Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
Halloween is typically the most active day of the year for shortwave pirates. Spend some time on the HF bands tonight and you’ll easily tune in to numerous stations. Expect pirates to emerge like The Great Pumpkin!
Here are two things you’ll want to do this Halloween weekend:
HF Underground
Follow real-time pirate radio spots and loggings on the HF Underground discussion forum. If you’ve never tuned to a pirate in the past, these real-time loggings will help you find pirates while they’re on the air and also help you ID them!
Listen!
Listen for pirate radio stations tonight! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here.
A CME heading straight for Earth on Oct. 28, 2003. The source was an X17-flare in the magnetic canopy of giant sunspot 486. Image credit: SOHO. Movie
Imagine waking up to this headline: “Half of Earth’s Satellites Lost!” Impossible? It actually happened during the Great Halloween Storms of 2003.
Turn back the clock 20 years. Solar Cycle 23 was winding down, and space weather forecasters were talking about how quiet things would soon become. Suddenly, the sun unleashed two of the strongest solar flares of the Space Age–an X17 flare on Oct. 28 followed by an X10 on Oct 29, 2003. Both hurled fast CMEs directly toward Earth.
Traveling 2125 km/s and 1948 km/s, respectively, each CME reached Earth in less than a day, sparking extreme (G5) geomagnetic storms on Oct. 29, 30, and 31, 2003. Auroras descended as far south as Georgia, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma: photo gallery.
Onboard the International Space Station, astronauts took shelter in the hardened Zvezda service module to protect themselves from high energy particles. Meanwhile, airline pilots were frantically changing course. Almost every flight over Earth’s poles detoured to lower latitudes to avoid radiation, costing as much as $100,000 per flight. Many Earth-orbiting satellites experienced data outages, reboots and even unwanted thruster firings. Some operators simply gave up and turned their instruments off. [Continue reading at Spaceweather.com…]
Thanks to Ed KC8SBV for sending me this awesome video. It looks like Mattia built this receiver way back in 1995. The tuning indicator is very cool, and I had not seen a similar indicator before (could this be a way for us to escape the clutches of the San Jian counters or the Arduinos?) The Italian ham magazine articles are great, and you can follow the rig description even if you can’t read the Italian. The pictures in in the attached drive are also very good.
I have been in touch with Mattia via YouTube: He reports that he has done other electronic projects, but he considers this to be the most interesting. He does not have a ham license — he has a Shortwave Listener license. His father was a ham: I3ZQG.
The U.S. Coast Guard also is concerned about petition from the Shortwave Modernization Coalition
Numerous commenters have told the FCC that a proposal to “modernize” the shortwave band is a threat to amateur radio operators in the United States and possibly the end of ham radio as we know it. And hams are just one source of opposition to the idea.
The FCC inquiry was prompted by a request from the Shortwave Modernization Coalition for a rulemaking to amend the Part 90 rules.
SMC believes there is underutilized spectrum in the high-frequency bands. The coalition wants to use 20 kW transmitters for the transmission of time-sensitive data from fixed stations. It wants the FCC to allow these fixed, long-distance, non-voice communications in multiple bands between 2 MHz and 25 MHz.
Ham opponents worry about interference. One also characterized the coalition as being “packed with special interest groups that harbor little interest in shortwave modernization beyond their own needs to getting faster financial market information.”
The commission’s Office of the Managing Director sought comments on its proposal this summer. The petition, RM-11953, drew more than 800 comments. [Continue reading…]
Many of us hold fond memories of listening to AM radio in the car. But these days, drivers are just as likely to listen to satellite radio, Spotify, audiobooks or podcasts. Good ole FM radio is still around too. That’s led many people to question if AM, America’s oldest broadcast medium, still has a future?
Not many people noticed when Tesla removed AM from new vehicles a few years ago. Ostensibly, they did so because the frequency interferes with electric vehicles. Never mind that older Teslas previously had functioning AM/FM radios. Or that the Federal Communications Commission has rules to limit electrical interference. Seemingly no one questioned Tesla’s decision.
In the past couple of years, other manufacturers including Ford, Audi, Volvo, BMW and Porche began removing AM receivers from new models or announced plans to do so. This elicited a more passionate response from AM listeners, particularly those in rural areas. For them, the frequency is more than just entertainment. They say it’s a lifeline for those in remote areas who otherwise wouldn’t have access to emergency information. It’s also one of the last places where they can get hyper-local news and entertainment. [Continue reading…]
It has been with great interest that I’ve read about carmakers dropping AM reception capability in new cars, particularly EVs, and about the introduction of the “AM for Every Vehicle” Act.
