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My radio arrived and within ten minutes I was listening to some numbers station in Spanish. Rock the gently caress on.
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Aug 9, 2007 19:41
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Scanner gone! This will hopefully finance the purchase of a Degen DE31 active antenna for my shortwave fancies. java fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Aug 15, 2007 |
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Aug 10, 2007 00:17
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Ok, so I finally got off my rear end and took some pics of my antenna.   I had to offset the switch with the capacitor because the tabs coming off of the capacitor came off of it in such a way that it touched the switch contacts. If want some pics of any other part of it just let me know.
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Aug 10, 2007 02:15
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overflow posted:Ok, so I finally got off my rear end and took some pics of my antenna. That is absolutely loving beautiful. I have to make one now.
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Aug 10, 2007 02:49
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I just got through building the magnetic loop antenna, and wow. The difference is night and day. I'm chilling out listening to Radio Havana, crystal clear, which was hardly audible before. I'm close to buying a E5 to replace my Grundig S350, as I think I've outgrown it.
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Aug 10, 2007 03:51
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Well, I'm not building a loop antenna yet, but I was at a 99 cent store tonight and they had (fanfare please) Original metal slinkies! I built a ghetto slinky antenna with 2 slinkies, some speaker wire and roach clips, and I'm never going back to random wires. Man, it cleared up my signals nicely.
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Aug 10, 2007 04:39
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Okay, I'm going to have to revise my prior statement about the antenna. My 50' speaker wire tossed on my roof kicks it's rear end. This $20 contraption that I spent 2 days working on decreases my reception, even on strong signals. I've checked every wire, every solder, every instruction on the guy's website, and my lovely spool of wire works significantly better. For example: I tune into WWV at 10000 KHz. 1.) With the whip antenna, I get an extremely faint signal right now. I hear an occasional tick. 2.) With the loop antenna, I got a helluva lot less noise, but I can barely, and I mean BARELY, hear the signal, with the volume tripled over what it normally is. 3.) With my wire chucked up on the roof, I forget to turn the volume down and get partially deafened by the ticking and the announcer's voice, with very little noise. What a disappointment.
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Aug 10, 2007 07:34
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Also, this guy on 3185 KHz is talking about how corrupt the hearts of babies are. 0645 UTC
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Aug 10, 2007 07:47
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Nostratic posted:Okay, I'm going to have to revise my prior statement about the antenna. Crazy.. I don't know why you would have such a difference. One quick suggestion to check (and something I ran into initially) was the feedline going out. Make sure one end of the coupling loop is going to the braid of the coax, and the other end of the coupling loop to the center conductor. On the antenna end (the 1/8" phono jack end) the braid connection has to go to the outside connector of the phono jack and the center conductor to the middle tab of the phono jack. You need BOTH connections to be solid for it to work well. At first my connection to the braid of the coax was flaky and it sounded like poo poo; after I fixed it I noticed a huge difference. Also, the tuning is SUPER sensitive, what I usually do is tune in the station, give the knob a quick turn and you'll hit a point where you hear the station come in easily 3-4 times stronger.. go back to this point and fine tune it VERY slowly. This antenna allows you to listen to the electromagnetic portion of the signal without the electrostatic portion, so the main advantage here is that you block out RF noise. I would imagine that if you're already in an area with low noise, this won't improve your signal much. I'm in a small apartment that's virtually pounded with RF noise, so with a random wire I was essentially just making a "noise amplifier" so this made a huge difference for me. Yesterday when I took pics I also took some pics of my S-meter with the magnetic loop antenna vs the whip using WWV at 10000kHz as a reference. With the whip, my signal meter is at BEST an S-3, with the magnetic loop the meter is consistently S-10. The audio is booming. Unfortunately the pics didn't really turn out as the flash makes the LEDs on the signal meter look like they are all lit even when they're not. I'll try retaking them later today and try to make an audio recording as well so you can hear the difference. There's also the recording on the original plans page of a conversation between two hams where he has the loop unplugged, plugged in, and then back out. The difference is dramatic; I had to listen to it a few times myself to realize what I was hearing. The other night there was a pirate station on and it was coming in loud and clear for me. A guy in the midwest (so our signals should have been about the same) who was listening to the same station on an Icom R75 (a $600 dollar tabletop receiver) and a properly tuned dipole had his audio streaming over the net. I checked it out and realized my signal was much stronger. I put my receiver's audio streaming so he could check it out and compare. He exclaimed "wow, it's coming in much better over there!" Sorry you didn't have the same results man! I guess your mileage may vary with this project, so be aware. Last night kind of sucked for SWL listening, no numbers stations, no pirates logged here. overflow fucked around with this message at 08:26 on Aug 10, 2007 |
