Now THIS Is Interesting!

Typical morning – a little dx – a little reading – ran across this thread at radio reference dot com – now this caught my attention – I literally wiped a refurb (new to me) windows box out trying to get a dongle running – instant paperweight! Wiped out the USB link library – poof – gone. It took my buddy Greg about six weeks to stick all the stuff I trashed back in it – and he pretty much knows what he’s doing. This is simple as simple can be – plug your dongle in your computer – that doesn’t even sound right! / let me stick my dongle in . . . Anyway – then go to the website <<<HERE>>> and stumble your way through and you get to a decent web based GUI that is running off YOUR dongle/antenna – at this point the free stuff only runs RTL-SDR.COM V3 or V4 – it actually works pretty decent – this is running off the Loop On Ground antenna @ about 1030 UTC this morning.

Your hearing Stan out of the Floribama area – think roughly Milton, Fl . . .

Nice interface – just need to figure out how to drive it!

I got more out of this little turd this morning than I have in 3+ years of screwing with it!

At least I’m getting something done with it – the problems with it still exist – poor spurious signal rejection / everything – and I mean everything – within in your area spatters it – dongles – proof there is no gravity – they just suck – but at least I can start playing around with filters etc to see if it could possibly work halfway decent.

What really grabbed my attention was SDRcom Blue – it works with SDRPLAY radios – and since I am in the grieving process over SDR Uno – it is EOL – no more updates – I was hoping they would have ported it to other radios (kinda like SDR Connect) – SDR Uno is totally my favorite SDR program by far – wish it would work for other SDR’s – maybe the $9.99 a year buy with SDRcom will be worth it . . .

I will keep trying this and see how it works – maybe even spend the $9.99 to upgrade – who knows . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Airspy HF+ Discovery

Finally – a look at the Airspy HF+ Discovery – one of the best SDR’s out there for the money – SWL FREQUENCY RANGE – 0.5Khz to 31Mhz / vhf coverage 64Mhz to 260Mhz / FM Broadcast BAND 64Mhz – 118Mhz / VHF Aviation Band 118Mhz to 280Mhz.

The primary coverage freq’s for SWL – 0.5khz to 31mhz drops you right on top of the “traditional” shortwave receiver coverage. If you think of it as a general coverage SWL radio such as a grundig 800 or say a Realistic DX160, you would not be far off the mark. But it does has some real advantages over a more traditional “shortwave radio”.

Here is my Realistic DX160 which I still use to this day.(eton 750 on top)

Short Wave Listening was/is a labor of love – years ago you would creep through the frequencies on different bands – adjusting antenna trim and slowly fine tuning a possible signal – it could literally take an hour (or longer) to get that signal. And for the true addicts among us it was actual good times. (and the old 160 still looks good today!)

That has changed some here and now. The SDR’s have pretty much shifted it to visual cue – you see a water fall display – and there is your signal type – if your received signals are above a given point you can hear them – mode switching is a simple mouse click away.

Switch from am to fm? Point and click – Volume/squelch/gain? – point and click. No scratchy potentiometers – no dirty switches – none of that! Everything is through software. In this case – SDR++ – which is a free download by the way. And you are not limited to just that program – there exists a bunch of programs out there – SDR++ running on windows is what I happen to prefer for the Airspy HF+ Discovery.

Here you are looking at the entire AM broadcast band – all of it at once – listening at this time – 0933UTC – to WLS Chicago / 890 AM / Red Eye Radio – off of the 28.5 foot vertical – an excellent antenna put together specifically for AM / FM broadcast band reception. SWL on the Airspy is good stuff – again the big advantage of the SDR radios is the ability to see that waterfall display and the tune right to it.

The Airspy is inexpensive enough (plus or minus $200 USD) and so far outperforms the “dongles” out there it is almost an impulse buy, and it’s a great entry level SDR – again I stress – the performance level is approaching more expensive SDR radios.

I really need to figure out this YouTube thing – it’s far easier to show the performance and the difference in performance versus “dongles” with a video. The prices in this video are from 5 years ago – so there’s that.

There is a tremendous number of videos out there on the Airspy – I could type until my fingers wear out and you would get a better understanding of the radio from 2 or 3 videos – and in less time than it would take reading all that mess – I really need to look into this YouTube stuff.

Found this next one and thought I would toss it in here – I still creep through the AM band – especially in the daytime – small market radio is fun to listen to . . .

The Airspy HF+ Discovery – worth it? If you want to do SWL on a more than casual basis? It is a good value/performance balance – keeping in mind it’s only as good as the antenna you’re using. That’s the reason I set up to be able to switch between 5 antennas – depending on conditions and frequency – I can usually get decent reception on one (or more) of them.

