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Danton posted:My windows have bars over them, would that interfere with the wire antenna?
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Jul 23, 2007 21:03
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Danton posted:Got the radio last thursday, works great. The manual was in english and so are the buttons, so go Degen if you're looking at the 1103 and save yourself $30. The wire antenna that came with it isn't much better than the whip in my apartment, although up on the roof I was pulling in a bunch of carribean stations (Cuba, RTI from Okeechobee, presumably Radio Netherlands was coming from the Antilles). A few questions though: The bars might affect the signal. You know the stereotypical TV antenna with all of the little rods sticking out? Most of those don't actually receive anything, they reflect the signal to the part of the antenna that does pick up the signal. Maybe just try touching the whip antenna to the grate and see what effect is has. I know I've read about hams using all sorts of weird junk as antennas; bedsprings, aluminum ladders, fences, etc. As far as a wire antenna, when you used the included wire, did you run it outside or inside? Definitely try it outside if you haven't. The Degen antenna might be a better choice, it all really just depends on the circumstances. I think it has a built in antenna tuner, which can help reduce some noise and interference. A big longwire antenna can give you better reception of signals, but it will also give you better reception of noise, too.
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Jul 23, 2007 21:06
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meatpotato posted:Well I guess it would be pirate, although I plan on getting a ham license soon. I work on the days our local club meets, though In that case (I've been doing a lot of investigating into building my own) you should check out the Yahoo homebrew pirate group. It's the only place I've seen so far that has decent PCBs, component layouts, etc. Most of the good stuff is in the files section. They have plans and info for all kinds of transmitters, FM/AM/SW. You need a Yahoo account to signup, but hey. I do believe I'll start work on a "Corsair" this week. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpirateradio/
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Jul 24, 2007 02:44
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. I made a very very weak transmitter today using a crystal oscillator timing chip I snagged from work. The audio quality was very good but range was about 6 inches from the antenna, heh. It obviously needs some amplification, although now I have an excellent way to merge the audio and the carrier.
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For the magnetic loop antenna can you just clip it on to the whip for us poor folk with SW radio's without an external antenna jack? I want to build one and screw around but if it wont work with my current radio I do not want to bother until I get something better. I think I might get a military buddy to get me a E5...
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Jul 24, 2007 09:59
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What *IS* a good external antenna to get? Can I just wire a load of speaker wire and toss it out the window, wiring it to a jack?
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Jul 24, 2007 10:07
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Dog Case posted:As far as a wire antenna, when you used the included wire, did you run it outside or inside? Definitely try it outside if you haven't. The Degen antenna might be a better choice, it all really just depends on the circumstances. I think it has a built in antenna tuner, which can help reduce some noise and interference. A big longwire antenna can give you better reception of signals, but it will also give you better reception of noise, too. I've run it inside, I don't have any access to the backyard that my windows face out on to so I haven't done anything outside yet. I figure being on the ground floor of a city apartment building, it would be better to pick up the amplified antenna anyway. I've got a roll of speaker wire that I can attach to the grate once I pick up a plug. I think I'll pick up the amplified antenna next week. The Degen got good marks for it's internal fine tuner, and I'm pretty impressed with their radio so far. I still might run the wire up to the roof, but I don't want to get the cops called on me for climbing on the fire escape when I'm setting it up 
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Jul 24, 2007 14:47
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Alright, that's it. A person can only read about these things so long before succumbing to giving it a try themselves. I'm off to Radio Shack to snag a Grundig E5, despite my better judgement. You bastards.
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Jul 25, 2007 22:38
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nitrogen posted:What *IS* a good external antenna to get? Yep. If you scroll up, I talked about how I did this a few days ago with excellent results. There's also a couple links here about some more complicated homemade antennas which sound intriguing. If you want reviews of commercial antennas, take a look at Passport.
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Jul 25, 2007 23:31
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Nostratic posted:Alright, that's it. A person can only read about these things so long before succumbing to giving it a try themselves. Tell how much it wound up costing, so I can add it to the OP, which I just updated by the way.
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Jul 26, 2007 00:00
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I'll be adding a bit to the cash totals in a month or so. I'm moving soon, and my new landlord said it's cool with him if I put an antenna up on the roof. He said that there's an old TV antenna up there, complete with coax. Do any of you think just hooking up to the TV antenna will be any good, or should I replace it with something else?
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Jul 26, 2007 00:13
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Holy poo poo, Amsterdam? I think that's what I'm hearing. 11968 KHz. First non-Spanish/English thing I've heard. My Grundig E5 was $150 at Radio Shack.
