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Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
On Apr 15, 11:48*am, sctvguy1 wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: dave wrote: Dude, you're being jammed. *Jerusalem is no more high tech (no more noise prone) than any other modern city, where mediumwave still works reasonably well and HF is still quite clean. No, it's loaded with broadband noise up until just below 14mHz. Lots of computers, digital devices and DSL internet. EU radiation standards which are a lot looser and easier to cheat. * Why do they always blow up the power plants? Who? If you are referring to Gaza, they get most of their power from Israel and neglect to pay for it. In fact the one power plant that is there was just damaged by the locals. It wasn't much of one, it produced less than 1/3 of what they used. Geoff. If I may ask, why did you move from Philly? *I am here in "beautiful" South Florida, and my friend, originally from Philly, would move back in a second, if he had the chance! *BTW, I listen a lot to WPHT with my CCrane MW/SW with the twin ferrite antenna and a passive loop. *Hooked on Smerconish, Dom Giordano, Gary Rnel, etc. *Great talk station! Hi I was born and raised and lived in Philly for 49 years. I listened to good but gone WWDB FM 96.5 and enjoyed Irv Homer, Wynn Moore, Frank Ford, Bernie Hermann etc but the old neighborhood is crap. I am listening from up near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre PA. WILK 980 AM tries especially Steve Corbett but they ain't no WWDB. Mike |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
On Apr 15, 9:30*am, Michael Black wrote:
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010, Bob Dobbs wrote: Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: ~~~ don't buy a SW, especially ham, receiver and expect it to perform well on the AM BCB. Why not? I didn't initially buy any of my HAM rigs for use on AMBCB, however a couple have turned out to perform very nicely there. They're very stable (TCXO), have adjustable IF bandwidth and shift, one of them has a convenient band scan to spot stations, another actually has a spectrum scope to look at the band. And even though that band is always full at night it helps to see what's out there during the day. First, there was a long period when ham equipment wasn't particularly good on AM, since most hams were using SSB. *So no wider filters for AM, sometimes there wasn't even an AM detector, and certainly no synchronous detector that everyone seems to think should be mandatory now. *I suspect that has changed a bit recently, since some of the techniques used to improve the design allows for adding better AM reception without any real cost, and a lot of the ham manufacturers like to be able to offer lots of bells and whistles, whether or not they are needed. Another obvious reason is that for a long time any receivers in amateur radio equipment covered only the ham bands. *That was a good thing, since you got much better bandspread; if you wanted general coverage you would have started with one of those to begin with. *That too has changed, now it's as easy to have a general coverage receiver as it is to have a ham band only receiver, and again it's a selling point. But, according to some, there may be attenuation that comes into play on the AM broadcast band, or some other limitation as the frequency goes down. *Or, RF amplification may be left off, so the receiver can better deal with the strong local signals. I can't really imagine a manufacturer not using the existing receiver circuitry for the AM broadcast band, since it's just a matter of extending the frequency range. *But maybe there are some out there that toss in another IC for the AM band, resulting in no special performance. *I remember getting into an argument with a local about whether their shortwave portable receiver would actually be outstanding on the FM band. *In that case, whatever great design is used on the shortwave bands is lost, since a whole different circuit is needed for FM, and thus they add a whole other FM receiver, usually an IC, which doesn't have to be anything special; you are paying extra money for the shortwave, not the FM band. But, maybe the main reason was in the paragraph about the Superradio. That one gets lost of praise, but it really is a pretty generic design. The one thing it does have is a good loopstick antenna, and that's certainly one area where ham equipment lacks. *None will have any sort of built in antenna, so one will need something external. *That may often be seen as some wire hanging off the antenna jack, and while that works, a directional antenna is pretty useful on the AM broadcast band. A receiver that has a built in antenna is going to be matched to that small antenna, while a general coverage receiver with no built in antenna may require external circuitry to best use a small antenna. * * Michael Ditto on the lack of a good antenna for BCB. As always, I suggest a Wellbrook loop. I've used the ALA100 and home brew loops for NDBs, so BCB isn't an issue. |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
sctvguy1 wrote:
If I may ask, why did you move from Philly? I am here in "beautiful" South Florida, and my friend, originally from Philly, would move back in a second, if he had the chance! BTW, I listen a lot to WPHT with my CCrane MW/SW with the twin ferrite antenna and a passive loop. Hooked on Smerconish, Dom Giordano, Gary Rnel, etc. Great talk station! Mostly to live in a Jewish neighborhood. Seriously, when I met my (now) wife, after a few weeks of casual dating she said that if I wanted to get serious with her, I had to agree to move to Israel if we got married. It's a very nice place to live, complete with good socialized medicince, one of the most liberal democracies on the planet, reasonable rent, almost no street crime, etc. Taxes are high, but no higher than they will be in 2015 in the US. Philly has some nice things, but lots of street crime, lots of murders, and while there are 8 medical schools within 75 miles, 9 if you count Princenton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, plus many other hospitals, most of the residents can't afford to use them. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation. i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia. |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
On Apr 15, 12:39*pm, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
wrote: It's a very nice place to live, complete with good socialized medicince, one of the most liberal democracies on the planet, reasonable rent, almost no street crime, etc. WHAT!?!?!? You mean the U.S. is an ally of a nation with socialized medicine!?!? Fie fie on us! Oh the shame, the damnation, the irony! ;-) heh heh... Bruce Jensen |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
Bob Dobbs wrote:
