Achtung! Its the one and only Shortwave Radio Uberthread!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Achtung! Its the one and only Shortwave Radio Uberthread!

«‹›4 »

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

No kidding! Last night was the first time I was able to pick up WWV AND WWVH simultaneously, almost equally strong on all 5 frequencies (2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 Megahertz) using ONLY THE WHIP ANTENNA ON MY E5. Jesus christ, last night's reception was amazing. I had Netherlands and Havana picked up nice and strong, and found a bunch of Morse number stations!

Good times ahead, comrades!

Here's hoping tonight will be decent. I've been out of town/busy with worth the past couple nights so I haven't been able to spin the dial lately. Also thanks Halah for the avatar!

# ¿ Jun 27, 2007 19:11

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 14, 2024 19:01

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Last night's reception was horrible for me. Anyone else having problems, or was I getting local interference?

The rain here last night kept me inside. However I'll be way out in the country over the weekend by San Antonio visiting the parents, so here's hoping for some good weather!

# ¿ Jun 29, 2007 17:05

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

So wow, I just got back from the country about 20-30 miles outside San Antonio. I tuned in around midnight local (CST) time. While DX MW reception wasn't the cats meow, SW reception was the bees knees! I was able to receive Radio Japan, and so many other stations with the stock antenna, without even having it extended; on my S350 (indoors!). It was /amazing/. I could barely pickup Radio Bulgaria here in the heat of the city (outside in the Dallas Suburbs), but out there I heard Radio Croatia (unsure of name other then that was the only nation they talked about) clear as a bell. I'm around a year or two away from buying a house; and call me crazy but this thread might have just relocated me out to the country. The difference was unbelievable.

FauxEdit:
Also I didn't realize this until after I created my avatar (thanks again Halah!) but are there an inordinate number of Strangelove avatars in this thread or is it just me?

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Jul 2, 2007

# ¿ Jul 2, 2007 08:08

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

.Boo. posted:

Do you think it's possible to get a unit that covers the standard frequencies and also transmits for under 150$? I don't care if it is used/old, actually I think I would prefer it. (Think warlock from live free or die hard)

Define 'Standard Frequencies' please. If you take the time to get a license you can get a HF Ham Transceiver for cheap, I picked mine up at a amature radio swap meet for $300; though I still need to get a better power supply and antenna for proper operation, so I'm betting the total cost to get my station on air will be around $500 or so.

Also I haven't seen Live Free or Die Hard yet, but if it's got a HF transceiver in it I'm game.

FauxEdit: You might want to swing by the HAM radio thread linked to in the OP.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2007 03:24

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Elijah posted:

Is there anything in the non-portable category that you guys would recommend? Perhaps I shouldn't look at it this way, but I have a feeling that if I don't get something high-end to start with, I'm going to end up spending more money in the long run from upgrading.

I've always found that desktop units were pricier then portable units, unless you go used. Also I'd bet that quite a few desktop units are going to require an external antenna, which while you're going to want to get one, you won't have the flexibility of just toying around with it and it's internal antenna outside or in different rooms. This is not to discourage you as desktop units are awesome, and I prefer them to portable units, but I've found them to be a bit pricier. The E1 would probably work well for you if you want a decent radio that is a bit nicer then most portables.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2007 03:31

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Elijah posted:

The E1 appears to be more of a larger portable, though. Also, when you say external antenna, you're not talking a big freakin' hunk of metal in the backyard, right? It's gotta be apartment-friendly.

No; I meant a long wire or assorted antenna like have been discussed all through this thread.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2007 03:43

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Stuntman Mike posted:

That's a little creepy.

Okay, a lot creepy.

It gets even creepier when you listen to it:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/brogers/buzzer.mp3

# ¿ Jul 6, 2007 01:46

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

After a bit of a dry spell I finally stumbled upon a numberstation at 12165khz. Its a spanish lady reading in spanish. 2:20UTC. Still active as I post this.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2007 03:22

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Halah posted:

Welp, been out of the loop for a good week now because I went and got married. Sad to hear things are dry at best. And I've never had any luck hearing the buzzer for some reason. Funny that should come up because I tried to catch that a couple weeks ago.

But now I'm back and listening!