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Jul 26, 2007 00:15
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Nostratic posted:Holy poo poo, Amsterdam? I think that's what I'm hearing. 11968 KHz. First non-Spanish/English thing I've heard. Added to the list. The amount in terms of already sold equipment is rapidly nearing 5,000 dollars, and 16 E5s have been sold. Yikes. I'm really, really sorry!
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Jul 26, 2007 02:34
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AstroZamboni posted:Added to the list. The amount in terms of already sold equipment is rapidly nearing 5,000 dollars, and 16 E5s have been sold. Yikes. The American economy thanks you.
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Jul 26, 2007 02:48
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AstroZamboni posted:Added to the list. The amount in terms of already sold equipment is rapidly nearing 5,000 dollars, and 16 E5s have been sold. Yikes. Better add $100 for a Grundig G4000A for me. I have been wanting one for a while, and you bastards pushed me over the edge.
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Jul 26, 2007 02:55
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Icy Black Hand posted:Better add $100 for a Grundig G4000A for me. I have been wanting one for a while, and you bastards pushed me over the edge. Cool. That means Eton/Grundig has made 2,535 cold hard bucks thanks to this thread.
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Jul 26, 2007 03:14
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Anyone that knows anything about radio scanners want to answer a couple of questions? 
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Jul 26, 2007 03:19
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Sennheiser posted:Anyone that knows anything about radio scanners want to answer a couple of questions?
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Jul 26, 2007 03:32
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nmfree posted:Certainly, we've already answered several scanner questions. If someone who's an expert in scanners could post a bunch about it, making sort of a comprehensive "Scanner tutorial," I would certainly appreciate it. It would help make this a "general weird radio poo poo" thread which would be awesome. My next big purchase will be a scanner.
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Jul 26, 2007 05:51
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AstroZamboni posted:If someone who's an expert in scanners could post a bunch about it, making sort of a comprehensive "Scanner tutorial," I would certainly appreciate it. It would help make this a "general weird radio poo poo" thread which would be awesome. I don't know much about scanners except that at certain times of the year, my father's (which was, to be fair, connected to a big huge areal antenna outside) could pick up some pretty wacky poo poo. For example, we live in south central North Carolina, and managed to pick up the Coast Guard in Charleston, SC (until about 15 years ago we had almost a clear line of sight down there, so it's not that big a deal I don't guess) one morning, and the California Highway Patrol the next. This usually happened around mid-May to late June, which was also a great time to gently caress around on the FM dial at night (managed to pick up stations as far away as Hampton Roads, VA and Savannah, GA a couple of summers ago)
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Jul 26, 2007 07:13
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AstroZamboni posted:If someone who's an expert in scanners could post a bunch about it, making sort of a comprehensive "Scanner tutorial," I would certainly appreciate it. It would help make this a "general weird radio poo poo" thread which would be awesome.
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Jul 26, 2007 09:50
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Oh God, it sounds like a congregation of young, brainwashed girls saying the Rosary, over and over, FOR 20 MINUTES STRAIGHT so far. I'm deeply disturbed, and yet I can't... change... the frequency... 
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Jul 26, 2007 12:50
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Yet another E-5 being purchased soon. Apparently Amazon doesn't ship radios to Europe (for some reason?), but I found a local supplier. It'll be about $200 including shipping, but I suspect that's almost what I would have paid with overseas shipping from the US and customs fees anyway.
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Jul 26, 2007 16:41
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nitrogen posted:What *IS* a good external antenna to get? Basically, and that's what's known as a random wire antenna. If you want to tune it a little better though - you can make a dipole antenna tuned to the frequencies you want to listen to. An easy formula for this is to divide 300 by the frequency you want to listen to in Mhz to get the wavelength in meters. This is also how bands are determined; 40m 10m bands, etc. So, say you want to listen to 6295kHz (frequency used by most pirates these days.) Take 300 divided by 6.295 which equals approximately 47meters. Divide this by four to get a quarter wavelength. A dipole is just two quarter wavelength pieces of wire with the lead going to the radio dead in the middle. In this case we'd have two lengths of wire 38.5 feet. If you want to get fancy, you can connect coax in the middle as the guy in the site below has. If you're lazy like me you can just connect them with a wire nut in the middle and run a third to your radio. These antennas of require a fair bit of room. Nice if you've got a yard. If you're indoors, check out either the magnetic loop I posted, or you can check on ebay for shortwave "slinky antennas" which seem to run about $60. For more info on building your own dipole, check: http://www.mattstuff.nq.nu/antennas/dipole.html
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Jul 26, 2007 16:58
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nmfree posted:Well, what would you like to know about? I've been into scanners almost as long as I've been into SW. I know this is appallingly vague, but a comprehensive description of what a scanner can and can't do, what frequencies they cover, what sort of things you are able to listen to, what features to look for in a good scanner, etc.
