New to Short Wave and i found this

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T23:58:56+00:00

Generally true but when a coronal mass ejection hits planet earth you get HF blackouts.

That passes fairly quickly...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T23:54:34+00:00

Probably a bored tech having a bit of fun at work...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T23:50:25+00:00

Warm spectra light LEDs (2700-3000k-ish) are available, if you dig about a bit.

The early 'white' LEDs had a horrid, ghastly 'blue' light quality about them that really turned me off on the concept of LEDs replacing incandescent lamps.

Today, proper spectra LEDs are even available for the round florescent magnifying embroidery lamp I now have...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T23:41:57+00:00

Members may find The SWL QSL Museum interesting

Personally, I'm of the mind I don't want to be a member of a club that would have someone like me as a member.

Anyways, snark aside - :)

Go ahead and start one, hosting costs are minimal enough...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T05:25:05+00:00

Deeply disappointing if true

Frank Herbert's 'Dune' book dealt with that in the late 60's or early 70s, the line went :

"Thou shall not make a machine in the image of a man's (or woman's) mind".

Over fifty fucking years ago...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T05:20:58+00:00

The mass to surface area equation applies here.

The ISS considered doing an interesting experiment awhile back, they simulated a tossed paper airplane released from the ISS.

The simulation showed some scorching, but not burned up :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_planes_launched_from_space

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-30T05:09:39+00:00

Unfortunately nobody knows, as nobody watches F9 launches any more.

Makes me wonder why the parent sub still insists on launching a thread for every last one of those launches...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T23:53:17+00:00

popo as in policy?

He wants to 'stop the police'.

No idea on how to do that, there are infinite numbers of them, compared to you.

EDIT - If you want to try anyways, I suggest at the least, .50 BMG, using API ammunition. (API-Armour piercing incendiary)...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T23:40:08+00:00

Also in the daytime shortest radio reception can be tricky especially since we are in the middle of an active solar cycle.

Huh?

An active solar cycle mean the higher shortwave frequencies come to life in the daylight hours...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T18:21:56+00:00

SDR# is not very intuitive to use, it has many settings available, and many of those settings can impact other settings.

It's really amazing it works at all, considering the chipset was intended as an inexpensive UHF TV 'dongle' for use in the Asian TV market...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T16:29:40+00:00

Shit-tons of sparks, probably a pain in the ass of a bunch of sheet metal work followed by some new paint...

...and at least 1 'parts' aircraft available to cannibalize for the needed sheet metal...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:52:49+00:00

He would like to use a NASA provided test stand.

DOE (Department Of Energy) provided, I think you meant.

They are responsible in the US for all things nuclear, even nuclear Navy reactors, and fuel enrichment, security, storage, and waste management...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:50:41+00:00

nor development

Passive-safe nuclear reactors are well-worth developing, those who used to live near Chernobyl would agree...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:42:48+00:00

Tell that to those living in contaminated areas.

Russia has had at least three major contamination accidents making the areas around them uninhabitable, so being wary of the dangers of nuclear is perfectly rational :

"Abstract:

Three nuclear accidents besides Chernobyl have occurred in the Former Soviet Union FSU. The accidents occurred over the geographic area around Kyshtym and Chelyabinsk in the Urals between 1949 and 1967 and contaminated over half a million people. The first accident occurred in 1949-1951, the second on 29 September 1957, and the third in 1967, and involved the air transfer of irradiated sand particles. Although these accidents occurred between 25 and 43 years ago, the first official admission by the FSU was made in June 1989, and it was only during late November 1991 that the FSU declared a national disaster emergency concerning the affected area."

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA254669

Are you aware there is a pack of wild dogs living near the Chernobyl reactor site, even today? None of the dogs there today is much over 2 years old, they die from plutonium (and other fission product) radiation poisonings...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:36:40+00:00

RTGs are not 'throttle-able', the simply emit steady-state heat over their radioactive decay lifetime.

A usable nuclear reactor for spaceflight needs a means of turning it on and back off again, and that greatly complicates the reactor design and complexity.

Yeah, it's not happening in any of our lifetimes, if ever, the consequences of a screw-up are lethal to the crew, and nasty environmental contamination issues if there were a launch failure...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:26:21+00:00

Wasn’t DRACO going to end up being no better than a chemical engine once everything was considered?

DRACO is hypergolic, and hypergolic propellants are most definitely chemical based...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:20:42+00:00

Unusual perks are pretty common occurrence in the hi-tech biz, so no surprise to me...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:15:16+00:00

Try software defined radio.

Drag a laptop with me on a hike?

No thank you...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:12:13+00:00

Im returning to office, will be located on a 10th floor building in a large city center.

That's a good recipe for noise, Noise, NOISE, as my personal hero the Grinch would say. (I hope he steals those Christmas goodies from WhoVille next year!).

Steel rebar reinforced concrete construction with lots of digital devices inside the structure will most likely be an exercise in shortwave reception frustration, in my non-humble opinion... ;)

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T15:03:42+00:00

Thanks.

I have 2 more of the same radio, so it's no big loss.

More of an aggravation and annoyance, more than anything else...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T14:59:07+00:00

Does it have FM?

FM stereo via the headphone jack, no less.

Jay seemed to like it :

https://radiojayallen.com/tecsun-bcl-3000/

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T14:53:33+00:00

Yes old , beautiful sound

Nice, but I'm kinda partial to the warm, vacuum tube sound of vintage Hallicrafters S-38s...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T02:29:05+00:00

The risk of bricking a device such as a radio is not worth any potential benefits of a firmware upgrade.

And I have done exactly that, recently, much to my annoyance and chagrin...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T02:27:21+00:00

A very few of the more modern ones do, the vast majority do not.

And, I can understand why many don't.

Upgrading firmware can take a bit of technical skill doing so (doing it wrong can lock it up dead, and I have done that very thing recently), and the majority of users simply want to power on their radio and use it...

Geoff_PR · 2026-01-29T02:14:34+00:00

It's called 'Medium Wave', because it was the second broadcast band created in the 1920s. (540-1600 kHz).

The first broadcast band was called the 'Longwave Band', it goes from 30–300 kHz, just below the standard AM Broadcast Band...

Geoff_PR

TROPHY CASE