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AstroZamboni posted:I think this might be a job for one of those homebrew magnetic loops. ANyone who built one care to chime in here? that magnetic loop thing sounds about right. My dad is a really handy guy so following a plan wouldnt be hard for us. Plus its DIY so I can have it before christmas (glee!) edit: anyone have good plans for one?
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Sep 24, 2007 18:31
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Les Oeufs posted:My dad is a really handy guy so following a plan wouldnt be hard for us. Plus its DIY so I can have it before christmas (glee!) "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." -Red Green Also, I believe this schematic is the correct plan for the previously discussed magnetic loop. If it isn't, anyone can feel free to correct my misconception.
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Sep 24, 2007 19:33
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AstroZamboni posted:
That's a solid mag loop design. If you guys experiment with mag loops, make sure that all of your connections are very solid and secure. Mag loops operate in a different manner, and resistance in the antenna elements and connections hurts them quite a bit. You'll be good if you securely clean and solder all connections, probably - don't cheese it with clamps, though.
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Sep 24, 2007 20:01
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Jonny 290 posted:That's a solid mag loop design. If you guys experiment with mag loops, make sure that all of your connections are very solid and secure. Mag loops operate in a different manner, and resistance in the antenna elements and connections hurts them quite a bit. You'll be good if you securely clean and solder all connections, probably - don't cheese it with clamps, though. Thanks! This is good, sound advice. I'm adding this and the magnetic loop schematic link to the OP.
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Sep 24, 2007 23:53
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Small update: according to the Passport website, the 2008 edition will be out in "late October".
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Sep 25, 2007 05:20
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really? Amazon.com is saying December 25
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Sep 25, 2007 05:36
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Would this - http://cgi.ebay.com/Calectro-365-PF...1QQcmdZViewItem be good for making a magnetic loop antenna? I got a DE1103 in the mail the other day and I love it.
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Sep 26, 2007 04:04
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Les Oeufs posted:really? Amazon.com is saying December 25 Barnes and Noble says the same thing. WTF, Passband?
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Sep 26, 2007 18:07
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My E5 came today! Already found Radio Havana and Radio Sweden(?). Alex Jones Coast to Coast is on 7465khz pretty strong in KC, Kansas currently. 9:50pm. I'll probably be up all night trying to pull in some numbers stations.
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Sep 27, 2007 03:53
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Les Oeufs posted:Would it be a significant improvement on the ext. wire that the E5 comes with? I have a Grundig G5 and the mag loop antenna makes a HUGE difference. It costs about $25 in parts and plan on an afternoon to build it right. I can max out the reception with it on stations that the regular whip antenna can barely even pick up. For instance, during a quick scan, I got Voice of China (?) from Beijing, no repeaters, and it was almost like listening to a local AM station.
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Sep 27, 2007 04:10
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mas posted:My E5 came today! Already found Radio Havana and Radio Sweden(?). Alex Jones Coast to Coast is on 7465khz pretty strong in KC, Kansas currently. 9:50pm. I'll probably be up all night trying to pull in some numbers stations. In the first couple of weeks of addiction, sleep falls completely by the wayside.
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Sep 27, 2007 06:52
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AstroZamboni posted:In the first couple of weeks of addiction, sleep falls completely by the wayside. Good thing I don't sleep much as it is anyway. I didn't have much luck though. My plan it to build one of the magloop antennas that was linked earlier and see if I can get some spook poo poo.
