In the second article Keypounder has generously blessed us with, the issue of Baluns are covered. Baluns are most often (but not always) used as dipole centers to match BALanced antennas to UNbalanced feed line. (see why it's called Balun?) While his article explains the nuts and bolts, in this abstract I'll state that the …
Category: communications
A neat resource on Microwave in the Field
VK4ZQ Blog Poke around there a bit. The posts themselves are a bit old, but the info is great from the Land down Under. You can definitely start building your own point to point network, with just a Technician license to get you on the air, time, and the right attitude. It's not plug n' …
A SIGINT report from the RNC
Compiled and submitted by an anonymous donor: 2016 RNC Cleveland, Ohio SIGINT The Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, OH on July 18-21, 2016. Officials began implementing the security zone and closing areas off to traffic on the evening of July 14th. Monitoring of communications began on a periodic basis on 7/14/2016 and continued …
NVIS Explained, III
Admin Note: This is the third and final section of the article submitted by Keypounder. EZNEC, the preferred antenna modelling method, is referenced. I highly suggest familiarizing yourself with EZNEC for building and modelling antennas for both efficiency and directivity. Included are several practical examples of antennas in the field, which I might add, are similar …
NVIS Explained, II
Admin Note: This is the second part of the article submitted by Keypounder. Topics covered include the layers of the ionosphere and frequency selection characteristics. ******* The Ionosphere We've mentioned the ionosphere, but understanding the basics of ionospheric composition and characteristics is very important to proper NVIS operation, especially when signal security and DF are …
NVIS Explained, I
Administrative note: The following was sent by Keypounder, the nom de plume that should be familiar to a few readers. A longtime radio amateur and communications specialist in his own right, he's generously submitted this article to me, and in my opinion, is among the best I've read on the topic for public consumption. Due …
Someone is always listening, Part II
In the preceding post, I very bluntly pointed out, as a few of us have been trying to do, that the capability to DF and monitor anyone and anything indeed does exist. So now the question becomes 'how do you work against it?' Well, let's examine some options and point out a few truths. The …
Someone is always listening.
H/T Mike Bishop- Source- Cryptome 10 June 2014 DEA/NSA SANDKEY Voice Intercepts A sends: Enclosed are three images that are the heart of the NSA SANDKEY program. SANDKEY is a joint DEA/NSA program that intercepts and exploits unencrypted VHF voice communications of narco-traffickers at sea. SANDKEY targets those communications of and between maritime vessels operating …
SIGINT and the Guerrilla Radio
My note: I originally wrote this article for Spark31's Signal-3, appearing in the SEP-OCT 2015 edition. I don't know if it's still in operation(?), but the 'newsletter' had some decent info while it ran it's course. In any case, the authoring of this article led to the creation of this blog. The 'video' referenced in …
The Case for the 817ND
s6cnrdude wrote: (in a comment on the last post) ...BTW, I believe there is a VHF contest that weekend. It’s the CQ VHF contest so there will be VHF ops on 50 and 144 MHz.... Which led to my reply: Another great opportunity to let 2m SSB shine. As we keep approaching the depths …