April
2014 Contents
From Army Pirates to Morale Radio
By Rich Post KB8TAD
U.S. servicemen in World War II found
themselves away from home,
many for the first
time in their lives.
Deployed overseas, among the things they missed the most was nightly entertainment on the radio.
Believing that something as basic as listening
to the radio would boost service morale,
the U.S. government deployed
portable radio stations around
the world to re-broadcast programming from home. Meanwhile, manufacturers cranked out “morale radios”
by the tens of thousands
during the course
of the war. Regular contributor, Rich Post
KB8TAD, traces the origins
of Morale Radio.
TSM Reviews: Uniden BC536HP
Mobile Scanner
By Chris Parris
Just released this past January,
Uniden’s BC536HP
mobile scanner
promises a lot at a time of major change
in public service
radio. Federal Wavelengths columnist and longtime
scanner listener
Chris Parris puts this new radio through its paces. Despite
earlier issues, Chris believes Uniden has another winner in its inventory.
C-Band Free-to-Air Satellite on a 6-Foot Dish
Mario Filippi N2HUN
Regular
contributor, Mario Filippi N2HUN, can’t resist
a monitoring challenge. From low-band
DX to VHF/UHF
listening on a DVB-T dongle, he’s pretty
much done it all. Now he turns his attention to foreign TV DX via broadcast satellites parked
23,000 miles over the Atlantic Ocean. But, the trick is that
he’s doing it with an inexpensive six-foot dish!
Build this Experimental AM DX Receiver
James Kretzschmar AE7AX
Most of us started our listening hobby
on the AM band, which still remains a happy DX hunting
ground. And, most of us began our electronics self-education by building a crystal set for AM band reception. Former Monitoring Times contributor, James Kretschmar AE7AX, combines
the two by offering
this experimental AM DX receiver
for TSM readers’ enjoyment.
Unraveling the Mysteries of Coaxial Cable
By
Mark Haverstock K8MSH
To many hams, coaxial
cable seems like a modern addition
to the shack. But, it’s been around longer
than amateur radio. A former regular
contributor to Monitoring Times, Mark Haverstock K8MSH looks
at the origins of coax and the mythology that has been built around its use in amateur radio.
April 2014 Columns
Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Weather Monitoring
Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Federal Interoperability Revisited
Utility
Planet
By
Hugh Stegman
New Frequency
for Cuban “Babbler”
Digital
HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
Monitoring Safety at Sea with GMDSS/DSC
Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Antennas: Height
Makes Right!
Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Amateur Radio DX and QSLing Made Easy
Radio
Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Comparative Analysis with ACE-HF
The World of Shortwave
Listening
By Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL
Traveling Light, SWLing Right
The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Voice of Vietnam
and Channel Africa
Amateur Radio Satellites
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF
Amateur Radio Satellite Update
The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
Mid-to-Late Season DX
Adventures
in Radio
Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
A Tale of Two Progressive Radios
The Broadcast Tower
By Doug Smith W9WI
AM Improvement: The People
Speak
Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Closer to Daylight: Antennas
Above 54 MHz