HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: SuperRadio III mini-review
Date: 5 Sep 92 19:10:01 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC

Having just picked up a Superadio III at BEST today, I thought I'd
post my initial impressions. I bought it to replace my SuperRadio II
(spelled with two "r"'s, as opposed to the III, which is spelled with
one "r"). Just before putting my II up for sale I compared them side
by side. (If you're interested in a MINT SuperRadio II for $25 give me
a holler).

Compared to the II, the III is about the same size but with more
rounded edges. There is more black and less chrome, and the tuning
knob has been moved from the front to the right side. The tuning dial
is now parallel to the front rather than angled back as on the II. The
knobs and switches are all smaller. The exposed section of the
telescopic antenna is almost an inch shorter. It still sports antenna
and headphone connectors and has an internal AC power cord. The power
switch is still in the same stupid position on the top edge, but it
protrudes less and is recessed in a little bit. 

The SuperRadio II has been described as ugly, and the III touted as
being restyled for improved appearance. Ugh. In my opinion the GE
designers have found new ways of making a radio look ugly. The $20
Taiwanese boom boxes at the closeout store look better. Oh, well. If
anything, it's less flashy and that's a plus.

Differences: First, the AM tuning goes well past 1700 now, but the
dial markings are surprisingly non-linear (1000, 1200, 1400, 1600,
1700 spaced equally apart). Dial calibration on AM is acceptable, on
FM it's horrid just as with every specimen of the II I'd ever seen.
There is considerably less backlash on the dial cord mechanism than on
the II.

The Superadio III sports a new switch labelled "wideband". Contrary to
prior speculation, this switch does not appear to switch in a new
NARROWER filter, but a new WIDER filter. In the wide position treble
repsonse improves noticeably, but at the expense of considerable
adjacent channel interference. Heterodynes and carrier splash from
adjacent stations make this useful only for strong, local stations in
the clear.

Sensitivity and selectivity (in the 'normal' position) seem equivalent
to the SuperRadio II. Audio is about equal to the II, although the box
labelling says the tweeter is larger on the new model. It is slightly
less bassy than the II. Still an incredible sounding radio, for the 
money ($39.95).
-- 
_______________________________Mike Schuster________________________________
NY Pub. Access UNIX/Internet: schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com   | MCI Mail,GEnie: MSCHUSTER
From: jkearman@arrl.org (Jim Kearman)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: Tower ID
Date: 14 Sep 92 18:11:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: arrl.520

Scott Fybush writes:
; 
;There's a game that I play that is related to this thread:  When my
;girlfriend and  I are on a car trip, and we pass a broadcast antenna,
;I immediately put down the antenna and hit scan on the appropriate
;band.  As the scan function operates, I try to guess what frequency
;it will stop on.
; 
; 
;Does anybody else do this besides me?
; 
;Scott
;
How romantic! Someone should write a pop song about this.
When I'm ALONE in the car and I see an AM station <810 kHz,
I see how far I can travel and still hear their second
harmonic. When Barbara's in the car, I usually have my 
mind on other things. Then again, I may be just a dirty
old(er) man!

Jim Kearman

 
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: jcarroll@ferris.cray.com (Jeff Carroll)
Subject: Re: AM vs FM in hilly areas
Originator: jcarroll@ferris
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 11 Sep 92 16:33:53 CDT


>   The current transmitter for the south of the county relies on it being
>on a higher hill than the people receiving it. This works fine so long as
>you are also on the top of a hill. However, if you head down the hill,
>another hill comes between you and the transmitter. Snap crackle and pop.

>   Ok then, let's try higher power, say our friends across the pond. But
>you Yanks forget this is the UK- a tiny country with a relatively HUGE
>population, set in Europe, which is jam packed with similar tiny countries.
>You can't use higher power since you "leak" your signal across to another
>county or even another country; the bands are as overcrowded as the land.

If it's any consolation to you, Seattle is FM hell. I can be within five
miles of the transmitter of my favorite jazz station and have it breaking
up on me. The hilliness (which in any case is more extreme than anything
in England) is exacerbated in the middle of town by several buildings
which are taller than anything else west of the Mississippi. There isn't
a single station on the dial that one can receive consistently in one's car
all the way from the north end of town to the south end.

