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File: 1433286440704.jpg (64.12 KB, 1024x354, 512:177, IMG_5947a.JPG)

Small question(s) Anonymous 06/02/15 (Tue) 23:07:20 No.336

Didn't see a small questions thread. Have small question: Have boner for radio via http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

Want receiver. Cheap PL-660 better than usb SDR and upconvertor?

Also small questions general I suppose.

Anonymous 06/02/15 (Tue) 23:37:04 No.338

PL-660 will likely outperform upconverter+RTL-SDR stick.

But if you get a proper SDR receiver like SDR-IQ or FLEX then those will easily outperform the PL-660.

Anonymous 06/03/15 (Wed) 01:36:04 No.339

>>338

Given that the Flex 1500 runs $700 us and the replacement for the SDR-IQ, the NetSDR, is twice as much again, I'd say that they're both out of OP's probable price range and had damn well better outperform a cheap SW/MW unit.

The PL-660 will almost certainly outperform a USB SDR dongle for high-frequency work and will probably be more fun to actually use.

Anonymous 06/03/15 (Wed) 02:37:29 No.340

>>338

The PL-660 will almost certainly outperform a USB SDR dongle for high-frequency work and will probably be more fun to actually use.

Anonymous 06/03/15 (Wed) 08:38:34 No.341

Thank you!

Anonymous 07/01/15 (Wed) 19:47:19 No.427

Looking at ext aerials for the 660. How do I ATU between the radio and something like an external random wire? A lot of stuff is $$$. School me anons. I can into wire, but ATUs are another matter.

Anonymous 07/03/15 (Fri) 04:26:09 No.434

>>427

>ATU

Antenna TUner?

You don't really need one for receive. Mess with the built-in or external antenna to boost signal strength.

If you do get an external tuner, the best way to tune it will be by ear or by looking at the s-meter. Adjust the knobs to maximize signal strength.

If you mean an Automatic TUner (same thing, but automatic), there's no way to tune most of them for a pure receiver. You need to put enough RF through the unit for it to analyze the SWR on the antenna, so you're talking about something reasonably custom for short-wave listening.

Anonymous 07/03/15 (Fri) 18:02:05 No.436

>>434

I was looking at Rx only. So I don't need an ATU (antenna tuning). Cheers.

Anonymous 07/23/15 (Thu) 22:16:25 No.455

pl660 arrived. nice. now thinking external antenna. wire supplied is okay. want to "upgrade". mini-whip? desktop loop thing? Other?

Anonymous 07/25/15 (Sat) 02:37:20 No.456

File: 1437791840450-0.jpg (250.54 KB, 1280x960, 4:3, P07-12-15_19.39.jpg)

File: 1437791840450-1.jpg (80.36 KB, 502x717, 502:717, calculations.jpg)

>>455

not familiar with the equipment you are talking about here but the question of antenna is always a good one.

It mainly depends on two things

a. Rx only? or Tx / Rx

b. frequency of interest

the amount of space you have available is the most common limit. nice big simple wire antennas work well but you need large areas and poles / trees / buildings to suspend the wires from.

impedance matching is very important when transmitting and for low level and long distance receiving. in general practice tuning the antenna / transmission line / receiver setup isn't necesary.

the ARRL website is a good resource even if it is over complicated.

this website is filled with useful info

http://www.antenna-theory.com/antennas/main.php

I've been having fun with a usb rtl dongle and the antenna I just built

>pic related

a 137Mhz QFH for receiving the NOAA weather satellite images. I've found the antenna works very well for broadcast FM (88~108Mhz) as well as higher frequencies (855Mhz trunking)

Anonymous 07/26/15 (Sun) 10:25:06 No.457

>>456

The unit is for Rx. Small portable. Freq? I can get SW from 2000km away at the moment (with built-in), but I want moar. Also want to increase quality of weatherfax reception, psk31, that sort of thing (IF I can find any on 10, 11m, and up).