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Sep 27, 2007 23:59
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Wow. Two days and I finally got through this thread. There's a lot of great information in here. I've always been interested in #s stations (for some reason I thought they were obsolete). I'm probably going to pick up a KA1103 or an E5 this weekend, but I have a few questions first. 1) Has anybody messed around with the KA1121? I like the idea of recording straight to mp3. 2) Are the old table tops (i.e. '40's & 50's) capable of receiving ssb? I only ask because some of those old Hallicrafters on ebay look drat sexy. Also AstroZamboni brought up American Science & Surplus for slinkies. While looking around that site I found this: quote:Hotel Service At Home Dr. Benway fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Sep 29, 2007 |
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Sep 28, 2007 23:53
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Dr. Benway posted:Wow. Two days and I finally got through this thread. There's a lot of great information in here. I've always been interested in #s stations (for some reason I thought they were obsolete). I'm probably going to pick up a KA1103 or an E5 this weekend, but I have a few questions first. I'll answer these sequentially. 1: I don't think anyone in this thread has, but here is an in-depth review of the DE1121 which is decidedly mixed. Weigh your options carefully before buying. 2: Probably not. Most were straight up AM shortwave. 3: Probably not, as it is maximized for a UHF area of the spectrum WAY beyond the shortwave bands, using a MUCH shorter wavelength.
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Sep 29, 2007 01:58
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That's pretty much what I thought on all those questions. Thanks for that link. I had a hard time finding anything on that model. I'm going with a DE1103 so you can add $70 to the financial drain. You're all bastards.
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Sep 29, 2007 02:48
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Recommend the equipment that I would need in order to listen directly to the Space Shuttle and the ISS - instead of listening to that bogus sterilized crap they play o n NASA tv. I don't need to transmit - just tune and receive.
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Sep 29, 2007 02:59
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Dr. Benway posted:That's pretty much what I thought on all those questions. Thanks for that link. I had a hard time finding anything on that model. I'm going with a DE1103 so you can add $70 to the financial drain. You're all bastards. gently caress you very much, my parents were married when I was conceived. Identity Thief posted:Recommend the equipment that I would need in order to listen directly to the Space Shuttle and the ISS - instead of listening to that bogus sterilized crap they play o n NASA tv. Any SSB capable radio with a good antenna will do you just fine. A DE1103 or E5 with a magnetic loop will probably be enough.
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Sep 29, 2007 03:49
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Ah, shortwave. Takes me back to camping trips with my family, when dad would bust out the old multi-band radio just before bed, crank down to the shortwave frequencies, and we'd nod off to Dutch news broadcasts and ragas from All India Radio. I should get a SW radio for some giggles one of these days. And I just downloaded someone's good-quality rips of The Conet Project over the weekend. I wish that thing was still in print. 50 bucks would be reasonable, 150 is just crazy. pill for your ills fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Sep 30, 2007 |
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Sep 29, 2007 19:44
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Add me to the list. Picked up the S350 from radio shack. gently caress you guys.
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Sep 30, 2007 03:10
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Identity Thief posted:Recommend the equipment that I would need in order to listen directly to the Space Shuttle and the ISS - instead of listening to that bogus sterilized crap they play o n NASA tv. AstroZamboni posted:Any SSB capable radio with a good antenna will do you just fine. A DE1103 or E5 with a magnetic loop will probably be enough. What? Shuttle and ISS are on VHF and above. He needs a scanner. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/shutfreq.html
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Sep 30, 2007 03:24
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I'm just popping in to say 'Hello' to this thread. I had a big old Hitachi boombox back in the mid 80's that introduced me to the weird world of Shortwave listening. Crazed Preachers, Radio Moscow, number stations and assorted other bizarre things - great at night with the  Even now, I have a small battered portable (cheapo Matsui WR208S) that picks up 6 SW 'bands' that I had a twiddle with the other night. It helped to bring it all back with a few minutes of crazed interval signal that just cut out dead followed by some Mid-East station reporting how many "Palestinians that were martyred by the Zionists" that day and ended up with listening to the top news story on Radio China International, something about Forestry protection...! After listening to the Conet Project the other night - drat it if an Eton E5 isn't my next purchase. I'll check back in once I've spent the cash so the OP can be updated. biglads fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Sep 30, 2007 |
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Sep 30, 2007 13:53
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Dog Case posted:What? Shuttle and ISS are on VHF and above. He needs a scanner. Stupid me. I was thinking of the days when Skylab used SW HAM radio.
