Practical Engineering: How Would a Nuclear EMP Affect the Power Grid?

Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst who shares the following video from Practical Engineering on YouTube:

Click here to view on YouTube.

As I’ve mentioned in past articles, I believe taking some precautions against EMPs is important. While I feel that an intentional nuclear EMP is unlikely, our local star can cause even more damage to an even larger portion of our planet if it decides to cause a solar storm like the Carrington Event.

For an in-depth look at practical ways you can protect your gear from EMPs (and dispel a few myths), check out our interview with Dave (NM0S) in this EMP primer.

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“Mystery of BBC radio’s first broadcasts revealed 100 years on”

(Source: BBC News via Jon Langley)

Mystery of BBC radio’s first broadcasts revealed 100 years on

The BBC is celebrating the centenary of its first official broadcast – a news bulletin that included a court report from the Old Bailey, details of London fog disruption, and billiards scores.

It was broadcast by London station 2LO, but new research shows many early BBC moments came from northern England.

Manchester station 2ZY aired the first children’s show and introduced the first regular weather forecast.

Birmingham’s 5IT station broadcast the first “official concert”

The BBC that began broadcasting at 6pm on 14 November 1922 was not the British Broadcasting Corporation of today. It was in fact the British Broadcasting Company and was made up of separate stations around the country operated by different companies.

London 2LO was run by the Marconi company. Manchester’s station was operated by Metropolitan-Vickers.

However, in these early days few records were kept of what was broadcast.

But new research on the BBC’s very early days has been carried out by Steve Arnold, a self-confessed Radio Times obsessive.

His tricky task was to try to piece together the BBC’s schedules before the Radio Times – so named as it listed the times that the new medium’s shows were being broadcast – was first published in September 1923.

He explained he found information in “gossip columns [in regional newspapers] mainly, people saying we listened to this last night and this is the only record of some of these things”.

Now, using sources from archive documents and newspapers, Steve has begun to piece together a picture of what the early BBC was doing. [Continue reading at the BBC…]

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Grimeton Radio Station broadcast Nov 16, 2022 to celebrate UNESCO 50th Anniversary

Source: Grimeton Radio Station

(Source: The Alexander association)

SAQ scheduled to air on November 16th, 2022.

To commemorate the UNESCO 50th anniversary, World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station has scheduled* SAQ to be on the air at 17:00 CET (16:00 UTC) on Wednesday, November 16th, 2022, to send out a peace message to the whole world, using the 200kW Alexanderson alternator from 1924, on 17.2 kHz CW.

Transmission schedule & YouTube Live stream
16:25 CET (15:25 UTC): Live stream on YouTube begins.
16:30 CET (16:30 UTC): Startup and tuning of the Alexanderson Alternator SAQ.
17:00 CET (16:00 UTC): Transmission of a message from SAQ.

Test Transmissions
There may be some test transmissions on Tuesday Nov. 15th or on Wednesday Nov. 16th. Details about the time for the tests will be published on our website, possibly with short notice. During the tests, SAQ will be on air shorter periods of time, when we will be carrying out some tests and measurements. Your comments are welcome to [email protected].

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Guest Post: Monitoring Digital Selective Calling (DCS) with YADD

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–for the following guest post:


Photo by Borderpolar Photographer

Monitoring DSC with YADD

By Don Moore

(The following article was originally published in the April/May 2022 edition of the Great Lakes Monitor, bulletin of the Michigan Association of Radio Enthusiasts. An all-band listening club, MARE publishes a bi-monthly print bulletin and a weekly e-mail loggings tip-sheet. The club also holds regular get-togethers, picnics, and DXpeditions, generally in southeastern Michigan.)

There are dozens if not hundreds of different digital modes used for communication on the MF and HF bands. These aren’t broadcasts you want to listen to unless you like to hear weird tones, beeps, warbles, and grinding noises interspersed with static. Digital modes are for monitoring, not listening. And monitoring them requires having software that does the listening for you and converts the noises into something meaningful – like the ID of the station you’re tuned to. The learning curve to DXing digital utilities can be steep. There are lots of modes to identify and the software can be complicated to learn. Some broadcasts are encrypted so you can’t decode them no matter how hard you try. But the reward is lots of new stations and even new countries that you wouldn’t be able to add to your logbook otherwise.