Anonymous 09/21/15 (Mon) 01:48:29 No.471

File: 1442800111208.jpg (58.93 KB, 800x731, 800:731, tecsun380.jpg)

hey hams, another greenhorn here looking to just listen for now.

I recently bought pic related because it can listen to shortwave, but now I'm kicking myself because too late I had learned that it doesn't have ssb capabilities.

Will I be better off with the PL-600 or is there anything you guys can recommend? Portability is preferred, but non-essential, and hopefully nothing more expensive than $100.

Anonymous 09/22/15 (Tue) 16:26:03 No.472

>>471

The pl-660 is the bomb. I had it hooked up to the supplied wet string wire antenna and was Dxing half way round the fucking planet on USB (upper side band). It is worth saving pennies and getting a high quality portable (and then antenna etc etc blah blah blah).

Anonymous 09/25/15 (Fri) 17:54:13 No.474

>>472

ok, so

Anonymous 09/25/15 (Fri) 18:03:12 No.475

File: 1443204192245.jpg (378.5 KB, 1600x1200, 4:3, serveimage.jpg)

>>474

ok, that was a fail on my part.

>>472

I ended up getting pic related instead of the 660, and I'm frustrated. I certainly get more channels than I got with the 440, but I don't seem to be getting too many on the hams. I'm tempted to do the traditional shortwave antenna, but I'm getting buyer's remorse because I feel I might as well get the ham it up since I already got the RTL stick and some accessories. Sdr for mariners recommended not to get it and that I might as well have gotten a portable because it's cheaper. I look at ham it up's cost now, it is basically less than half of what I bought the sony for, and I just feel like I don't know and have no idea what I'm doing anymore.

so in otherwords, something that should've been simple now feels complicated.

Anonymous 09/26/15 (Sat) 19:30:15 No.476

>>475

I might as well clarify my post in case someone arrives to give information.

The past few days I've been using my 600GR, I've been loving it, except for one little quirk, which I'm not sure if it's a design problem or just a radio problem in general. when I try to listen to SSB, I often will hear AM stations over it- I get what I think is a ham broadcasting a signal, only to find out that It's either religious broadcasting or spanish news.

It very well could be that I'm simply impatient and don't know what to listen for, or how exactly to use my radio in the first place to "catch" a ham signal. I've read the manual, I suppose it's more of a practice thing.

does temperature/time of day have -that- much of an effect on radio reception?

Anonymous 09/27/15 (Sun) 13:31:11 No.477

>>475

muh nig

i have that too

Anonymous 09/27/15 (Sun) 14:10:50 No.479

>>476

Picking up SW broadcasters does depend on the atmospherics amd time of day. Hams are out there, but you have to find the "busy" bands. For me it's either 20m or 40m. Solar activity plays into all this too. We are approaching a solar minimum of an 11 year cycle which affects propagation of SW signals.

TL;DR radio probably cool, other shit coming in to play that you can't affect.

Find somewhere high, like a hill or mountain. Try there. Electromagnetic interference also plays a part. Get out of the house or put a fuck ass antenna up on your roof.

20m is in the 14000khz, 40m is in the 7000khz range. Listen out for morse signals too. Oh and try upper sideband as it seems to be the one used a lot (LSB lower side band) is also used but YMMV.

Anonymous 09/27/15 (Sun) 14:12:28 No.480

>>475

Oh and if you don't have an ext antenna port, a crocodile clip and lengthbof wire on the built in antenna works.

Anonymous 09/28/15 (Mon) 06:38:28 No.481

File: 1443422308344.jpg (15.52 KB, 450x450, 1:1, sangean-portable-shortwave….jpg)

>>475

>>476

Bruh, the ICF-SW7600GR is a solid unit. Like all SW receivers, you really want to use a nice big antenna on it instead of the stock. Your unit has an external antenna port, you can plug something like whats in my image to significantly improve sensitivity on nearly all bands. Ham-It-Up is good (i've got one), but you're susceptible to a lot of noise from that as its powered through USB. Switchmode converters are the devil.

