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AstroZamboni posted:Awesome, thanks for the info. Yes, it's actually intended for outdoor use and is completely weatherized for the outdoors, the instructions just say "oh yeah, or you can stick it in an attic if you want." But all the diagrams show it strung between two trees. It even includes a "Zap Trapper" gas tube lightning arrestor that you can splice into the feed line. It just doesn't come with anything like poles, it's designed to be tied to some sort of existing structure, whether it be between a couple trees or from the roof of your house to some sort of high fence pole or whatever. (edit) let me see if I can find my digital camera and take a picture...
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Aug 29, 2007 05:21
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ok picture time That copper wire you see running down the length of the picture is it. Normally you'd want to suspend it up high so it isn't touching anything, but everything in the attic is wood, so I wasn't too concerned about letting it rest on the beams. But normally you'd suspend this between trees or whatever. It's running about 30 feet down that way out of sight, and 10 in the other direction. That was the fun crawl I was doing last night.  These are what the antenna traps look like, and are the real heart of the thing, not the copper lead. There's eight traps and each one performs like a separate antenna, tuned to a different shortwave band. Quoting the manual "Each trap is hand-assembled and individually resonated to its proper design frequency. Each trap is enclosed in an ultrasonically welded, hermetically sealed, ultraviolet light protected trap cover, protecting not only the traps from weather deterioration, but the soldered connections as well." Fancy, eh?  Here's a couple more traps, just sitting there being antennas. If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see the nasty insulation I was stomping around in, and if you look up in the top right, you can see the nail that gouged me in the back.  Here's what the tie-offs look like. Each end of it terminates in a plastic piece with a hole in it, suitable to run a lenth of cloth cord through (included) and tie around something. So you could even tie this off to metal poles if you wanted, since the cloth cord is non-conductive.  The trap in the middle has the feedline, which is the second cord you can see snaking out from the bottom there. It's a nice length of insulated 72-ohm wire, suitable for soldering to a minijack. That's it, it's pretty simple. I didn't take pictures of the "Zap Trapper" but you basically cut and strip your feedline and stick it between washers on one side, and then run another length of line from the other side to your receiver, and one more ground line, and then you are lightning-proofed.
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Aug 29, 2007 05:57
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nmfree posted:Generally you don't want to use hard connections for the ends of wire antennas; it's much better to use bungee cords (although they break down in the weather and have to be replaced periodically) or some sort of weighted rope strung through a pulley/over the crotch of a branch or something so that the antenna has a little give when weighted down with snow, ice, or blown around in the wind. They say in the manual to either leave it some slack or use flexible connectors if you're tying it to something flexible like a tree. Doesn't really matter for me since my attic shouldn't be swaying in the breeze. quote:THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LIGHTNING-PROOFED. Hot button issue for you? Yeah, the manual even says that it won't protect from a direct strike, but it actually is a specially-designed arrestor that is supposed to act faster than standard ones for induced voltage from storms. Here's the whole description, cut and pasted from the manual: quote:Transient Protection: The leading cause of failure in modern solid state receivers is voltage buildups on long antennas and feedlines caused by dry wind, dust and snow storms, and by nearby and far-field lightning strokes. A nearby lightning stroke can, by induction, place many thousands of volts on an antenna system. Tests have shown that damaging voltages can be induced by a lightning stoke as far as 15 miles from the antenna site. These phenomena are called transients. Some solid state components can be destroyed just by the static electricity from the touch of an ungrounded finger, and some thousands of volts entering your receiver through the antenna input is guaranteed to damage it. Because of this, we have developed our line of Zap Trapper™ Gas Tube electronic receive-only lightning arrestors. The gas tubes consist of two metal conductors separated by a space filled with a rare gas under pressure. When the design voltage is reached, the gas, normally a non-conductor, ionizes and becomes a conductor, thus shunting the damaging voltage surge to earth ground, before it can enter the receiver. So, I used the term "lightning-proofed" as shorthand for "inductive voltage caused by nearby lightning strikes." Obviously nothing is going to protect the antenna from a direct hit.
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Aug 29, 2007 17:19
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I picked up something weird last night, at about 8 UTC on...I think it was 3130 on the upper sideband. Some guy, a HAM I suppose, whistling into his mic. At first I thought it was some variation on the birdcall station, but it was very clearly someone whistling. Some of his notes would break in that way whistles do when you're not very good at whistling. At first he was just doing a bunch of atonal whistles of various pitches, then he whistled part of the star wars theme, then back to single atonal whistles again. I listened for like 15 minutes and he never said a word. Just whistled.
