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I had a quick question about antennas. If I got a dipole antenna, like one of the slinky ones, and marked off a set of distances to denote which wavelengths I'd want to pull in, would it be better in 1/8th scale, 1/4, 1/16th, or doesn't it matter?
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Jun 26, 2008 12:56
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Accursed posted:I had a quick question about antennas. If I got a dipole antenna, like one of the slinky ones, and marked off a set of distances to denote which wavelengths I'd want to pull in, would it be better in 1/8th scale, 1/4, 1/16th, or doesn't it matter? I'm no expert on antenna theory, but from what I've read it seems the most common preferences are either 1/4-wave or 5/8-wave, although I think the latter might be more common for transmitting with ham radio gear than just SWLing. That said, there are definitely people here far better equipped to answer this than me.
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Jun 26, 2008 14:05
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So our Softrock build finally got done: Here's the radio in its case; the smaller board attached to the larger one is the band-pass filter board. You build different BPF boards for different bands, and switch bands using the dip switches on the left of the main board.  And here we are decoding some RTTY on 30m, using PowerSDR to tune the radio. It's really pretty awesome for listening to the bits of the HAM bands it covers - I've never heard SSB sound as clear and natural as it does through this when it's properly tuned. Be warned however that the kit is not for beginners. I had been hoping to practice my newbie soldering skillz on at least some of the kit, but believe me, no way a beginner should go near it. The build was done by my mate who has mad soldering skills and even he said it was one of the hardest things he'd ever made. Some of the components are so tiny I could hardly see them. If anyone is contenplating building this kit I thoroughly recommend this page: http://golddredgervideo.com/wb5rvz/Home.htm - which shows how to build the kit stage by stage and suggests tests that can be done as you go along to make sure that it's working.
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Jun 30, 2008 11:17
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You may want to try out M0KGKs software, it's between rocky and PowerSDR as far as functionality but it auto-tunes which makes it a lot easier to use than PowerSDR.
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Jun 30, 2008 12:05
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Shortwave radio and number stations are so interesting, I used to have a shortwave radio but it got ruined before I was able to use it to its full potential, or new how to use it at all, all I knew is that sometimes I was able to pick up tv frequencies and listened to an episode of "who wants to be a millionare!" I do have a question about UVB-76 or as its known "the buzzer"- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Station_UVB-76 Has anyone actually listened to it or been able to pick it up?
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Jun 30, 2008 12:19
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NIKO MY CUZIN posted:Shortwave radio and number stations are so interesting, I used to have a shortwave radio but it got ruined before I was able to use it to its full potential, or new how to use it at all, all I knew is that sometimes I was able to pick up tv frequencies and listened to an episode of "who wants to be a millionare!" All the time here in the UK. Strongest at night, obviously. Also, I tend to pick it up better (less interference) if I use USB mode as opposed to AM (which it uses) - why is this?
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Jun 30, 2008 13:00
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w_hat posted:You may want to try out M0KGKs software, it's between rocky and PowerSDR as far as functionality but it auto-tunes which makes it a lot easier to use than PowerSDR. Yeah, been looking at that as well as PowerSDR and Rocky. For some reason Rocky can't see the soundcard on my mainbox and PowerSDR runs like a dog with all stuttering and crap in the audio (even though my machine is a fairly new and not at all shabby Vista box). M0KGK's stuff is the only thing that'll run properly on this box. At the moment we're dedicating an older machine to the SDR, although what I'd really like to do is have it able to serve the SDR over the LAN so that multiple users could tune it at once, a bit like the WebSDR in Holland. No idea how we'll do that yet - we did try briefly streaming the IQ audio stream over the network but were having trouble getting it into the SDR apps on the other machines. It deserves a bit more fiddling because it'll be cool to be able to do that, but it'll have to wait for another weekend now.
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Jun 30, 2008 13:22
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stinky ox posted:Yeah, been looking at that as well as PowerSDR and Rocky. For some reason Rocky can't see the soundcard on my mainbox and PowerSDR runs like a dog with all stuttering and crap in the audio (even though my machine is a fairly new and not at all shabby Vista box). M0KGK's stuff is the only thing that'll run properly on this box. I also have a top of the line vista box and get the exact same results out of PowerSDR, no idea what's up there but I think it's a lost cause. To get rocky to work nothing else can be accessing the soundcard, say winamp or another HAM audio-related program. Post back if you get any network streaming to work.
