if I'm scanning I have to keep rotating that dial accordingly. But still, the thing works like a charm and for the amount of space it takes up, I think it's pretty awesome. I wonder why they stopped making them?
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Jul 1, 2007 23:33
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Ol' Tortoiseblossom posted:Got my Sony AN-LP1 antenna yesterday. The thing is really nice. Inconspicous, just a big frisbee looking thing you suction cup to a window, and it folds up even smaller. But wow, does it ever pick up a good signal! Even with the crap reception during the day today, I was still able to pull in Radio Netherlands and Radio New Zealand pretty clearly. I haven't had a chance to try it after sundown yet, I will tonight. The only downsides I can see to it are that there is no AC adaptor, so I'm stuck blowing through batteries, and that it has that dial to select which shortwave band I am on, so if I'm scanning I have to keep rotating that dial accordingly. But still, the thing works like a charm and for the amount of space it takes up, I think it's pretty awesome. I wonder why they stopped making them? Shortwave is considered "dead media," haven't you heard? Yeah, neither did I. Sony seems to think so, though. Luckily there is still a portable window active loop on the market made by degen. Not as good as the Sony, but the Degen is still no slouch. It usually runs about 30 bucks on Amazon. Here's a comparison on Radio Intelligencer between the two loops. http://www.radiointel.com/review-degende31.htm I'm thinking of picking one up sometime soon, since active loops help quash local interference.
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Jul 2, 2007 01:31
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I've been into radio monitoring since I was a little kid visiting my Uncle's basement filled with scanners, shortwave, ham, and all kinds of other cool electronic wonders. I've had my share of SW radios, but they've always lacked SSB so I felt like I was missing all the good stuff. Well, this thread has totally renewed my interest. I had been keeping my eye out for either a Grundig Sattelit 700/800 or a Sony ICF-2010 on eBay for some time. Well, today when a Sony ICF-2010 showed up on eBay with a "Buy it now" price of $275 I jumped at the chance. (These usually go for $400-500 on eBay and are widely regarded as one of the best/most sensitive SW radios ever made.) So please add another $275 ($293 including shipping) to the Financial Drain in the OP please. Oh, and I'll probably end up getting the Sony active antenna. Don't forget the filter/audio upgrades available for it from Kiwa. I haven't seen anyone mention Kiwa yet, but this place sells and installs upgrades to many of the radios people here have or are buying (Kaito KA1103/DE1103, Grundig S350/S350DL, etc.) While I haven't gotten the upgrades myself, everyone rants and raves about them on review boards. Might want to link to them in the OP if enough people are interested: http://www.kiwa.com Also, in order to buy the ICF-2010, I had to promise my girlfriend I'd sell my ICOM IC-R3 handheld receiver, which stinks, but I hardly use it anymore so oh well. Are there any threads that exist for real time listening information? It'd be very cool to get all these "I'm listening to something awesome at 6995kHz!" posts together in one place.
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Jul 2, 2007 02:35
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SW and radio in general just fascinate me. This thread is great. I currently have a crank powered grundig FR200. It was 30 bucks and I wanted something better than a little radioshack i think it was a dx-10 or dx 100, I forget. The only thing that sucks about teh grundig is it lacks SSB and has an analogue tuner. That being said, until I get into SW as more of a serious hobby, it does what I need. I think I might ask for a nice portable for christmas though. Does anyone know where a lot of the pirate SW radio in the states is located geographically? or is it just scattered all over? My impression was that SW pirate radio basically already hit it's heyday in the 70s-90s, but maybe i'm wrong.
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Jul 2, 2007 03:36
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overflow posted:
This has really been the only listening thread I've seen. It'd be hard to have one since it's so dependant on where you are, what your local interference is, etc. Better than depending on us to tell you what is on is to get a copy of the Passport to World Band Radio (there's a link in the OP) and checking http://www.spynumbers.com/numbersDB/dbOnAirNow.php3 to see what numbers stations might be on. Aside from that you can just scan around and look for ham radio guys or whatever, I've found a couple of those just by stumbling on them. The Passport book is the best thing for foreign stations, there's a section that is basically a "TV Guide" for radio stations. As for the active antenna, mine actually came with a passthrough filter thingie which is pretty nice to have.
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Jul 2, 2007 03:36
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overflow posted:Well, today when a Sony ICF-2010 showed up on eBay with a "Buy it now" price of $275 I jumped at the chance. (These usually go for $400-500 on eBay and are widely regarded as one of the best/most sensitive SW radios ever made.) So please add another $275 ($293 including shipping) to the Financial Drain in the OP please. Oh, and I'll probably end up getting the Sony active antenna. Don't forget the filter/audio upgrades available for it from Kiwa. I haven't seen anyone mention Kiwa yet, but this place sells and installs upgrades to many of the radios people here have or are buying (Kaito KA1103/DE1103, Grundig S350/S350DL, etc.) While I haven't gotten the upgrades myself, everyone rants and raves about them on review boards. Might want to link to them in the OP if enough people are interested: Info added, as well as MAJOR updates to the entire OP with more links, InediblePenguin's Slinky antenna schematics and a bunch of other stuff.
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Jul 2, 2007 06:48
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So wow, I just got back from the country about 20-30 miles outside San Antonio. I tuned in around midnight local (CST) time. While DX MW reception wasn't the cats meow, SW reception was the bees knees! I was able to receive Radio Japan, and so many other stations with the stock antenna, without even having it extended; on my S350 (indoors!). It was /amazing/. I could barely pickup Radio Bulgaria here in the heat of the city (outside in the Dallas Suburbs), but out there I heard Radio Croatia (unsure of name other then that was the only nation they talked about) clear as a bell. I'm around a year or two away from buying a house; and call me crazy but this thread might have just relocated me out to the country. The difference was unbelievable. FauxEdit: Also I didn't realize this until after I created my avatar (thanks again Halah!) but are there an inordinate number of Strangelove avatars in this thread or is it just me? blugu64 fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Jul 2, 2007 |
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Jul 2, 2007 08:08
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AstroZamboni posted:Info added, as well as MAJOR updates to the entire OP with more links, InediblePenguin's Slinky antenna schematics and a bunch of other stuff. Or, you can build a tape measure dipole. Or a beer can antenna. Or a ladder antenna. Or a Dodge dipole (I couldn't find an online reference to this, but the guy disconnected the batteries on his mid-80s Dodge station wagons and ran antenna leads to the frame of each car).
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Jul 2, 2007 08:40
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| # ? May 10, 2024 00:24 |
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Tonight I was able to get 13,630 khz China radio (?) but not much else. I need a way to improve reception!! Anyway to do this with the DX-375? One of the screws on the unit secures the stock antenna was missing and reception was poor. (any idea what happend to it hudibrastic?) I was able to secure the antenna with a screw I had left over from a old PC so reception improved! Is it possible to attach an external antenna to that screw that secures the stock whip? I don't know much about how antennas work, but would that work? Any ideas how to improve reception? I have an old huge fallen over TV antenna on the roof of my house. Anyway to ghetto hook it up to the DX-375? EDIT: fixed some retard typing. Capnbigboobies fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Jul 2, 2007 |
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Jul 2, 2007 12:50
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