Tag Archives: Climbing Radio Tower

Radio Waves: AU2JCB Special Event, 1 Million Watt FM Tower, 3ZZZ Breaches Rules, Australia Calling, WWII KGEI, and EV Charger QRM

Icom IC-756 Pro Transceiver Dial

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!


AU2JCB Special Event Station (Nov 25 – Dec 13, 2022)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Datta, who shares the following announcement:

AU2JCB is a special event call-sign to commemorate the birth date (30 NOV) & to pay homage & to tell about the great INDIAN scientist Acharya JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE who is recognized as the “Father of Wireless Communication” by the scientific community of our world &IEEE.

I, VU2DSI, have been operating with this call sign for the last 17 years since 2005 & operate AU2JCB from 25 NOV 2022 to 13 DEC 2022.

The Details of operation —-

Period: 25 NOV 2022 to 13 DEC 2022

Frequencies:

  • 10 M: 28545, 28510,28490
  • 21 M: 21235, 21310, 21350
  • 20M: 4210, 14250, 14310
  • 40 M: 7040, 7150
  • 80 M: 3710
  • 6M in FM mode 50800, 51500
  • 10 M: 29700

Preferably the operation will be on higher bands according to propagation conditions.

QSL— Direct to VU2DSI, “SURABHI” MEHERABAD. AHMEDNAGAR.414006. INDIA.

FOR DX STATIONS PLEASE SEND 2IRC’s—–IF POSSIBLE— as many many DX stations are requesting QSL’s.

I will appreciate the GOOD number of used postal stamps instead of IRC as I love collecting stamps.

About

Aacharya J.C.Bose is well known as the “Father of Wireless Communication”.

Acharya Bose’s demonstration in 1895 & 1897 predates all.

Bose transmitted wireless signals to a distance of a mile. Popova in Russia was still trying remote signaling at this time & the first wireless experiment by Marconi was not successful until May 1897.

Bose is a pioneer in microwave optics technology.

Bose’s invention of 1-centimeter to 5 millimeters radio waves is being used in radars, satellite communication& remote sensing.

Bose’s concepts from his original 1897 papers are now incorporated into a new 1.3 mm multi-beam receiver on the NRAO (National Radio Observatory) 12 Meter Telescope.

Bose anticipated the use of P-type& N-type semiconductors & hence 60 years ahead of his time. Bose developed the use of GALENA crystals for making receivers.

In Bose’s presentation to the Royal Institution in London in January 1897, he speculated on the existence of electromagnetic radiation from the sun. This radiation from the sun was not detected until 1942.

Video: Exploring a 1 MILLION Watt FM Tower (YouTube)

My Dad and I took a road trip to tour the 1 MW FM community tower in Crestwood, MO, serving the entire St. Louis metro area combining 10 FM radio signals into two antenna systems.

Special thanks to the Audacy engineers who allowed us to take a peek at their (very clean!) transmitter rooms and equipment!

Click here to view on YouTube.

3ZZZ breaches community radio broadcast rules in its coverage on Ukraine (ACMA)

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found Melbourne-based community broadcaster 3ZZZ in breach of community broadcasting rules in its coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Continue reading

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Radio Waves: Broadcast Tower Climbers, Sony ICF-SW1 Repair, Franken-FM Status, and Marconi in a Van

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!


Spotlight on Broadcast Tower Climbers in New Documentary (Radio World)

NATE, in collaboration with Storybuilt Media, has created a feature-length documentary titled “Vertical Freedom,” which highlights the professional and personal lives of six communications infrastructure workers in the United States.

Throughout the film, these cellular and broadcast tower climbers share what compels and excites them about their line of work. Plus, how to overcome every-day danger in order to connect us all.

Ky Nguyen is just one of the climbers featured in the film. He has worked with RIO Steel and Tower out of Alvarado, Texas for the last 10 years.

After the Great Recession, Nguyen wanted to move away from his job in construction and — while he is skilled at his craft now — he was initially hired onto the tower communication service’s team with zero experience.

“I started as a climber and then just kept working my way up,” he said. “Then I became foreman and began project managing. I’m one of those types of guys where, if you want it done a certain way, you have to be with them, showing them, leading by example – so I’m climbing every day.” [Continue reading…]

Repairing the Sony ICF SW1 Receiver — Used for Numbers Station Reception? Why no replacement for C-625? (Soldersmoke)

Ten years ago, my friend John gave me this tiny Sony receiver. It wasn’t working. I tried to fix it but quickly discovered that the tiny size of the device made repair difficult. All you needed to do was to swap out some leaking electrolytics, but they are surface mount electrolytics — replacing them is not for the faint of heart. Kits are available, but again, this is not easy.