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Jul 1, 2008 07:27
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Phew! I was afraid this thread would slip into archives. It's good to see it back on the main page. I've been recently having really good luck with the spanish numbers lady, but other than that not much has changed in the amount of content. I'm bummed I missed those EAMs. Anyway, I'm going to be in Japan in about a week. Hopefully I'll pick up some nice North Korean radio.
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Jul 1, 2008 08:17
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meatpotato posted:Anyway, I'm going to be in Japan in about a week. Hopefully I'll pick up some nice North Korean radio.
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Jul 1, 2008 12:04
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OK, we managed to share our Softrock over the LAN. Here's how we did it: - Spare PC with a SB Audigy 2 samples the IQ from the Softrock at 96KHz. This is then served as a 16-bit stereo PCM stream at 96K over the LAN using Windows Media Encoder. At the client ends, we receive the stream with WMP, having set the default playback device to be a Virtual Audio Cable. Then launching M0KGK's decoder and telling it to use the output of the VAC at 96KHz enables us both to tune individually at our own machines. It's not super efficient - ideally you'd decode on the server and just serve the narrowband audio streams - but as a quick and dirty way to share an SDR over the LAN it works pretty well  . Plus you don't need posh soundcards on the client ends.
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Jul 2, 2008 20:58
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stinky ox posted:OK, we managed to share our Softrock over the LAN. Here's how we did it: Does the audio compression hinder the decoding at the other end? Also, that's pretty cool.
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Jul 2, 2008 21:17
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blugu64 posted:Does the audio compression hinder the decoding at the other end? Also, that's pretty cool. We stream lossless from the server so the decoding is fine at the client ends, exactly the same as it would be at the server - 96K is the best our soundcard will do. Picking up a bunch of US stations on 20M right now .
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Jul 2, 2008 23:38
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NIKO MY CUZIN posted:Shortwave radio and number stations are so interesting, I used to have a shortwave radio but it got ruined before I was able to use it to its full potential, or new how to use it at all, all I knew is that sometimes I was able to pick up tv frequencies and listened to an episode of "who wants to be a millionare!" West coast of the US, I can't ever get it. I get the spanish numbers lady all the time though.
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Jul 2, 2008 23:42
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The antenna on my G5 broke and the new one I ordered from Eton finally came in the mail. However, I've realized that I have no idea how to remove the old one and attach the new. Just yanking it right out doesn't seem correct, but I'm worried about opening the case of the radio unless I have to - does anybody know?
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Jul 7, 2008 01:38
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Foggy posted:The antenna on my G5 broke and the new one I ordered from Eton finally came in the mail. However, I've realized that I have no idea how to remove the old one and attach the new. Just yanking it right out doesn't seem correct, but I'm worried about opening the case of the radio unless I have to - does anybody know? First of all, if you just yank it out, your radio will be COMPLETELY hosed. don't do it. Here's how you do it: You open the case of the radio. This is NOT hard to do. I've done it on my E5 several times and its very easy to do it without damaging anything. First take the batteries out, since one of the screws is on the inside of the battery compartment. Next, remove all of the screws holding the case together with the exception of the one directly beneath the swivel of the antenna. That one is NOT holding the case together, but rather holds the contacts onto the base of the antenna. Once all the screws are out, open the case carefully. There will be a ribbon of wire holding circuitry on each side together. Also, take note of where the wrist strap anchors so that you can put it back in place before putting the case back together. Next, after examining the way the screw holds the contact on the antenna, carefully unscrew it and carefully slide out the old antenna. Next, put the new antenna onto the contact and rescrew it in place. Put the wrist strap back in place, and put the case back together and put all the screws back in place, including the one in the battery compartment. Reinstall the batteries and you're good to go.
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Jul 7, 2008 02:14
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Since the only broken part was high up near the tip of the antenna, I just unscrewed off the outside telescoping part and put the telescoping part of the new one on. Thanks anyway though.