Hearing all the big stations is normal, they'll definitely choke out signals because they've got multi-megawatt transmitters. Ideally, the 20m and 40m bands are where you'll hear most chatter from hams. Reduce your signal noise by running on batteries. As >>479 stated, solar activity is affecting SW at the moment, but good antennas will help with this.

It comes down to practice, but also knowing your radio. Use headphones, close your eyes and concentrate on isolating sound from noise. Have a drink and just enjoy it. Switch to Upper Sideband as its universally the standard hams like to use. Your receiver has PLL so it can 'lock' onto signals, but you need to learn how to do that.

Good luck my friend! Let me know how you go!>>336

Anonymous 09/28/15 (Mon) 06:41:17 No.482

>>481

Sorry, not megawatt, kilowatt. There have been very few megawatt transmitters ever made.

Anonymous 10/06/15 (Tue) 11:24:33 No.496

How are the Funcube dongles? I have an RTL 820T2, but I'd like some way to pick up the lower frequencies. Other SDR recommendations are fine as long as they don't demand closed software.

Anonymous 10/06/15 (Tue) 14:59:19 No.497

I made a pizza pan planar disk antenna and the background noise is awful. I'm thinking it's because the pizza pans have this anti-stick coating on it.

Would that really make significant noise?

Anonymous 10/10/15 (Sat) 00:25:12 No.507

>>497

I know teflon (a major component of the pan coating) is one of the best electrical insulators out there.

Anonymous 10/10/15 (Sat) 15:08:35 No.508

File: 1444489715826.jpg (54.58 KB, 400x267, 400:267, related.jpg)

OP here: Things not needing their own thread..

I PASSED MY HAM TEST! I now have my first license!

>mfw

Anonymous 10/11/15 (Sun) 22:47:20 No.513

>>497

The anti-stick coating means nothing. Do you have the antenna indoors right next to all your electrical equipment?

Guess what it's gone pick up the noise from them.

Move the antenna outside as far away from anything man made as possible and check again if the noise level is the same.

Your location just might have bad RFI. Maybe all your neighbors own plasma TV's and tons of ledlights made in china and chinese industrial grade electrical ballasts in all their lights.

Maybe your 1.99 china special iPhone charger is to blame ( I had one that had significant RFI up to 200MHz).

Anonymous 10/12/15 (Mon) 06:08:21 No.516

File: 1444630101376.png (31.32 KB, 1394x508, 697:254, 0gainbutstillnoisy.png)

>>513

Our house is awful for RF noise, I normally head over to the coast to look around. Unfortunately a telescopic antenna doesn't provide great reception either.

Anonymous 10/12/15 (Mon) 17:37:47 No.517

looking for a wire stripper, crimper, and cutter for working with coax. what are some good places to buy from? from all i've seen, the tools aren't suitable for coax.

Anonymous 10/12/15 (Mon) 22:36:20 No.518

>>517

You will need a proper crimper, and a box cutter for working with coax.

Depends on the coax you plan to work with. Most people use RG-58. But there are other sizes depending on your application (some underground cables are larger etc. etc.).

Anonymous 10/12/15 (Mon) 22:38:19 No.519

>>516

That noise floor is way too high! -88dB across the board? Try disconnecting the antenna. If it stays the same, their may be a problem with the Rx'er. Also, that noise looks like a comb generator, maybe the front end is getting overloaded?

Anonymous 10/13/15 (Tue) 00:26:59 No.520

>>519

Even for one of those $20 TV tuners? I do intend to pick up something better but wanted to evaluate if I want to get into this proper first. Also all the spikes can be put down to all the electronics and wireless things that are here. The same happens if I move the antenna close to the laptop I run from.

Anonymous 10/13/15 (Tue) 20:23:45 No.521

>>518

I was planning on using RG-8 for less loss

anyway, just recommend me some brands that manufacture coax tools?