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Oh good one. Might be an idea to add a link to the Ham thread in A/V, seen as it's kind of linked. No crazy stories, just some nice picks over the past few years. All of this is with a single length of 20 metre bell wire looped around my room a few times, and back to the coax (one on the shielding, one on the centre core) and then a metre length of 50ohm Coax. No fancy gear at all. Just a handheld Kenwood F7E that does SSB too. Which rocks. Rare to find a handheld that does SSB. I've managed to get planes over the Atlantic, the VOLMET station in Gander, Canada, and some nice stuff from Russia and Eastern Europe (Although, that isn't much of a pick, a lot of them use loving ridiculous amounts of transmit power). All of this from my bedroom in North West England. Radio is cool.
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Jun 5, 2007 01:17
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The reason why Ham conversations are boring and about radio is because the whole point of amateur radio is experimentation and bettering your skills and setups. People share information and help each other. Saying that Ham radio is boring because people talk about radio is like saying SH/SC is boring because people only talk about Computers 
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Jun 5, 2007 10:47
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I might add some UK-specific information here tonight if I can dig out some links. On licensing, bandplans, good places to order from, etc. Why should you Americans have all the fun?
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Jun 7, 2007 15:06
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This thread made me replace my broken SMA to BNC converter so I could hook up my telescopic antenna again, and it was £3.95, so call that $7-8 dollars due to the appauling USD exchange rate Add it to the total!
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Jun 15, 2007 17:32
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SoundMonkey posted:Question... does the telescoping antenna on my E5 even do anything for shortwave? A lot of the stuff that low down is aeronautical beacons for direction finding. There is one of them that, for some reason, is in the medium wave broadcast band in the UK. None of the others are still there but this one is. It tends to be quite annoying in the local area, apparently.
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Jun 19, 2007 11:59
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SoundMonkey posted:If you find this, let me know, because I've been frustrated all night trying to hear some faint voice through interference, only to find out it's just another crazy jesusfreak. http://www.spynumbers.com/numbersDB/ Some of the data might be out of date. Edit: Milka 
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Jun 22, 2007 11:32
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I promised it ages ago, but here's some UK-centric information for you: http://www.ofcom.org.uk - The UK regulator of telecommunications and radiocommunications. A good starting guide for lots of information, including... http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/isu/ukfat/ukfat07.pdf - A list of the entire UK frequency spectrum, to help nail down those hard to determine frequencies. You'll also find some information on amateur radio licensing, if that is your sort of thing (see HAM radio thread, obviously), which leads to... http://www.rsgb.org.uk - The Radio Society of Great Britain - this is more suited to HAM radio than listening, but you might find information on new allocations and special event stations that might be worth a listen. Places to spend your hard earned cash: http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk - Nevada Radio, a pretty cheap online shop that sells a good range of stuff http://www.wsplc.com - Waters and Stanton, pretty much the main place for radio gear in the country, stocks a wider range of stuff than Nevada, and the prices are usually pretty comparable. Both places stock a huge range of shortware and HAM gear, as well as other cool radio-based stuff. Tonight I'm going to finish stringing out the long wire around the wall and see what I can get. Although, that handheld I have (the Kenwood F7E) isn't really suited to it. It's a VHF/UHF tranceiver first and foremost. It does a decentish job though. In a few weeks time I'm off to the Lake District again to do some walking and kayaking, so hopefully I'll be able to do some listening in the countryside away from noisy RF, and I'll try and get some far off poo poo.
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Jun 25, 2007 08:57
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Hijacking the thread with something thats only BARELY shortwave related, but it's still radio related I'm probably a little late seen as all the stuff was going on yesterday, but 5680khz was lighting up like a christmas tree with rescue comms from RAF helicopters and coastguard yesterday across the UK with all of the bad flooding we have. If you're around Europe you might get lucky, or if the conditions are good you might pick it up further afield. 5680khz is an international frequency for search and rescue use, though, so you might just pick up more local stuff. Hurrah for shortwave lift! And for anyone in the affected areas with a radio scanner: Coastguard might be on channels 0 and 16 marine band (156.000/156.800) Local councils will be on UHF probably, check 453/456Mhz Fire brigade will be on low VHF, 70Mhz or so, with rescue and water pumping ops. And finally, you might find your local ambulance service attending emergencies relating to the flooding on 166-167Mhz. This might continue for a few more days, I would think. Happy scanning!
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Jun 26, 2007 13:14
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I use The Buzzer as my personal "Check that the radio is operating well and that there's a decent lift" frequency. If I can hear it well and it's booming in nicely, I know there's a good chance that I'll have a good night of DXing. Meltie! Are you a closet shortwave fan too?
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Jul 6, 2007 16:35
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UK update! I have replaced my SMA to BNC adapter thanks to a trip to my local Maplins, so I will be taking my radios to England's delightful Lake District area this weekend where I am camping, walking up mountains, and kayaking. I will try and get some decent signals from the top of the mountain, and also from the campsite late at night. The hills around wont matter, obviously, as it'll be skywave etc. I'll try and record some things.
