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Post by Joey on May 20, 2022 22:18:06 GMT 10
I have a Uniden pc-122 27meg set at my retreat, running off an 80w panel and 100amp hr battery. Got another similar set as a spare. Stationmaster aerial. Traffic has picked up in recent months, but seems to be lots of foreign language transmissions. Some type of 'SE Asian' language is my guess. A good mate is a radio professional (he maintains the police network) and has a 6m x 6m garage absolutely packed with radio gear, much of it sourced from decommissioned warships. I have an endless supply of spares Prob the illegal chinese fishing vessels off the coast lol I've always been interested in getting setup with some radio gear, but the cost has always been the prohibitive factor for me, always been keen on something like a Yaesu 857D type radio for instance.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on May 21, 2022 8:32:03 GMT 10
The chatter heard on 27 megs is usually from South America, or illegal fishing boats in the South China sea.
Once again, it may be prudent to organize an "ad hock" frequency of 27.125 megs, (channel 10 on Australian 40 channel sets, and channel 14 on USA type 23 channel sets), as a just in case arrangement for the group WTSHTF.
Not withstanding the above suggestion, every prepper should have a decent short wave radio receiver of some kind. Not recommending any, but something.(Jaycar perhaps ?)
You know you own an old tractor when......You start planning your annual holidays with a copy of the "steam and gas guide" in your hand.
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tactile
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Post by tactile on May 21, 2022 9:42:47 GMT 10
Should apply for a dedicated HF frequency like the 4WDers did with the old RFDS allocations. Add encryption and you're done.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jun 10, 2022 8:56:19 GMT 10
Just checked the HF bands again, strength 9 plus noise, and its winter with no thunderstorms. The noise isn't like the Russian woodpecker jamming of years ago,but more broad band. I still cant help wondering weather its deliberate jamming to render the bands useless for communication on WTSHTF or some strange natural phenomena, but its been going on for so long now that I don't think its natural.
Digital modes can get a message through though, so it might be worth exploring these.
I'm not lost, just locationally challenged.
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Post by ausprep130 on Jun 10, 2022 14:47:40 GMT 10
Just checked the HF bands again, strength 9 plus noise, and its winter with no thunderstorms. The noise isn't like the Russian woodpecker jamming of years ago,but more broad band. I still cant help wondering weather its deliberate jamming to render the bands useless for communication on WTSHTF or some strange natural phenomena, but its been going on for so long now that I don't think its natural. Digital modes can get a message through though, so it might be worth exploring these. I'm not lost, just locationally challenged. I'm assuming you have already done basic troubleshooting but I have some questions for those of us less educated in HF. Is it just you in your location? Do you know someone nearby experiencing the same issue? Or people a fair distance from you but with similar setup? eg: rural vs metro, grid vs off-grid etc Could your solar panels, led lights or power packs be contributing to the noise? eg: perhaps your earth/ground or the electrical shielding has been compromised??
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jun 10, 2022 17:34:05 GMT 10
The local ham club also has issues with HF noise, and even noise on the VHF repeater. Also, hams in USA report the same, wall to wall noise. Check for yourselves, you all should have a HF short wave radio. Tune to the bands around 3 to 10 megs and see how much noise is in your location.
My radio room has its own solar system, a linear regulator as the MPPT types do cause radio and TV interference. Also, it has its own ground system and 240 v inverter.
The main SW aerial is Zepp type, 160 meters long and 5 meters off the ground, and running away from the radio room up into a paddock with nothing but trees in it.
Ive checked all the connections and even changed out the radio to a solid state type from the WW2 AR7 all valve unit and its still the same, if not a bit worse on the newer rig.
I'm sure its in the manual somewhere !
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jun 10, 2022 18:16:44 GMT 10
So are you saying a hf radio is crucial but won't be useful because somebody is flooding the radiowaves with white noise?
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jun 10, 2022 18:25:50 GMT 10
Yup, these dudes and dudets planning the collapse are clever types.
They cant allow independant communications, that would make people less dependant on them. Like they cant allow home gardens, or call preppers horders.
No it wasnt me, and you cant prove it.
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jun 10, 2022 19:07:22 GMT 10
No real change in space weather lately either...bit of a weird one.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jun 11, 2022 10:22:07 GMT 10
Thinking more about SHTF comms, an answer to the deliberate or otherwise interfearance iszue, may be UHF cb radio. Unfortunatly, its range is normally only line of sight, but with the use of repeaters this can extend to several 100 km. Our local channel 8 repeater is now totaly solar powered, so should give service evenn in a total grid down senerio. An alternative is VHF and UHF ham comms, as most ham clubs maintain various repeaters for ham use. Indeed, some of the 52 megahertz ones can cross the tasman and are reguarly heard in NZ, and ocasionally stateside. Now that the morse code requirement has been dropped, the exam is multiple choice and you can take it at the local club, who often run courses covering the details. Another advantge of being ham is you can design, construct and use your own gear on air, meaning legal repairbility and customeristion of commercial gear. In the current climate, its very reassuring being able to communicate with others using home made gear.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jun 11, 2022 11:40:30 GMT 10
One big advantage of ham radio is that you can use different mode, not just am and ssb, but fm, pulse , etc. FM has the advantage of being able to reject a lot of noise or interfearance due to the limiting effect of its am rejection. Also, hams in Australia can use up to 400 watts pep power, 180 watts am equivalent, considerably more than cbers can. Their limit is 4 watts, or 12 watts pep (peak envelope power). Permits are, or were, avaliable to allow up to 1,000 watts provided you were more than 50 km from a town. 1kw is a lot of power, and can punch through most interfearance. Add an aerial with gain, and 2kw and more, erip (effective radiated input power), is legally possible. On 2 meters, I use 100 watts into a 8 element beam, giving nearly 800 watts erip, enabling me to punch through the Range and access the ham repeaters on the coast, 100 + km away. I have built a specialist type of reciever that uses a double balanced mixer stage, and this type of reciever can reduce the noise level a bit, along with a noise blanker, can make the band useable, especially if digital comunication modes are used. As a ham, if you want to do soemthing unusual, in terms of say power (moonbounce, bouncing signal off the moons surface as a passive repeater, or even venus bounce,) lots of power is required as the losses are so high, up to 100's kw, and allowable to hams under permit. A short stepping stone is to amatuer radio astronomy, and I have an interest there as well, having had a 3.5 meter dish setup at our other farm, and carrying out experiements with it, both transmitting at 10,000 megacycles, or 10 giga cycles, using homemade gear as commercial stuff was either unobtainable or too expensive. Hams also have several OSCAR sattelites orbiting, and they are open to any ham to communicate through. (Oribital sattelite carrying amatuer radio), mostly launched by NASA as ballast payloads for free. Get your licence and there is a whole new world of communications will open to you.