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Jul 7, 2008 02:24
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I'm curious about how y'all approach listening. The novelty is kind of wearing off for me lately, since there seems to be only so much of interest I can receive here (thanks in part to China's FYIGM approach to spectrum), and I'm trying to come up with new ways of approaching it. Right now I'm tossing up between focusing on specific countries and seeing what I can get from them or on bandscanning specific bands each day for like an hour or so to see what's there and familiarize myself with them. Do any of you have any other approaches or suggestions? Also, since I don't remember seeing them mentioned here, Glenn Hauser's World of Radio and CumbreDX's DXing with Cumbre are both available as podcasts. Both are pretty good programs, although I prefer Cumbre over Hauser, since Hauser has a fairly boring voice and some (IMO) loving stupid linguistic idiosyncracies (sesquimonths, megadollars, etc.) that kind of bug me. Regardless, both are good listens for those of you who haven't listened or can't listen to them on the radio proper.
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Jul 7, 2008 11:19
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Oh, and for anyone using an MFJ-1622 apartment antenna, I'm trying to figure out the formulae for coil number and counterpoise length, since the chart they give in the manual is a turd. I've got a reasonably functional approximation worked out for the coil number, and I'm about to work on the counterpoise one. For now, here's what I've got for the coil formula (where freq is in MHz): coil#=72.75*(0.855^freq) E: OK, and here's what I've got for the counterpoise (in meters): counterpoise=40*((freq-2.45)^(-0.9)) And so, using those two, here's a rough guide for each meter band, based on the midpoint: Meter band - Coil - Counterpoise code:sub supau fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Jul 7, 2008 |
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Jul 7, 2008 18:48
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Has anybody used this website? It appears to be originally made to work with some kind of radio software, but by itself it seems like a pretty decent free alternative to something like WRTH if you just want to try to ID what you're hearing. I haven't quite deciphered some of the fields in the 'details' for each station, though - most of them are obvious, but a few (like 'P' and 'STATUS') aren't, and I can't seem to find an FAQ. Edit: that site isn't too great after all, it's missing nearly all the stations that I've picked up Foggy fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Jul 9, 2008 |
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Jul 8, 2008 02:26
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TetsuoTW posted:Dunno if it'll work perfectly, but hopefully it'll be reasonably close. Although at least according to the manual the antenna's not meant for frequencies below the 40m band, but whatever. Well, at least for the 31m and 41m bands the numbers seem right. It's allowed me to pick up new stuff like Radio Exterior de Espana and a few other European ones, a couple of what sound like Middle Eastern ones, and finally letting me listen to All India Radio. So glad I bought this antenna now.
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Jul 10, 2008 08:51
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Oh jeez, I hope I didn't cock up my E5. I turned it on after not using it for a while and since I sort of forgot what all the buttons did, I got stuck in a presets page scrolling menu or whatever, so I just decided to hit reset with a bobby pin. I held it for 5 seconds, and now I can't turn it on with the power button or any other button. It just sits there. Nothing on the screen except the numbers 1-7 that show when the screen it off. Blagh!
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Jul 12, 2008 22:31
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Thanks to Zamboni for starting this, and to all contributors. Not new to SWL (I remember hearing the Lincolnshire Poacher on old valve furniture years ago, and wondering wtf that was about), but never knew there was so much more to pick up. I use a Sony ICF-SW7600G (internal and wire clip antenna) I've had for years, though I'm only just now getting good results - probably due to a recent move from inland EU to near the Atlantic coast. The Buzzer is loud and clear on 4625, and I get all the major int'l broadcasts like VO/Radio Russia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Kuweit, Iran, etc. SSB seems to work best most of the time - sync mode is often almost too strong and still subject to heavy fading. Also, the internal whip does a great job; rarely need to use the clip-on wire drum. Btw, I find that because of a combination of mildly naive/innocent style and tone (a la early 20th century newsreels) and the (female) presenters' slight accent, the more "exotic" countries' programmes (especially the ones in German from VoV and RUI) have an oddly touching quality. Getting quite a bit of ham (voice and CW - mostly East-Europeans it seems), RTTY, and RFAX traffic too, so I'm looking at the G4FON Koch trainer and various decoding