Nonetheless there are seemingly dozens of FM stations, and they all seem
to be broadcasting with enough power to generate intermod products in the
HF bands of my DX-440 to make SWL at some frequencies impossible at my house.

I hope digital broadcast isn't as far off in Europe as it seems to be in the
USA.
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: tmrdpsrs@engvms.unl.edu
Subject: Russian Woodpecker
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Date: 15 Sep 92 19:31:08 CST

hello all,

	Here's something that just came to mind.  We all used to suffer from 
interference caused by the notorious Russian "Woodpecker," their Over the 
Horizon Backscatter radar system.  However, this has not been a problem in
the recent past for me.  Have they stopped using their OTHB system due to the 
current state of affairs in the CIS military?, or have I just been lucky?

Ron Synowicki
TMRDPSRS@ENGVMS.UNL.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: 082589@hyperion.lanl.gov
Subject: Re: Pro 37 Scanner Mods
Reply-To: 082589@hyperion.lanl.gov
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 19:14:56 GMT


I would also be very interested in mods for the Pro 37.

Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick)
Subject: Re: Hurricane Andrew Recovery Radio Station?
Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:35:17 GMT


On the "Media Network" program from Radio Netherlands, there
was a segment about "Radio Recovery."  A military person said
that the FCC had told them what frequency to use and that
they hadn't just chosen one, themselves.  This sounds normal
for a peace-time operation.
     Listeners in the area, however, say that there is much
interference from the "Caribbean Beacon" on the island of
Anguilla.  There was a brief recording of "Radio Recovery's"
transmission recorded at about a 25-mile distance.  The
"Caribbean Beacon" was just about as loud.
     The "Radio Recovery" personnel say that their 400-watt
transmitter will be increased to 1KW in a few days.
     Here in the North-Central part of Oklahoma, I tried to
listen for "Radio Recovery" on an ICR-71A connected to a
long-wire.  I heard no sign of "Radio Recovery," but I did
hear a TIS station broadcasting NOAA weather in the Austin,
TX area.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ   Stillwater, OK
O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Via: uk.ac.kcl.cc.maple; Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:07:35 +0100
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:08:00 BST
Reply-To:     RCAA000@MAPLE.CC.KCL.AC.UK
From:         RCAA000@MAPLE.CC.KCL.AC.UK
Subject:      Radio Free Afghanistan

Does Radio Free Afghanistan still exist?  I think they used to
broadcast via RFE/RL facilities.  Can anyone come up with a
schedule?

Thanks.

Derek Cooper
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us (Scott Fybush)
Subject: Re: WWCR
Organization: Unixland Public Access Unix  (508) 655-3848
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 04:33:57 GMT

wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) writes:

>I've noticed a rather odd form of interference on WWCR's signal which no
>one has mentioned on the net yet. It's audible on my tapes of programs
>from them, too. It's not the dead carrier, nor the RTTY, both previously
>described, but I have a hard time finding the right words to describe it.

[Will finds more or less the right words, then continues:]

>(And, as an aside, has anyone located or identified the source of the
>RTTY interference to WWCR? Any of the RTTY buffs out there been able to
>decode it and identify the type of traffic?)

I haven't seen anyone else from New England posting on this, but
my experience here in Waltham MA is that the RTTY is never heard here.
I was badly hit by the propagation gremlins last October when SIGNALS
had to re-run the entire show.  I wasn't taping August 29th, so I
don't know how bad propagation was that night, but I've just finished
listening to my tape of the Sept. 5 SIGNALS, and the last 20 minutes
is plagued by very low signal level and a loud buzzing.  I've not
ruled out the possibility that another apartment in my building
turned on the fluorescent light or something at that point, so this
may not have anything to do with WWCR at all.  Anyone else up
this way hear a buzz that night?

Anyone up this way ever hear the RTTY on 7435?

Anyone care to tell me why the SIGNALS folks never called to say hi
when they visited Boston?  (okay, so I'm not in the book, but even so...):-)

And can anyone possibly explain why WWCR stays on 7435 when the 
frequency is so pathetically bad for them so often?

Inquiring (or maybe just tired) minds want to know.

Scott Fybush -- unixland.natick.ma.us
Not the views of anyone but me.
Organization: European Space Research Institute (ESRIN)
Date: Tuesday, 15 Sep 1992 13:34:08 SET
From: <PDONZELL@ESRIN.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: Question on SW-1 (why not a SW-55?)