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Aug 10, 2007 08:16
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Yeah, I actually thought that feed line connections might be the problem, so I snipped those off and made brand new connections on both ends of the line, and nothing changed. Any suggestions on how to make a more solid connection would be helpful; I just carefully stripped back the outer insulation to expose the braid and soldered the plug to the wire as best I could, then soldered the center connection to the middle of the jack. I guess it could still be a connection issue with the braid, but I have no idea how I'd make it more solid. I suppose it could also be a dud capacitor, but that seems like it would be weird. I dunno what else to try. But I emailed the guy with the plan, so hopefully he'll have some ideas. Diamond Frogs Sucks
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Aug 10, 2007 14:46
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Nostratic posted:Yeah, I actually thought that feed line connections might be the problem, so I snipped those off and made brand new connections on both ends of the line, and nothing changed. Any suggestions on how to make a more solid connection would be helpful; I just carefully stripped back the outer insulation to expose the braid and soldered the plug to the wire as best I could, then soldered the center connection to the middle of the jack. I guess it could still be a connection issue with the braid, but I have no idea how I'd make it more solid. Do you notice any change in volume in signal or audio at all when you turn the knob on the capacitor? Also, can you confirm that you have a break in the copper loop where the capacitor is? overflow fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Aug 10, 2007 |
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Aug 10, 2007 16:29
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And since the spending just can't stop, I won an auction for an Eton E10 on ebay last night. It's a nicer one, the predecessor of the E5, for just under $50 shipped. There are a few others up for grabs, nice and refurbed.
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Aug 11, 2007 14:52
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overflow posted:Do you notice any change in volume in signal or audio at all when you turn the knob on the capacitor? Also, can you confirm that you have a break in the copper loop where the capacitor is? Honestly, I don't really notice any difference at all. However, I was using a station around 6600 KHz as my test station, and I was told by Alex (the guy who runs kr1st.com) that I should try something around 15000 KHz. I'm going to try that quickly here before I head off to bed. There's definitely a gap at the top of the loop, at least 1/2" worth. Alex said it could also be a capacitor issue, so Monday I'll probably swing by Walmart on my way home and grab another cheapo radio and do some disassembling and some more  soldering I don't know why I can't solder well. It's a pretty simple task. It just takes me twice as long to get a good solder.
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Aug 11, 2007 14:59
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Nostratic posted:Honestly, I don't really notice any difference at all. However, I was using a station around 6600 KHz as my test station, and I was told by Alex (the guy who runs kr1st.com) that I should try something around 15000 KHz. I'm going to try that quickly here before I head off to bed. Are you having trouble with the solder on the copper pipe? You might want to give your soldering spots a light sanding on it. They have have coated it with something that's interfering.
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Aug 11, 2007 17:22
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Picked up a metric assload of "loving weird" last night and wanted to share. I don't know whether or not this could have been an Emergency Action Message, considering it wasn't on a known EAM HF Communications Network frequency (although it was only 3 KHZ up from one) and consisted of a male, somewhat mechanical voice reading out a very long string of phonetic alphabet letters with a (rare) occasional number thrown in for good measure. There were no discernible gaps to delineate figure groups, and the transmission ended with "Message ends" and a loud "click" like a phone being hung up. Signal was VERY strong. Was I hearing an EAM, or could this have been a number station? Since I haven't had the pleasure of hearing an EAM yet, I had nothing to compare it to. Any theories?
