AOR UK is No More
 

bpnjensen wrote:
On Jun 15, 5:24 am, m wrote:
dave wrote:
You can get a nice SDR-IQ black box, a laptop, a USB sound card, and a
nice set of active speakers for less than an R8B. better performance, too.

This seems to be a good example of such an item.

http://www.scannermaster.com/SDR_IQ_.../43-501312.htm

mike

Note the user comment/review at the bottom.

What does [paraphrased] "panoramic support of communication receivers"
mean?

Bruce Jensen

It means if your existing radio has an IF Out you can use the SDR IQ to
view the passband.

AOR UK is No More
 

bpnjensen wrote:


No desire whatsoever - just doesn't grab me.

I enjoy interacting with the plasma in the sky. Sound card digital
modes are really simple. i have a tiny yard, therefore I use a vertical
with built in counterpoise. Takes up about 5 square inches of the yard.

AOR UK is No More
 

RHF wrote:


Mike [M II],

Many would still ask . . . Where's the Knob ?

For many old time Shortwave Listeners (SWLs)

Listening to the Radio had a certain 'feel' to it.

Plus Turning-the-Knob on a Radio with an
Analog Dial/Scale often brought the awe
and joy of 'discovery' to the Radio Listener.

While keying in a Frequency Number or
having the Computer Scan and Log lacks
the 'bond' between a Man and His Radio.

from an age when people knew that
real radios 'glowed' in the dark ~ RHF
{and a young boy's eyes were wide with
amazement far into the wee hours of the
morning}
.

I suggest you learn about the waterfall. It has the enchantment you
describe. You can QSL digital hams and they will send you a verie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybzLs...eature=related

AOR UK is No More
 

On 17/06/2010 12:19 AM, Steve wrote:
On Jun 16, 9:39 am, "Geoffrey S.
wrote:

(snip)

Eventually as enough "old people" die off, and "young people" go elsewhere,
even in the US Amateur Radio will go from a service to a hobby.

(snip)

Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
I do multitasking. If that bothers you, file a complaint and I will start
ignoring it immediately.

Good points all. I agree with you that ham radio in the US might
become a "hobby" rather than a "service", and one thing that could
bring this about is failure to recruit enough young people. Another
thing that could bring it about, though, is watering down the hobby to
the point where it can no longer provide the kind of service that it
once did. Some (not all, but some) young hams entering the hobby
simply purchase an ht, connect to echolink and never give the rest of
the hobby a second thought. Is that the future that young people will
bring to ham radio? If that's the "service" we will one day provide,
why bother? We already have the internet. And cell phones. I'd rather
see ham radio die an honorable death now than suffer through this
death of a thousand compromises.

Well, cell phones can provide a service but, as recent bushfires in this
state proved, they cannot always be counted on in an emergency. A little
over a year ago, we had some quite devastating bushfires quite close to
the city of Melbourne. The cell phone network was unable to provide
emergency communications in this instance as many of the cell phone
transmitting towers burnt down. The ones that didn't burn down were left
without power as the electricity network suffered as well. Might add
that landlines were put out of action also. That left entire areas
without any form of coverage except for HF, VHF and UHF radio. A person
I know, a radio amateur in fact, was one of the persons involved with
re-establishing the cell phone network infrastructure. That involved
putting up emergency towers throughout the fire ravaged region. It took
quite a few days before even a rudimentary cell phone network was
re-established. Amateurs were able to assist in providing emergency
radio communications in this instance.

A "wired world" is not foolproof.

Krypsis

AOR UK is No More
 

Steve wrote:
On Jun 15, 9:12 am, wrote:
dxAce wrote:

Just another no-coder. They might just as well give away the ticket nowadays
in a box of Cracker Jack.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

You represent everything bad about Amateur Radio. People like you scare
young people away from the hobby.

Of course, the flip side of this is figuring out just how watered down
and popularized we're willing to make the hobby in order to attract
"young people". In my opinion, if young people don't want to come to
the party, let them go elsewhere. I'll be too busy on the radio to
notice.

Keeping a civil tongue is "...watered down...popularized...?

Not everyone is able to learn code. Just like everybody can't play the
piano. As nobody uses code anymore except for automatic identifiers,
QRP, and automated contesting, why require EVERYONE to learn it
proficiently just to use the shortwave?

AOR UK is No More
 

On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:03:15 -0400, dxAce
wrote:



dave wrote:

bpnjensen wrote:
On Jun 14, 8:49 pm, wrote:
On Jun 14, 5:16 pm, Joe
wrote:





This is definitely the end of an era: AOR UK will cease to exist after
June 2010.

