Aloha Mike, The shoulder surfers have backed off 1) they do not have a clue of what we are talking about and 2) they have noticed that they have been discovered and that it is considered rude by certain people who are the prime user of the surfed screen...*grin* Actually, one older guy was just looking as he had never seen anyone use a computer, let alone a woman, let alone one he things is a babe. What can I say?! With Tesla technology can't you move your Nantucket Light Ship (midwest) to another place like Philadephia - or have you not read all about that? (betcha have!) Pirate radio... Yesssss!!!! Please email me or whatever when you get on the air. I love this stuff! (yesh, my email in here works) Weld them down so confiscating them in raids will be more difficult! Make the FCC work for their money! 3's n 8's M is sunny and balmy Hawaii

Man! Can tell I was in the sun all day at Baseball. Musta burnt my brain. Sorry for the mistypings!

It was hot here too - must be Summer... When I was in college, you did not cruise the comp sci or engineering building looking for babes - my, how things have changed. The pirate radio gig is a bit aways - need to get a ship first. Yep, have heard about the Philly Experiment - another topic to add to Geo. Well, gonna fire up the R390A for a while to burn the cobwebs out. Might get to do some listening too once I get my silly work finished. 3's n 8's de Mike Radio Free Cosmo

I think the Philly Experiment would fit nicely into the semi-lunatic fringe collection of Earth Mysteries, which is where the serious and taken seriously are discussed when they are not posted elsewhere... I still think we need a Sonic Earth or whatever. Would you like to create a topic which would encompass your ELF and SETI and other listening projects? Please? 3's n 8's Marcia in HOT and sunny Hawaii - summer is definitely here!

Hi There I guess I can put together something related for geo - like natural radio signals or somesuch - not quite sure if SETI would fit in there or if that is more of the science/physics or radio territory. We could group the whole thing into geo as well. Could try it there and see what the reaction is. (If it was pure radio astronomy, I would place it in the Astronomy or Radio section) 3's n 8's de Mike Radio Free Europa

There is no astronomy conference but I do have topic 24 which is Beyond Planet Earth where I post everything extra-terrestrial... You sure you don't want a topic which is inclussive - like Auditory Earth or something which implies the Earth is emitting radio waves which can be detected... HAve at it - My conference is at your disposal and I am delighted you are interested! Eager, even! 3's n 8's Marcia the eager host in Geo

Ok, hows this for a topic name: "Gaia Magnetosphere" Kinda tribal rave-y with scientific overtones.... 3's n 8's Mike

Love it - and it looks wonderful. I considered naming the entire conference Gaia, but thought it would be misunderstood. Welcome to Geo, Mike! *Hugs* of appreciation! M

Gentlemen, how high does this Solar Flux Index go? It bgan the week below 130! SFI=262 up from 259 | A=21 up from 16 | K=2 at 2100 on 17 May. SAF: moderate, GMF: quiet to active, Aurora Level: 4 More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html 3's n 8's Marci

