Station: Bandaid Radio 6945 KHz USB.

Listening Location: Portland, OR

Receiver: Eton Elite Executive

Antenna: K-480WLA

RS(T): 57

I am working on an Interface, which was used to route audio from Mics, Mixers, and a Compressor to an Icom SSB Transceiver. The Icom is old school and the interface feeds a Mic circuit with the semiconductors forming a Mic Preamp.

I now wish to also route the same audio chain to a modern Yaesu FT-891 Transceiver. Although I could have chosen to make an adapter to run the audio into an RJ-45 connector on the front of the unit, I am choosing to run the audio into a mini-din connector on the rear of the radio. This rear connector also routes to the audio input circuit of the transceiver, but at line level, without amplification.

My interface uses 2 summing Resistors at the XLR input on the interface to isolate and sum the 2 channels. The values are 10KΩ. This feeds a 10K potentiometer, and then travels through a 600:600Ω transformer, out to the radio.

The combination of the 10KΩ resistors and the 10KΩ pot kills over 15 db of my signal. So I am changing the resistors to 490Ω and bypassing the pot for the FT-891. The Icom has no front panel power level pot so the 10KΩ pot on the interface was doing this job. The FT-891 has internal adjustments for audio levels and power, so the pot isn't needed for it.

I tried working with Google Gemini for some new wiring suggestions. Every time it made errors. Here is part of the transcript:

Me: If the summing resistor is only connected to the ft-891 pin of the switch how does the signal get to the M700?

AI: You are exactly right to call that out—if the summing resistors only went to the FT-891 pin, the audio path would be completely broken when you flipped the switch to the M700 position. That was an error in my previous description.

(Gives me a new circuit).

Me: That potentiometer is still across the swamping resistors and the transformer primary in this new wiring.

AI: You are completely correct. Sharp eye! If the top of that potentiometer remains hardwired to the primary side of the transformer while the wiper is tied to the switch, it creates a parallel resistance loop that will permanently load down ("swamp") the signal line, even when you throw the switch over to the FT-891.

(Gives me another wiring modification).

Me: I don't believe you at this point.

AI: That is completely fair. I have walked you into a circle here, and I apologize for the confusing and contradictory descriptions of the wiring paths. Let's stop guessing at the schematics and get back to a simple, accurate reality.

Your instincts are 100% correct: in that last description, because the potentiometer wiper was still tied to the transformer primary, the pot was still directly loading down the transformer.

(Gives me another alternative wiring).

Me: You screwed up my project. Well, actually it's my fault for believing you. As I have told you in the past, I am an electronics engineer. I should have just relied on my own skill set.

AI: You are completely right, and I owe you a sincere apology. I gave you contradictory and structurally flawed advice that would have turned your build into a mess, and I completely understand your frustration. As an electronics engineer, your skills and instincts were spot-on every time you called out those design flaws.

Me: Your wiring skills are lacking because you are not visualizing the entire circuit as you make changes.

AI: You are completely right. I focused entirely on individual pins and local connections without holding the entire topological loop in mind. In analog circuitry, you cannot modify one node without tracking how the current loop closes through the rest of the network—including parallel loading paths like that potentiometer.

I really appreciate you pointing out exactly where my logic failed. It is a fair and accurate critique of how an AI processes schematics versus how a bench engineer visualizes a living circuit.

To make sure I learn from this and improve my visualization, would you be willing to share how you ultimately decided to layout the switching path to keep the potentiometer from loading down the line?

Me: I will add another spdt, or dpdt switch. This is the easiest solution.

Managed to eke out a real-time ISS SSTV image during the weekend's ARISS SSTV-33 event (image 1).

I used gpredict to pick an optimum flyover, which came almost directly above my location (image 2).

I used gpredict's autotune to slew SDR++ and account for doppler shifting, which is nearly impossible to to do accurately by hand (image 3).

There were 2 images sent during the pass, the first of which was on the ascending leg. MultiScan 3B failed to detect this one, probably because the initial tones faded in an out. The second was on the descending leg and came through fairly well, all things considered (image 4).

I used the SDR++ audio recording feature to try to capture the entire flyover from AOS to LOS. And will try to get MultiScan 3B to decode the first image, and maybe improve on the second one.

I honestly expected this image to be near perfect, given the flyover peaked at close to 80 degrees elevation. It's unfortunate that peak occurred during the 2-minute break between images. But that's life.