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Sep 1, 2007 16:30
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Les Oeufs posted:I picked him up last sunday (I believe it was) evening, and curiously enough, that sort of static is exactly what happened to me that night. I couldnt listen to anything. Alex Jones is cursing the radio! Radio Havana broadcasts on 6000 with a pretty strong signal, it was probably that.
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Sep 1, 2007 17:24
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Pigpen posted:I'm picking up a hell of a lot of high-speed morse too, I used to have a program that could decode it when you rigged the radio up to the PC but I lost it after the last regular reinstall, I'll have to dig it up again. That'd be pretty neat. Did it ever translate to anything understandable or was it all encoded?
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Sep 1, 2007 21:49
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overflow posted:I'm told that the FCC is much more concerned with FM pirates these days than shortwave, so I want to keep it as secretive as possible. That's an interesting question that I was wondering about. Do they care at all if you broadcast a pirate station on shortwave? I mean, it's not like you are interfering with FM bands and stations step all over each other on shortwave all the time anyway. Unless you did something stupid like try to broadcast over an aeronautical band. And the second part of that question, I suppose, what if you have a valid HAM license? At that point, you're not even a pirate station, are you? You're just a HAM guy that likes to play music and has a strong transmitter. Or is a matter of transmitter power being capped?
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Sep 4, 2007 19:55
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Dog Case posted:HAM's are only allowed certain bands to play in. It's just as illegal for them to transmit on other frequencies as it is for everybody else. Also, one way communications, ie broadcasting music, aren't allowed. Ah got it, that all makes sense. So it's just a matter of hoping the FCC doesn't give a poo poo, which they probably won't if you broadcast on some godforsaken frequency that no one uses.
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Sep 4, 2007 21:07
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Got an email from Radio Havana today, confirming my reception report and telling me they would be sending a QSL card and "other materials." Sweet, propaganda here I come! So far, I've gotten QSL cards and brochures from Radio Havana, Radio Taiwan, Radio Netherlands, and China Radio International just by dropping emails. Also, in Radio Havana's email, they advised me of a contest they are having! quote:PHILATELIC CONTEST 2007 I want Cuban postal issues on different topics! I'm not too sure about the "emission" portraying Che though 
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Sep 19, 2007 19:32
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I got a Christmas card from Radio Havana today  I love that anything from them comes in an envelope that you can tell was hand-typed on an old manual typewriter.Another entry on my CIA watch list...
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Dec 3, 2007 08:18
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mrbill posted:You want some SWL QSLs. I've got a ham license so I've ordered some "normal" standard QSLs from these folks, and they're *great*. Small operation, fast service, great prices (I paid around $15 for 100 cards with my call sign, shipped). Also, of note, you don't need a call sign or even a special card to send a reception report. As Dolemite asked earlier, you can just "send like a paragraph saying basically that "I like your stuff and I heard you just fine here in [insert location here]." It helps to include a few specifics -- what frequency you heard them on, what time it was, where you are, exactly what programming you heard, and the quality of the signal. Usually having a QSL card with a call sign on it is for HAMs to send to other HAMs, you don't need anything that fancy to send a reception report to a station if you're just a listener. In fact, I've receieved QSL cards and some lovely extras like magazines and station literature from Radio Havana, Radio Japan, China Radio International, and Radio Netherlands just by emailing them a reception report! Radio Havana even mailed me a christmas card 
StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Feb 13, 2008 |
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Feb 13, 2008 07:17
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Wonder_Bread posted:How does one go about getting a QSL card from Radio Habana? Is it even possible, living in the US? You can just email them. I emailed them with a reception report and got a QSL card, some brochures, and a christmas card a few months later. I also get email from them from time to time announcing contests and stuff. Half the time the emails are in spanish and I have no idea what they are talking about.
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Mar 3, 2008 22:23
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blugu64 posted:For those interested, Circuit City has the Eton 350 (the one that drifts alot) for...$12 Son of a bitch, that's under half price on the E1, but it's not available for shipping and no store in my area has it available 
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Apr 17, 2008 00:55
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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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AstroZamboni posted:
Oh, oh hot drat. I was actually just thinking of moving up from my G5 to an E1 just for that. This could save me a whole chunk of cash. Is there any price announcement on it yet? Or expected date for it to be available?