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Aug 12, 2007 22:36
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Iridium posted:Are you having trouble with the solder on the copper pipe? You might want to give your soldering spots a light sanding on it. They have have coated it with something that's interfering. I should add that I used solder flux paste (RadioShack) and a 40-watt iron for my soldering, especially when soldering to the copper tube. I typically use a higher wattage iron when it comes to this type of soldering - just work quickly when it comes to stuff like the tuning capacitor or you'll melt it. Also, I think I should clarify my statement about using this antenna to scan with as it might be giving the wrong impression. It works MUCH better as an antenna tuned to what you want to listen to. I tend to get most of my frequencies off of IRC, mailing lists, this thread, etc., then plug them into the radio. I then use the antenna to "tune" to the frequency I plugged in. AstroZamboni posted:Picked up a metric assload of "loving weird" last night and wanted to share. It sounds like an EAM to me. I do know, however, that EAMs are not mechanically read - but it definitely sounds like it. Every EAM I've ever heard has had an EXTREMELY strong signal, and ended with the "Message ends" and the signature "click." Two big things going on this weekend that it could have been related to - there is a massive wargame going on in Japanese waters right now (Exercise Valiant Shield) or it could have been related to the two Russian jets that supposedly buzzed Guam. Just a guess, but still pretty awesome. overflow fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Aug 12, 2007 |
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Aug 12, 2007 22:43
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overflow posted:It sounds like an EAM to me. I do know, however, that EAMs are not mechanically read - but it definitely sounds like it. Every EAM I've ever heard has had an EXTREMELY strong signal, and ended with the "Message ends" and the signature "click." Two big things going on this weekend that it could have been related to - there is a massive wargame going on in Japanese waters right now (Exercise Valiant Shield) or it could have been related to the two Russian jets that supposedly buzzed Guam. Just a guess, but still pretty awesome. Schweet, thanks for clarifying. I only caught the last few minutes of it. I hope to hear another one soon, just as long as it doesn't mean "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
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Aug 12, 2007 22:54
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Iridium posted:Are you having trouble with the solder on the copper pipe? You might want to give your soldering spots a light sanding on it. They have have coated it with something that's interfering. The solder points on the copper are pretty sturdy, actually. I just have trouble soldering in general. Which is odd, because at work, I can start IVs on confused and struggling patients pretty well (with a little restraint help from another nurse). But hit a stationary target? 
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Aug 13, 2007 00:08
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Just to let everyone know, you might want to tune into Radio Habana tonight. It IS Fidel Castro's birthday, so they're bound to have some extra special propaganda.
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Aug 14, 2007 05:20
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Nostratic posted:Okay, I'm going to have to revise my prior statement about the antenna. Doesn't that just loving piss you off? I did the same thing, created an intricate long antenna that wrapped all around my house and it just failed utterly. The whip antenna on the radio was better! Still sticking with the AN-LP1 for now, but I think next weekend's project is going to be to install an Eavesdropper in my attic. Maybe I'll take pictures 
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Aug 14, 2007 05:50
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AstroZamboni posted:Just to let everyone know, you might want to tune into Radio Habana tonight. It IS Fidel Castro's birthday, so they're bound to have some extra special propaganda. poo poo. I'll have to see if I can find it here in a minute. Ah, there it is. Talking about Ernest Hemingway. I've been fiddling with this drat antenna, and I'm finally hearing some freaking tuning. I think I just need to make some adjustments to lower the limits a bit. The tuning is really obvious up around 25000 KHz, so just need to find the lower limit now. At least the freaking thing is working. I got another clock radio from Walmart this morning I can fiddle with if I want, so who knows.
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Aug 14, 2007 08:02
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Hah, Spanish numbers out of nowhere on 5897 KHz, 0836 UTC.