9kc wide in AM mode is the best I can manage. For shortwave, 2.4 which is what most ham rigs deliver is too narrow, 4 is about the best and 6 is better if there is no adjacent channel interference. BCB AM works best with wider filters, depending upon what's close by. I don't know how it is elsewhere, here I get a half a dozen or so BCB AM stations, lots of SWBC (mostly on 40m) and the FM band has a station every 100kHz. None of my HAM rigs have a sync-det, but a couple are stable enough on SSB to accomplish the same effect. Only one of the SW portables has sync-det and it's nice because it does DSB too on occasion when that mode is advantageous. Is it really needed for broadcast band AM? I see very little if any fading and can not remember it every being a problem. I still don't know of any amateur rigs that tailor their coverage to BCB although there are plenty that include it in the 30kc~30Mc spread. I don't think there are any. It's not something the customers want and ones sold in the US generally have extra front end antenuation for the BCB. They have to have the US amateur band plan restrictions superimposed for type acceptance to be sold as an amateur HF transmitting device in the USA (Usually deactivated by diode removal). That's only for transmit. Very few countries restrict reception of anything below 30mHz. I use long outdoor omni antennas on all my amateur radios for AMBCB. But I do have a tunable loop that works great with the SW portable. I use a 20 meter long random wire with my r5000 and a 6 meter (high not band) aluminum pole on my ham rigs. My SPR-4 works fine with the pole. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation. i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia. |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
Bob Dobbs wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: ~~~ don't buy a SW, especially ham, receiver and expect it to perform well on the AM BCB. Why not? I didn't initially buy any of my HAM rigs for use on AMBCB, however a couple have turned out to perform very nicely there. They're very stable (TCXO), have adjustable IF bandwidth and shift, one of them has a convenient band scan to spot stations, another actually has a spectrum scope to look at the band. And even though that band is always full at night it helps to see what's out there during the day. The very best ram radio receivers have no coverage outside the ham bands, where they are bandpass filtered. |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote: 9kc wide in AM mode is the best I can manage. For shortwave, 2.4 which is what most ham rigs deliver is too narrow, 4 is about the best and 6 is better if there is no adjacent channel interference. BCB AM works best with wider filters, depending upon what's close by. I don't know how it is elsewhere, here I get a half a dozen or so BCB AM stations, lots of SWBC (mostly on 40m) and the FM band has a station every 100kHz. None of my HAM rigs have a sync-det, but a couple are stable enough on SSB to accomplish the same effect. Only one of the SW portables has sync-det and it's nice because it does DSB too on occasion when that mode is advantageous. Is it really needed for broadcast band AM? I see very little if any fading and can not remember it every being a problem. I still don't know of any amateur rigs that tailor their coverage to BCB although there are plenty that include it in the 30kc~30Mc spread. I don't think there are any. It's not something the customers want and ones sold in the US generally have extra front end antenuation for the BCB. They have to have the US amateur band plan restrictions superimposed for type acceptance to be sold as an amateur HF transmitting device in the USA (Usually deactivated by diode removal). That's only for transmit. Very few countries restrict reception of anything below 30mHz. I use long outdoor omni antennas on all my amateur radios for AMBCB. But I do have a tunable loop that works great with the SW portable. I use a 20 meter long random wire with my r5000 and a 6 meter (high not band) aluminum pole on my ham rigs. My SPR-4 works fine with the pole. Geoff. Really? Selective fading is a major issue here on mediumwave. |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
On Apr 16, 6:25*am, dave wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote: Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: ~~~ don't buy a SW, especially ham, receiver and expect it to perform well on the AM BCB. Why not? I didn't initially buy any of my HAM rigs for use on AMBCB, however a couple have turned out to perform very nicely there. They're very stable (TCXO), have adjustable IF bandwidth and shift, one of them has a convenient band scan to spot stations, another actually has a spectrum scope to look at the band. And even though that band is always full at night it helps to see what's out there during the day. The very best ram radio receivers have no coverage outside the ham bands, where they are bandpass filtered.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Does that mean your Elecraft? |
Ultra Heavy BCB Dx'ing
On Apr 16, 6:34*am, dave wrote:
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote: Bob Dobbs wrote: 9kc wide in AM mode is the best I can manage. For shortwave, 2.4 which is what most ham rigs deliver is too narrow, 4 is about the best and 6 is better if there is no adjacent channel interference. BCB AM works best with wider filters, depending upon what's close by. I don't know how it is elsewhere, here I get a half a dozen or so BCB AM stations, lots of SWBC (mostly on 40m) and the FM band has a station every 100kHz. None of my HAM rigs have a sync-det, but a couple are stable enough on SSB to accomplish the same effect. Only one of the SW portables has sync-det and it's nice because it does DSB too on occasion when that mode is advantageous. Is it really needed for broadcast band AM? I see very little if any fading and can not remember it every being a problem. I still don't know of any amateur rigs that tailor their coverage to BCB although there are plenty that include it in the 30kc~30Mc spread. I don't think there are any. It's not something the customers want and ones sold in the US generally have extra front end antenuation for the BCB. They have to have the US amateur band plan restrictions superimposed for type acceptance to be sold as an amateur HF transmitting device in the USA (Usually deactivated by diode removal). That's only for transmit. Very few countries restrict reception of anything below 30mHz. I use long outdoor omni antennas on all my amateur radios for AMBCB. But I do have a tunable loop that works great with the SW portable. I use a 20 meter long random wire with my r5000 and a 6 meter (high not band) aluminum pole on my ham rigs. My SPR-4 works fine with the pole. Geoff. Really? *Selective fading is a major issue here on mediumwave.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Yes, here too - ever since I can remember - not only for the nighttime DX, but also for day signals from relatively local stations. |
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