Congrats on getting married! I'm engaged myself, though we haven't set a date yet.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2007 09:25

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Danton posted:

I'm interested in picking up a low-cost portable to get some of the weirder overseas stations (thinking the DE1103), but I'm worried about reception. I live in the city in a ground-floor apartment with multi-story buildings in every direction. I don't actually have upstairs neighbors due to the building layout, but I'm worried that either interference or obstructions will make the it a waste of time. Anyone have any experience with SW listening in cities? Would I need some $500 set to pick anything up?

Also, what kind of stations could I expect living in the northeast? Will I get anything besides Europe and possibly Cuba?

Hey doppleganger I'm doing pretty good here how about yourself? Joking aside I live in a three story apartment on the ground floor with some decent sized buildings around. While good for carrying in groceries and saving energy, the first floor sucks for reception. I've got a long wire on the patio stealthy hidden so as not to get complaints and its still mediocre at best. However if you just walk outside and get in a fairly open area a portable will work decently. This is what I usually do. (My neighbors must love me)

# ¿ Jul 11, 2007 23:21

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

^^^^

This is really the kind of situation where a portable receiver will serve you best. It also means you can get the hell out of the city with it when you want a good signal.

Where do you go when you want to get out of the city? The side of some county road or what?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2007 05:34

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

-START- GENERAL THREAD NOTICE

There will be no OP updates for the next 9 days, as I will not have access to the internet (and by extension, the forums) during that time. A ssuch, if anyone has anything they think should be added to the OP (Links, tips, financial drain, etc.), e-mail it to me at schwartznumbers (at) yahoo (dot) com. I'll check it and update the OP as soon as I get back.

In the meantime, keep on listenin' and have fun!

-END START- GENERAL THREAD NOTICE

I'll set my alarm for Sunday the 22nd; have fun on vacation!

(I assume)

# ¿ Jul 13, 2007 16:32

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Ol' Tortoiseblossom posted:

Just for the heck of it, I sent out several reception reports via email to the major stations I was hearing, to see if I could get any QSLs that way. I know most of the smaller stations want a self-addressed envelope and all, but I thought the bigger ones might just take an email. I can confirm that you can at least get a QSL from Radio China just by emailing them a reception report:

I'll let you all know if any others worked that way.

Very cool! I haven't heard back from any of the places I've sent QSL's to. Though I'm getting ready to send one to Radio Havana so hopefully I'll get awesome communist posters for my living room!

# ¿ Jul 13, 2007 17:39

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Dog Case posted:

The 350 also doesn't have memory presets. It's basically an analog radio with a digital frequency display. It does sound really nice though.

EDIT: It also gets crazy battery life out of the 4 D cells. I had one for about 8 months (just sold it in SA Mart!) and the first set of batteries lasted that entire time, with about an hours use almost EVERY DAY of that 8 months.

I've got a 350, which I was under the impression was a 350DL when I bought it. It takes 4 D cell batteries and even though I listen to shortwave easily every other night, and listen to at least 2-3 hours of Coast to Coast AM on it (Most excellent AM/MW reception too!) the battery display on it still hasn't gone down! I'm using a pack of Evereadys I bought for $1. As has been said if you just want to listen to world band radio and AM/FM, /and/ if you don't mind having to manually tune in each station you want to listen to, then it's excellent rig. If you do mind, or want SSB then buy something else. If you do buy the 350 buy the 350DL; I don't know how much better the 350DL is but they're pretty much the same price and the 350 drifts around like it was going out of style. Though interestingly enough it gets much more stable after it has been on for 30 min or so. If you've got any other questions about it feel free to ask; I'd be more then happy to try and answer them about this radio.

Dog Case posted:

EDIT: It also gets crazy battery life out of the 4 D cells. I had one for about 8 months (just sold it in SA Mart!) and the first set of batteries lasted that entire time, with about an hours use almost EVERY DAY of that 8 months.

This man speaks the unabashed and awesome truth; and for modern electronics it's pretty wonderful! And much as described it is just an analog radio and the knobs while sexy can be imprecise and/or jumpy unless you've got a surgeons hands.

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Jul 17, 2007

# ¿ Jul 17, 2007 06:11

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Canuck-Errant posted:

_{but yes secretly I wish the E5 had turny spinny knobs and maybe some more dials and maybe some little metal bars on it and was bigger and...}

Make sure you include a 'Lock' button in your secret desires. Without it you'll accidentally bump the knob and send your radio off frequency all too often.