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Sep 30, 2007 23:13
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essaywhutman posted:Add me to the list. Picked up the S350 from radio shack. gently caress you guys. Price? The newest DE1103 has been added to the OP financial drain. Total drain is now 6,226 with 43 radios sold.
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Oct 1, 2007 04:25
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AstroZamboni posted:I'll answer these sequentially. 2) You can look up vintage receivers here to see if they can demodulate SSB; the feature you're looking for is a BFO. 3) What he said.
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Oct 1, 2007 04:31
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This sounds like something I will be looking into when I get some free time. The one thing that really intrigues me... does anyone know anything about sending / receiving messages as polytones? Pretty nifty sort of thing, but I can't find any info on it. I remember playing with some RTTY stuff before, then funneling it over VOIP which produced terrible results...
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Oct 2, 2007 04:30
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Partycat posted:The one thing that really intrigues me... does anyone know anything about sending / receiving messages as polytones? Pretty nifty sort of thing, but I can't find any info on it. All I know is that it basically works as a substitution code where different tones at different pitches represent letters or numbers (usually numbers). The KGB (supposedly, there isn't too terribly much information regarding the location origin of the XHP stations) operated a 10-tone high speed, high-pitched polytone where each tone seemed to represent a number 0 through 9, with another lower tone every fifth note. It was a number station using a polytone substitution code that could send a message in a much shorter amount of time than a spoken voice/morse station. Of course, decrypting it would require specialized equipment or a REALLY good ear. SO I guess the pros/cons of using this type of format were pretty much 6 of one/half dozen of the other.
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Oct 2, 2007 14:45
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Well, I put my Grundig up on ebay.  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=280158648640&Category=15051&_trksid=p3907.m29It was really fun the few times I got to use it. I really wish I could hold onto it but I just don't use it enough to justify keeping it.
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Oct 2, 2007 21:13
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Great thread (I've only read up to page 8, but still, this is full of win). This is the radio I use, I'd like to know what y'all think of it: I currently use an Info-Mate World Band Radio, model no. 837. It's a solar-powered radio that runs on four AA NiMH batteries. It can receive AM, FM, TV audio up to channel 13, airplane radio transmissions, VHF transmissions, and NOAA Weather Radio. I have a few questions, as well: Not even two miles from my house there are broadcast towers for a 50,000 watt AM station (I live in Detroit, the AM station is 1500 WLQV). At certain times of the day I receive this station all across the shortwave bands, and I receive it in the background of many AM stations, as well. The question is this: How do I block this? There seems to be an AM news station from Toronto that intentionally broadcasts on the shortwave bands. Has anyone here received this, and, if so, what station is this? Last question: Am I the only person here who's received a numbers station on the AM band? Because one time when I was DXing on AM I started hearing the Spanish numbers station. (No, I don't remember what frequency, but it was between 800 and 1000 AM.)
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Oct 3, 2007 03:10
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Great thread - I'm really amazed at all of the content packed into here. I've been reading the entire thread and following up on links for the past couple days now and I have a request for anyone interested: This thread has inspired me and a number of fellow students to use the material of shortwave radio (number stations being an endpoint) to make a documentary. The plan is to keep the visual elements of the documentary constrained to usage of a simple sign wave. Thus, we need interviews! Why do you use shortwave? What are some interesting things you've come across? How do you compare the roles of shortwave radio to that of public access television or the internet. My film crew is based in Bozeman, MT. If there are people in the area (Northwest) it would be great to meet up for an interview. However, the main goal is to collect telephone/skype interviews. If you are interested in talking to some curious youngsters about the SW and you, please send me an email. Kcski989@gmail.com Thanks a bunch
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Oct 3, 2007 06:08
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AstroZamboni posted:Price? $99, 108 with tax.