The reason most often cited by makers of electric vehicles is interference from on-board systems to AM band reception. The truth is we have ourselves to blame.
The assault on AM band purity predates the popularity of electric vehicles by decades. The onslaught of cheap switching power supplies in consumer electronics, RF noise-producing computers and personal devices, and the absolute lack of any care given to protecting the spectrum are incompatible with AM quality.
For far too long, consumers, manufacturers, the NAB and even the FCC did not fight to protect the band. It seemed nobody cared whether new fluorescent lights (remember those?) caused so much noise that they even affected reception in neighbors’ homes. Nobody took up the fight to keep the band clean and make noise-free AM reception even somewhat possible in high-density housing areas. Nobody seemed appalled at this complete disregard for the usefulness of the band in the future. [Continue reading…]
ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® is asking that all radio amateurs urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of the 60-meter band. A public comment period is open until October 30, 2023. ARRL encourages expressions of support to the FCC for the current 100 W ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 W EIRP) and continuing secondary access to the current channels.
When submitting your comments, be sure the correct proceeding’s docket number, 23-120, is included on the form.Your name and comments will be entered into the official public record of the proceedings and will be viewable by anyone who visits the docket web page.
While radio amateurs are encouraged to include any comments they would like in their submissions, they’re especially encouraged to draw upon their personal experiences using the 60-meter band for public service purposes and for its location between the amateur 80- and 40-meter bands, which is critical to ensuring signal propagation to certain geographic areas during variations in time and the solar cycle.
Some of the main points to comment on for this NPRM are:
Urging the FCC to keep the four existing channels allocated to amateur radio on a secondary basis.
Urging the FCC to keep the 100 W power limit for the four existing channels and the new 15 kHz subband.
ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX, underscored the importance of commenting, urging members to speak up. “ARRL members make up the strongest voice in matters of amateur radio spectrum defense,” said Harrop. “Your membership and participation in the rulemaking process both ensure ARRL continues to make the difference when our band privileges are threatened. Please join us in effort to protect our 60-meter band privileges.”
A big hi to all the SWLing Post Community, FastRadioBurst 23 here bringing you news of this week’s Imaginary Stations transmissions. We have two different shows of KBIN, the first on Sunday 29th October 2023 at 2100 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz.
A few hours later via the transmitters of WRMI on Monday 30th October we have the second programme. The broadcast is at 0200 UTC on 9395 kHz and then repeated at 0300 UTC on 9455 kHz. We’ve got more recycled radio for you including mixes from some of our Imaginary Stations favourite shows so tune in and catch yourself another great value for money transmission this weekend!
For more information on the shows please email [email protected] and check out our old shows here.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares a link to the movie “The Earth Dies Screaming“–a sci-fi/horror film from 1964. Dennis notes that a Zenith Transoceanic Saves The Day:
I have a favor to ask. You might remember our friend Wlod (US7IGN) has not only written a book about living in Kiev during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was also the subject of an amazing, award-winning audio documentary by Cicely Fell.
Both Wlod and Cicely are dear friends and it’s been my honor to have played a small part in the making of this documentary and, more importantly, introducing these two amazing people to each other.
“Call Signs” has been nominated for another award and the public–no matter where you live in the world–is allowed to vote. Voting requires no login and is very easy to do. The login form is in French, but Cicely explains how to vote below.
It would be meaningful to me if you took a moment to register your vote today.
Thank you! –Thomas
Cicely writes:
Dear Thomas,
I’m so happy that ‘Call Signs’ – the documentary that you were so instrumental in making happen! – is nominated for this year’s Phonurgia Nova Awards (International Contest of Radiophonic Creation, taking place in Paris in early November). You can read more about the contest here.
It’s so wonderful that Wlod’s story has captured people’s imagination and is being recognised in this way. In addition to the prizes awarded by the jury, there is an audience award, where the public gets to vote for their favourite piece.
Listen for pirate radio stations tonight! Turn on your radio anytime today, but especially around twilight and tune between 6,920 – 6,980 kHz. Pirates broadcast on both AM and SSB; you’re bound to hear a few. If you’re brand new to pirate radio listening, you might read my pirate radio primer by clicking here.