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Jul 12, 2007 16:48
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Woah, a Wiki? I go away for a week and a bit and the thread still isn't dead! Hooray!
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Aug 1, 2007 20:39
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Just a heads up, but you might hear the NASA SRB recovery ships on Tuesday supporting the Shuttle Launch. http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/Monitoring%20NASA%20and%20Space%20Communications.pdf has a huge list of frequencies, actually.
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Aug 4, 2007 10:20
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As an addition to the NASA frequency list I posted, interested parties may want to check UHF satcom band around 260 Mhz (FM mode, not AM mode as is the norm for that band) to hear lots of cool poo poo with the different assets supporting the mission. You'll also hear other military satellite users on that band. Edit: http://uhf-satcom.com/sounds/ for shitloads of info/sound clips. thehustler fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Aug 7, 2007 |
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Aug 7, 2007 01:11
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I know this is isn't technically shortwave (because it misses the definition by about 1 Megahertz) but listening to old analogue cordless phones in the UK at around 31MHz is so naughty... so vouyeristic.... so much FUN!
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Aug 19, 2007 23:40
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meltie posted:People still use those?! You would be loving amazed how many people still do. If you're in a big city (and I presume you still are?) then have a go late at night. I say late at night because that's when people with cordless phones are curled up on their couches, talking to their best friends/sexual partners/whatever. Try after 9pm or so.
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Aug 20, 2007 22:28
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Analogue Cordless frequencies: 1 - 31.0375 NFM 2 - 31.0625 NFM 3 - 31.0875 NFM 4 - 31.1125 NFM 5 - 31.1375 NFM 6 - 31.1625 NFM 7 - 31.1875 NFM 8 - 31.2125 NFM Like I said, misses the definition of shortwave by just over a meg, but it's still cool. You can also hear the person dial if you are quick. Decipher those DTMF tones!
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Aug 20, 2007 22:31
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Get a bunch of people to complain at the same time, definitely. If the FCC is as proactive as OFCOM is in the UK, then they will DEFINITELY check out reports of interference and do an investigation, and suggest solutions. Keep us informed of the process if you do, it'd be interesting to see how the FCC works out something like this.
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Aug 31, 2007 09:40
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AstroZamboni posted:Last night I was tuning around the aeronautical bands, and I heard some pilot telling somebody on the ground (who's signal was weaker, and I couldn't make out what they were saying) the following nugget of information: Aeronautical bands? Shortwave is only used for air navigation on long-haul oceanic routes, not for anything involving landings or tower approaches. Can you remember what frequency that was and I'll check it against the world allocations for aircraft comms?
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Sep 4, 2007 10:56
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AstroZamboni posted:I believe you may be wrong on that one. I've picked up lots of smaller aviators in the aeronautical bands here in the states, and also the control tower at San Francisco International Airport. Maybe it's different in the US *shrug* - All I know is that there are certain "zones" in the world, and each one has frequencies assigned for their "central control" to use. EG, Shanwick for the European side of the Atlantic, Gander for the Canadian/American side, and also New York under that. I think Santa Maria is for southern Europe. So, not really sure what shortwave frequencies are used for towers I'll do some digging.
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Sep 4, 2007 15:13
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I can't hear what I'm supposed to hear 
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Sep 4, 2007 23:34
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I have a camping trip booked for northern Scotland (possibly Ben Nevis) October 19-21, so I'll be taking the long wire up there. Which should be excellent for getting the SAR ops base at RAF Kinloss on 5680. Usually you can hear it all over the UK, but the helicopters and planes are usually a little silent. Also hoping to get the usual collection of worldwide stuff free from EMF
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Sep 16, 2007 01:17
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Please post pictures of all of your QSL cards and goodies, all of you!
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Sep 19, 2007 22:58
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Ziir posted:Can anyone tell me about the licensing process, fees, etc? I know absolutely nothing about ham radio (I'm assuming this is the same thing... tell me I'm a dumbshit if I'm wrong) right now, but I'm in a club at my school and it would be extremely beneficial for us to have somebody who is licensed to use this. 1) You mean to transmit as well as receive? 2) What country are you in?
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Apr 7, 2008 09:33
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It's not just restricted to number stations or whatever. The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1947 (the name tells you how backwards it is) states that you cannot listen to any non-broadcast transmission where you are not the intended recipient. Thus, all scanning of non-broadcast stations is illegal. And 100% completely unenforced. Which is why the powers that be leave alone the old guys with their airband radios at airshows, even on military property.
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Apr 20, 2008 14:02
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Dolemite posted:So I googled a list of frequencies for my city and I found a hospital ambulance / helicopter dispatch frequency of 462.950 MHz. According to the list, this is an FM frequency. Well, I was listening to it but all I could hear was strange tones. I recorded an MP3 of it. Not necessarily "paging" as has been said, but it will be a slightly more advanced version of that, which goes to the mobile data terminals in the cockpit/cab of each vehicle with information about each job.
