Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Android App to Display SW Radio SWBC Schedules

Shortwave Broadcast Schedules is a handy app that displays broadcast schedules of over 12,000 longwave, mediumwave, and shortwave broadcast stations.
The stations are initially listed in order by frequency. You can tap a button to see which stations are on the air right now, as well as search for stations by name, frequency, time of day that they are on, or country. Stations currently on the air are displayed in bold, making it quick and easy to see which stations are on right now.
Tap on a station to bring up more information about the station, such as the country of origin, target area, and programming language.
Click the Update button, and the app will check to see if there is a more recent version of the schedule. If so, it will be downloaded and installed. You need an internet connection for this to work, of course.


UE80RWW - Commemorative diploma

Commemorative diploma - 80 years began broadcasting in Volgograd (Stalingrad)

Diploma of "80 years of broadcasting in Volgograd" issued to applicants for the establishment of links with amateur radios of Volgograd region, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of broadcasting in Volgograd (former Stalingrad).


The award is issued free of charge in electronic format only.

Applicants must be between 1 August 2013 on September 15, 2013 score 80 or more points.

Each connection with: - Jubilee radio UE80RWW, dedicated to the event - 30 points (required); - With the other stations of the Volgograd region of Russian Federation - 10 points.

September 5, 2013, the anniversary of the start of broadcasting, points are doubled.

Jubilee radio station will be on air from 1 August 2013 to 15 sentbyarya 2013. From 2 to 8 September will be held days of activity UE80RWW, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the start broadcasting in Volgograd.

Repetitions are allowed on different bands and different types of modulation (CW, SSB, DIGI).

To obtain the award should be sent to the thesis committee request by e-mail as an extract from the log in a text format.

Additionally set up two nominations: - Radio amateur who has established relationships with the largest number of commemorative UE80RWW station for all time memorable events. - Radio amateur who has established relationships with the largest number of commemorative station UE80RWW September 5, 2013, the anniversary of the event. The winners in these categories will receive souvenirs from the organizers.

E-Mail address for diploma request: diplom@cqvlz.ru. Please, mark subject with "diploma request".

9M2MI AS-097 Dxped



Eham SWL Survey

Do you ever do any casual SWL'ing on the non-Ham bands these days...? Did you do much SWL'ing during your pre-Ham days...? What do you think of the SWL "scene" in 2013, compared to when you first started...?

1) YES! I still listen to those parts of the spectrum that do not contain Amateur transmissions, and I love doing so...
2) NO! I never was a SWL, not "way back when", & not now, either...
3) The SWL bands to-day are far too populated by domestic right-wing political & religious stations...
4) I occasionally "snoop" the SWL bands when I have nothing better to do, but that is very rare...
5) There are FAR less foreign broadcasters on SW than there were "back in the day", I'm afraid...
6) I sorta MISS the high-powered lectures on the evils of capitalism from Radio Moscow, Radio Havana, Radio Tirana, Radio Peking, etc.

7) Bye-bye SWL'ing---NOBODY misses you!

Vote the Eham survey

QRZDroid

Instant access to more than 1.2 million amateur radio call signs from around the world. Includes easy sharing options via email, text, and more. 


P29NI and P29VPB onto LotW




P29NI and P29VPB logs for the 2012 operation have been uploaded onto Logbook of the World.

http://p29ni.yolasite.com



Etherkit OpenBeacon

OpenBeacon is an open source crystal-controlled QRPp beacon transmitter kit which can output a variety of slow-speed modes, including QRSS, DFCW, and Sequential Multi-tone Hellschreiber. It is configured via USB port, so there are no jumpers to set and you can easily adjust all of the operating parameters via command line. Once configuration is complete, OpenBeacon may be removed from the PC and operate stand-alone.!

Specifications
Frequency: crystal controlled
Modes: CW, QRSS, DFCW, Sequential Multi-tone Hellschreiber, Glyphcode, WSPR (experimental)
Power output: 300 mW nominal (at +13.7 VDC power supply)
Spectral purity: greatest harmonic <-45 dbc="" p="">
Power supply: +5 VDC to +14 VDC
Current consumption: 50 mA at +5 VDC, 120 mA at +13.7 VDC
Control via USB on Windows, OS X, and Linux
PCB dimensions: 70 mm x 90 mm
High quality PCB with soldermask and ENIG (gold) plating 

Available Bands
30 Meters - 10.140 MHz
40 Meters - 7.040 MHz
80 Meters - 3.582 MHz

Etherkit CRX1 40mt receiver


The CRX1 is a simple VXO-tuned superheterodyne receiver for the 40 meter band, with tuning centered around the popular QRP watering hole frequency of 7.030 MHz. It is entirely constructed from surface mount devices in the easy-to-build 0805 (US) size for passive components and SOT-23 class semiconductors. The PCB is large and single-sided, which provides for uncramped construction and makes the CRX1 an ideal warm-up kit for the CC1 QRP transceiver (coming soon). The CRX1 is not just meant to be a novelty to be tossed aside after construction. All of the support circuitry for muting, T/R, and sidetone is included, so it can be paired with virtually any transmitter which uses grounded keying. There is also a port for an external VFO to enable further user experimentation.


All controls and connectors are included with this kit, so you just need to supply an enclosure and a few knobs to finish the job

http://www.etherkit.com

Monday, July 29, 2013

KC0TKS QRSS Beacon

The KC0TKS 10 meter beacon is now broadcasting in QRSS30 mode from atop a 3000 foot mountain in California at approximately 28.2215 MHz at 25 milliwatts. The exact frequency last reported is 28.221425 MHz. The original CW beacon went on the air May 9, 2007 in Sedalia, MO and has been in nearly continuous operation since. This is the first major change since its inception.

This mode is normally not readable by ear. Transmissions by this mode are normally many hundreds of times weaker than your normal CW transmission and dits or dahs are sometimes several minutes long. Instead, we use a computer program to be able to see the Morse that is being sent.

For the typical beacon hunter, the only change to your routine would be to park your receiver on 28.2215 in-between your normal scans. The software will do the hunting for the QRSS beacons while you are away from the rig and store screen captures for you to look at later.

Eventually, several "grabbers" will be set up. A grabber is a receiving station that posts its QRSS screen captures to a website for all to browse in real time. If you would like to operate a grabber for this project, please email kc0tks@gmail.com .

The KC0TKS grabber in Missouri is now up at http://www.kc0tks.org/argo   .




Friday, July 26, 2013

Monitoring Times ceases


What a sad news ! Monitoring Times ceases publications: After 33 years of service to the radio community, Monitoring Times will cease publication with the December, 2013 issue.  Subscriptions and renewals for the remaining months can be made by calling (800) 438-8155.