> I don't own a shorwave yet, but I plan to buy one
> by mail order soon.  I was considering the purchase
> of the SONY SW1 and I have two questions...

I would take the suggestion of the WRTH: for less you could buy
a Sony SW-55. Much more powerful, SSB included plus a 125 entries
memory to store stations by name. It has more or less the dimension
of the WRTH while its suitcase, including wire antenna; power supply
adaptor, headphone and manuals has the same dimension of the suitcase
coming with the SW-1.
I've got one and I'm very satisfied of it. I would call the other SWLs on
the net to give their reviews   . I've got the impression the SW-55 is
significatively underestimated by the group members compared to the
SW-77 (I disagree) or ICF-2010 (to be discussed).
From: michaelb@wshb.csms.com ( WSHB Operations Eng)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: BBC Bush House was on fire
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:17:38 GMT
Organization: WSHB, Herald Broadcasting Syn., Inc., Cypress Creek, SC, USA

In article <MATHUR.92Sep7141746@pv0715.iastate.edu> mathur@iastate.edu (Sanjay R Mathur) writes:
>    One reason why it sounds so mysterious at the time is because I
>think the tape they play is recorded in advance just for such
>situations. So the announcer just keeps referring to "a problem"
>without specifics and leaves us to wonder about what exactly is
>happening.


We call them "evergreen tapes" because they contain stuff that's not date
sensitive, ie. no news or anything. Everbody has them. We have never had to
use the ones here at WSHB because we have always had the telephone lines to
back up our satellite downlink. KHBI has used theirs a few time when we had
some problems, but now they run a recorder during the first program of the
day and run the tape simultanously with the program in case of
difficulties. I'm not sure if WCSN has used theirs or not. I don't know
what Master Control does to back themselves up. The have so many machines
rolling they probably just switch to another tape that's already on line.


Michael
-- 
Michael Batchelor--Systems/Operations Engineer #compliments and complaints
WSHB - An International Broadcast Station of   #   letterbox@csms.com
       Herald Broadcasting Syndicate, Inc.     #technical questions and reports
michaelb@wshb.csms.com         +1 803 625 5552 #   letterbox-tech@csms.com
From: evilandi@VNET.IBM.COM ("Andrew Oakley")
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: AM vs FM in hilly areas
Date: 9 Sep 92 09:49:15 GMT


   Thanks to all those who replied. I have had a new antenna and things
have improved slightly. I quite agree it's more a HF vs VHF problem.

   The biggest problem is that Shropshire VERY hilly over a small area.
Remember folks, Great Britain is only 800 miles long; Shropshire is fifty
miles across and 80 miles deep.There are no flat open spaces in the south
of the county- it's all lots of little hills.

   The current transmitter for the south of the county relies on it being
on a higher hill than the people receiving it. This works fine so long as
you are also on the top of a hill. However, if you head down the hill,
another hill comes between you and the transmitter. Snap crackle and pop.

   Ok then, let's try higher power, say our friends across the pond. But
you Yanks forget this is the UK- a tiny country with a relatively HUGE
population, set in Europe, which is jam packed with similar tiny countries.
You can't use higher power since you "leak" your signal across to another
county or even another country; the bands are as overcrowded as the land.

   The best solution I've heard, apart from carry on using AM, is digital
FM broadcasts. Digital signals are relatively power-independent, and have
a fair level of error-correcting. Ideal for mobile use. I know there are
plans for digital broadcasting in Europe, so maybe soon I could end up
buying a REALLY digital radio!

Andrew Oakley (EVILANDI@VNET.IBM.COM)
IBM Warwick, UK (I speak FROM IBM, not FOR IBM)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Kill your television"- Ned's Atomic Dustbin (Chapter 22 Records)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (Dave Tholen)
Subject: Re: Question on SONY SW1
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 08:22:30 GMT

> I don't own a shorwave yet, but I plan to buy one
> by mail order soon.  I was considering the purchase
> of the SONY SW1 and I have two questions...
> 
> Does this radio have SSB and CW? 

It does not have SSB capability.  It can receive CW, but there is no
special mode for it.

> What will I miss if the radio doesn't have these 
> features?