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Apr 29, 2008 22:57
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meltie posted:Sweet meltie you just became my new friend I've always wanted to get into this kind of poo poo. I know lots of people like to do analysis of VLF stuff to try and decode the data protocols and stuff. And also with satcom stuff. Speaking of satcom, anyone do any UHF satcom listening? It's pretty cool hearing far away military assets out on manouevers. Usually I listen to it during Space Shuttle missions, because all the rescue birds and DoD personnel are on there doing radio checks.
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May 1, 2008 10:11
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meltie posted:I really should get some actual kit together and make a honking-great antenna rig for the land rover. Come visit me in your beast of a vehicle and we'll spend a weekend bolting poo poo onto it In fact, I want a ride anyway!
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May 1, 2008 13:28
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stinky ox posted:Regarding airband, try monitoring 123.45 mHz. Most airband comm is quite dry and often curt to the point of incomprehensibility (since it's just pilots and ground crew trying to give out information to one another as efficiently as possible). 123.45 is the "aircraft to aircraft communication frequency" in many places - basically, it's a pilot-to-pilot chat channel, and the talk on there is often light-hearted with pilots shooting the poo poo and just kicking back and having a natter. I've heard some funny stuff on there, pilots telling one another about how pissed they got the previous weekend or who's knobbing who and that kind of stuff. The other airband freqs can be interesting too but "the numbers" is often the most fun to hear. I've monitored 123.45 quite regularly here in the UK and heard sweet gently caress all. I think it's not really used that much here. I always thought it was more an American thing. They're not really supposed to use it for chit-chat anyway, but I guess it happens lots.
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May 2, 2008 13:20
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meltie posted:Found a loopback cable lying around and decoded my first bit of RTTY tonight. Cocoamodem is sweet for its wideband monitoring, just click on the spectrogram to set the frequency, and play around with the parameters until... Loopback cable? I will stick Cocoamodem on my MBP tonight and have a look PS come to Blackpool goon meet in your landrover! See goon meet forum for details!
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May 3, 2008 19:29
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TetsuoTW posted:God I know I've seen this before, but can someone explain this to me: It'll be a harmonic, but I forget the mathematical explanation behind it and always mess it up. Perhaps someone else can step in.
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May 5, 2008 17:20
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I was wondering when one of you would find the US HFGCS. It's so exhilarating to hear a Skyking message and realise that you are hearing something incredibly top secret compared to a normal message.
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Jun 3, 2008 11:38
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Re the US Military HFGCS, if you were wondering why it echoes, it's because every station in the net retransmits the signal on the same frequency, so you're hearing lots of different stations at once, and hence you get a little bit of an echo due to the distance. Just thought I'd mention that in case anyone was weirded out by it.
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Jun 4, 2008 13:24
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Congratulations everyone, and three cheers for AstroZamboni! I too hope the amateur radio thread does just as well
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Jun 8, 2008 11:49
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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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If you're lucky you can find old cordless phones at around 31MHz but that's not technically shortwave. Close, though.
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Aug 22, 2008 10:13
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Oh poo poo, that sucks! At least The Buzzer is still buzzing away.
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Aug 24, 2008 19:55
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Coryne posted:OP, you can add another $111 to the financial drain stats for the Eton E5 and forums account I bought recently due to this thread. Signed my name and callsign. I hate that those devices are allowed to pump out so much RF.
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Aug 25, 2008 20:25
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TetsuoTW posted:I can't even remember where, but I heard about this website today - Numbers Station Bingo. Does what it says on the tin - it's a game of bingo using recordings from Conet to call out the numbers.  Best post in the entire thread, that's awesome.
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Aug 26, 2008 20:41
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biglads posted:There was also some weird 'Chirping' noises alongside 'the buzzer'. The 'chirp' was repeating about twice a second and fiddling about it seemed to be strongest on 4620kHz in USB. It was incredibly strong (stronger than UVB-76) when listening on AM mode. I heard it between 2345 & 2355 UTC, when I retuned at 0025 it had gone. Did it sound like a jammer? Also, is it just me, or is HF reception around the UK absolute poo poo at the moment? My three "test" stations for HF reception are: RAF Volmet: 5450 and 11253 khz Shannon Volmet: 5505 khz If I can hear those 3 stations pretty well I know I have decent coverage across the bands and that it's coming in from a good range of directions. Lately they are barely audible. RAF Volmet is one of the strongest HF stations in the country so you expect to get it everywhere.
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Aug 29, 2008 13:10
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TetsuoTW posted:Well this is weird - tooling around with my wideband receiver, I stumbled across Radio Taiwan International broadcasting loud and clear on 414.400 MHz. It's kind of cool to actually be able to listen to RTI while still in Taiwan. Um, are you sure about that frequency?
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Sep 20, 2008 12:39
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