Category Archives: Articles

Purple Power: Another solution for sticky radios

Many thanks to Mike Nikolich (N9OVQ), who writes with another solution for sticky radios:

After the display on my Eton E-1 receiver died, the good folks at Universal Radio swapped my broken but lightly used radio for a factory reconditioned unit. Fred Osterman warned me that the plastic case was sticky and somewhat gross and he wasn’t kidding, but I was still grateful that he had a replacement radio.

After searching around the Internet (including your blog) and trying various cleaners and solutions that didn’t remove the dirt and grime from the radio (such as rubbing alcohol, Gunk and dishwasher detergent), I went to my local O’Reilly Auto Parts store and asked if they had a recommendation. Their solution was a product called Purple Power ($4.49) and a microfiber shammy mitt ($4.50). In less time than it took me to watch an episode of “Dr. Phil,” my Eton cleaned up beautifully, with no damage to the unit — it looks and feels brand new. The plastic retained that nice tacky feel without all of the stickiness that attracts gunk like dust, hair and other crud.

Purple Power is made by Aiken Chemical. You’ll want to have a clean bucket of water to remove the gunk that Purple Power removes from the plastic — it really was disgusting but I won’t hesitate to give the radio a Purple Power bath the next time it starts getting gross. And, no, I’m not affiliated with Purple Power, Eton or anyone else, including the microfiber shammy!

Click this link to find Purple Power retailers.

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The rise and decline of AM radio in Pittsburgh

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A portrait of Frank Conrad in 1921; holding a microphone in his hand (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Many thanks to Jeff Brady who shared this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While this article focuses on Pittsburgh’s AM radio scene, it’s certainly reflective of a common theme throughout the US and in other countries.

(Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

By Adrian McCoy and Maria Sciullo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Radio, as we know it, may have begun on a bet.

Frank Conrad, assistant chief engineer for Westinghouse in the early 20th century, wanted to see whether a new watch was keeping correct time. In 1912, he made a $5 wager with colleague Thomas Perkins. But how to verify his claim?

Tinkering with materials in his Wilkinsburg garage, Conrad created a small receiver capable of picking up time signals from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Arlington, Va.

He won his bet and went on to design bigger and better radios for Westinghouse. In turn, Westinghouse became a key player in turning the hobby of a few radio enthusiasts into an industry that changed the world.

Pittsburgh’s radio history is the history of modern radio.

For AM radio — and the radio industry in general — the hits just keep coming. Rapid technological changes, government legislation, aging demographics and a shifting media landscape have combined to erode AM’s once massive audience. Better clarity through FM, HD and satellite, and more diverse programming have resulted in AM leaning heavily on two formats: talk and sports.

Still, it all started here.” [Continue reading…]

For more information about Frank Conrad, check out this biography on Wikipedia. Read the full Gazette-Times article The Rise and Decline of AM Radio by clicking here.

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Hearing the speed of light: DX double echo

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ionosphere-earth-radio-waves Two weeks ago, at the W4DXCC conference in Tennessee, I met Lyle Juroff (K9FIK). Not only did I find that Lyle and I had many radio interests in common, but he also told me a story about hearing, recording and analyzing a double echo on the HF bands. I asked if he would explain in an email and include the recording so that I could share it on the SWLing Post. He kindly agreed!

Lyle writes:

I worked a DX station [9A1A] on 10 meters this past spring. As the band improved, I heard an echo develop on his signal and guessed it might be long path so I began recording the audio. I then began to hear a double echo and looked at the waveform on AUDACITY. The timing marks on AUDACITY indicated 140 milliseconds between echos.

I went to Wolfram Alfa, one of my go-to sights for things I can’t remember, and looked up the earth circumference. It not only gave me the distance but also the time to travel it at the speed of light, 133 milliseconds. Not sure if everyone working DX has heard this sort of thing, I played the recording at the next East Tennessee DX Association meeting. Nobody said they had heard that kind of double echo.

Click here to download an mp3 of Lyle’s recording or simply listen via the embedded player below (note that the second recording is .WAV format):

Have you heard a double echo this profound? Please comment.

Many thanks to Lyle (K9FIK) for sharing his story!

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Shutdown: Wake Island DXpedition on ice

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I’ve been somewhat amazed at the number of ways the US government shutdown has had an impact upon radio.

Many ham radio operators are aware of the upcoming Wake Island DXpedition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World War II massacre; everything had been arranged in advance, including payment for the flight to Wake Island. But as the last leg of the operators’ trip to Wake Island relies upon a coordinated venture with the US Air Force, just as many USAF employees suddenly find themselves on furlough, the trip has been placed on hold until the shutdown ends. This is particularly unfortunate in that DXpeditions are pricey ventures; the total cost of the Wake Island DXpedition cost each radio operator $9,000 out-of-pocket, for a grand total of $140,000 US.

I received the following message from the DXpedition on Wednesday:

To All:

Those of us on the Wake Atoll DXpedition team were scheduled to depart today for Hawaii, on our way to Wake Island Friday.

However, because of the U.S. Government shutdown yesterday, the DXpedition has been delayed. The USAF is preoccupied with sequestration activities and many staff personnel have been furloughed.