Ive no idea, but it sounds interesting.
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Post by Stealth on Jun 11, 2022 17:46:50 GMT 10
Get your licence and there is a whole new world of communications will open to you.
Lol I don't want to talk to people on a normal day
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Nov 11, 2022 7:06:20 GMT 10
With the recent instability in world events, for those who haven't got a ham license, I suggest you to get hold of a 27 meg CB radio, preferably with ssb (single side band), and monitor channel 14 (27.125 MHz.) to try an establish emergency comms with others outside the range of the UHF CB radio system. 11 meters (27 megs), used to be able to go around the world in the 70's "good buddy' days, so should be able to do it again. 27 megs is still license free, like UHF CB is. There are still a lot of these rigs gathering dust in wardrobes and garages. There were also handheld versions available that ran of internal battery's or 12 volts, but they were a bit unwieldy to carry around with their rather long aerials. I picked up a set of two of these from the tip for free, still in their original boxes and complete. www.ebay.com/itm/153445975921Admittedly, they are crystal types, but do come with channel 14 as standard, and you really only need one channel anyway, as your close in comms needs will be met with some uhf radios for each member of your survival group. The noise levels on the high frequency bands seem to have dropped, and after the fall will drop further as the power grid fails and the interference creating transmitting stations go dead. Practice your groups comms skills now, outfit each person with uhf so as they can call for backup if they are out in the paddock etc when a threat turns up. Rules that guys wish girls knew. 18) If its OUR house, I don't understand why MY stuff get tossed into the basement or floor.
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xd
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Post by xd on Nov 18, 2022 19:57:56 GMT 10
I can run a foundation course via Teams and do the assessment remotely if anyone is interested.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Nov 26, 2022 8:10:28 GMT 10
Reassessing our Short Wave Bug out gear. Rebuilt a Barlow Wadley XCR-30 from the 70's. It covers all short wave bands from 0, yes 0 megs, to 31 megs and includes single side band. Looks like a largish portable ghetto blaster, but is in a fully shielded metal case with two dials. Fully analogue synthesized, as opposed to digital rubbish now, so much, much less internal generated noises and just as stable for SSB reception of hams and some international broadcasters. www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/xcr30/index.htmIt uses 6 off d size battery's and a set of good quality alkaline battery's will last over 12 months, even used every day. The internal pull our rod aerial works remarkably well, as the set has a tunable RF pre amplifier, and can easily pull in most short wave stations using it alone. Provision is made for the connection of a outside aerial, but Ive never needed one, its so good on the standard aerial its not needed. An FM version adapter was made, but its like hens teeth nowdays to find one. Just pack a small AM/FM radio, which is good backup as well. The Barlow is a bit deaf on the AM band as the internal aerial is too short to work efficiently, hence the AM/FM backup radio, and small ones are easily available from E bay for virtually nothing. Any SSB ham conversation within range is easily decoded, and will stay in tune for quite a while. It does drift when using SSB, probably as a result of temperature rising slightly inside the case and causing the master crystal oscillator to drift slightly, and also as the radio is now 50 plus years old, the internal components are also starting to wear out. Theoretically, the capacitors should all be replaced for maximum reliability, but as mine is still working and totally original, I'm not doing that. The drift is slight and a little annoying, but in a bug out situation, not life threatening. Look for corrosion around where the battery holder is, and that can spread to the main printed circuit board and wreak havoc. On the plus side, all components are bog standard and most available from Jaycar or Radio spares off the shelf. Not bad for a 50 year old bit of kit. Oh, the disadvantage.....weight. Its a heavy beast at over 4 kg, due no doubt to the heavy steel case, but it makes it well suited to being knocked around in a bug out situation and still function.
There is provision for external 9 to 12 v dc input, but be aware the socket is wired for positive earth, even though the radio uses NPN transistors, normally with the emitters connected to negative and hence earth, the Barlow uses NPN transistors with the collectors earthed, hence positive earth. This was probably done to get around the patient issues as South Africa was ostracized in the 60 and 70's from the rest of the world due to apartheid. The radio draws less than 25 ma, depending on how loud you play it, so almost any small solar panel, even those rescued from dead solar lights, will power it for ever.
There is also a external earphone socket, as you would expect.
Expect to pay around $500 + for one, if you can find them. Only 20,000 were ever made. A military green one was also made, but very rare. Never believe anything the Government says until its been officially denied.
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