January 2014
Contents
Feature Articles
Philips USA and the Un-Happy
Station
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Author
Rich Post has an eye
for yard sale finds and the
vintage Philips 436-AN
shortwave radio he found led him on a search that uncovered
some interesting radio history
about a terrible time for the Happy Station. In the early years of shortwave
broadcasting, one
pioneering station enjoyed a worldwide audience: PCJ from the Netherlands.
Operating with its unique, rotatable antenna, it generated a signal that was heard around the world and quickly
became the envy of Nazi invaders at the start of WWII.
Geek’s Guide to Radio: Meet the Original
Makers, Hackers and Fixers
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Creating “impossible” new devices with futuristic, homemade tools; cleverly re-purposing perfectly good hardware; relentlessly
repairing cherished
devices in the fight against planned obsolescence; getting together to share the tech and the joy of unchained creativity: Surprise! Radio amateurs – the original
makers, hackers and fixers – have been doing these things for more than 100 years.
It’s time to meet and
mingle!
FAA’s NextGen Air-Nav System
By Cory Koral K2WV
Already four years overdue and more than $300 million over budget, the FAA’s NextGen was designed at a time when
air travel numbers were rising
fast enough that many the
industry clambered for a
newer, faster, better
way of handling air traffic. But, projected
numbers were slowed by the Great Recession. What
will plans for a space-based “virtual control tower” do for the civilian and commercial air industry and what will it meant to aero-monitors?
The High Cost of Interoperability
By Ken
Reitz KS4ZR
The analog/digital shift has been impacting the world of public
service radio for years,
and it’s not over yet. And the road to interoperability has been anything
but easy. Cost over-runs, glitches
in systems and high maintenance fees have city, county and state governments grumbling. Meanwhile, federal
funding, inventory control
and security issues make the future
for interoperability as elusive
as ever.
Columns
Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Scanning, Satellites, Trunked Systems
and More!
Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Monitoring Federal
Frequencies
Utility
Planet
By Hugh Stegman
Utility Shortwave Explained
Digital
HF: Intercept and Analyze
By
Mike Chase-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
The Intrigue of Digital
Noise
Amateur Radio Insight
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Antenna Tuners: The Devil’s in the Details
Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Antenna Solutions for Hams and SWLers
Understanding
Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
In the Beginning...
The World of Shortwave
Listening
By Thomas
Witherspoon K4SWL
TSM Tests Best Shortwave Portables under $40
The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Shortwave Listening in 2014
Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Listening to the
Action on Winter’s Waves
The Longwave Zone
Kevin O’Hern Carey
WB2QMY
Is there a Future
for the
“Basement Band?”
Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Marc Ellis N9EWJ
Electrical Safety for
Radio Restorers
The Broadcast
Tower
By Doug Smith
W9WI
Use Your PC for Off-Air Recording
Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Antennas: Organic
System, Targets of Oppression