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Oct 3, 2007 06:32
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TimeLady posted:Not even two miles from my house there are broadcast towers for a 50,000 watt AM station (I live in Detroit, the AM station is 1500 WLQV). At certain times of the day I receive this station all across the shortwave bands, and I receive it in the background of many AM stations, as well. The question is this: How do I block this?  answer: Buy a better radio. answer: You could probably lessen the AM stations that bleed into SW by rotating the radio body while keeping the antenna straight up and down (the optimal position). I'm actually running into the same issue with my Radio Shack rebrand of the Sangean 909, and rotating the radio itself so the internal AM antenna (basically an iron bar mounted horizontally inside the shell) has helped.TimeLady posted:There seems to be an AM news station from Toronto that intentionally broadcasts on the shortwave bands. Has anyone here received this, and, if so, what station is this? Listen to it and find out!  I think you're talking about CFRX, which rebroadcasts CFRB.
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Oct 3, 2007 06:47
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TimeLady posted:Not even two miles from my house there are broadcast towers for a 50,000 watt AM station (I live in Detroit, the AM station is 1500 WLQV). At certain times of the day I receive this station all across the shortwave bands, and I receive it in the background of many AM stations, as well. The question is this: How do I block this? First question: This is the same problem I've been having with nearby Radio Disney. Does your radio have an external antenna jack? If so, the best way to filter out local MW interference is with an external magnetic loop/active loop antenna. Last question: That's weird as hell. I have no idea. By the way, to distinguish local "AM" radio from shortwave transmissions sent in AM, SWLs tend to refer to local AM as "Medium Wave," or the MW band. essaywhutman posted:$99, 108 with tax. Added. Enjoy them spinny knobs! Obstacle posted:Thus, we need interviews! Why do you use shortwave? What are some interesting things you've come across? How do you compare the roles of shortwave radio to that of public access television or the internet. While I would love to be involved with something like this, my plate is so ridiculously, obscenely full at the moment that I just don't have the time. I will give you this nugget of wisdom (the accuracy of the statement I will leave up to your personal judgment): I listen to SW because I'm on drugs and it freaks out the neighbors.
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Oct 3, 2007 15:08
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OK - arrived today 1 Sony ICF-SW7600GR @ £122 1 AC Mains adapter for same @ £12 1 Copy WRTH 2007 @ £15 also, waiting for 1 Copy of Passport to World Band Radio @ £9 So, £158 for pretty much what I could already hear on any of my Faust albums 
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Oct 3, 2007 16:13
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biglads posted:OK - arrived today 1 Sony ICF-SW7600GR @ £122 Added to the Op (converted into American dollars. drat, sony SW receivers are expensive over there!). This financial drain keeps going at this rate, and the entire world economy is going to depend on this thread.
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Oct 3, 2007 21:38
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nmfree posted:Listen to it and find out! Yeah, I think so too. AstroZamboni posted:Last question: That's weird as hell. I have no idea. By the way, to distinguish local "AM" radio from shortwave transmissions sent in AM, SWLs tend to refer to local AM as "Medium Wave," or the MW band. I know, but "AM" seemed to be more appropriate there, as I believe that it may have been intentionally sent as an AM broadcast This is sort of why: it could have been meant to broadcast at AM to a place where that specific signal _on_ AM was barely used, or used not at all. I've been able to DX AM signals as far away as KOA Denver and WBAP Fort Worth-Dallas (I like DXing AM more than shortwave). Additionally, the local station CKLW has been received as far away as New Zealand, so it's perfectly possible that some Latin-American spy agency - not necessarily Cuba's, but possible - was broadcasting on low power to that specific country, and it bounced off the ionosphere all the way to Detroit.
