"now i've come to enjoy the challenge of seeing how far my signal goes with peanut power and neutered antenna setups."
Me too. Man it was like falling in love for the first time, or catching that first fish, or making that big score for the team, or slamming down the foot on the gas pedal of that hot rod to impress the gals.
After a few contacts and a few months, it became quite worn out real fast like burning off all the tread from the tires on that hot rod.
After the first few times..it becomes trivial and no different..then at that point it becomes boring.
The general public gets bored so fast its ridiculous. If you cannot maintain the attention span of an entertainment hungry public in the first 5 seconds, they change the channel or go do something else.
How long does it take to fine tune and notch filter and peak in that QRP signal in all the noise...a lot more time than what the average public will spend I guarantee it.
Sometimes I will hook up my communications analyzer to the external long wire antennas and directional arrays and scan the bands for any QRP transmissions. Usually end up stopping on one of the SW bands to listen to some over seas station or listen in on a conversation in the HAM bands...usually about the same things...type of radio..antenna...tower....blah blah.
Its fun though. The hours pass quite quickly and before you know it..the XYL is walking into the room in her house robe with the bed head and that angry look of you been up all night again!
RFB
Well, after all we're all QRP'ers in the PART 15 world whether it's AM BCB, FM BCB or Shortwave.
And although the average Jane/Joe won't be tuning into a shortwave broadcast there are those that do. And that Big Talker might just generate a QSL request someday. What a thrill that would be!
Honestly, for all my years of tinkering with PART 15 broadcasting I've only had a few people hear and contact me. Indeed: What a thrill! But even if I'm my only BEST LISTENER I'll keep it going because I like it.
So, QRP'ing doesn't yeild consistent results. Look how much effort and money was/is put into broadcasting and listening to the heavens beyond us. Chances are pretty good no one in the Nebulas out there is listening but some people are driven.
As are we, the PART 15 Broadcasters.
"Chances are pretty good no one in the Nebulas out there is listening but some people are driven."
No one can listen, even in the Great Link Nebula, if the transmission is not on the regular monitored channels/frequencies.
I don't knock the excitement of getting that distant contact confirmation. I was quite happy when overhearing conversation while walking by other people in the wally world talking about a program they heard on my station. It may not be a QSL card to hang on the wall, but for a Part 15 station broadcasting to whomever can pick it up, its the next best thing and just as exciting!
RFB
Carl - I forgot to answer your question on this. Sorry!
My Xmtr for 13.560 is just a simple Pierce oscillator utilizing a 6CL6 followed by a buffer amp, a 7189. It's part of an old Knight Kit T150A.
I'd love to see the schematic of the T-150
section that's being used on 13 MHz.
My 13.560 MHz transmitter (still not done)
is meant just for one listener. A ham radio/
broadcast engineer friend who is a mile away.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO 2
Send me your address and I'll mail it to ya. (No scanning or pix facilities here) E-mail it privately if you want -- [email protected]
I'll just send you the schematic for the whole rig. I haven't changed anything -- I'm just running the T150 in the "VFO spot" mode, and just over 1 watt max. appears at the coax connector. It's nothing but a carrier -- I still need to order a modulation transformer to go AM. Stock modulation in the T150 is not good enough for me...besides it's generated in the finals which I'm not using for this project. (Power is adjustable from the 1 watt all the way down to zero by just de-tuning and/or adjusting the antenna load control.)
I bet most older tube rigs wouldn't have much trouble tuning down to 13.560. Lots of overlap in those days.
Hi Ron! I actually found schematics on the web
for the T-150 and the T-150A. Thank you anyway -
it was nice to have you offer to send the schematic.
I have a Heathkit DX-60A and a DX-60B. If my
eyesight was better, I would try to adapt one of
those to 13.560 Part 15. But in my case, the 13 MHz
transmitter that I am slowly building is a lot safer.
Good luck with modulating the set-up and getting it
on the air.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO 2
If not known already, here is a great way to tune in to your 13.560 station...
A little change here and there and your car AM radio will hear your 13.560 SW station on 1000Khz.
A BIT more change here and there and it would make a good "up" converter for LW stations.
RFB