[R-390] BPL

[Rbethman]

Hi

I have no doubt that a lot of government services that still rely on HF
will be impacted by BPL. Their boss has signed up for the plan and they
know who calls the shots ....

The "service" is nicely set up so it avoids the AM broadcast band and
stops before it gets to the low end of the VHF FM public utility band.
Somebody knows who not to bother. The public utility stuff still
includes the police (Headline "BPL allows felon's escape ...") and the
AM band has Howard Stern as a defender.

I am amazed that there has been no obvious reaction to this stuff from
the short wave broadcasters. Obviously the BBC is gone, but there are
still a few out there from countries that we talk to .. ( hmmm , may be
a short list ...).

The military has been going to satellite in a big way so HF is not as
big a deal for them. I suspect that one of these days the lack of a
working HF backup system will get them though. How many R390's did they
haul out in the Gulf War ? Those radios were *not* talking to
satellites.

The shame of it is that cable is getting so much faster year by year
that they will be selling 9600 baud modems by comparison when they roll
the thing out. I keep wondering if their main desire is to legally
control their own equipment rather than sell the service to others.

Obviously this is a hot spot with me .... sorry for the rant.

	Bob Camp
	KB8TQ




On Jul 10, 2004, at 6:21 PM, Rbethman wrote:

> Hello!
>
>    I am a LIVING experiment of BPL!  Manassas, VA is running it 
> currently.  I hear EVERY burst from 2Mc up through 30Mc!
>
>    I HAVE to get out the reel to reel tape deck and start recording 
> for both the ARRL and the City Council.  Maybe even the FCC!  It very 
> DEFINITELY detrimental to the HF bands as a whole.  FEMA definitely 
> WILL have problems, along with us.
>
>    I agree that almost ANYTHING makes one darn good receiving antenna. 
>  My own little arrow shaft vertical was more tham proof to me.  The 
> thing that started that project was looking at the collapsible whip on 
> TOs and my Mohican.
>
> Bob - N0DGN
>
> Bob Camp wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> The wire wound arrow shaft antenna working well  is actually a proof 
>> of Maxwell's fifth equation which more or less states "the antenna 
>> you count on the least will always work the best".
>>
>> Most of us go (myself *very* much included) go overboard on  
>> receiving antennas most of the time.
>>
>> Transmitting antennas are a bit of a different story. A lot of the 
>> theory we are taught applies only to a transmitting antenna. Which 
>> parts of the rule book apply to which kinds of antennas is rarely 
>> made clear either in the text books or in class. Often the reaction 
>> of anybody who has used an antenna is "electromagnetic theory is 
>> bunk". It's not bunk, it's just so complex that they rarely teach it 
>> in a comprehensible fashion.
>>
>> If you sprinkle a bit of salt (maybe a bit more than most people 
>> would ....)  on a  damp piece of yarn (say very damp) looped over the 
>> back of a chair (a large chair)  and hook it to your R390 whip 
>> antenna input. It is acting as an adequate antenna *if* the radio 
>> noise level (front end noise + antenna noise) rises when it is 
>> connected to the radio.  It may not be the best antenna you could 
>> have but it is doing a job for you. For the full recipe and other 
>> exciting details on this dish please visit our web site ....
>>
>> A lot of modern antennas are amazingly small by the standards of days 
>> gone by. One excellent example of this is an amplified whip antenna 
>> that a bunch of the guys from this list came up with. It uses a very 
>> expensive FET running hot enough to cook an egg. Very good 
>> performance from sub 100 KC up through 30 MHz (it even does that 
>> little trick as well ...). Most loran-C antennas are *very* small 
>> when you consider the wavelength of a 100KHz signal.
>>
>> Most of us have more trouble from local noise than we used to. A 
>> small antenna located far from, or maybe at right angles to a noise 
>> source may be a better bet than a nice big one that runs right into 
>> the noise.
>>
>> Soon by virtue of broadband over power lines we all will be able to 
>> get a *lot* more experience with this sort of thing. Or I suppose we 
>> could just stop playing with radios. Then we could turn this into a 
>> full time humor list ....
>>
>>     Take Care!
>>
>>         Bob Camp
>>         KB8TQ
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 10, 2004, at 5:07 PM, Rbethman wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Gang!
>>>
>>> Take this in another direction.  Using one of those 50 ohm antenna 
>>> connectors, I attacged two fiberglass arrow shafts.  I joined them 
>>> together with a 1/4" dowel.  I wound its length with #26 enameled 
>>> wire VERY tightly and closely wound.
>>>
>>> I have NO idea as to its impedance.  BUT - my den is mostly below 
>>> ground level.  The recption ia AS GOOD as an outdoor antenna of 
>>> either dipole or ant other I've strung!
>>>
>>> The R-390A loves it and performs flawlessly.  YMMV.  But it sure 
>>> works for me!
>>>
>>> Bob - N9DGN
>>
> <                      Bob Bethman - N0DGN
> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
> | N0DGN AMRadio Manassas, VA    |    REAL Tube Radio and AM        |
> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
> |       Manassas Radio - Home of Homemade Kielbasa & Pirogi        |
> +-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
> | Bob Bethman                \\\|///     " The absence of a danger |
> | rbethman(at)comcast.net   \\ ~ ~ //      signal does *NOT* mean  |
> |                           (/ @ @ /)      that everything is OK " |
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> |               <http://home.comcast.net/~rbethman>                |
> | 1 BC-610I w/BC-614I,1 T-213/GRC-26 w/BC614I 1 '51 Collins R-390A |
> | 1 '67 EAC R-390A, Heathkit DX-60, Apache, Mohawk, SX-101, HT-32A |
> +------------------------------------------------------------------+
> |           Amateur Astronomer - Celestron Nexstar 8               |
> |             12" f5 Dob coming soon!  Being built                 |
> |                  Meade ETX-60 (Got it back!)                     |
> |               38 Deg 46.8' N - 77 Deg 28.5' W                    |
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