_{Ya that's why I fell for the 350}

# ¿ Jul 17, 2007 07:39

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

meatpotato posted:

Hey guys, taking the thread a little off topic here, but has anyone tried building a transmitter? I've seen several VERY simple plans which are really an audio transformer and a crystal oscillator with a 9 volt for the power supply. I tried making one, but I think my crystal oscillator is bad as I can't hear anything and it gets very hot. Good thing I ordered about 9 new ones from FOX as free samples. They should get here soon and I'll report back once I have some results.

I know there are more complex designs, but I'm short on components and want to do this on the cheap. I read somewhere that class C amplification would be the most efficient, but I don't specifically know what that is. When I get some parts (maybe from my work) I'll try to build some of the more developed designs.

I havn't yet, though I probably will at sometime. Though I'd bet the guys in the ham radio thread would either be willing to help out or point you in the right direction/to good resources.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2007 07:56

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Stuntman Mike posted:

Oh, okay. Hmm. Interesting. So it isn't like I'm missing out or anything, then.

Thanks.

VVVVV 2.4 Ghz? Christ, that's the frequency of my cordless phone. Niiice.

Oh, out of curiosity, would emergency services radio frequencies be picked up by shortwave radios? Because that's just icing on the cake. Crazy preachers AND the police band!

Police generally (at least around dallas) stick to UHF and 800mhz systems. However they're trunked; which effectively means that no regular radio can listen to them. You'd need a trunking scanner to listen in.

Ninjitsu EDIT: Dallas City Police Communications are UHF and untrunked; however most of the surrounding municipalities are UHF/800MHz trunked systems.

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Dec 27, 2007

# ¿ Jul 19, 2007 03:40

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Sennheiser posted:

Wow, so what you're saying is I basically just wasted $40? gently caress.

Not at all, just wait for late Saturday night and listen to the police channels. Depending on your city it can get pretty interesting. (reference my earlier post on the first 2-3 pages about 'superman' running around an apartment complex)

EDIT:

Halah posted:

I will not replace my PRO-2006 even if it can't do trunked channels.

But I'm old school like that.

That's not old school, that's just hot.

EDIT2:
Holy crap that covers AMPS cell towers and cordless phones doesn't it? Man that's awesome! My father used to have a scanner that covered those freq's too!

(call me paranoid but that is also the main reason I used a landline to talk to girls when I was in high school)

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Jul 27, 2007

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 07:24

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Sennheiser posted:

But every frequency in Chicago is on the 5th decimal. My scanner only goes to the third. So I'll never get good audio.

Check the suburbs and every other place around you. I have a three digit scanner radio in Dallas and haven't been bored yet! (keep in mind the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area is larger then the state of New Jersey; And that almost all the police departments use trunked systems, and my scanner isn't)

EDIT:
Click around here
http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&mid=38
I'm sure you'll be able to find something interesting to listen too, if not then perhaps you /might/ have wasted $40.

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jul 27, 2007

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 07:40

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Halah posted:

It took a little surgical prowess to unlock the cell frequencies, but one snip and the deed was done. There are some crazy-assed mods that can be done with this thing. Like 6,400 memory channels. I haven't done that one yet, but this thing is sick in what you can do to it.

I bet so, some of those older scanners are awesome with what you can do with them. Again I used to play with my fathers old scanner back in the day. It was fully unlocked with the AMPS and cordless phone frequencies. It was pure awesomeness with what you could listen to on that scanner. Man those were the days.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 07:48

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Sennheiser posted:

For example:
851.93750 806.93750 WPFY221 RM Emergency Communications Office FM

The frequency being the first number, will my scanner be able to pick that up well? Or will it not come through/be scratchy?

Perhaps I couldn't say other then give it a shot! the worst that can happen is a few minutes in vein. Also I was going to look up the specs of your radio to find some good channels to look up but couldn't find any specifications for your radio online. If you know what bands it supports (and since we know it only steps in .001khz increments) we should be able to tell you what you can hear.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2007 08:13

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

I can't remember if this has been posted or not; but here is a government chart outlining radio spectrum usage in the US.
Clicky Clicky!

It'll help if you're attempting to id or find a particular type of radio traffic.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2007 01:11

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

overflow posted:

Well, from what I understand.. the FCC is not the big policing monster of government that it used to be; they've had massive funding cuts in recent years, so it's entirely complaint driven now. Most complaints to the FCC are due to interference (be it TV interference, bleeding on to other station's frequencies, etc.) Most interference comes from poor transmitters or antenna rigs. However, I wouldn't be surpised if some of the bigger FM/AM radio operators (Clearchannel and the like) wouldn't be very happy with someone stealing any of their market share.