Putting this in here - if it updates, it goes in Geo 35 for mike

Nope, didn't ! Did not think it would considering what it is showing...*sigh*

Regarding Silly Americans and Heavy UK radios Just got back from holiday across the pond. Aside from jet lag, I did manage to get a new boatanchor in the mail.... (currently gathering dust in some customs house...) It all started after a night of fierce dancing at the Wag Club near Picadilly Circus in London. Lots of cool old 60's Motown and garage bands mixed into a phat and funky beat until 2:30am. 6:30am.... Oy - I get up and plod through cold and rainy streets to the tube stop for the ride to Liverpool station. The station is pretty empty with the exception of some clubbers making their way home - got on the Great Eastern Line and made my way to Ipswich for a radio rally/car boot sale. I was too wired to sleep so I contented myself to watch the damp country side roll by. It was still pissing rain when I was close to my destination and I heard over my 2 meter radio that the boot sale was canceled but the rally would still go on with a smaller bring and buy sale inside. I put out a call for my friend Sam G4DDK to let him know I had made the journey so he could pick me up and give me a ride to the rally. Ham fests and radio rallies are kind of neat since you dont really know what kind of goodies are going to show up. Although this was a subset of the planned sale, there was still some interesting items for sale - saw an old ARC 5 receiver, a nice TCS6 receiver, and a 'Tail End Charley' test set (whatever that was...). I snatched up a 70's era Racal Squadcal military backpack radio. Of course, the prize of the trip was a Racal RA17 hf shortwave receiver in storage at Sam's QTH. After a nice visit, a drive by the BT research facility, and a viewing of Bawdsey Manor (airbourne radar R&D during WWII), the RA17 and me were dropped off at the Ipswich train station for the trip back to London. Now, comes the fun part - lugging back a 44 kilo (67 pound) tube radio. Lucky for me I brought along a luggage cart which simplified things somewhat but it was still a challenge hauling the #&%!@ heavy beast up and down stairs in the various tube stations. Finally, after a long train ride, multiple tube transfers and a half a mile walk back to the hotel, the death march mercifully ended. The radio was hooked up to the mains and fired up - it came to life and I listened to some shortwave for a few minutes. The RA 17 is a classic tube set that uses a unique tuning system. (subject of another post) Of course, its big and heavy and has lots of knobs to fiddle with. I called up the shipping company to arrange pickup, fainted from the sticker shock, and bid my new toy farewell for its journey across the sea. When I see the big wooden crate at the front door, the R390A and SP600 will have to move over a bit for the new boat anchor. 73 de AA9IL Mike

Oh Mike! If it had been anyone but you, I'd be envious out of my mind about your trip across the pond to the Sceptered Isle. How amazing that your Boat Anchor fired up straight away - and without a lot of snapping and zapping as the humidity is driven out of the contacts. So, a ruptured disk later and possibly a hernia as well, wans't it worth it?! Good Business! What have you discovered about the rest of the goodies you got? 3's and 8's Marcia

Been at this too long today.......make that Fine Business and I am going back to Geo....*sigh*

I'm looking forward to hearing about this "unique tuning". Great scores, Mike!

Hi All Ok, rather than me make up some stuff, here is the description from "ShortWave Receivers Past & Present" Second Edition by Fred Osterman: Racal RA17 description p 259 "Ranges: 1-2, 2-4, 4-8, 8-16, and 16-30Mhz. The left tuning knob is for khz and the right tuning knob is for Mhz. The kHz dial is a 6 foot 35mm film scale yielding very high accuracy (+/- 1khz). Stability improved in later production. First communications receiver to use the famous Barlow-Wadly loop drift cancelling system. Heavy duty cast aluminum chassis. Light battleship gray." I will have to dig around the RA17 web sights for more detailed info. I do have a jpeg of the monster that can be added to this thread - is it a matter of copying and 'dropping' into the response box? A little bit more detail on the tuning - you set the MHZ knob to the desired range, then peak a preselector for max noise. The khz tape move across a window to indicate frequency - this type of tuning readout is similar to some of the Watkins Johnson receivers I have that use a film tape for frequency display. Last check on the tracking number is that the radio has not left the UK so my guess is its still gathering dust in some customs warehouse. Kind of reminds me of the government warehouse seen at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" 73 de Mike

Its Here! Its Here! 67 pounds of hunka-hunka radio. What a boatanchor. Tomorrow, the conversion from 220v to 110v then fire it up. Details to follow..... 73 de AA9IL Mike and the Racal RA-17L

Awesome, Mike!!! Light that sucker and listen for Aurora even if you can't see it....lotsa noise, as I recall!

Hot Dawg! Two radios away in the queue before I can send the R390A in for full factory restoration. Next come the RA17 and SP600. Three tube radios will keep the room warm during winter. (3 tube radio night....) 73 de AA9IL Mike

*sigh* there goes the 700MHz computer...

Hello , I just purchased a National HRO-50T1 (Table Top) that looks nearly new but I an sure that a little tune-up and replacing weak tubes would make it better than it already is. I use it mostly for short wave DX-ing (sniffing out rare stations). I would like to find another HRO-50 owner to compare notes.

http://www.camuw.demon.co.uk/web_site/g3ynh/Racal/ra17.html