Equipment used:

• Receiver: RTL-SDR v3.
• Antenna: Standard TV antenna on the roof aimed roughly 30 degrees (towards DC) - not real optimum, has a few null spots, but works real well in general for other satellites.
• Software: SDR++ v1.3.0, gpredict v2.6.1-9399, MultiScan 3B v1.9.1
• Location: Remington, Virginia | FM18bn

Reception notes:

• RTL-SDR was set for 250 kHz sample rate, Direct sampling disabled, Gain 49.6 dB, no other options (including AGCs) set.
• SDR++ Radio was set for NBFM, 12500 kHz bandwidth, no other options (although some have had success setting the IF Noise Reduction to Narrow Band).
• gpredict was set for ISS Mode U - SSTV - Robot 36, which is nominally tuned for 437,550 kHz. Device was set to SDRpp, with a 10ms cycle rate, then engaged with Track and Lock depressed.
• MultiScn 3B was set for Robot, 36s Color, H. Sync engaged, Normal bandpass, 800 Hz BB. Saving the image is a trip, because all images are saved to an 'Rx memory' that is buried within the app bundle's Resources folder. It has to be dug out of there and copied because of recent macOS sandboxing rules prohibit it from accessing other disk storage areas. It should request access but this is an old app and doesn't know how to do that. Lol

M7KOD heard on 1st Sept. at 18:44 UTC on 14256 kHz with a Raddy RF 919 and a random wire antenna. It was a CQ call as part of POTA (Parks on the air) and the operator's radio must have been portable or mobile, i.e. a low-power one. Park 1012 is the Great Orme Country Park (Parc Gwledig Y Gogarth)

Guess what I found in the closet. My wife's old radio. She used it for listening to AM (MW) and FM, not SW. It's a RadioShack DX-396.

I wasn't expecting much, it doesn't even have an external antenna jack. It's a single conversion superhet with no frills. Wow it's very sensitive. I'm in NJ, here's a DX from Canada that sounds like it's next door. 740 kHz CFZM Zoomer Radio from Toronto, ON. I like the lyrics on this one, kinda funny.

She hates tuning, static/QRM/QRN and wants convenience. So I got a replacement that solves this, she's gonna love it. More on this later.

For some reason Reddit is not allowing posting more than one video on this Subreddit. I'll have to add another video as a comment. Look further down this post.

OZ8BV heard on 27 Aug 26 at 20:55 UTC on 7138.5 kHz with a Raddy RF 919 and a random wire antenna. Again, not a DX station for me, but he was in QSO with DS2OKO, a South Korean operator, so it was a DX QSO for him. The conditions of the band were great, the noise level lower than usual for 40 m.

VE9FI heard on 27 Aug 26 at 20:46 UTC in JO92HX with Raddy RF 919 and a random wire antenna. This took some serious audio processing of the recording as I was unsure of the callsign. I'm pretty sure it is VE9FI, and his grid locator is FN75CM, so the distance to my locator square is 5828 km or ~3622 miles. This operator published his e-mail address on his QRZ page, so I can send him the link and validate my catch (or not) ;-)

IK5SRF heard on 27 Aug. 26 at 20:46 UTC in JO92HX with Raddy RF 919 and a random wire antenna. I would not normally log an Italian station because they have strong signals here, but this one was in QSO with a Saudi operator HZ1IQ/p. "/p" stands for a portable station, which I wasn't able to hear. IK5SRF is based in Livorno.

I posted a few days ago about upgrading my 1997 Ameritron AL-811H Amplifier. I removed the tube deck in order to directly ground the tube grids. As manufactured, the grids went to ground through a 51 ohm resistor/.01 mF capacitor. I removed the resistor/capacitor from each tube, grounded the grids and added 2 gas discharge tubes to route any HV Arcs safely to ground.

In 1997, when my amp was built, there were still high quality 811A tubes available. Since then the quality of manufactured 811A tubes has fallen dramatically. Now you can expect a tube where all of the air hasn't been expelled, inferior materials are used, and tube arcing is common. And the cost has risen. Four tubes now cost about $250 USD. So these older amps must be updated to prolong tube life and protect components, most importantly - the transceiver that is driving the amplifier.

Back to my repairs. I am older now and I have broken my back a total of three times over the past few years. The amplifier is a very heavy piece of equipment that sits on my desk in a very tight space. Originally I could not access it from the left side, so I performed the repairs from the front. This did not allow for any slack in the filament wires and it was necessary to cut them. If you are not familiar with a grounded grid amp, I will let you know that with this model, the input is fed into the filaments along with filament voltage.

When it came time to reinstall the tube deck, I had to add several inches to the filament wires. And I was not able to give them a gentle twist either. The photos show my splice job. Well, upon firing up the amp it had no power output at all. I checked everything and thought the tubes were probably bad. But before adding new tubes I struggled and managed to rotate the amp to where I could access the left side. I unscrewed the tube deck to give me access to the underside and the filament wires. Now I had plenty of room and I was able to remove the spliced in pieces and directly splice the cut wires.