HAMs are to abide by very strict rules to communicate on their allocated frequencies. I don't know the rules exactly (maybe a HAM can chime in here,) but I know they are to announce their callsigns frequently, and playing music or copyrighted recordings is strictly forbidden. I do believe there is a cap on transmitter power for HAMs as well. Most pirate stations are in the neighborhood of 5-100 watts. In fact, many pirates are just using HAM gear (many of which can easily be modified to broadcast on FM or AM broadcast bands.) For more info on radio/scanner mods, check out http://www.mods.dk.

As has been mentioned Hams can't rebroadcast music unless it's a retransmission from the Shuttle/ISS broadcasts. We cannot 'broadcast' to the general public; as we are only licensed to make two way communication with other hams; unless it is a beacon used to evaluate propagation.

Also if you did get caught or someone ratted you out; the FCC would at least send you a nastygram; if not pull your license. That said I'd never partake in pirate radio transmissions as I like my license

, but I'd love to listen.

EDIT: We have a 1500Watt power limit generally; though there are a stray band or two where we are limited to 200Watts.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2007 20:57

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Scaevolus posted:

I'm having trouble seeing how a pirate shortwave station could operate for long (assuming the transmitter stays in a constant location)-- isn't it trivial to triangulate broadcast position?

I've heard stories about people who build a low power transmitter powered via a battery that is charged during the day via solar. They either run all day and until they run out of juice at night; or are setup to turn on after dark and run until the battery dies. These are usually places way out in the middle of the desert in arizona/nevada and run without any human intervention. I've only read about one but I've always wanted to catch one and listen.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2007 01:05

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

I've picked up fucktons of these. Usually those are transmitters set to playback a single message, like an amateur letter beacon. A letter beacon is a transmitter that sends out nothing but a single morse letter or pair of letters over and over.

However, not all letter beacons seem to be run by amateurs. There's some weird stories surrounding the world of letter beacons, some of which put number stations to shame. Lets just say if you were to make an FCC complaint about interference caused by a military letter beacon, death threats ensue.

Edit: Here's the wikipedia entry on Letter Beacons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_beacon

The Amateur beacons are supposed to be publicly known (Location I mean) and they are setup for armatures to know if that frequency is able to be used from wherever you are to that beacon.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2007 02:04

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Fact: Hams have the most boring conversations on the planet, no exceptions!

Hey now! I had an egaging chat last evening about which burger joint was the best in dallas. It was quite entralling and you youngins aught learn some respect! :bahgawd:

EDIT: drat kids! It's JC's Burger House off Central expressway. If you're in town I'll buy you a burger.

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Sep 12, 2007

# ¿ Sep 12, 2007 02:25

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Jonny 290 posted:

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.

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.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2007 05:08

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

I've got an old scanner that was made prior to any legislation regarding locking out cell frequencies. I never use it for anything other then listening to the police.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2007 19:34

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Mighty Horse posted:

I used to use a modded Motorola bag phone a few years back and had a lot of fun screwing with people, but that was 15 some off years ago when digital was just on the drawing boards.

Man I remember those good old days. I used to work a a cell phone repair shop...needless to say we had the ability to clone pagers, and modify analoge cell phones in fun ways.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2007 07:13

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

For a jeep? Nothing. Engines cause MASSIVE interference on HF. You just can't listen to SW in a car, and believe me, I've tried. Also considering fine antenna positioning is so critical in DXing, constant movement (and interference from all sorts of crazy poo poo on the road, like RF transmitter iPod adapters in other cars, and large power lines along highways, you just aint' gonna hear poo poo.

I donno man. I've had decent luck listening to shortwave in my car while driving. Everything you mention rings true; but I've got it hard wired into my radio. Usually the signal is better while driving thought the country, and such, but I've had reasonable luck. Also a honest to god antenna designed for the specific band you're listening to is a boon.

I'd check out anything from Yaesu, Icom, or Kenwood for any/all HF ham transceiver needs. I've got radios from both Yaesu and Kenwood and been pretty happy with them. If you don't already have an antenna I can show you a few decent places to get one.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2007 07:05

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Jesus Haploid Christ! And I thought texting behind the wheel was a bad idea!

Edit: misspelled "Christ" with a G.