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Jul 26, 2007 17:17
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I've found the Spanish numbers lady during the 7 UTC hour (midnight Pacific) on 5883 for three nights running. So, anyone looking for a numbers station, that's a pretty solid bet, at least for now.
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Jul 26, 2007 17:22
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Cadillac Sometimes I posted:I've found the Spanish numbers lady during the 7 UTC hour (midnight Pacific) on 5883 for three nights running. So, anyone looking for a numbers station, that's a pretty solid bet, at least for now. I have all of the known frequencies of the Spanish Lady (Enigma designation: V2) stored in my E5's memory banks. Usually, if I want to find an easy pickins number station to freak out a friend I can just flip through the memory and find our sultry Cuban mistress pretty easily. By the way, I've heard good things about Eavesdropper Dipoles. Fairly full featured tunable dipole for 80 bucks for those who aren't quite so DIY-minded. http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/0680.html http://www.antennasupermarket.com/
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Jul 26, 2007 17:32
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AstroZamboni posted:I have all of the known frequencies of the Spanish Lady (Enigma designation: V2) stored in my E5's memory banks. Usually, if I want to find an easy pickins number station to freak out a friend I can just flip through the memory and find our sultry Cuban mistress pretty easily. What would I need to hook this up to my Satellit? I haven't had an antenna yet, and have heard complaints that the input is weird, but it appears to be just a normal DIN 45325 coaxial input.
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Jul 26, 2007 18:11
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AstroZamboni posted:By the way, I've heard good things about Eavesdropper Dipoles. Fairly full featured tunable dipole for 80 bucks for those who aren't quite so DIY-minded. Yeah, they look pretty awesome, and it says they can be done as an attic installation, too. I'm probably going to buy one and try to put it up next month. I'm happy with the AN-LP1's reception, but it never hurts to try something new!
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Jul 26, 2007 18:15
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AstroZamboni posted:I know this is appallingly vague, but a comprehensive description of what a scanner can and can't do, First, despite what anyone else might tell you, you don't need a trunking scanner to listen to a trunked system. The only way that you wouldn't be able to listen to a trunked system is if they use one of the digital voice modes/ digital encryption. The only thing that will be different is that you'll have to lock out the data control frequency (daily, if it rotates) and it's a little more difficult to follow individual conversations. Other than that, there isn't much that a scanner won't be able to do. Any new radio you buy today will be set up for NFM at 12.5 kHz spacing on VHF (as opposed to the old 25 kHz channels). AstroZamboni posted:what frequencies they cover, AstroZamboni posted:what sort of things you are able to listen to, AstroZamboni posted:what features to look for in a good scanner, etc. Sensitivity Intermod rejection Frequency coverage Trunking coverage # of Memories
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Jul 27, 2007 03:12
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I just got off work and now I'm about to go see a movie, but I'll add some info on what bands are what for scanners later!
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Jul 27, 2007 03:25
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nmfree posted:Police, firefighters, ambulances, street sweepers, utility companies, hams, studio link feeds for commercial broadcasters, cordless phones, paging services, marine radios, NOAA weather radio, etc. Street sweepers? loving AWESOME!!! 
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Jul 27, 2007 04:21
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nmfree posted:Police, firefighters, ambulances, street sweepers, utility companies, hams, studio link feeds for commercial broadcasters, cordless phones, paging services, marine radios, NOAA weather radio, etc. Can I just say that cordless phones via scanner are the greatest source of comedy ever? My father and another CB/Scanner/Radio nut friend of his used to trade audiotapes of white trash drama and discuss it like it was fuckin' General Hospital. "Oh man, you need to hear what Fid and Floyd did this week" Back in 1995, one of my best friends was on the phone with his girlfriend, who lived in scanner range of us. Their conversation was mediocre...until she had to set the phone down for 5 minutes or so, at which point I got to hear the poo poo my friend did when put on hold. Things like muttering "oh poo poo, wapner!" and beatboxing the People's Court theme. Yeah he wasn't real happy when I whipped that tape out.