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Aug 14, 2007 09:36
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As I stated earlier, I typically find frequencies from these INTARWEBS and then plug them into my radio to find pirates, numbers, etc. Thought I'd update with a list of my sources for frequencies (I think some of these are covered in the OP, some may not be.) Free Radio Network (FRN) Forum (The Vines) http://www.frn.net/vines/ Check the A*C*E* loggings forum to find logs for pirate stations and the URS forum for Utility monitoring logs. The A*C*E* forum tends to be way more active and lots of pirates actually hang out here and will confirm their broadcasts. UXDXF (Utility DX Forum)Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/udxf/ Can't help but notice that a lot of the shortwave/ham community relies on technology from 1995. We're talking lots of mailing lists, geocities, and tripod pages here. This one is actually quite active though and will give you a good idea of what frequencies to catch stuff on. You need to actually apply to the group for access, but I was accepted after 2 days. IRC #pirateradio #wunclub on irc.zirc.org #pirateradio #wunclub on irc.starchat.net #shortwave on irc.synirc.org #pirateradio for well, pirates.. and #wunclub for utility monitoring. Apparently they were on Zirc and then Zirc had a meltdown so they moved over to StarChat. Found out Zirc wasn't really having a meltdown and so now there's channels on both servers with a lot of the same people in each. Zirc seems more active. Beware of the typical IRC "elitist prick" attitude with some of these guys. I also idle in #shortwave on irc.synirc.com (the channel made for this thread) and relay anything I'm hearing. Oh, I also follow this group: Homebrew Pirate Radio Yahoo Group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpirateradio/ If you're interested in building a transmitter, this is the place for you. These guys know their poo poo, check out the files section for plans, schematics, etc.
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Aug 14, 2007 14:53
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Well, for what it's worth I sold my PRO-94 radio: +60 And then instantly went out and ordered a Degen DE31 Active Shortwave Antenna: -21 I don't know if you want to add that to the running totals. I can't wait to get this thing and hook it up.
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Aug 15, 2007 03:37
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Automaton Empire posted:And then instantly went out and ordered a Degen DE31 Active Shortwave Antenna: -21 Does anyone know if this antenna is worth getting? It seems there are a number of cheap Chinese antennas marketed under different brands that are all the same (Kaito KA33, Degan DE31), this being one of them. I want to get an active antenna but don't want to waste $20.
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Aug 15, 2007 04:57
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SoylentGreen posted:Does anyone know if this antenna is worth getting? Radio Intelligencer gave it a decent review. Said it isn't as good as a Sony ANLP1, but will definitely improve reception and help reject local interference.
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Aug 15, 2007 05:04
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Booyah! I got my E5 today, for the low low price of 70 bucks CDN  I've been loving around with it but I can't seem to receive anything on actual shortwave. But goddamn if this isn't the clearest AM/FM radio I've ever owned. I wanna hear about the corrupted hearts of babies  All I'm getting is either static or BWEEP, BWEEP BWOOOOOO.....Should I wait for sundown and then just scan the gently caress out of the various frequencies that Eton tells me are popular? Edit: Oh wait, I'm getting some weird country station playing Sweet Home Alabama right at 150khz. What the gently caress 
Stuntman Mike fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Aug 16, 2007 |
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Aug 15, 2007 23:47
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SoylentGreen posted:Does anyone know if this antenna is worth getting? PWBR posted:Rating: 2 stars (OK), good value for the money
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Aug 15, 2007 23:57
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Well, Radio DIsney is still pissing me off, but with sometimes hilarious results. I was hearing them very clearly through their MW broadcast interference while trying to listen to a conspiracytard/preacher on shortwave. So the net effect was hearing a schizophrenic dude rambling about jesus and hellfire and aliens against the backdrop of a techno remix of the "hamsterdance" music. My god, that had me making GBS threads myself from laughing so hard.
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Aug 16, 2007 00:17
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Stuntman Mike posted:Booyah! Congrats! After sundown is definitely best, but there's a lot of stuff on right now. I've been scanning down from 25000 KHz for the last 30 minutes or so. There was a hilarious conspiracy fruit on two nights ago, but I didn't write down the frequency or anything. God drat, it was funny, though.
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Aug 16, 2007 00:31
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Nostratic posted:Congrats! After sundown is definitely best, but there's a lot of stuff on right now. I've been scanning down from 25000 KHz for the last 30 minutes or so. I've gotta be doing something wrong, I'm getting practically nothing, besides one station with some really garbled tribal techno or something. I think I just can't get good reception inside my house, because I'm scanning SSB back and forth and nothing I land on has any signal strength bars. Iridium posted:My radio arrived and within ten minutes I was listening to some numbers station in Spanish. Rock the gently caress on.