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Jan 8, 2009 06:49
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AstroZamboni posted:Apparently, it still has to be approved by the FCC (according to universal radio). I think this is one of the things eton debuted at CES this year. drat, we'll see what happens come tax return time then, I may just end up shelling out for that E1. Or maybe something bigger  I haven't spent any money in a long time, just been cruising along with the old E5 and the Eavesdropper antenna.Also, I can't believe it's been a year and a half since I posted in this thread that I bought my first radio. This is one long running GBS thread! Astro, when you first made this sucker, did you think it would go on and on forever? (edit): by the way, Spanish numbers lady on 5883 right now (11:10 Pacific) for anyone looking at the thread, she's right on time StarkRavingMad fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Jan 8, 2009 |
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Jan 8, 2009 07:16
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AstroZamboni posted:On the first point, you might actually be better off with the G3. The E1 has better selectivity, but the E5/G5 had the edge in raw sensitivity over the E1. Now the upgrade of the G5 will have the same selectivity of the E1 PLUS aircraft band. Honestly, that would be a much better way to go since the E1 doesn't even have an internal ferrite rod antenna. Hmm, guess I'll just wait on the G3 then. Or spring for a true tabletop system. I don't really care about the internal antenna since I'm always hooked up to my long-line these days or at least the AN-LP1, but there's no reason to drop that much money on the E1 if what's coming out soon is actually better and (probably) cheaper.
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Jan 8, 2009 19:41
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5883 again right now for anyone looking for a numbers station. It's been pretty consistent lately.
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Jan 13, 2009 08:01
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Dammit. I've been at this for half a year now and still haven't snagged a number station. I'm subscribed to the Spooks mailing list, I check the "spy stations that might be on now" page listed in the OP... nothing. If there's anyone in the east/southern US that knows of a consistent signal, especially between 0000z and 0300z, I'm all ears. You'd think I'd be drowning in Cuban ones given where I'm at, but nada. Are you able to get Voice of Cuba at all? If so, you should definitely be able to hit the one I am talking about. Try between 5880 and 5885 between 2AM and 3AM your time, non-SSB. It's usually 5883 but sometimes the signal gets stepped on a bit and it's better a few digits off. There's a bit of variation, it's not always there, but it tends to be relatively consistent for a numbers station.
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Jan 17, 2009 04:10
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Jack Does Jihad posted:Holy poo poo, this worked for me. Thanks! This is also the least creepy numbers station. Yeah, no creepy music or anything, just numbers, so it's not the most interesting one, but it's easy to find and a strong signal. But at least it's clearly recorded numbers put together and not live reading (the pronunciation for each digit never varies).
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Jan 17, 2009 23:08
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Jeffe posted:I'm impatient and want a radio now, so I'm probably going to get something today. What's this about the G5 shorting out somewhat if you touch the antenna? Several people mention this in the reviews on Radio Shack's site. Never had any such issue with the G5, even when clamping a active power antenna to it with a monkey clip or wrapping a lead around it from a long line antenna before I soldiered the minijack lead. I've had mine for a year and a half now with no issues. I've never even heard of such a problem with it before looking at the Radio Shack site, the review in the Passport to World Band Radio doesn't say anything about it.
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Jan 24, 2009 20:16
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It's so depressing to see some of these stations going offline. I busted out my G1 for the first time in a long time tonight (holy crap, my first post in this thread was over five years ago) and could still pull in some of my old favorites, but increasing numbers are going missing I see Passport to World Band Radio is long gone -- I've still been using an old edition from like 2009. Is there a go-to publication these days?
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Jul 9, 2012 06:09
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Anyone had experience with a computer based receiver? I was thinking of trying out something new and the RX-320D looks kind of interesting.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:51
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foobar posted:I don't have much info about current antennas but I had an AN-LP1 (which I sold to another goon in this very thread) and it was AWESOME - I highly recommend seeing if you can get your hands on a used one. Yeah, I'm still using the AN-LP1 I picked up years ago, and it's pretty impressive especially for its size. And it's very portable with how it folds up. Well worth it if you can find one for a decent price on eBay, they seem to pop up pretty regularly. Although to be fair I haven't tried out anything in the same size range, so I don't know how it compares to something like the Degen that Radio Nowhere mentioned.
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Jul 27, 2012 19:55
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