On Thursday, November 27, 2014 12:59:10 PM UTC-8, Kevin Alfred Strom wrote:
On 11/27/2014 10:17 AM, Ross Archer wrote:
Curious what people are doing primarily. Are you focused on DX?
Program listening? Obtaining QSLs? Listening to pirates?
Utilities? Ham radio?

With the world market filled with good cheap shortwave receivers,
any ideas how to persuade good content to expand or start? Some
one-off like Radio Nikkei thing perhaps?

Listening to Radio Australia on 12065 Khz at the moment (1510),
good signal: 45444. Antenna: indoor 25 foot loop, receiver:
Tecsun PL-660.




Some of the things I'm doing, with recordings:

1) Sometimes transmitting and often listening to those who are
experimenting with high quality audio on SSB (called eSSB for
Enhanced Single Sideband). Examples:

http://liberty.3950.net/ESSB%203832%...41019%20am.mp3

http://liberty.3950.net/WB4AIO%20as%...%20sunrise.mp3

http://liberty.3950.net/K2WS-K4UU-NU...%20Hz%20bw.mp3


2) Experimenting with AM mode on the amateur bands. Examples:

http://liberty.3950.net/W4BVT%20K4KY...3885%20kHz.mp3

http://liberty.3950.net/WA1HLR%20W4B...3885%20kHz.mp3


3) Discussing current events and ideas on amateur radio's Liberty
Net and Survival Net:

http://liberty.3950.net/TheSurvivalN...rceN 2IRJ.mp3


4) Listening to DRM broadcasts -- including the BBC, Nigeria,
Romania, and others. Haven't made any recordings, though.


5) A fair amount of plain old HF broadcast listening, including
Havana, Germany, RAE, Vatican Radio, and many others, plus the
occasional pirate.


6) I don't know that this counts since it's not shortwave, but I've
also been exploring longwave with my Racal; hearing many DGPS
navigation stations, non-directional beacons, mystery signals, WWVB
on 60 kHz, teletype from Puerto Rico on 40.8 kHz, and from Maine on
24 kHz.


73 and all the best,


Kevin, WB4AIO.
--
http://nationalvanguard.org/
http://kevinalfredstrom.com/

Interesting.

I've always believed that AM mode is capable of good, high-quality audio when a modicum of care is taken with levels, equalization, and for dog's sakes, not overdoing the compression. (Compression is a rant-worthy topic for me. For a noisy HF circuit it's fine but get it off my local FM station please. Limit the levels to keep the deviation legal to the minimal extent required to stay legal, but don't do this to music.)

I'm assuming eSSB isn't related to reduced carrier SSB (that's a neat topic too), but simply SSB with more attention to equalization and distortion. A worthy goal, especially if you're trying to sound good vs. break through on a circuit where the S/N ratio is in the single digits.

Here's my modest proposal:

As HF frequencies for broadcast fall into relative disuse, why can't the FCC issue permits for a "hobby broadcaster" class of station (say 1KW or less) so schools and other non-profit organizations can develop on-air talent. Probably a lower band that would have a decent local coverage area would be best.

The proliferation of cheap SW-capable receivers like Tecsun PL-360 makes a service like this semi-viable, even in areas where FM is totally allocated and a third-channel adjacency is a pipe dream. A high school or college which didn't have the resources to do a full site survey and go through all the FCC paperwork could pick up a hobby license that would be good on say 60 meters with minimal concern about interference because the whole service would be predicated on "this is a hobby service and no guarantees of non-interference." Kind of like a secondary allocation.

Yet a 100 watt signal would easily cover a campus and nearby housing and provide some fun DX targets for those further afield.

Just a modest proposal etc.

All politics aside, thank you for your helpful insights!

-- ross