ICOMJAPAN: 0 to 30 MHZ what can we hear and listen to? Part TWO

samedi 10 juin 2023

0 to 30 MHZ what can we hear and listen to? Part TWO

Part TWO, 2 Megahertz to 7 Megahertz

For part THREE

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/06/0-to-30-mhz-what-can-we-hear-and-listen_12.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR0HmeaVvh3Y8GgyRunOvGDVTPTZhzPshTZ3EVSH4jKKwr3VcRoi3qscXFE

What can you hear? Go to my posts and you will see what you can listen to?

I use WEB SDR or KIWI SDR in Europe

2 MHz to 7 MHz is in the HF High Frequency who start at 3 MHz and finish at 30 MHz, 100 meter to 10 meter. This is the Short Wave

For the radios stations in AM they are 120 meter, 90 meter, 75 meter, 60 meter and 49 meter.

For amateur radio

80 metres or 80 / 75 meters in LSB– 3.5–4.0 MHz (3500–4000 kHz) – Best at night, with significant daytime signal absorption. Works best in winter due to atmospheric noise in summer. Only countries in the Americas and few others have access to all of this band, in other parts of the world amateurs are limited to the bottom 300 kHz (or less). In the US and Canada the portion of the band from 3.6–4.0 MHz, permits use of single-sideband voice as well as amplitude modulation voice; this sub-band is often referred to as "the 75 metre band".
Listen at night
60 metres – 5 MHz .
A number of amateur radio propagation beacons are active on 5 MHz, some of which produce a sequence of varying power levels in various transmission formats. A number of these transmit 24/7 (but not all) and some personal beacons are activated as required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60-meter_band
40 metres – In LSB 7.0–7.3 MHz – Considered the most reliable all-season DX band. Popular for DX at night, 40 metres is also reliable for medium distance (1,500 km; 1,000 miles) contacts during the day. Much of this band was shared with broadcasters, and in most countries the bottom 100 kHz or 200 kHz are available to amateurs. However, due to the high cost of running high-power commercial broadcasting facilities, decreased listenership, and increasing competition from Internet-based international broadcast services, many "short wave" services are being shut down, leaving the 40 metre band free of other users for amateur radio use.
40 me
ter is open the day for short distance and DX the evening

Amateur radio can use many modes, AM, SSB ( Phone ) CW morse code, RTTY, etc. Every week end they are contests and you are sure you can listen to many DXCC. They are 340 DXCC in the world.

For CW you can use a KIWI SDR to decode morse code

https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2023/05/listen-and-decode-morse-code-cw-with.html

This is one of my blogs about listening to amateur radio bands

https://quarantametri.blogspot.com/

The 20 meter band 14 MHz is the best band to listen to many DXCC

Each DXCC have a call like F for France

https://www.ng3k.com/Dxcc/dxcc.html

Like radios you can send reception report to an amateur radio opérator and receive his qsl card.

In the 90's i received QSL cards from 250 différent DXCC with my SWL call F14368 for QSO in SSB

From 2 MHz to 3.5 MHz they are a lot of utility stations

The term utility station is used to describe fixed radio broadcasters disseminating signals that are not intended for reception by the general public (but such members are not actively prohibited from receiving). Utility stations, as the name suggests, do broadcast signals that have an immediate practical use, by means of analog or usually digital modes; most often utility transmissions are of a "point-to-point" nature, intended for a specific receiving station. Utility stations are most prevalent on shortwave frequencies, though they are not restricted to the shortwave frequencies.

A utility is the jargon for any radio station on the short wave band that is not for the public's entertainment or hobby. All those huge gaps on your shortwave radio, the ones between broadcast and amateur bands, are utility bands allocated by international treaties.

The word "utility" comes more or less from the original Latin for "usefulness." With very few exceptions, these radio communications are most certainly being used as part of some mission or task, known or unknown.

Utilities are harder to hear than broadcasts, but they're way more fun. You'll find all the world's militaries, ships, aircraft, spies, bootleggers, embassies, and anyone else who needs to communicate over the horizon. While satellites are often primary, the failure of Galaxy IV shows once again why many people want a shortwave backup. If your radio has a "USB" or "CW" setting, you're ready to give utilities a try.

The Utility Planet column and its web site are intended as friendly, jargon-free clearinghouses for utility information, so you'll hear more signals and fewer odd noises. In other words, you folks write both of them.

This is not my cup of tea but sometimes it can be fun to try to decode stations in CW or other modes with a kiwi sdr.

To décode you must click on extension and choice the mode

You can find many informations on these strange radio stations

http://ominous-valve.com/uteworld.html#utedef

http://mt-utility.blogspot.com/

https://www.klingenfuss.org/utility.htm

It is also possible to receive QSL CARDS from utility sations

http://lintz.chez-alice.fr/qsl_utility_station.html

Utility stations and time stations.