If you like listening to hams, the lack of SSB would be a problem.  If
all you plan to do is listen to the major broadcasters, then it will do
just fine, because very few of them use SSB (HCJB does, but they don't
use SSB exclusively, so there are alternatives).  The 5 kHz tuning step
size is a bit more of an impediment, but most of the majors broadcast
on 5 kHz frequencies anyway; in my experience, you can detune a station
by 5 kHz and still get a reasonable signal, so you can still listen to
the handful of stations that aren't on 5 kHz frequencies, like Radio
Pyongyang on 9977 kHz.
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re:  SIGNALS
From: Robert_Sutton@kcbbs.gen.nz (Robert Sutton)
Date: 4 Sep 92 10:17:03 GMT
Organization: Kappa Crucis Unix BBS, Auckland, New Zealand

wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) 25 Aug 92 15:47:21 types--
>Is this interference being heard generally all over North America

Interesting about this interference as down here(err up?) in Auckland 
on Sunday August 23 at about 3.55UTC as I was listning to Keep Watching 
the Skies I started hearing some interfernce which impressed me as sounding 
like scrambling which was rather ironic as near the end of Gary's segment 
their was mention of the sinister UFO inspired scrambling of NASA Select 
raw feed.
Not sure if it was the same type of interference as you got but it'ds 
the only time out of the 30 or so episodes I've heard of Signals that 
I've heard this infuriating sound.
If it's a different EMI it's damn interesting it should pretty much 
coincide(maybe a counter-intelligence conspiracy on a global scale:-)) 

Interestingly the next Signals episode(August 30) was a repeat of the 
last week so maybe it was savaged near & wide.

I hope they dont switch Hauser's & the .portal gang as propagation pretty 
regulary comes on strong(ish) just when Signals starts.
Now theirs only the 1 SW broadcast it would put a big dent in the Sun 
(less)day.
As for WRNO or Radio for Peace Intl they make WWCR sound like a local 
in comparasion.

Maybe they could persuade that Gene Scott(Now on KVOH & Wings of Hope 
as well) to share the word:-)

******************************
SW,HF or whatever it's 1st for
me
********
From: schro@nessos.sni.de (W.F.Schroeder)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: e-mail address of HAMCOM Django i.e. W.F.Schroeder
Date: 7 Sep 92 10:11:26 GMT
Organization: Siemens Nixdorf Info.Sys. AG, Paderborn, Germany

In <azilker.715367624@unixg.ubc.ca> azilker@unixg.ubc.ca (Andreas Zilker) writes:

>Hallo Django,

>bitte gib mal einen e-mail server bekannt, ueber den man Dich auch
>erreicht :-). Hab schon 10^n "ge-bounce-te" mails rumliegen.
>Man will ja schliesslich das Netz nicht unnoetig belasten (bandwidth
>etc... ;-)
>73 & mny tnx fr yr ufb prog       Andreas

try  schroeder.pad@sni.de
 or  schroeder.pad@sni-usa.com

73 Django  DL5YEC
From: mark.mohr@cccbbs.UUCP (Mark Mohr) 
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: HALLICRAFTERS SX-99A
Date: 6 Sep 92 08:11:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Cincinnati Computer Connection BBS - Cincinnati, OH - 513-752-8248
Reply-To: mark.mohr@cccbbs.UUCP (Mark Mohr) 

FOR SALE, BEST OFFER ---- HALLICRAFTERS SHORTWAVE RECEIVER SX-99A
        WORKS, CLEAN.
        DIALS NEED RESTRINGING AND CALIBRATION.

        MARK MOHR (513)784-0887
From: wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re:  spectrum display integrated with computer software?
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:38:51 GMT

Speaking of spectrum displays...

I once had a chance to sit in an operator's seat in the back of an
electronic-surveillance-equipped Army U-21 aircraft (only while it was
parked on the tarmac at the airport, unfortunately) and tune the receiver
in that console. It was a rather neat toy -- a long linear visual
display, like an inch high and 10 or so inches horizontally, which
was displaying a chunk of VHF spectrum at the time. A horizontal line
with peaks at the frequency of each signal, their height varying
with the signal strength. The most interesting feature was that the
tuning knob drove a cursor on the display, so you could move the cursor
to any peak you wanted to monitor, and the audio from that signal would
then appear in your headphones.