See details hehttp://www.aoruk.com/Index.htm

There is now only one tabletop shortwave communications on the market
(so far as I know): the ICOM IC-R75 which is hardly in the class of
some of the great tabletops of years past (at least in my opinion)
though it's leagues ahead of most portables (and, I believe, can be
greatly improved with the addition of the Sherwood SE-3).

Many people have said that the shortwave hobby is dying and I'm afraid
I'm now inclined to agree with them. What's really sad (and possibly
dangerous) is that, if shortwave communications "goes," how will
"captive" countries - and make no mistake: there are plenty of them
and there will be many more to come - be reached? Internet is
certainly no substitute for shortwave radio.

It's possible that, just when we need shortwave, it may no longer
exist.

In any case, if you do own a good tabletop shortwave receiver, hold on
to it and keep it in good repair because you probably won't be able to
replace it.

Joe

AOR does not produce any hf receivers for the hobby,since they
discontinued their highly rated 7030. Also, Icom may stop making the
misfortunate R75 in the near future. But,we do have Ten-
Tec,Palstar,Sangean,NASA (aka AKD,Sitex),Eton (junk). And we also have
a whole new breed of SDRs from different places. Sometimes I wonder
why Elecraft does not make just a receiver- it could become a real
super-seller.

I have an R75, and am generally very happy with it. Nonetheless, an
Elecraft RX would be just dynamite.

So get a General class license and transmit once in a while.

http://kb6nu.com/tech-manual/

http://www.qrz.com/testing.html

I went from nothing to Extra Amateur class in 5 weeks.

Just another no-coder. They might just as well give away the ticket nowadays
in a box of Cracker Jack.

dxAce
Michigan
USA


True. With a bunch of hacks operating you can't be sure of what
station is sending out a signal.

Case in point: 3C0C on the island near Guinea. If you worked this
station on CW 40M, check the C30C station logs online because there
was a fake on sending CW and taking calls. A bunch of hams were
complaining about it today on 20M because they were not in the log.

http://www.3c0c-annobon.com/logs/

Jim

AOR UK is No More
 

Bob Dobbs wrote:
Steve wrote:
On Jun 15, 9:12 am, wrote:
dxAce wrote:

Just another no-coder. They might just as well give away the ticket nowadays
in a box of Cracker Jack.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

You represent everything bad about Amateur Radio. People like you scare
young people away from the hobby.

Of course, the flip side of this is figuring out just how watered down
and popularized we're willing to make the hobby in order to attract
"young people". In my opinion, if young people don't want to come to
the party, let them go elsewhere. I'll be too busy on the radio to
notice.

They're not 'watering' it down to attract young people
as much as any person with the resources to purchase
one of the multi-kilobuck HF rigs.
The big push to dumb down requirements like the slow code of the early 90s and
now no code at all is from equipment dealers like AES and HRO. Some day they'll
go for no skills requirements altogether and go after the CBer types.


So far I've bought a Ten-Tec and an Elecraft, both USA factory direct.
I use a sound card digital mode (bpsk31) that works pretty well with 30
Watts into an "imaginative" GAP vertical dipole. I use about a 30th of
a single SSB voice channel; and I sincerely apologize for helping to
ruin Ham Radio for you.

AOR UK is No More
 

Bob Dobbs wrote:


You haven't 'ruined' anything for me.
I just wish the hobby had remained as such
and hadn't become such a cash cow for the equipment dealers.
It tends to cheapen the efforts someone puts into something
when it's later degraded for the sake of a sale.
IOW: If you can get a HAM ticket
without having to develop a skill set or knowledge base,
then having one isn't indicative of anything
and in turn that ticket is worthless.


You just miss Collins and Drake; I understand. Note, both companies
named after persons long deceased. At least they had the good sense not
to name Ten-Tec "Kahn".

AOR UK is No More
 

"Mike K." wrote in message
...
As a younger person (25 in July), I must say that I actually have to
agree with the fact that it's the knobs that make SWL fun. There's
just a sort of thrill of the hunt you get when you're slowly turning
through a band "stalking" a signal and there's the thrill of
"conquest" once you've pulled something in. If I had a newer radio
where you could just punch in a frequency, I don't think I would
listen NEARLY as often as I do.

Up and Down buttons can be used in this way, but they're not as good.
I do a fair but of tuning around with my Sony ICF-SW7600G which can step up
and down the HF bands in 1kHz or 5kHz steps.

--

Brian Gregory. (In the UK)

To email me remove the letter vee.

AOR UK is No More
 

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Of course, the flip side of this is figuring out just how watered down
and popularized we're willing to make the hobby in order to attract
"young people". In my opinion, if young people don't want to come to
the party, let them go elsewhere. I'll be too busy on the radio to
notice.

If there's hardly anyone left on the bands governments will just start
taking them away to sell off.

--

Brian Gregory. (In the UK)

To email me remove the letter vee.