One of the easiest digital modes to DX is DSC, or Digital Selective Calling. DSC is a defined as “a standard for transmitting pre-defined digital messages.” Look online if you want to understand the technical specifications that specify the values, placement, and spacing of the tones. The result of those specifications is a string of three-digit numbers like this:

125 107 125 106 120 105 120 104 000 120 022 120 041 000 002 022 020 041 108 002 053 020 080 108 006 053 021 080 070 006 118 021 126 070 126 118 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 117 126 112 126 117 117 117 112 109 125 108 125

Each three-digit value represents either a digit or a key word and the positions of the values map to the various fields contained in the message. This message, which was received on 8414.5 kHz, is a test call from the tanker Brook Trout to the coastal station Coruña Radio in Spain. The sender and destination are not identified by name but rather by their nine-digit MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) numbers – 538006217 for the vessel and 002241022 for the coastal station.

GETTING STARTED WITH DSC

Logging DSC stations requires three pieces of software. First you need a decoder program that turns the noises into numbers and the numbers into meaning. There are several free and commercial options but the most popular one for beginners is YADD – Yet Another DSC Decoder. YADD is free and easy to set up and while YADD can be used by feeding the audio from a traditional radio into your computer, the most common use is with an SDR. That’s what I use and what I will describe here.

Second you need an SDR application and an SDR. I prefer HDSDR for most of my SDR use but I like SDR-Console for digital work. But any SDR program will work if you can feed the audio to a virtual audio cable. And that’s the final thing you need – a virtual audio cable to create a direct audio connection between your SDR application and YADD. There are several different ones available but I recommend VB-Cable. Your first VB-Cable is free and that is all you need to run a single instance of YADD. If you want to expand you can buy up to four more cables from them later. Continue reading

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High-Frequency Trading Service: FCC posts two lobbying documents by DPA Mac

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Benn Kobb (AK4AV), who notes that the FCC has posted for public inspection two lobbying documents by DPA Mac, applicant for a new DRM HF broadcast station with 2 kW of transmitter output power.

Benn notes:

“Regardless of DPA’s claims that its broadcasts will be free of charge and not encrypted, its non-broadcast high-frequency trading service will be for paying customers only.

“That is the purpose of this station and is why its target areas, as seen in a world map slide, are limited to the location of certain foreign exchanges. This despite its claim to be a worldwide service.

“There is little profit in SW broadcasting today, and what business there is available is accommodated by those existing US HF stations that can hang on through economic shifts. No, the DPA Mac station is not devoted to global information as a business venture. It wants a license to provide private telecommunications. The broadcasts to the public are just so it can get licensed, because there is no other radio service in the HF spectrum for private international data links.

“At this time no one knows what the FCC will do with this license application and two other similar applications. What is clear is that the applicants want to get on the air ASAP before any possible changes that may affect the HF broadcasting service.”

The FCC posted the following documents in an accessible place on their website yesterday morning:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1110171119378/1

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1110171119378/2

Thank you for the update, Benn.

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Has WTWW left shortwave?

I recently learned from a few reports on Twitter that WTWW left shortwave for good on November 9, 2022 and will now only broadcast over the internet. I missed this announcement on the air and WTWW’s website doesn’t seem to reflect this information yet.

The WTWW wikipedia page has already been updated, however, with WTWW’s services noted in the past tense and the following addition was made this week:

On November 9, 2022, WTWW announced it would discontinue all shortwave operations, with intent to continue streaming the programming as long as it was feasible. Ted Randall cited a massive increase in transmitter usage fees (the majority of that being from electricity cost) that the station could not realistically pay. The station signed off for the last time that night, with its final programming including a farewell message from Randall encouraging listeners to continue listening to the Web stream, a string of listener requests from WTWW’s automated system, and the final song being a rendition of “America the Beautiful” by one of Randall’s favorite recording artists, Ronnie Milsap.

Can anyone confirm if WTWW has indeed stopped all shortwave transmitting? Please comment.

 

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Shortwave goes all chirpy chirpy, cheep cheep again

Hi SWLing post community and birdwatchers everywhere Fastradioburst23 here. Just to let you know if WRMI is on the air this Sunday (fingers crossed) after an encounter with yet another hurricame expect an additional programme of  WREN.

This week’s Imaginary Stations show on Sunday 13th November 2022 features our feathered friends again with lots of bird related classics and bird watching tips. Tune into 9395 kHz from 2300 utc onwards.

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