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Jul 27, 2007 05:14
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Can I just say that cordless phones via scanner are the greatest source of comedy ever? This is so true. I love my scanner even though its a few years old now. I hope to get a new one and a SW soon. About 5 years ago I was on my scanner and picked up a phone call. I realized it was the voice of an older guy in my neighborhood. He was screaming about going out to get the fuckers who shorted him on his latest herion sale. The next day I heard him talking to his daughter about seeing his grandkids and how he was enjoying his retirement.
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Jul 27, 2007 05:26
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My only good intercepted cordless phone conversation was when a girl in my neighborhood described her "first time" to one of her friends.  Rev. Bleech_ posted:Yeah he wasn't real happy when I whipped that tape out.
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Jul 27, 2007 05:59
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I just bought a Bearcat 210XLT from a goon. Aside from being horribly obsolete, what sort of things can it do BESIDES just listen to police/fire/EMS/etc. radio? Are there any shortfalls to having an old scanner? Also, all of the frequencies in Chicago tune to five decimal places, usually being something like 100.41350, but the BC210XLT only tunes to the third decimal place. How will I be able to pick up my Chicago frequencies? Will the audio quality/volume be worse? EDIT: oh hey sup dog case buddy Sennheiser fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Jul 27, 2007 |
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Jul 27, 2007 06:07
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Sennheiser posted:I just bought a Bearcat 210XLT from a goon. Aside from being horribly obsolete, what sort of things can it do BESIDES just listen to police/fire/EMS/etc. radio? Sennheiser posted:Are there any shortfalls to having an old scanner? Sennheiser posted:Also, all of the frequencies in Chicago tune to five decimal places, usually being something like 100.41350, but the BC210XLT only tunes to the third decimal place.
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Jul 27, 2007 06:46
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I can answer scanner questions as well. They are actually easier to use vs. shortwave.nmfree posted:First, despite what anyone else might tell you, you don't need a trunking scanner to listen to a trunked system. The only way that you wouldn't be able to listen to a trunked system is if they use one of the digital voice modes/ digital encryption. The only thing that will be different is that you'll have to lock out the data control frequency (daily, if it rotates) and it's a little more difficult to follow individual conversations. quote:Other than that, there isn't much that a scanner won't be able to do. Any new radio you buy today will be set up for NFM at 12.5 kHz spacing on VHF (as opposed to the old 25 kHz channels). quote:As many as you want to pay for, basically. The traditional Bearcat/Radio Shack scanner will cover 30-54, 138-170, 400-512, and 800-950 MHz (roughly), but there are also wideband radios that will cover a much greater swath of spectrum. quote:Police, firefighters, ambulances, street sweepers, utility companies, hams, studio link feeds for commercial broadcasters, cordless phones, paging services, marine radios, NOAA weather radio, etc. quote:Here are the things I'd look for, from most important to least: This eliminates the need for huge, slinky inducing, window-wrapping setups. It does however, introduce the "line of sight" problem (for a different reason, just work with me here). "Line of sight" is exactly as simple as it sounds. Given a clear day, with no obstructions, could you see the tower? If yes, you can get the signal. If no, probably not. This explains the 50 bazillion cell phone towers out there. Higher frequencies (I'm talking about roughly 800 mhz and higher here) are adversely affected by metal. The signals literally bounce off the metal. Ever have trouble getting cell phone signals in a mall? There you go. Along the lines of antennas/scanners/police, you can hazard a guess as to where your local authorities are transmitting by looking at the antennas on their cars. Do they have a huge, 10 foot monster? They're monitoring CB or the 40-50 mhz area. Do their antennas look like a toothpick? Check the 800 mhz area. Something the length of an average car radio antenna? Look in the 150's. http://www.cityfreq.com/ has annoying ads, but some good scanner info as far as frequencies. Here's my county as an example; code:Click here for some streaming police scanning! As always, I'm watching this thread to answer any more questions. If I (or anyone else) missed a topic, ask away! Halah fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jul 28, 2007 |
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Jul 27, 2007 06:49
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Nostratic posted:Oh God, it sounds like a congregation of young, brainwashed girls saying the Rosary, over and over, FOR 20 MINUTES STRAIGHT so far. Reference this exact thought whenever some calls you a radio nerd.
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Jul 27, 2007 06:53
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What would be the "Eton E5" of scanners, in terms of capability for affordability?
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Jul 27, 2007 07:05
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nmfree posted:Nothing, that's all it was made for. You could modify it to do things like recieve 138 MHz weather fax signals, but that can get pretty complicated pretty fast. Wow, so what you're saying is I basically just wasted $40? gently caress.
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Jul 27, 2007 07:08
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