It's honestly alot better then texting at the wheel. Keep in mind that these guys live and breath morse and that with a nice iambic key; it does alot of the work for you. Not that it's the smartest idea, or even a good idea; but it's easier then texting, and you don't have to take your eyes off the road to do it.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2007 07:14

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

I'm starting to seriously consider quitting the voyeuristic SWL game and getting a ham license.

It's well worth the price of admission.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2007 02:50

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Does anybody know what kind of problems I may encounter, carrying an electronic device with a shitload of buttons on a plane?

Don't worry about it. I carry my little HammyTalky on airplanes all the time. 5 Watts of transmitter goodness, just keep it in your bag and you'll be fine. I don't get any questions about it, I just like bringing it with me as its small and I can chat with other hams while I'm on business trips in the evenings after work.

For reference it's pretty much this

blugu64 fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Nov 20, 2007

# ¿ Nov 20, 2007 06:21

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to set it to my local "Cool Jazz" station to be as entirely under the radar as possible.

Man up and set it to the air traffic controller. I dare you. (bring some vaseline, it'll make the search alot uhh smoother)

# ¿ Nov 21, 2007 04:09

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

TetsuoTW posted:

Quick question - is it common for ham operators to just send out their signal in CW on loop? I ask 'cause I've stumbled onto a signal at 7059k sideband broadcasting this in CW:

-.../...-/..---/.-/.--.

which if I'm not mistaken is BV2AP. This is then followed by a long tone that sounds like a dial tone, after which it repeats. It's done this for about half an hour now. I googled up BV2AP, and it's apparently the callsign of a ham here in Taipei, all of a couple of kilometers up the road from me, but it's a surprisingly lovely signal for someone so close, hence my wondering.

What it could be is a propagation beacon. Hams will sometimes setup a beacon at their location so that other hams who know of it can find it and if they can hear it then they know they should be able to hear other transmitters in the general area. nmfree can probably explain this better then I as I'm still a newbie at HF Ham radio. I've been a 2 meter hero for too long.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2007 15:39

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Jose Pointero posted:

And yeah, I monitor channel 19 a lot because I live within a stone's throw of IH-35, and hear lots of crazy trucker poo poo on there. When that pic was taken there was a huge backup due to construction and a wreck...man those truckers were riled up let me tell ya.

Yeah that's pretty much what these guys are into. One of them is the Texas State Guard Amateur Radio Club, who are the guys I will likely take the test with. And oh man, they are all about the Red Cross stuff. One of them was talking to me about how they sometimes do those transmitter hunts, which sounds interesting I guess. I have yet to actually meet anyone in person my age who is into this stuff

Where in Texas abouts are you? I'm a stones throw away from I-35 as well. Farmers Branch/Addison, on this end.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2007 06:44

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Jonny 290 posted:

To update the thread - I posted an epic on radioreference about this, but basically I threw up a 1/4 wave inverted L antenna for 75 meters. If you guys are having bad luck with your compromise antennas, I say again - go and throw wire up in trees. I've been ragchewing on 75 meters all weekend where previously I'd never landed a QSO. I stripped out some phone cable (basically half of CAT5 cable, two pairs instead of 4) and was out throwing poo poo up in trees at 3am Saturday night.

As we all know, antenna performance is directly proportional to how ugly it is, and inversely proportional to how nice it was outside when you put it up.

And directly proportional to how fiance approved it is. Also mind posting a link to said epic thread?

# ¿ Jan 8, 2008 04:03

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

AstroZamboni posted:

Finally back from the frozen wastelands, and updated the OP.

Yesterday my boss at the museum (a ham) was shooting off a theory that the church of scientology uses numbers stations to send orders to the sea org. Then again, he has some pretty weird ideas.

Wouldn't they need a FCC license to broadcast stuff from the US? That said they could easily have the transmitter outside the US, or be broadcasting illegally.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2008 22:42

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Swingline Savvy posted:

I'm fairly sure an FCC license wouldn't condone the sending of ciphered text anyway (I know my ham license doesn't), so either way it seems it would be illegal.

Heh, ya good point. I forgot about that.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2008 01:13

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 14, 2024 19:01

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

Elijah posted:

Do they pay for themselves in the long run or not?

In all probability they do, however over the years it would take to do that I'd rather pocket the difference and interest.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2008 23:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Achtung! Its the one and only Shortwave Radio Uberthread!

«‹›4 »