I think perhaps you should look in a different direction.
That is at the Winradio series of radio's and the sophisticated software
that goes with them.
See
http://www.winradio.com/index.htm
There are also Winradio Yahoo groups that exchange a lot of info on the sort
of thing you are interested in.
You should place your requests there.
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D GE SRIII
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx
"Roy Haines with Dewey Foley" wrote in message
news:CTBOe.9745$A33.7732@lakeread06...
"John S." wrote in message
oups.com...
Take a look at the www.scancat.com site for a lot of information on
Hoka decoders.
I found this copy of an MT review on the same site:
http://www.scancat.com/rvw-c3.html
I don't know the age of the review, however I think it may not be
recent because the AEA-PK232MBX is mentioned in a brief comparison to
what seems to be a very pricey Hoka decoder. There are several other
models at greater and lesser prices with extensive reviews. The site
also shows a link to a yahoo discussion group which might be the place
to ask about users of Hoka products.
At one time I was really into decoding digital signals, but dropped out
because the stuff I could decode on a PK232MBX and Kenwood R-5000 setup
had pretty much disappeared.
What has been your experience with the digital services on HF - is
there much left that can be translated into readable english?
Thanks for the replies!!
Well, first off... the original Hoka units were basically a donglized
serial device
(modulating audio into digital on/off signals) which fed some fairly cool
but primitive software. Nowadays I think everything is through the
soundcard.
The old Hoka still works for me, but I am interested in stuff that is more
modern,
and thus the need for an upgrade.
Secondly, I havent even looked at HF digital signals in probably 5 years.
Staying in UHF/VHF, 900 Mhz mainly (use your imagination for that,
involving
taps for discriminator output). Since the paradigm shifted from a
particular mode
of communication to another, the Hoka is obsolete for me for that one
particular
idiosyncracy.
One day it was all interceptable. The next day it all changed. The
transmission
methodology mutated, much to my surprise. Not being handy with an iron,
and
having some disposable income, I would venture some cash for something
that
could demodulate these signals. But I see that the new Hoka stuff for the
sound
card will do the trick. Its like $4,000 for the CD, though, and my income
isnt
THAT disposable!
I reckon that if I did get back into the swing of digital HF though, I
would tune
and tune and tune some more til I found something neat, foregoing the
typical schedules of weather faxes for a while at least. I have some time
off this
week, so perhaps I will check the propagation charts and dial away to see
what
pops up.
Long ago for a time, I would monitor Argentinian news faxes on my old
Universal
Decoder with that old 8 inch Apple screen, but thats old school I guess by
now!
Later, I read Cuban Embassy Diplomatic traffic, discussing blacklisting
code named
members from meetings and such. In the clear!!
Monitoring the open (more or less) maritime traffic would be pretty darned
rad
if some sh*t hit the fan on the high seas... imagine a lone RTO in the
shack sending
out a distress message that leads to an international news item. The
possibility is
fairly high for something like that, and that prospect is fairly exciting,
to me at least.
Checking out the WUN newsletter tells me that its still posible to pick up
interesting
things now and again. In the urbanized areas of the U.S. though, QRM is so
freaking
prominent I would imagine its as frustrating to us as it is to an
astronomer in Las Vegas
trying to examine a distant planet through the ambient light of a billion
light bulbs, and the
drunken tobacco laden exhaustbreath of a billion visitors a day (you get
the picture!).
Damn, its gets harder and harder for us, dont it?!
Checking out the specs on the new Hoka stuff just gets me all giddy
again... too bad its
JUST out of reach of this enthusiast.
I should call Jim down at ScanCat to get his take on it. We go back
probably 10-12 years.
Thanks again for your replies.