While doing a little shortwave listening in the field (obviously a very cold field) Vasily Strelnikov noted an anomaly while using the ETM function on his CountyComm GP5/SSB. He posted the following video on the Shortwave Listeners Global Facebook page and on YouTube so that I could share it with Post readers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDvRaXFRks&feature=youtu.be
Click here to view Vasily’s video on YouTube.
I’ve never noticed this on my GP5/SSB. My first thought would be that there’s a strong broadcaster nearby that may be overloading the front end on Vasiliy’s receiver. With that said, it looks like a pretty rural area. Anyone else notice this on the GP5/SSB?
Try this: Remove the external antenna. If the signal significantly drops like any other signal, the signal is real. If it stays the same, then it is internally generated by the radio. It is either the master microprocessor clock oscillator or a (harmonic or sub harmonic) of it . Try wrapping the radio without external antenna completely in aluminum foil with the rf gain at max the put it into scan mode to find others. I am not a fan of these digital radios as you can never be sure if the signal is for real or a digital figment. Sometimes they interfere with a real signal degrading the performance of the receiver.
Every time I do an ETM scan it comes up with a low frequency that doesn’t tune. Not always 2550 but something fairly low that won’t tune. Yesterday it was 2335 and tonight it was 4350. When I go to this frequency there is absolutely nothing there. I’ve always thought it odd but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a glitch.
Gafer, I’ve also noticed this same thing. The lowest frequency it scans is either silent or CRI)))) (2550KHZ)
Don’t know where in Russia the cold field is, but could it be that there’s an MKR/CRI cooperation frequency near the reception site?
Maybe Tecsun has the ETM set for the strongest frequency available up from your tuned frequency? If you are in Russia during the 10:00 hr UTC, I’m suspecting it’s the CRI 500KW doing English out of Xian.
The most likely freq suspected above would be 7215 kHz.
Also, I noted that your battery charge state meter seems a bit low. If you are running Eneloops beware of operating temperatures below -4F which is very common in northern latitudes. When my three-bar battery meter on the 909X is down one bar, it’s well past time to recharge the Eneloops.
Just tried this on my Tecsun PL-365 and it does not do this, but jumps to the lowest received frequency found during the ETM scan.