Help a Curmudgeon Out: Shortwave Recommendation

The Adaptive Curmudgeon is looking for suggestions for an inexpensive shortwave receiver. Got any ideas for him?

I feel like there is good info at the SWLing blog. They also have reviews and a database of shortwave radios.

The Survivor Library

The Survivor Library:

"The library contains thousands of books on technologies that can be produced by most reasonably skilled craftsman using tools not as sophisticated as what can be found in many modern home workshops."

And specifically, the Radio Library:

"The Library contains many books on telegraph systems. It has numerous books on how to build simple radios. It has books on how to build a wire based telephone system from the simplest pieces of equipment up through how to build a telephone exchange and lay wires."

Via Slashdot.org

Antennas for Access Point

We had cause to open up an access point at work. I thought it was kind of interesting to see the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz antennas (six total).

Better pictures and info here.

Watching the Watchers

Target Blu Eye:

"The £999 system (plus £100-£200 for installation) monitors the frequencies of emergency services’ Tetra and Airwave radios and, according to the manufacturer, listens for the distinctive regular pulses sent by the radios every four seconds. These could be emitted by marked or unmarked vehicles; by radios worn by beat officers or mobile speed camera operators; or by radios in police helicopters. When a transmission is detected, the driver is alerted."

And I agree they really wouldn't like this if someone created a network of dectors and publicized their locations.

Via Slashdot

MagicBand Teardown

We used the MagicBands on our trip to Disney. The MagicBand is your ticket, your room key, your PhotoPass, your FastPass, and can be used to make purchases.

I wondered what was inside the MagicBand. I thought about cracking into, but it was just easier to Google it... MagicBand Teardown. I knew it had RFID and suspected that it had something that could be tracked more easily. Looks like that is the case.

In this scenario, I'm not worried about Big Brother - in fact, I'm excited to think Disney can take the magic to a whole new level!

Source of Cheap Radios

I have found the source of some of the cheap radios - the US Marshals.

Tube Radio

LA3ZA What's this? a London tube map, a piece of art, a radio? Just got to have one! dezeen.com/2012/09/10/tub… pic.twitter.com/N1HQ7j5drJ Fri, Apr 05 15:39:46 from TweetDeck

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Name: Sverre Holm, LA3ZA

Location: Asker (Oslo), Norway

Web: http://la3za.blogspot.com/

Bio: Radio Amateur almost licensed about 1970, then finally in 2001: DX, electronics, casual contesting, LDE, QRP, audio. Husband, father of 4, also @HolmSverre

Following: 88 Followers: 100 Updates: 227

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High Frequency Trading and Radio

Hopefully, the people using microwave to do high frequency trading don't have any woodpeckers around.



Acorn video via The Rest of Me

Runbo X5: Android Mobile with UHF

Thanks to an anonymous comment on this post about the Android HT, I present the Runbo X5. The Runbo X5 is a ruggedized Android mobile phone with a built-in UHF (400 - 470 MHz) radio. Clearly, this goes well beyond the basic Android HT we were considering given the mobile phone, IP67 rating, etc. and the price goes up accordingly, but now we have an example of one Android HT implementation.

My Russian is as poor as my Chinese, but I think this post may be correct - the antenna is for the UHF radio, not the mobile phone functionality.

Here is some translated commentary from a review of the previous model, but I think we get the gist of the UHF "intercom" capability:

"Intercom function is a feature of the Runbo X3, no cell phone, no cell phone card case, within a distance of 3 to 5 km, free flowing intercom, the signal is clear, open distance greater than 10 km . The intercom function is all free, ALICE can freely travel are between the timely sharing the joy of the journey."

Need Air Support?

JTRS update: Radio systems move closer to deployment, while GMR gets cut

There is an app for that:

"In the future, the SDR system will continue to evolve along these lines and eventually adapt attributes and features of popular commercial devices such as tablets or iPads, where functionality and capability will be in the form of applications added through the software, he continues. Different applications will be uploaded, run on the SDR for specific missions and different needs using waveforms with different performance characteristics based on mission requirements, Miller adds."

Or you can pull a Dick Tracy:

"'We have an Android-based device that integrates with the Rifleman Radio and is worn on wrist that pulls up and displays maps,' Miller says."

Thanks to anonymous for the comment on my post about the JTRS that sent me to the above article.

Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)

Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) - a silver bullet for military communications and "a certified radio that it will never deploy."

Via KF5CZO and AmateurRadio.com

Wouxun KG-UV6X: Commercial HT with Wide Receive

Powerwerx has a new Wouxun HT with a wider receive capability.

Powerwerx New Item: Wouxun KG-UV6X Dual Band Handheld Radio. Exclusive wide receive 370-512MHz. Upgraded dual slot charger. bit.ly/yMZfVNTue, Jan 24 15:00:20 from web

You might want to check our the Powerwerx Wouxun Model comparison page.

Sports Quote of the Day

Courtesy of Beano on the Tony Basilio show as they discussed a rematch of Bama and LSU:

"If I want to see someone kick for all their points, I'll watch soccer."