Messages

1156

Equipment / Re: MLA-30+ Experiment

« on: February 05, 2022, 0029 UTC »

An YouLoop hanging in a window with a Nooelec LaNA HF preamp inline is sometimes my fallback antenna when disconnecting outdoor antennas due to large storms or whatever. It is definitely not a weak-signal solution inside the concrete-block-stucco house here, but it works fine for casual listening of the usual powerhouse HF BCB broadcasters and even the 80/75 amateur band at night.

1157

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: unid 6915 USB 0014 UTC 05 FEB 2022

« on: February 05, 2022, 0019 UTC »

A Genesis track at 0012z on 6915u via one of my active miniwhips. SINPO 25443. Not a strong signal, but plenty enough modulation for a decent copy.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

1158

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB 2355 UTC 4 February 2022

« on: February 05, 2022, 0011 UTC »

Music near the noise floor at 0008z via one of my active miniwhips. SINPO 15442. Very faint signal, but enough modulation for a copy.

Thanks for the broadcast! :)

1159

Amateur Radio / Re: AM Rally this weekend 2/5-7/2022!

« on: February 04, 2022, 0607 UTC »

Around ~3775KHz to ~3885KHz has AM activity most nights.

Unlike quick contacts in a contest, when it comes to some of the 160/80 AM crowds, be prepared for lengthy broadc… er, I mean transmissions. ;)

1160

General Radio Discussion / Re: AFN on shortwave still exist?

« on: February 04, 2022, 0412 UTC »

Wiki suggests the Navy still does (occasional?) AFN shortwave broadcasts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Forces_Network#Shortwave_radio

I have not heard AFN on HF in a long time. AFAIK, several years now.

Moving down the bands, AFN does a mediumwave broadcast from Cuba on 1340AM. I have no real idea regarding power. Probably not much since it is supposed to be for the naval base.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Forces_Network#Cuba

1161

Equipment / Re: MLA-30+ Experiment

« on: February 04, 2022, 0401 UTC »

The LZ1AQ is a great option. You would be hard pressed to find a better preamp design for similar money. Comparable commercial solutions tend to cost several to many times the price.

There are also various reverse-engineered and derivatives of the popular Wellbrook loop antenna preamps available, such as the "WellGood" preamp designs.

https://www.george-smart.co.uk/projects/wellgood-loop/

Here is assembled "WellGood" preamp in an enclosure offered by ra0sms for $44 shipped on eBay. Note I have not used it, but I have had good results with various others of Anton's products.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203629015345

1162

Equipment / Re: Any discone antenna fans?

« on: February 04, 2022, 0320 UTC »

If it has a 3/8" connector on top for a 6m-band vertical like many discones do, you could consider replacing the vertical with a common ~9' whip to improve reception well down into HF frequencies.

A discone has no gain, but assuming RFI/EMI is low in your desired mounting location, a remote preamp could be of benefit. A remote preamp also can help offset feedline losses, which can be quite prevalent at VHF/UHF frequencies. Unless you are doing something exotic like EME - not likely with a discone - even a basic OTA TV remote preamp should suffice if feedline losses are an issue.

1163

Amateur Radio / Re: Repeater announcements

« on: January 31, 2022, 0406 UTC »

Just dug out my old Uniden BC355N. Still working. Been listening to local CB activity, and now on NOAA just make sure one of my 18' end-fed verticals will suffice for local VHF in the meantime. I have a small discone that needs deployed sometime. Maybe when it warms up a little.

An inexpensive RTL-SDR would accomplish much the same, and while direct sampling of HF leaves much to be desired, thankfully the common R820T/2 models often can receive down to around 24MHz in their proper native sampling mode.

1164

Equipment / Re: Christmas idea….ham in a can

« on: January 31, 2022, 0347 UTC »

Dak, ya’ say?

1165

Equipment / Re: MLA-30+ Experiment

« on: January 31, 2022, 0229 UTC »

While the MLA-30 design uses an inexpensive video amp, ultimately it is still a single-stage preamp that should cope with a wide input impedance range. It is probably not any worse for noise factor and gain than some of the basic single-stage eBay preamp boards.

If up for further experimentation, consider trying it in a loop-on-ground configuration. Place a 60' loop of wire directly on the ground in a circle, square, triangle, etc. with the MLA-30 preamp at the feedpoint. The LoG might improve your signal-to-noise ratio, and the MLA-30 preamp should help with the typically high losses incurred in small LoG antennas, particularly as frequency and associated ground losses increase.

1166

Amateur Radio / Re: WARC 17/12 Meters

« on: January 31, 2022, 0218 UTC »

Still using the 80m OCFD? If so, moving the feedpoint probably would return an impedance low enough to match 30m without disrupting the ability to match other bands from 80m to 10m. Feeding at ~22.5% from one end is suggested as a good starting point for adding 30m support:

https://www.hamradiosecrets.com/off-center-fed-dipole.html

Alternatively, adding some inductance on the longer element of the existing 80m OCFD might allow finding a resonance close enough to match 30m. YMMV.

1167

Amateur Radio / Re: Repeater announcements

« on: January 30, 2022, 2125 UTC »

If you have a scanner or similar attached to an outdoor antenna, add the common 10m repeater frequencies. It has been quite a long time since I last bothered, but I did used to occasionally hear 10m repeater activity from even as far away as New England.

That said, I might do that later tonight. I have a couple of older non-trunking scanners collecting dust anyway.

1168

Amateur Radio / Re: Winter Field Day, January 29/30, 2022!

« on: January 30, 2022, 2117 UTC »

Around 25F last night. AFAIK, that is something like a 10-year low temp for this section of the gulf coast.

Do not think I have seen an iguana in the neighborhood, though I suspect it will happen eventually.

BTW, I have heard tegus could be moving further north in FL. Apparently they are already in GA and SC, too.

1169

Equipment / Re: MLA-30 Mod Step 1: Complete...NOT SO FAST :(

« on: January 26, 2022, 2113 UTC »

Some wall warts, even switching models, have decent filtering. Sadly, many do not.

I have added filtering caps across the internal side of the power connectors in some of my bias tees. Probably not needed, especially when using a regulated linear PSU, but they were quick and inexpensive to do.

1170

Equipment / Re: SW Receiver Recommendations

« on: January 26, 2022, 1447 UTC »

An Airspy HF+ Discovery.

^This. Good lucking finding a better performing new HF receiver option for under $200.

I sometimes use my RTL-SDRs for very casual HF listening, though that is with upconverters converters and various RF filters. I already had some of the components available, so "whatever" in my case, but otherwise I certainly agree the extra costs are too much for the very limited HF performance.