EDN.com @EDNcom
Engineers refer to measurements in dB all the time. Here’s a refresher on decibel basics. edn.com/design/test-an…
Radio World: Shortwave Efficacy to Be Pondered at BBG radioworld.com/article/shortw…
EDN.com @EDNcom
Engineers refer to measurements in dB all the time. Here’s a refresher on decibel basics. edn.com/design/test-an…
I have written about numbers stations before (Uno, Dos, Tres…; On the Internet – 11/26/12), but thanks to the guys on the Glowbugs Google Group, I now have some more information:
It’s currently available for streaming on Netflix, and I watched it tonight. It’s kind of violent (lots of people get shot), but it’s a decent thriller.
Jim, K6FWT, notes, “These folks are SERIOUS enthusiasts. I have heard that they surpass many intelligence services with their thoroughness. You can get in up to your eyeballs if you don’t watch it.”
Your life work series: radio and television (1940). If this was 1940, this video would show you how to get into the radio and television business.
One-transisitor regen receiver. This video shows you how to make a simple one-transistor AM radio.
WWV: All the time, all the time. What more is there to say? (Courtesy Brad, AA1IP and the Glowbugs mailing list)
The sound of Heil. He saved tours of the Grateful Dead and The Who, and is credited with the birth of modern live sound by revolutionizing the equipment that bands used, starting in the 1960s. In fact, Bob Heil, ham radio operator, sound equipment inventor, and founder of Heil Sound, is the only manufacturer to have equipment on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ham ops win iAEM-Global technology & innovation award. Broadband HamnetTM, developed by amateur radio operators to provide a high speed digital wireless communications mesh network, has won the IAEM-Global Technology & Innovation Award, Division 2.. The firmware is available at no charge via the project website at www.hsmm-mesh.org.
The teenage radio enthusiasts who helped win World War II. There were about 1,500 so-called voluntary interceptors during WWII – civilians helping to intercept secret Nazi code. To mark the centenary of the Radio Society of Great Britain, one of its members recalls how the amateur organisation played a key role in a covert operation to safeguard the country’s independence.
SWLingDotCom
History of WWV and the NIST Time Stations http://t.co/xKWgOX0mwj #shortwave #swl #dx
UNESCO’s World Radio Day was yesterday, February 13. I know I’m a day late with this one, but there’s still some interesting information to be communicated. The World Radio Day website notes,
13 February is World Radio Day — a day to celebrate radio as a medium; to improve international cooperation between broadcasters; and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information and freedom of expression over the airwaves.
While it’s mostly about radio broadcasting, amateur radio does get a mention. In the article, “Shortwave Broadcasting – Challenges and Opportunities,” the author, Oldrich Cip, says,
Amateur radio enthusiasts have traditionally used shortwave communications to share information during emergencies when other communications systems fail. This practice is recognised and appreciated both by the public and the regulating bodies responsible for managing radio frequency spectrum. In contrast, professional broadcast facilities, whose transmitters are 10 to 100 times more powerful than those of amateur operators, are rarely used in emergencies.
As an aside, Cip is the director of the High-Frequency Coordinating Committee (HFCC). The goal of the HFCC is to coordinate shortwave frequency use and minimize broadcaster interference. Their website has some interesting information, and is worth a look for those of you into SWLing.
Here are three interesting items that I found out about by reading my e-mail:
WITCH gets a reboot. The world’s oldest digital computer was brought back to life by engineers at The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire, England. The computer was first turned on in 1951 and uses 480 relays and 828 vacuum tubes called Dekatrons, which store ten discreet values. EETimes also ran a story on this computer.
First Visible LED Demoed 50 Years Ago. Since we’re doing history today, here’s a link to a Wired article marking the first demonstration of an LED that emitted visible light. The article notes, “In the February 1963 issue of Reader’s Digest, Holonyak predicted that the LED would eventually replace incandescent bulbs. Bold words from a man who worked for GE, a company founded by Thomas Edison.” We’re finally getting around to this 50 years later.
How to Listen to Real Spy Broadcasts Now. Lifehacker shows you how to dial in to numbers stations and the like. The article says, “The behavior of shortwave radio in the atmosphere makes it ideal for long range radio transmission. You can send messages on a given frequency all over the world, and most people who use shortwave radio use it to communicate with ships at sea and people in locations all over the world.”
The Twittersphere is kind of like the ionosphere. It helps you make contact with other hams and brings you news from far and wide. Here are a few interesting links that I found on Twitter in the last day or so:
Global Pirate HF Weekend 14-15.1.2012. This station lists pirate SW radio stations that it expects to be on the air this weekend. They include one using the callsign WEMP. Look for it between 15.005 – 15.095 MHz. They’ll be broadcasting with 100 W to Europe: 12.00 – 16.00 UTC – (check 15.010 or 15.040 or 15.090 MHz).
The Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories Zener Diode Tutorial. Confused about zener diodes and how they work? Read this.
Monitor your Ham Radio transmitter with an oscilloscope. In this video, Alan, W2AEW builds a little adapter that lets you connect your transmitter output to a scope input so that you can see how clean its output is.
In an interview this morning, David Ensor, the new director of the Voice of America said,
We mentioned shortwave radio. You know, it is less and less useful, and there’s a certain amount of money being spent on it that should move quickly, and I will try to accelerate that process, into, you know, new media, into Internet sites that are mobile device-friendly, into satellite television broadcasts that can reach in some of these countries. So, we’re working on that hard.
It was also reported that they are going to discontinue their broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese.
What are they going to replace these services with? Facebook and Twitter, of course.