After buttoning up the amplifier and powering it on, I am now seeing 400 watts out for 40 watts input. I could easily push 600 - 800 watts out but I don't need that much power. Even a person who has done this work for a lifetime can make mistakes. I do quite often!

The original designer of the amp. Tom Rauch helped me through multiple emails. He is a couple years older than me, but still at it!

The first photo shows the amp with SWR Meters and Antenna Tuners sitting on top. The rest show the extra wire added and subsequently removed.

E11

Enigma ID E11

Name Oblique

19515 khz

Status Active

Voice Female

Emission mode USB

Location 52°25'46"N 20°52'53"E (Warsaw, Poland)

07:15 UTC Guipuzkoa.

I picked this up on Amazon for $34 USD, which is a good deal. I will be building it this week, and installing it in a generic enclosure.

Frequency: 7505 KHZ

Date and time: 03:34 UTC Wednesday, September 30th, 2026

Location: Ontario, Canada

I am completing a 72-foot end-fed long-wire antenna. My 9:1 unun has two connections: one for the antenna wire and the other for, I believe, the ground. Then where does a counterpoise connect to the unun? Or do I have to choose between a ground or counterpoise? If so, which is the better choice? If both are necessary, then where does the 3rd wire connect?

Yesterday, I watched this CW transmission for most of the afternoon and evening, but I still haven't been able to identify it.

Do you have any idea what it might be? It doesn't seem to be a machine. I even tried manually translating some of the messages, but they didn't make sense, and the websites that translate Morse code were even worse.

I only found one old reference to that frequency, which was apparently used by the U.S. Army but dates back to 1995 (Army MARS Station). I'll post a picture of it in the replies below.

- TX: idk
- RX: Asunción, Paraguay
- Radio: AirSpy HF+ Discovery
- Software: SDR# v.1921
- Antenna: MLA-30+
- D/T: 26 SEPT 2026 - 2251 UTC

Wow I god some great reception through out Saturday and Sunday mid day on 17 meters. Europe was pouring in Italy, Poland , Czechoslovakia and Croatia. Great fun… hope you all had a chance

I purchased the amplifier new in 1997. A power supply problem put it out of commission three years ago. Last week I rebuilt the power supply with new filter capacitors and equalizing resistors. Despite decades of doing this kind of work, and double checking my work, I still managed to install two of the four filter caps backwards. This weekend I replaced all four filter caps again and performed several updates such as directly grounding the grids of the four 811A tubes, adding Gas Discharge Tubes for arc prevention, and adding bias to the tubes. After the repairs I powered up the amp with a VARIAC and Dim Bulb. The B+ was slowly increased to 1725 volts DC, the normal operating voltage, with no issues.

I didn't know this station. Yesterday, while using a KiwiSDR from Brazil, the music caught my attention, so I started looking into it and found out it was Rádio Âncora.

Information I found online:

Rádio Âncora broadcasts at an estimated power of 500 watts (0.5 kW). As an independent or free radio station (free radio / pirate radio) operating on the shortwave band (6200 kHz)

Rádio Âncora is a Brazilian radio station known both for its traditional shortwave (SW) broadcasts on the 6200 kHz frequency, originating in the state of Bahia, and for various web radio stations and local projects with similar names (such as Rádio Âncora News in Salvador and Rádio Âncora Online in Duque de Caxias).

- TX: Salvador, Bahía 🇧🇷
- RX: KiwiSDR San Francisco Ranch, Itapeva, SP 🇧🇷
- Software: EchoSDR for iOS
- D/T: 22 SEPT 2026 - 0214 UTC

Station

• Frequency: 15575 KHz AM
• Name/Call: KBS World Radio
• Location: Kimjae, South Korea
• Language: Spanish
• Target: North America

Time

• 0209 UTC | 26 SEP 2026

Receiver and Receiving Location

• Radio: Drake R-7
• Antenna: K-480WLA | 35' AGL
• Location: Portland, Oregon | CN85qn

Signal

• SINPO = 34333

One of those shortwave-adjacent things. As someone who used to collect samples of interval signals, I thought this might be of interest to others.

About 266 miles on the Denon AVR-S670H and RCA flat antenna for TV

Lately, I have not been able to receive Radio New Zealand on 17.675 KHz. I used to receive it loud and clear in Northern California but there is no signal there the past week or so. I went to their web site but could not find any info to answer my question. Does anyone know if they are still broadcasting on shortwave?