In 2020 I got one of the kits, but didn’t try to use it until yesterday. It only supplied six of the electrolytics. In the video above, they discuss replacing seven electrolytics, including the one that seems to be placed in the round black holder. C-625. Why didn’t my kit include a replacement for that one? Could it be that this capacitor was not one of the leaky SMD caps?

Replacing these caps really wasn’t easy. At one point I inadvertently removed not just the bad cap, but also a nearby surface mount resistor. Luckily the schematic showed it to be 0 ohms. That was easily replaced. I lifted one of the pads on one of the other caps — I just slid it back into place and hoped for the best. [Continue reading at Soldersmoke…]

FCC Report 5/22: FCC To Consider Franken-FM Status And Whether To Expand Radio Service On Channel 6 (Radio Insight)

The FCC has introduced a proposal for rulemaking to determine whether to permanently approve the use the spectrum of television channel 6 for analog radio service on 87.75 MHz and will vote on whether to proceed with it at its June meeting.

In July 2021, all of the remaining analog low-power television stations were required to convert to digital, which would then lead to thirteen of them resuming analog audio transmission within their ATSC 3 broadcasts on an experimental basis. The rulemaking proposal seeks comments whether FM on channel 6 operations server the public interest and should be authorized to continue, whether they should be authorized as ancillary or supplementary services and if so subject to a new rule that permits their operation subject the certain technical and operational requirements, whether they can limit future channel 6 FM operations to those stations with active STAs, whether to consider a proposal to license additional non-commercials FMs on 82-88 MHz in areas where no television stations are operating, and whether to eliminate or revise the distance separation rules between television stations on channel 6 and radio licenses in the non-commercial band.

The full proposal can be read at this link.

The petition by Educational Media Foundation and antenna manufacturers Dielectric, Jampro Antennas, Radio Frequency Systems, and Shively Labs to allow FM antenna directional pattern verification by computer modeling was approved at the FCC’s monthly open meeting. [Click here to read the full article at Radio Insight…]

A mobile exhibition celebrating the work and legacy of Guglielmo Marconi

The Marconi Van exhibition tells the story of Marconi’s pioneering work and its scientific legacy in radio and microwave physics. The exhibition combines:

Engaging exhibits and interactive activities exploring the past, present, and future of radio and communications physics.

An exploration of historical objects from the History of Science Museum’s Marconi collection.

Virtual experiments you can try yourself. As restrictions ease we shall be inviting you to have a go in the laboratory!

The exhibition is housed inside a 1968 Morris Motor Traveller van built at the iconic Morris Motors plant in Cowley, Oxford. The objects an information available inside the van will evolve as the exhibition progresses… so just because you’ve seen it once doesn’t mean there isn’t more to see.

The Marconi Van project is a collaboration between the Institute for Digital Archaeologythe History of Science Museum, OxfordMagdalen College, OxfordOxford’s Department of Physics, and the Guglielmo Marconi Science Park, in Santa Marinella, Italy.


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Vertical Freedom: New documentary highlights the lives of tower climbers

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jerome van der Linden, who shares a link to the following article in Radio World announcing the new feature-length documentary Vertical Freedom:

Spotlight on Broadcast Tower Climbers in New Documentary (Radio World)

“Vertical Freedom” takes viewers to new heights

NATE, in collaboration with Storybuilt Media, has created a feature-length documentary titled “Vertical Freedom,” which highlights the professional and personal lives of six communications infrastructure workers in the United States.

Throughout the film, these cellular and broadcast tower climbers share what compels and excites them about their line of work. Plus, how to overcome every-day danger in order to connect us all.

Ky Nguyen is just one of the climbers featured in the film. He has worked with RIO Steel and Tower out of Alvarado, Texas for the last 10 years.

After the Great Recession, Nguyen wanted to move away from his job in construction and — while he is skilled at his craft now — he was initially hired onto the tower communication service’s team with zero experience.

“I started as a climber and then just kept working my way up,” he said. “Then I became foreman and began project managing. I’m one of those types of guys where, if you want it done a certain way, you have to be with them, showing them, leading by example – so I’m climbing every day.” [Continue reading at Radio World…]

Trailer

Click here to view the trailer on YouTube.

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