26 through 34 MHz

Inspired by Bruce's messsage, I scanned 26 to 30MHz, finding nothing at all.

But he "told me so" because 8:40 PM Central U.S. is obviously the wrong time to find anything up there unless it's happening next door, which it is not.

The radio at hand ends at 30MHz, but I have another set to go up the rest of the way to 34MHz, but I will only come back to write about it IF I find something.

Tomorrow or Saturday I'll try to remember to do it during the daytime when it might pay off.

I composed my above message around

1:PM, local time.  I should have made

that clear - because I didn't put the 

message onto Part 15 US until about

7:PM local.  

So - sorry about that.  I'm pretty sure

you won't be hearing signals in that

range after dark.  

Bruce, DOGRADIO

P.S.  Some of the signals are

pretty strong.  I think you

could get them in the house

near a window on a portable -

or if you just step out the door.  

I really don't know.  I haven't had a

chance to listen.  I think this section

of the spectrum gets interesting

in the fall and the spring.

However, I had an amazing reception

in late December of 1989 -

that's when I think it was, anyway. 

Back then, the BBC world service

transmitted on 15.070 MHz to the

U.S.  The signal was audible all day

long.  Quite by accident, I heard the

second harmonic on 30.140 MHz.

This was on a Radio Shack PRO-2005

scanner switched in to the AM receiving

mode.  It was around 1:PM.  I remember

because we were going out for lunch

at my parent's house.  And that's always

a big deal.  (You could write a whole

comedy routine on what that is like -

my mother is a lot like the mother-in-law

in "Everybody Loves Raymond."  She is

also a little bit like George Castansa's mother

in "Seinfeld.")

It's True.

Anyway, this BCC second harmonic

on 30.140 kHz gave me a positive ID.

It was strong enough to be heard on

the scanner with it's indoor whip

antenna.  (Of course, there was no

RFI in those days - at least not like it is

now.)

Bruce, DOGRADIO

You were very clear in the first post to mention the best times for listening above 26MHz, and I knew that when I did my scan.

I do recall a few months ago one afternoon hearing wild loud activity on the CB coming from California and Arkansas, yes the talkers gave locations.

What struck me the most was how they all spoke as if they had a mouth full of pie.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Oh my, that's a great way to

describe it!

Well, I'm facinated by radio propagation,

so I am interested in the presence of

signals in different parts of the RF

spectrum - even if the transmissions

can't be understood!

My first facination was TV DXing, and

at 7 years old, I didn't have a clue why

TV stations in distant cities would appear

once in a while - for no apparent reason!

Even now, years later, propagation remains

as one of the greatest reasons why I

love radio.

Bruce, DOGRADIO

Back in the days when I was more active in ham radio my favorite bands were 10 and 15 meters because you never knew what or who you would find operating and the signals were very good. One evening I talked with a nice lady who was on night watch on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic. She and her husband were crossing from Canada to England and what was unusual is that our conversation continued for over an hour and it was well after dark here and in the Atlantic yet her signal was loud and clear the whole time. Might have had something to do with the salt water ground plane. Then the signal began to fade and within less than a minute it was gone and the band was dead.

After dark these bands typically close down because skip propagation ceases yet local communication can be very reliable and effective via ground wave out to 30 or 40 miles. Several of us would meet on 10 meters at night and chat without any interference and without bothering anyone far away. Alas, the frequency became a popular meeting place for hams in the Cincinnati area and it became much like a two meter experience.

So, enjoy listening as it can be an adventure.

Neil

The Sangean Radio is set on 26.025MHz, CB Channel 6, and a jumble of voices are being detected in the noise. One of them is stronger when he keys on, and he is speaking a language not taught in language class.

I am thinking some of those CB people aren't actually communicating by words and ideas, but by a very basic system of "mouthing to a guy I heard" with no actual message on either side.

Like me typing here with nothing to say.... which I do a lot.... but I mean sounds not in any vocabulary: "hay nother joe what go to them ib goit dem pub ya ferm tah. Noblue?"

I'm not a CBer, but I do have some

old "beloved" CB sets in my radio collection.

The ham bands were more fun - but a good

friend of mine was still on CB channel 5.  It

was fun talking to him over the horrendous

skip noise in those days.  Eventually he got

his ham license and we didn't need CB anymore -

but that radio - a 6 channel Radio Shack TRC-11 (?)

is a cool little rig and I love looking at it once in

a while.  Great memories from the late 1970s. 

it's a funny thing.  This sunspot cycle is "nowhere'

-but some have been very good and useable

frquencies have gotten up to TV channel 2. 

On the net are some pictures of some TV F

skip when the action got up to 55 MHz. 

How cool!  No IDs, but this great TV DXer

(not me!) saw some wild TV signals with

gigantic amounts of phasing distortion and

gigantic fading up and down.  No IDs, but

just witnessing the event was a "once in

a lifetime thiing" for this guy. 

He saw it twice two mornings n a row

for about an hour and a half - and that

was all for him in the whole 11 year solar

cycle!  Great great stuff!

Oh yeah - Neil, I love 10 meters.  I never

really got into 15 meters for some reason,

but I know it's a great band!  10 meters

just seemed more mysterious to me.  

So Carl - thanks for your observations

of CB channel 6.  Cavemen grunting -

or something like that.  

I thought of a few other things - but

we'll leave them for another time.

Bruce, DOGRADIO 

CB Channel 6 is 27.025MHz, I think I got it wrong up above.

Bruce was asking about the Auxiliary Stations in this frequency region, licensed to regular broadcasters for Studio-Transmitter Links and Remote Pickup and Relay Stations.