These are stations that broadcast very specific information, often of a private nature. Thus one can listen to broadcasts from the various army corps, civil airlines, aviation weather stations (Shannon, Gander, New York), private maritime or telephone communications, or press agencies. A large part of these links is provided in SSB (single sideband). The utility stations are very interesting by their content and their very specific role in the spectrum of short waves, but they do not constitute the essence of DXism.

As for time stations, you can find them in several countries around the world. Some of them transmit according to specific periods, others 24 hours a day. With them, it is possible to adjust to universal time and to be precisely at the rendezvous of the programs broadcast by the stations. international. To name a few time stations, there is WWV in Colorado which broadcasts continuously on 5000, 10000, 15000 and 20000 kHz Universal Time along with weather forecasts and wave propagation data. There is also CHU Canada in Ottawa (on 3330, 7335 and 14670 kHz) which announces universal time 24 hours a day. This is old informations but maybe they can help you to understand Utility and time stations

We come back to amateur radio, on the WEB SDR you can see in green color the number of the band. This is 40 meter. I listen to french Hams in QSO together on freqencie 3662 LSB

http://www.dxsummit.fi/#/?include=3.5MHz&include_modes=PHONE

You can use a WEB cluster to find interesting DXCC, you can also spot if you are registred as a SWL like me F14368frank on QRZ.COM

https://www.qrz.com/db/F14368FRANK

Propagation is good today at night

For radios AM band the color is purple, i listen the band 75 meter, radio 292 on 3955 kHz from Germany. SIO 555

https://www.channel292.de/

We still have many utilitary stations 4000 to 4500 kHz

Only few radios AM but many utility stations on 60 meter band

I listen to china in tibetan language and the transmiter in in Tibet on 4905 kHz

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/2023/05/pbs-xizang-4905-in-tibetan-lhasa-baiding.html

https://www.short-wave.info/

5 MHZ to 5900 kHz lot of utility stations

5900 kHz start the radio AM band 49 meter to 6200 kHz but of lot of pirates radios are also in this area !!!

Which DX'eur has never heard a pirate radio?

These stations broadcast without any authorization, hence the name pirate or free radio.

They can be heard on short wave or medium wave, especially on weekends. In short waves, the majority emit between 6200 and 6400 Khz (48 m band).

But these stations also transmit on other frequencies such as 3900, 7900, 9300, ....

In medium waves, we can listen to them mainly above 1602 Khz.

The majority of pirate radios are located in the Netherlands, some in Germany, Great Britain, northern countries, ...

but also in Italy, Greece (especially in MW) and a few in France.

The "good mood" is often present on these stations. They usually broadcast music, sometimes information about the DX.

Some resorts, and this is what gives them their charm, have a very different style.

Listening to these stations is generally very pleasant. Alas, a few (which I would call "soulless stations") only play non-stop music,

without any jingle, without hearing the operator, and even sometimes without any identification!

The majority of these pirate stations confirm by eQSL (electronic QSL by email) the listening reports (see my page on pirate QSLs).

Some pirate stations confirm by paper QSL card, such as IBC, Radio Scotland International, Radio Waves International, Skyline Radio Germany, ...

Happy listening pirates!

Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.^[1]

In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross a national boundary. In other cases, a broadcast may be considered "pirate" due to the nature of its content, its transmission format (especially a failure to transmit a station identification according to regulations), or the transmit power (wattage) of the station, even if the transmission is not technically illegal (such as an amateur radio transmission). Pirate radio is sometimes called bootleg radio^[2] (a term especially associated with two-way radio), clandestine radio (associated with heavily politically motivated operations) or free radio.

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php

Propaganda broadcasting may be authorized by the government at the transmitting site, but may be considered unwanted or illegal by the government of the intended reception area. Propaganda broadcasting conducted by national governments against the interests of other national governments has created radio jamming stations transmitting noises on the same frequency to prevent reception of the incoming signal. While the United States transmitted its programs towards the Soviet Union, which attempted to jam them, in 1970 the government of the United Kingdom decided to employ a jamming transmitter to drown out the incoming transmissions from the commercial station Radio North Sea International, which was based aboard the motor vessel (MV) Mebo II anchored off southeast England in the North Sea. Other examples of this type of unusual broadcasting include the USCGC Courier (WAGR-410), a United States Coast Guard cutter which both originated and relayed broadcasts of the Voice of America from an anchorage at the Greek island of Rhodes to Soviet bloc countries. Balloons have been flown above Key West, Florida, to support the TV transmissions of TV Martí, which are directed at Cuba (the Cuban government jams the signals). Military broadcasting aircraft have been flown over Vietnam, Iraq, and many other nations by the United States Air Force.

6200 kHz to 6400 kHz are use by pirates radios. But they can use a lots of frequencies on many bands. They like to broadcast the week end, saturday evening and sunday morning are best time to lister pirates radios.

Now some pirates from Europe prefere to be legal and pay taxes to have a frequencie but with low power ( 1 to 100 watts)