Despite what some folks will tell you – there is no one given antenna that is “the best” for SWL – the closest I have run across is the DX Engineering RF-PRO-1B® Active Magnetic Loop Antenna (click on it to see it)

If there was ever a true example of a “buy once / cry once” item this is pretty much it.

You can interchange gun / antenna / radio for me and it pretty much works – LOL!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Hear What You’re Not Supposed To Hear| The AM Radio Trick

So much of the information YOU are absorbing is literally being spoon fed in order to get a given reaction and thought process out of YOU – PSYOP anyone? The vast majority of the “network” radio shows you listen to are pretty much ALL scripted – designed to either lead or drag YOU in a given direction – about the only chance you have of unfiltered information are the local morning shows – and a lot of them “follow” a given agenda.

FFS – don’t even get me started on television!

Short Wave Listening gives you a lot more of a variety of information – bear in mind the majority of what you hear is designed to insert programming into that organic computer you are carrying around on top of your neck. Short Wave dot Info can be searched for any station broadcasting in a bunch of different languages <<< CLICK HERE FOR ENGLISH>>> . Click on the find frequencies dialog box and click English and then click go. All I can tell you is listen to as much stuff as you can – with the thought in your mind that you filter ALL of it through — Exactly what/how am I being expected to believe/think/act on this information? — Then start applying that same filter to people you interact with every day. I can talk to someone for about 5 minutes and pretty much tell you which news program (why do you think it is called programming??) they listen to.

I’m pretty sure I have posted this link before – if you have not seen these beginners guides to SWL – they will give you a good starting point to start gathering some information ON YOUR OWN instead of being spoon fed what YOU – as a good sheeple – are supposed to absorb . . .

does television programming work? do YOU remember meeting george jetson? and don’t forget – the mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure, five passengers set sail that day . . .

Something I’ve done to people for 20+ years – at a pause in the conversation ask them if they would like to take a simple survey – of course they will – a survey – “Oh Boy” – Keep a little pocket notebook on you – the prop reinforcement – thumb through several pages (don’t forget the pencil or pen) – and straight faced/total dead pan – ask them, “Ginger or Mary Ann?” The majority of time you can actually watch their organic computer/brain lock up.

I mean that shit right there is funny, I don’t care who you are . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads Are Cheap!!

You and Office Safety

I don’t remember this particular film – and yes boys and girls you actually got to watch films on workplace safety during orientation – the vast majority were a total hoot!

Depending on your given employer you got to sit and watch stupidity like this prior to doing “the job”. Old timey rule of thumb was the longer the orientation (ornamentation as we affectionately called it) the bigger the spoonfuls of bull shit you got handed to you – but it was all good! Sit and basically vegetate for anywhere from several hours to several days and get free coffee and doughnuts AND get paid for it!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

A Good Score to Start the Day! – Radio Mosoj Chaski and a “Fight Club” Update!

A 10kilowatt station at 3310kHz in Bolivia – with the Airspy HF+ Discovery/SDRConsole(V3)/LoopOnGround(LOG) – Tuesday app. 2230 UTC

A 10,000 watt station out of Bolivia – every once in a while I think about replacing the airspy and then grab something like this – same antenna/same time this didn’t even show up on any of the sdrplay radios – for my setup (your actual mileage may vary!) the airspy works real good from about 5.000mHz and down – really shines on am broadcast band when paired with the vertical antenna.

looking forward for the late fall early winter conditions change to see how the vertical will work for wsm 650 am for the Grand Ole Opry – and yes i know you can stream it over the internet – what’s the fun in that?

It was better in the shack – I kinda need to figure out something better . . .

Not quite the catch that The Solomon Islands @ 5.020 – it was still cool for me!

My Blushing Bride’s birthday present – Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided it is time to whoop his big brother Theodore Roosevelt’s ass – LMAO!

remember the #1 rule about fight club – never talk about fight club!!

Always remember – Relaxation IS the key . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Strategic Air Command at Forbes Air Force Base

Most folks today tend to scoff at the premise of the movie “Strategic Air Command” – surely (and my name ain’t Shirley!) they wouldn’t do something like that to a “famous” ballplayer like “Dutch” Holland. Wanna bet? Dad was in the Merchant Marine in WW2 – had a ship torpedoed and sunk whilst he was on it – that’s rude to say the least. Was injured (not seriously) and spent a couple of weeks on board the luxurious “Motel Lifeboat” – was not a good time. Made it through the war – working as a steam plant operator – everything was going right along . . .