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Oct 4, 2007 04:21
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I think you misunderstand my meaning. Almost all SW is on AM, and Atencion usually broadcasts in AM. I think what you're trying to say is that it seemed to be broadcasting in the Local AM broadcasting band. The difference isn't that it uses AM radio, the difference is the frequency ranges. When something is in the 520 to 1610 khz range, it is in the Medium Wave band. So you have longwave radio and shortwave radio, typical local AM broadcasts are in the middle. Hence, "medium wave." Its an issue of confusing terminology, which there is an awful lot of in amateur radio. Mentioning it as being MW helps to clarify just how unusual of a transmission this seemed to be, which is very unusual. Maybe using MW meant that they were using it for training purposes inside of Cuba? I've heard of similar things happening with the old CIA "counting stations." And I've noticed that good SW receivers tend to be just all-around kick rear end for MW DXing. I've been repeatedly amazed by the kinds of MW signals I've picked up on my E5. I got New York once (from Arizona) which is pretty impressive.
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Oct 4, 2007 14:23
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I got tired of listening to Radio Havana and Taiwan. I can get a few others stations about halfway,but nothing I want to hear. R. Russia, VoKorea, etc... So a quick trip to Kmart for 4 metal slinkys, I bought 2 extra, some thin rope to string them and some quick soldering at home with some speaker wire, two alligator clips and a mono phone plug I threw together a slinky dipole. Strung it up in the front room stretched about 30 foot across. Fired up the E5....and well the background static is a little less on all those stations but I'm not able to pickup anything new. drat. I'm stringing it up in the front yard next and hoping for better results. If there isn't much improvement then I'm heading to the hardware store tomorrow for materials for a magloop.
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Oct 6, 2007 04:22
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Semi related hammy stuff, but I've got a recipe for you guys. 1: Pack your radio, 50 feet of wire and a change of clothes. 2: Go on a camping trip or something. Get the hell away from civilization. 10 miles is good. 50 is better. 3: Throw that wire up in a tree (tie a rock to the end or something), hook it to your radio, and TUNE IN THE GODDAMN WORLD. The key to this exercise is to get really far from electrical noise and interference. I went on a 3-day camping trip and brought my ham and other radio rigs out. I have a 102 inch CB whip on the back of my truck; to the end of that, I attached 50 feet of wire and strung it more or less horizontally, throwing the far end over a tree limb about 20 feet up. The radio was an Icom 735 (admittedly a good HF receiver) with my Kenwood antenna tuner in line. At first, I thought that something was wrong - my noise floor on the 40 meter ham band was literally zero. Then I spun the dial and had my ears blown off by a CW signal. This was the middle of the afternoon, in a natural valley roughly 500 feet below average terrain. There were literally 15-20 strong, intelligible CW operators between 7000 and 7050 KHz. As I went up, I was hit with a wall of S5-S9 RTTY and other digital modes; further up the band there were tons of nets and ragchews on sideband. Normally during the day I am able to tune in one, two CW ops and maybe a powerful sideband station. I made my first successful portable contact (with special event station W0W in Minnesota, not bad from NW Arkansas) with ten watts through a CB whip and spool of speaker wire, in the middle of the woods on a breezy afternoon day, with the birds chirping and the campfire crackling. It kicked so much rear end. On an even more techy ham note, I installed the rotor and mast for my 70 centimeter satellite receiving antenna. This completes the antenna system for my satellite station and brings the pokey-stick-in-backyard count to 4, plus a 40 meter dipole. I'm tuning SWR on it and testing on various satellite passes this weekend; if I remember, I'll record some satellite pass audio and take pictures of my station.
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Oct 6, 2007 04:41
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Jonny 290 posted:Semi related hammy stuff, but I've got a recipe for you guys. This is awesome, I've been wanting to go camping with my Ham gear for a while now; though it doesn't look like this will happen this year.
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Oct 6, 2007 05:08
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For those that made the magnetic loop antennas could you show me how the tuning capacitor is connected to the loop. I looked at the instructions, but I am still confused. I found an old fm/am radio and want to buy the rest of the parts, but I am unsure exactly how its connected. Thank you. If you could perhaps take a closeup picture of it that would be great!
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Oct 7, 2007 02:24
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