We are hoping this is a short-term delay, as we continue to pursue the approval process. As soon as a revised schedule is finalized, new dates will be posted on the Wake DXpedition website.

http://wake2013.org/

In the meantime, thanks to all for your continued support.

73,
John Miller, K6MM

Yesterday, the DXpedition actually caught the attention of the Reuters news service:

(Source: Reuters)

For anyone questioning the reach of the federal government shutdown, consider Wake Island.

Not much more than military-plane refueling and classified operations occur on the unincorporated U.S. territory, a coral atoll located between Hawaii and Guam, about 6,700 miles (10,780 kilometers) from the legislative standoff in Washington.

That was about to change this week with the arrival of a dozen ham-radio operators who thought they’d won approval for a two-week commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the World War II massacre of almost 100 U.S. civilian contractors on Wake Island by the Japanese on Oct. 7, 1943.

Instead, after months of preparation, the trip is on ice because of a paperwork delay the group attributes to the partial federal shutdown, which started Oct. 1 as Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a stopgap spending measure.

“They made it sound like it was just unfortunate timing,” said Craig Thompson, 61, one of the expedition’s leaders. “At the level that it was at, they were focused on what they had to do to shut down government, to prepare their budgets and deal with all of the other changes that were going on.”

The operation was of special interest to tens of thousands of ham operators inside and outside the U.S. The hobbyists collect contacts with all countries and islands in a practice known as DXing. Because Wake Island hasn’t had a major radio expedition since 1998, there’s great demand for its confirmation of a contact there.

All the paperwork was in place, except for final travel orders that needed one last Pentagon signature, said Thompson, an electronics company owner from central Illinois who is a veteran of radio expeditions to other remote locales, including Midway Island and Swains Island in thePacific Ocean.

[…]The U.S. Air Force manages Wake and access is restricted. The group was to fly commercial on Oct. 2 to Honolulu, where they would have then boarded a military flight today to Wake.

The decision to cancel was made late on Oct. 1 after determining the group probably wouldn’t get final approval in time to catch the second flight, flown once every two weeks.

[Continue reading the full article on Reuters…]

Follow this, and other radio-related stories around the US government shutdown, by following the tag shutdown.

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Frank’s maritime radio suggestions

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In response to my previous post, The Best Shortwave Receiver for Your Boat or Yacht, Frank (VK3JFH/VP8DNM) writes:

“I have all three of the portables mentioned, the Sony SW7600GR, the Sangean 909X, and the Tecsun PL-660. The latter is currently my portable of choice. Having just read this post re radios afloat I took the time to suck down a fax from Charleville, Queensland.

Frank’s Tecsun PL-660 and Macbook Pro decoding a weather fax with Cocoa Modem 2.0 (Click to enlarge)

Results shown..

This was with the Tecsun 660 attached directly to a (near) horizontal longwire at my home QTH, inserted directly into a Macbook Pro running CocoaModem 2.0 via the headphone socket on the Tecsun.
I have had similar results with the Sony and the Sangean

To all intents the result is as good as with my other radios ( K5000 etc.).

Screenshot of the weather fax image (Click to enlarge)

However if I was starting from scratch afloat I would get an Icom IC-718. Only $689.95 from Universal Radio. You may choose to simply use it as a receiver or as a Ham TX/RX. However it can also be ‘opened up’ with a simple diode snip to transmit on all the marine bands. Not strictly legal [nor is the IC-718 designed for those bands] but there are a lot of ‘opened’ 718s out there and in an emergency you can transmit a mayday on anything…. even a couple of jam tins and string although you may need a fair old length of string….

If you wish to transmit on your IC-718 you will need a tuner. I have an LDG IT-100 on mine.

Hooking up a consumer receiver to a marine antenna….? Simply make up a pigtail with a 3.5mm jack at one end and a BNC or SO -259 at the other.

Non-marine radios afloat…. ? I had an IC-735 aboard from Cyprus (1992) until Patagonia (2007). Since 2007 I have had an IC-706Mk2G afloat…. no problem with either one.”

Many thanks for your input, Frank!

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Southgate ARC notes Ofcom’s approach to FM pirate enforcement

The Ten-Tec RX-320D and Model 1254 have been discontinued

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Tthe RX-320D black box receiver

I just confirmed with Ten-Tec that the RX-320D PC controlled receiver and the Ten-Tec Superhet receiver kit, the Model 1254, have both been discontinued. A Ten-Tec representative told me the reason both of these models have been discontinued and removed from Ten-Tec’s product line is because one of the parts used in production is now obsolete.

A long run…

The RX-320 and RX-320D have had a very long product life as the RX-320 was introduced in the late 1990’s (1998, if memory serves)–pretty amazing.

I owned an RX-320D for a long time and thought that it was still a great value. Here’s a review I wrote in 2009.

The Ten-Tec Model 1254 Superhet Receiver kit

As third generation SDRs have emerged, and become so affordable in the past few years, it’s hard to justify the purchase of a receiver whose control software was designed for Windows 95.

So long RX-320D, you’ve had a long run…

I have SWLing Post reader, Larry, to thank as his recent inquiry about the Model 1254 Superhet kit prompted me to call Ten-Tec for verification.

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