There are many such stations, but I only see one in Connecticut, 25.95MHz in Brookfield, owned by WRKI-FM.

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/stl.htm

At a distance of more than 3900 miles,

Hawaii TV channel 2 - KHON - was seen

in northern Louisiana, on October 30, 2003. 

It can not be emphisized how INCREDIBLY

RARE this reception is.  Although I have not

been able to find the actual record - it has

been said that this ALSO occurred during the

1958 - 1959 sunspot peak.  At that time, KHON

was also seen in the U.S., but I'm not sure where.

It took about 9 years (after 2003) for the television DXer in

Louisiana to determine that this reception was

actually Hawaii, and not some from other place.

Other people weren't sure either, but the evidence

bears out that this did indeed occur.   The 6 meter

ham radio band was open from Louisiana to Hawaii

at the time, and this band is just below TV channel 2.

Also, the TV DXer saw (not easily, I'm sure) the TV

show "The People's Court."  Research showed that

this show was only on KHON at the time, and not

another channel 2 TV station in a different location.

Because the F skip was getting up to about 55 MHz,

and no higher, this writer (me) thinks that there was

probably no sound, just a big strong messy distorted

TV picture wildly changling in strength and phase

resulting in great ghosting and locking and unlocking

of the vertical hold.  What a thing to see - again -

a once in a lifetime event! 

This F layer is located about 200 miles above the

Earth.  This is why these incredibly long skip

distances can occur.   There are some other

TV DX receptions that have been even longer,

but they (as far as I can tell) all were below

U.S. TV channel 2 in frequency.  Some countries

have channel 1 TV stations, and I think -  somewhere --

there is actually a TV channel ZERO!  (At the time

when the U.S. used the old analog TV system,

many other countries around the world had

analog TV too - but the systems of transmissions

were different, and so were the TV frequencies.

THE DIFFERENCE between E skip and F skip.

Why is this TV DX F skip case so special?

F skip is related to the 11 year sunspot cycle.

At the peak, the maximum useable frequency

(for skip reception) has gone as high as 55 or 60

MHz.  In the 1958 sunspot maximum, some people

have said the MUF got as high as 70 MHz.  And also -

some people think that the 1946 - 1947 sunspot peak

was better than 1958 - 1959.  (Radio TV historians

are still trying to figure that out - there wasn't

much television or any other communications

in that frequency range at the time.)

So F skip can go very very far, but only once

in a while on VHF.  

What about E skip?  

The E layer is much lower in the ionosphere.

A single skip distance for E skip is about 1000

miles on the average.  This writer (again, me)

received Wisconsin Public Radio on 88.3 MHz

in Coonecticut the the beginning of last summer.

Again, it took me a while to do research to verify

this - because I did not hear a "top of the hour"

ID - I am certain now that it was Wisconsin.

E skip seems to have almost nothing to do

with the 11 year sunspot cycle.  It is usually

heard during the summertime, oddly enough -

between the times of about 9:AM to noon

local time, and again, around 6:PM to 8:PM

local time.  Scientists are still very mystified

about E skip and what causes it. 

Every once in a while - a very very rare E-skip

reception will occur.  A one hop E skip reception

went as high as the upper VHF TV channel, again

in 2003.  The TV DXer saw TV channels 7 and 10

from about 1000 miles away - we are talking

about a 200 MHz maximum usable frequency

here.  I beleive the TV channels were coming

from Arkansas.  This is also a "once in a lifetime"

event.  Some TV single hop E skip (about 1000

miles) has gone as high as TV channel 13 -

but I would have to look that one up.  This

is as high as the 220 MHz ham band - and

E skip occured a few times there as well!

At this frequency - the ionosphere is like

a mirror.  So for a few minutes - like one

or two - I think - a 50 DB over S9 (!)

signal was seen and then it became a

two way ham radio contact.  Again - I

would have to look that one up. 

Bruce, DOGRADIO

Ever dream about having a sky wave from your Part 15 AM station? Maybe skipping across the U.S. and being heard several states away?

Somewhere I recall reading that to reach the ionosphere a medium wave signal needs to be at least 20 Watts, so it is probably unlikely that a meezly-Watt Part 15 signal could ever get reflected back to earth.

But has it ever happened?

I've heard some TIS stations

in other states, one at Kennedy

Airport, and another in Virginia (?)

not too long ago.  (I'm in Connecticut.)

These are good AM BCB DX catches,

but I don't remember the callsigns or

the power levels. 

Yup, I've wished many times that DOGRADIO

could skip somewhere. 

It's a common fantasy for us radio dudes,

I think.  It reminds me of another story,

which I'll try to get back on here, soon,

and get it on this thread.

Bruce, DOGRADIO

Were 40 watt Canadian AM BCB relay

transmitters up in the North West Territory.

I think some guy in NY or NJ heard one

of  them, and it was on a local channel

- like 1400 kHz - which makes it seem

even crazier - but I saw the QSL card

 in a radio magazine.  I guess this was

in the 1950s ro 1960s.  I think I've got one

or two more goofy stories in my head somewhere.

Bruce, DOGRADIO

Part 15 AM BCB HAS skipped - BUT

the signal that comes out on the

receiving side is too weak to recover

the audio.  So then the mode of choice

(at least back in the old days of the 1960s

and the 1970s) was Morse code - just a 

transmitted carrier going on and off.  And,

as you know, on the receiving end you need

a BFO or product detector to turn it into

the audio note for the Morse code. 

Mostly these were Part 15 Morse code

beacons, not 2 way communication. 

I've got some notes about this around

here somewhere. 

Bruce, DOGRADIO

audio.