stuff now. I fear that amateur radio here (like everything else in the EU) is regulated to the point where you'll need a permit to apply for a permit, but sending out Morse code into the big beyond suddenly sounds like a good idea. Does anyone else have the impression that some of the numbers stations seem to use snippets from old (movie?) recordings - like samples, in a way? The differences in pitch, timbre, and pronunciation from one number to another are too weird even for the early speech synthesisers. Oh, and Stereolab used the 'Achtung' robokid from the Swedish Rhapsody on one of their earlier releases, well before CONET's collection I think. Wolfman Jack fans: KBC (broadcasting from either Scotland or Holland, wasn't clear) has him on weekdays from 2130 to 2230 UTC on 6055 kHz - sounds like licensed tapes from the 60s and 70s, great fun. And finally, thanks to the World Network Of Preachers Of The Regressive Gospel (based in Oakland), I now know that it's okay to make lotsa babies and set them up for careers in manual labour, 'cause happiness ain't in education. Just a pity they used a frog who sounded like he was recorded during WW1, or it would have been so convincing. --- Other older recordings with SW bits in: My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (David Byrne), mad preachers iirc; and something by Holger Czukay (ex-Can), can't remember the name. The throaty Arabic or Farsi stuff on the latter is a must-hear. Sounds like a sexbot in overdrive, but is probably some toothless hag reciting folklore. Underflow fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Jul 18, 2008 |
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Jul 18, 2008 11:07
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Underflow posted:Btw, I find that because of a combination of mildly naive/innocent style and tone (a la early 20th century newsreels) and the (female) presenters' slight accent, the more "exotic" countries' programmes (especially the ones in German from VoV and RUI) have an oddly touching quality.
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Jul 18, 2008 15:24
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I finally read this thread, and I just happened to have one of these that I got for 10 cents at a rummage sale. You can get anything on these! I was hearing Chinese stuff, and a whole bunch of other poo poo. Just look around at rummage sales, there are lots of old shortwaves. Edit: I can't give you an exact freq because of the analogue dial, but almost 15.2 19M band is really clear Chinese. EDIT: also, Russia is listed as USSR on these charts, Funny. last edit I promise: What is this tuner plug? it is shaped like an RCA jack. Dairy Days fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Jul 18, 2008 |
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Jul 18, 2008 16:18
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TetsuoTW posted:I agree with the likes of Voice of Vietnam being strangely charming in that way. They're clearly propagandistic, but not in the same way Voice of Korea is. VOV etc. sound more like people who really want you to hear how awesome their country is, but just don't quite know how to get it across. VOK is more like "gently caress you, we're awesome and you better drat well agree!", very strident about the "fact" they're the best country on Earth. Yes, that's it. You could try catching Radio Ukraine International - they're similar in tone, especially the cultural programme. They also have something specifically targeted at DX'ers. Btw Tetsuo, there used to be a half hour for foreigners on Radio China, but in Mandarin. Subject matter never exceeded the need for a vocabulary of more than 200 words or so, and they spoke at about half the normal speed. Would you know what happened to that? Most of the time I only get their Westernised drivel now: "Hi Johnny Wong, how was the meeting at the People's Association Of Small Mammal Breeders yesterday?" - "Not too bad May Choo, I was presented with an embroidery of exquisitely coloured waterfowl. Now what about those tickets for 'Our Fathers' Pioneer Years' tomorrow evening?" - "We'll talk about that right after this: <cue consumer goods commercial>".
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Jul 22, 2008 12:05
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Thanks for the tip on Radio Ukraine Intl., I'll see if I can get them, especially now that my antenna's working better for catching stuff from further over toward Europe. As for the CRI Mandarin program, I haven't really listened to much CRI for some reason so I don't know, but that gives me a reason to have a go again. Oh, and IIRC CRI is sending out Olympics-themed QSL cards this year, although I don't know if they'll keep doing that after the games are done, so if anyone's interested, now might be the last chance. Another reason for me to actually make an effort.
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Jul 22, 2008 12:17
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Well went to a hamfest over the weekend, and got some new stuff to play with, a watt metre and swr meter, for about 30 aud, and a 1:1 balun for our dipole, and a couple of jumper leads. The dipole made one hell of a difference. Now to get the IC-7000 and licensed.