Then one fine day a Captain Wing Nut (don’t know if that was his actual name-LOL) from SAC knocked on the door and put it plain as day – we need boiler guys – come join the Air Force and do 2 years in SAC or I go down to the draft board and hook you right up – Korea had just lit off at the time . . .

. . . according to dad it was actually decent duty – so here’s some “Forbes” stuff – 3 silent short films – think “B Roll” footage – and a couple more from K3inKansas – Enjoy!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

The Switchboard – For Lack of a Better Term – Explained . . .

One of the nice things about the Switchboard (it is a board with a bunch of switches on it – right?) is the ability to choose between 5 different antennas without having to disconnect and reconnect coax. That gets really old really fast. Bruce – 5 different antennas – REALLY?? Isn’t there one antenna that is the best for SWL (Short Wave Listening)? Let me give you the short and long answer both – no there is not. Now if I left it right there – the answer doesn’t make a lot of sense. Another factor to consider is how much of exactly what YOU are wanting to listen to . . . For example – when I typing this post (2300 UTC-Thursday-08/06), I have the SDRPlay DX tuned to 7.163mHz LSB and the best antenna to grab this mornings chat group right now today is the vertical antenna. Tomorrow it may be the loop on ground – the next day the horizontal random wire – SWL is a lot like real estate. Real estate is about 3 primary things – location/location/location — Short wave listening is about 3 primary things – conditions/conditions/conditions. A given antenna under the right conditions WILL outperform other antennas on a given day . . .

So the qualified answer is NO – there simply does not exist a single “best” SWL antenna for all frequencies and all conditions . . .

So thus we end up with this thing . . .

The biggest thing is figuring out which antenna is going to work best at the time. The powered loop from DX Engineering works really good most of the time – at times the loop on ground with the low noise amplifier is an incredible performer – the ability to switch between different antennas on the fly is way cool.

Two of the SDR’s I use are single antenna inputs (the Airspy HF+ Discovery and the SDRPlay 1B) – which means I need to switch between 5 different antennas into one connection – and yes there are 5 to 1 switches out there – good ones start at about $160 and go north from there, using a 3 to 1 and a 2 to 1 and switching between them is about $90 – comparatively cheaper to do the same thing, which is switching between antennas to see which one at a given frequency/conditions is going to give the best performance while not having to swap coax out – YAY!

The other 2 SDR’s – the SDRPlay DX and DX-R2 have 3 software switchable inputs . . .

One antenna goes to A and one to B – C goes to a three way switch (loop on ground/vertical/discone) – again 5 different antennas and no swapping coax – YAY!

The next(?) part is getting all the grounding in place – the #6 copper you see running across there goes outside to an 8 foot ground rod which is tied into all the grounding side of everything and does indeed make a difference . . .

And then get all the computers grounded – and so on – it all make little bitty differences which adds up to noticeable differences . . .

Before that happens I need to get the incoming coax and the connections to the “board” straightened out . . .

The next part is adding or piggy backing 3 more amplified splitters to the amplified loop/horizontal random wire/loop on ground antennas so I can get my networked SDR and a portable or desktop radio hooked up.

Not having to swap out coax continuously really adds to the enjoyment factor. It has been suggested by several of you folks that I should start posting some of the “listening” I do on YouTube – yea no – not that it wouldn’t be cool – I simply have enough stuff going on at the moment. Maybe over winter I will seriously look into it – and who knows – maybe a couple of you – and we all know who you two are – will string up a wire and start paying attention to what’s going on around you . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

You Ever Wonder – What Is a Sad Ham?

Besides the ones that got left at the grocery store during the Easter rush . . .

People ask me – Bruce, why have you never gotten an amateur radio license? Two Reasons – Come May of 2027 it will be 64 years of chasing signals – and I have never gotten bored with it. . . And fools like this . . .

Oh, woe is me – the powers that be changed the test questions again! It’s too easy – you simply can’t be a radio operator unless you can send and copy 600 words per minute of morse code AND give a detailed explanation of an inverted V antenna – gauge of wire/angle of slope/height above ground/for a given frequency AND literally manufacture your radio out of shit you scrounged out of your garage!

Right around 1970 I went to several different Ham Club meetings and was essentially told that I would NEVER be a radio operator like me or him or – because it is simply too easy now! And I said to that particular individual – Sir, I will never be a radio operator like you because I’m not a narcissist to any degree close to what you are – walked out and never looked back . . . (PRO TIP – if you’re going to be an asshole – be polite – it really fucks people up!) (it took him almost 3 weeks to figure out I told him FOAD – LOL!)

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!