Are receivers like this available on the commercial or surplus market? 
What sort of prices do they bring?

I suppose that this specific piece of equipment might not really be
all that great for a ground-based DXer; I have heard that aircraft radios
are not very sensitive, since they are designed for operation high up,
where there is practically a clear line-of-sight to any transmitter. So
maybe this same piece of equipment, operated on the ground with a
house-mounted antenna, might be poorer at picking up signals than a
commercial scanner. But the display and the cursor-tuning are still a
nice touch. 

Is any ham gear made with this cursor-tuning feature?

Regards, Will
wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil
From: docken@convex.com (William Dockendorf)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: WWCR, Signals, and RTTY
Date: 15 Sep 92 22:35:03 GMT
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <1992Sep15.162119.24250@walter.cray.com> wws@craywr.cray.com (Walter Spector) writes:
>In article <519@arrl.org>, jkearman@arrl.org (Jim Kearman) writes:
>|> ;Anyone up this way ever hear the RTTY on 7435?
>|> 
>|> I've never heard interference on WWCR's 7435 frequency. There
>|> is occasional propagation trouble. As I've mentioned before,
>|> 41 meters is a pretty good band for North American coverage.
>|> I think satellite TV is spoiling a lot of SWLs!
>
>I can verify the RTTY covering 7435 from N. California.  The RTTY
>signal was somewhat lower in amplitude than WWCR though.  It was
>very easy to tune out.  (Switching from AM to LSB or simply
>tuning a couple khz down on the ham rx tuned the RTTY out completely.
>The DX-440 was listenable (but not wonderful) by using 'narrow' and
>tuning down 1 or 2 khz.)  Anything with broader filters (or 5 khz
>tuning steps!) would have had serious problems.
>

  Well, here in Dallas, I didn't have much problem a couple of weeks
ago except near the end of the show.  Last weekend was a different matter.
On USB, the RTTY signal completely drowned out WWCR and on LSB it was
also very loud.  I could barely make out that WWCR was there and it
certainly wasn't listenable at all.

  William
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: (no subject given)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date:         Mon, 14 Sep 1992 13:01:28 EDT
Reply-To:     Levent Sevim <lsevim@VNET.IBM.COM>
From:         Levent Sevim <lsevim@VNET.IBM.COM>

 Subject:Utility Stations

 I listened to some utility stations around 2100z on Sep 10th;

  8515 CW    VVV VVV VVV CQ CQ CQ BHW
 13010 CW    VVV VVV VVV AQPZ / 4 / H / 6

I think they were channel markers but can someone explain to me what's
the meaning of these messages ?


  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Levent Sevim          '      VNET  -> LEVENTS  at ISTVM2      |
  | IBM Turk Ltd          '       IEA  -> TRIBM7VM at IBMMAIL     |
  | Buyukdere Cad. Levent '  INTERNET  -> LSEVIM@VNET.IBM.COM     |
  | Istanbul 80613        '     VOICE  -> 90.1.2800900 Ext1147    |
  | TURKIYE               '       FAX  -> 90.1.2780437            |
  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
From: wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re:  WWCR
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:20:09 GMT

I've noticed a rather odd form of interference on WWCR's signal which no
one has mentioned on the net yet. It's audible on my tapes of programs
from them, too. It's not the dead carrier, nor the RTTY, both previously
described, but I have a hard time finding the right words to describe it.

The nearest I can come to is saying that it sounds like water being
poured out of a jug. It is short term, only a few seconds in duration,
and consists of a series of "glug" or "burble" type noises. There
will just be a few of them, and then no more, until they recur minutes
or hours later. 

The sounds have a strange "hollow" quality to them. Maybe this is
because I'm listeing in AM mode, and they are being transmitted in some
SSB-like reduced-carrier or no-carrier method. But since they are so
sporadic I could never have a chance to tune them in SSB, so I can't be
sure about that. It's just a guess.

Maybe the same type of interference appears elsewhere than on top of or
next to WWCR, but I don't recall any instances of this.

Has anyone else heard this, and can anyone identify just what sort of
signal it is?

(And, as an aside, has anyone located or identified the source of the
RTTY interference to WWCR? Any of the RTTY buffs out there been able to
decode it and identify the type of traffic?)

Regards, Will
wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave