Paul Thurst – Page 96 – Engineering Radio

Storm preparations underway

Last night, I went to bed and all was well with the world. This morning, I woke up and, Hey Now! It would seem there is trouble brewing out in the ocean. The weather people are talking of some superstorm, a combination of a category two hurricane and a winter blizzard with a tsunami and a bit of dust bowl thrown in for good measure. Okay, I made up the dust bowl part.

Here is the five-day forecast:

It looks like the Mid-Atlantic coast is in for a direct hit, but the probabilities include coastal NY, NJ, and CT. Thus, storm preparation has begun. Today’s list is as follows:

Check All backup generators, and refuel as needed. Check oil, water, battery water, etc. Make sure the generator starts from the remote command.
Check all backup transmitters, where installed.
Check other backup systems, such as STLs, sump pumps, etc.
Make sure that buildings are secure and any loose items are secured.

Perhaps this storm will be one of those over-hyped non-events. Only time will tell, however. If it continues on its present course, then personal preparation will consist of:

Procuring a good flashlight with fresh batteries for the tool kit (perhaps several).
Taking care of household needs for the storm.
Full set of mechanical tools.
Some extra food and water in the work truck.
A change of dry clothes in the work truck, including shoes or boots.
Sleeping bag in the work truck.

Better to be prepared than to sit in wet clothes wishing it wasn’t so. More updates to follow.

Saturday, 8 am Update:

During Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, it was the rainfall that did the most damage. Looking at the current rainfall predictions, it appears the worst of it will be to the south by a good bit:

These things can change as the storm progresses, continuing with preparations.

Update, Sunday afternoon, 3pm:

The storm is still progressing more or less along the forecast track. Further to the south and in coastal areas, there is a strong possibility of flooding. Around this area and north, it looks like it will be a mostly wind event, with only 3-4 inches of rain predicted. Preparations are being finalized, I have added the chain saw to the truck inventory.

At what price do we pay our mortgages?

Political content warning: This post will contain statements that may include political points of view and/or be contrary to the narrative currently espoused by the corporate media outlets.

This election season, all the stops have been pulled out. Massive amounts of money have flowed into the accounts of political candidates for nearly every office though out the land. Over and over again, we hear political advertisements about this, that or the other candidate doing something unethical or just plain wrong. Is it true? Is it a lie? Does it matter? What effect does this have on the general population? If psychological studies are correct, hearing the same statement repeated several times, people will tend to believe it, even if they are not paying attention. As George W. Bush once said while he was President of the United States:

“See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

This is the same mechanism used to brainwash people into religious cults.

Are we merely electing people because they have enough money to pay for the advertising required? Are they qualified to figure out how to fix and get the economy going again, or are they simply rich enough to buy the election?

At what point do we look at our own employment and our roles at various media outlets and wonder what connection it has with the current political and economic conditions in the US? For myself, I almost never listen to the radio stations that I do work for, other than to evaluate technical quality. As far as the programming content, I honestly could not tell you whether station X plays polka or top forty. However, even with that limited listening and knowledge, it is impossible not to miss the political propaganda on the airwaves.

What role has the current media model played in the election of corrupt (or at least inept) public officials? What role is the current media model playing in the partisan, divide and conquer, keeping the masses distracted while they finish the looting scheme? When do we become concerned that, even in a small supporting role, we are enabling the brainwashing of the general public?

We all have our own financial responsibilities, and that is true. However, perhaps it is time to step back and look at the big picture. There are many parallels in the history of humanity between the current situation in the US and other, long-gone governments like Rome, The Ottoman Empire, The Weimar Republic, and the former USSR. It’s time to ask, where are we going and what is going to happen when we get there?

Radio Shack catalog archive

This is a trip down memory lane. Someone has taken the time to preserve and document Radio Shack, its founding, history, and all of the catalogs printed from 1939 to 2005. The website archive is Radio Shack Catalogs.

I remember reading these very catalogs cover to cover when they came out in the mid-1970s. At that time, this stuff looked expensive, and in relative dollar terms compared to today, it was. We had one of these computers in our “Math Lab” in 9th grade:

In fact, when I found one of these computers stashed away in the corner of a transmitter site, I had a flashback of Mr. B scowling as yet another student made a mistake plotting x/y coordinates on the backboard.

Ahhh, memories. Enjoy!

SAQ Grimeton

Historic VLF (Very Low Frequency) station SAQ Grimeton will be on the air to celebrate United Nations Day on October 24th at 10:30 UTC (6:30 am EST) on 17.2 KHz CW. This station was established in 1922 and is the last radio station in the world employing an Alexanderson transmitter. More information at their website.

This is a great 2011 video of a tour of the station, including transmitter start-up:

It is great to see that old gear come to life and transmit a message. The electric motor/generator sounds like a jet engine spooling up.

Before solid-state or even hollow-state rectifiers, motor generators were used to create the DC voltages needed to transmit high-power radio signals. This method was used by high-powered Naval shore stations through WWII and beyond.

By way of comparison, an average CW operator can send and receive Morse code at about 20-25 words per minute. A good CW operator, about 30 words per minute and a Russian CW operator, somewhere near 50 words per minute. This was the main wireless data transmission method until Radio Teletype came into widespread use in the 1950s. Here is a comparison of data speeds through the years:

Method	Speed	Bits/S
CW	20 WPM	8.3
CW	35 WPM	14.58
Radio Teletype*	75 Baud/100 WPM	41.6
Radio Teletype*	100 Baud/133 WPM	55.41
Async data	300 Baud	300
Async data	1200 Baud	1200
Async data	9600 Baud	9600
Switched 56 (Switchway)	56KB	56,000
DS0 (POTS)	64KB	64,000
ISDN	64KB X2	128,000
DS1 (T-1)	1.54 MB	1,540,000
DS3 (T-3)	45 MB	45,000,000
Ethernet	10BaseT	10,000,000
Ethernet	100BaseT	100,000,000
Ethernet	Gigabit	1,000,000,000

The Morse Code (CW) and Radio Teletype data rates are not a direct comparison, as most radio teletype systems use 5-bit Baudot code instead of 8-bit ASCII. Morse code varied in length from one to five bits, if one thinks of each dot or dash as a data bit. Back in the day, before the “Netcentric” mindset, we used mainly radio teletype to communicate from ship to shore. A premium was placed on brief, concise, operational communications. Everything else was sent via the mail.

It is quite amazing to see the increase in data speed, which directly correlates to information exchanged (or the ability to exchange information) in the last 90 years.

To receive SAQ Grimeton, one needs a VLF receiver or converter capable of receiving 17.2 KHz and a very quiet receiver location. There are many VLF hobbyists that will be tuning in.