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Jul 24, 2008 11:01
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The Last Waltz posted:I finally read this thread, and I just happened to have one of these that I got for 10 cents at a rummage sale.
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Jul 26, 2008 02:30
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I just want it known that I haven't forgotten about the winner of the 100th radio contest. I have wound up having some catastrophically large medical bills in the last 2 months, and haven't been able to dish out the goods yet. I will have the wherewithal to do so in 2.5 weeks.
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Jul 31, 2008 22:48
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The Last Waltz posted:I finally read this thread, and I just happened to have one of these that I got for 10 cents at a rummage sale. I was lucky enough to receive a brand new Zenith Transoceanic as a Christmas present when I was in Junior High school in the early 70s. Over the next 10 years I wore that radio out. Best toy ever. Ten cents? You have got to be kidding me.
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Aug 3, 2008 03:43
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I've been using a E5 for about a year now. It's been fun. But as of Thursday I took delivery of this: Yaesu FRG-7. Hooked it up to my end fed zepp I've been using on my HAM rig too. Getting some great reception!
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Aug 3, 2008 05:17
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My grandpa had a Transoceanic next to his bed for decades. He died a year or so ago--I wonder what happened to that radio..
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Aug 4, 2008 04:43
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Whoever that NZer was who was looking for a radio and who emailed me before, could you email me again (I don't remember which address I mailed you from, but my username@gmail will work too)? I think I deleted your email 
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Aug 5, 2008 05:25
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Is it common to find shortwave radios at thrift stores? Just wondering because I'm going to make a trip to a few of them around me and check them out. Aren't a lot of flea markets around me and craigslist is pretty dry. I want to get in on this but money is tight.
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Aug 5, 2008 12:56
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Social Animal posted:Is it common to find shortwave radios at thrift stores? Just wondering because I'm going to make a trip to a few of them around me and check them out. Aren't a lot of flea markets around me and craigslist is pretty dry. I want to get in on this but money is tight. Its not always easy, but it does happen on occasion, and its worth intermittently checking local thrift shops to see if anything turns up.
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Aug 5, 2008 14:38
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Well, Mr. Zamboni, you can add my $10 --- for finally signing up for an SA account --- to your drain. I've been lurking all over SA for about a year, but this thread was what made me cough up the dough. I've got two wee cheap SW radios found at thrift stores*: a Realistic DX-370 which can't seem to get squat (might need new batteries), and a tiny ECB-938 which appeared to pick up Cuba and CRI(?) last night. The latter has a microscopic analog dial, so I'm having a hard time IDing just what I'm getting. I'll probably end up saving my pennies for something better, if you guys keep this thread up! In the meantime, I'm about to throw a wire loop around my window and see if that doesn't help either of them. Extra thanks to Halah for the tip back in June 2007 on unlocking frequencies via a little switch in battery compartment. The Realistic DX-370 is also like this --- you've saved me much frustration! *I guess that sort of answers Social Animal's question. But then, I live in an area with a ton of military people, always on the move, so our thrift/pawn shops are plentiful compared to other parts of the US, I've heard.
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Aug 6, 2008 02:04
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JacquelineDempsey posted:a Realistic DX-370 which can't seem to get squat (might need new batteries) Also, the first couple of times that it auto-shuts off because the batteries are dying, it's only kidding. I can usually get at least another 30 minutes out of the batteries before the radio just won't start up anymore. (You may have to hit the power button twice rapidly in order to get it to turn on when the batteries are weak.)
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Aug 6, 2008 09:22
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some idiot posted:...unlocking frequencies via a little switch in battery compartment. The Realistic DX-370 is also like this... Seems I'm mistaken. More accurately, the person who was monkeying with that radio (while I was messing with the other one) was mistaken when he said he'd unlocked frequencies. No such luck when I tried it tonight. But, fresh batteries and a length of wire outside the window did help the freqs I could get. nmfree, any idea what that switch does affect? I've looked for owner's manuals online but no joy. It's labed 9k on one side and 10k on the other. Anyone? JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Aug 7, 2008 |
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Aug 7, 2008 04:11
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JacquelineDempsey posted:any idea what that switch does affect? I've looked for owner's manuals online but no joy. It's labed 9k on one side and 10k on the other. Anyone?
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Aug 7, 2008 05:15
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