Stuntman Mike fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Aug 16, 2007 |
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Aug 16, 2007 01:37
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Oh wow, the sun went down and holy gently caress crazy preachers out of nowhere, all over the 6000-6500khz range. Jesus. Lots of Jesus. Strange though, I'm not getting anything substantial above 8000khz, and everything between 15 and 29 thousand is completely barren, but under 8000 every few khz there's a new station. Why is this? Just coincidence?  VVVV Ah, okay. Thanks
Stuntman Mike fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Aug 16, 2007 |
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Aug 16, 2007 02:33
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Stuntman Mike posted:Oh wow, the sun went down and holy gently caress crazy preachers out of nowhere, all over the 6000-6500khz range. Jesus. Lots of Jesus. Strange though, I'm not getting anything substantial above 8000khz, and everything between 15 and 29 thousand is completely barren, but under 8000 every few khz there's a new station. Basically, nighttime is below 10MHz, and daytime is above 10MHz.
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Aug 16, 2007 03:25
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nmfree posted:Basically, nighttime is below 10MHz, and daytime is above 10MHz. Mostly what he said, but during most of the year the barrier is closer to 13 MHz. Also, SW reception will be better during the Winter, I can guaran-drat-tee you.
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Aug 16, 2007 05:51
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Stuntman Mike posted:I've gotta be doing something wrong, I'm getting practically nothing, besides one station with some really garbled tribal techno or something. Maybe this is obvious and you know it already, but are you also scanning non-SSB? SSB is mostly for stuff like HAM radio, morse code beacons, some numbers stations, etc. All the world radio stations like Radio Havana and the preachers and even some of the stronger numbers stations are not in the sideband.
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Aug 16, 2007 22:40
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bad mutant vibes posted:Maybe this is obvious and you know it already, but are you also scanning non-SSB? SSB is mostly for stuff like HAM radio, morse code beacons, some numbers stations, etc. All the world radio stations like Radio Havana and the preachers and even some of the stronger numbers stations are not in the sideband. I caught onto that relatively late in the night actually, but you're right - I was mostly scanning SSB. No wonder.  Edit: I've got a question about the Passport To World Radio book. Is there substantial difference between editions? I was going to go buy it but then I thought...2007 is almost over, should I wait for the 2008 edition? v  v
Stuntman Mike fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Aug 16, 2007 |
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Aug 16, 2007 22:49
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Stuntman Mike posted:I think I just can't get good reception inside my house, because I'm scanning SSB back and forth and nothing I land on has any signal strength bars. Also you might want to try getting close to a window. Buildings often block the weakish SW signals. Open a window and set the radio on a windowsill. By the way, if you have a Family Dollar store in your vicinity, go there and see if they have metal slinkies. All of the ones in my area stock them, and for only 2 bucks a pop! Cheap way to build an awesome antenna. My slinky antenna is kicking mighty mighty rear end.
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Aug 16, 2007 23:15
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Stuntman Mike posted:Edit: I've got a question about the Passport To World Radio book. Is there substantial difference between editions? I was going to go buy it but then I thought...2007 is almost over, should I wait for the 2008 edition? v 
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Aug 17, 2007 05:24
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nmfree posted:Eh, you're in the bad part of the year as far as that is concerned; the new edition comes out in October, but having one now is always helpful, but it's out of date, but a lot of the information doesn't change that much, but Edit: Whoa poo poo, I just caught Alex Jones on 5889. Awesome! 
Stuntman Mike fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Aug 17, 2007 |
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Aug 17, 2007 05:33
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| # ? May 9, 2024 21:38 |
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Stuntman Mike posted:Edit: I've got a question about the Passport To World Radio book. Is there substantial difference between editions? I was going to go buy it but then I thought...2007 is almost over, should I wait for the 2008 edition? v Check your local library. Mine had a copy.
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Aug 17, 2007 06:24
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