Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Pacific Air Route Map

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This was made by plotting several hundred aircraft position reports with PC-HFDL and Posfix, then layering the resulting maps with Photoshop...
Sunday, April 27, 2008

Digital Mode of the Week: SITOR

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SITOR stands for Simplex Telex Over Radio or Simplex Teleprinting Over Radio. It uses the same type of frequency-shift keying (FSK) as RTTY....
Saturday, April 26, 2008

No KSM RTTY Today

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As you might have noticed, there was no RTTY or FEC SITOR from KSM on Point Reyes, CA today. Your radio is fine. They didn't transmit i...
Thursday, April 24, 2008

KSM Encryption/ Decryption Exercise 4/26 and 5/3

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KSM, a licensed commercial station using vintage equipment and antennas at historic KPH on Pt. Reyes, CA, will be doing a very interesting b...

International Marconi Day is April 26

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International Marconi Day is a yearly amateur operating event also of some interest to utility listeners. This year, it lasts from 0000 UTC ...
Monday, April 21, 2008

Firedrake Jammer Revealed (CD Available)

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Every so often, I run across a web page that just makes my jaw drop off. The latest Oh My God is this Satdirectory article on the source o...
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Digital Mode of the Week: RTTY (Part 2: Teleprinting over radio)

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Having discussed the origins of the 5-bit teleprinting ("Baudot") code, now we can talk about one of the oldest digital modes. Thi...
Thursday, April 17, 2008

Acarsd Pre-Release 1.7 Now Available for Testing

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We finally got to see the new version 1.7 of acarsd, the free ACARS decoding and logging program that also does HFDL via data transfer from ...
Sunday, April 13, 2008

Digital Mode of the Week: RTTY (Part 1: ITA2 Telegraphic Alphabet)

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We begin a new Utility World series of basic descriptions of digital modes you hear on the air. First up is one of the oldest modes, but it ...
Tuesday, April 08, 2008

New Cycle 24 Spot Emerges

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After a couple of days with no visible sunspots whatsoever, a tiny Cycle 24 spot has just emerged. Currently, there is something of a contro...
Monday, April 07, 2008

HF-GCS Goes Crazy

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For two days now, activity on the US Air Force High Frequency Global Communications System has been far busier than normal. Right now (0110 ...
Sunday, March 30, 2008

Lockheed Martin Wins Huge JTRS Contract

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Washington Post: Lockheed Secures Bid for Military Radio System By Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Shuttle Landing is GO

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Just a few seconds ago, the decision was made to land at KSC tonight. The de-orbit burn is in 8 minutes. The landing is still scheduled for ...

Space Shuttle May Land Tonight

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Just as I was posting this, the Endeavour landing opportunity at 7:05 PM (2305 UTC) was waved off due to poor weather. This leaves a second ...
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Solar Activity Picks Up

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Cycle 23 active regions #987 and 988 have appeared from behind the sun's east limb, already with very large sunspots and one M-class fla...
Sunday, March 23, 2008

Ice Season Is Here!

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North Atlantic icebergs are worst in the spring months. The Titanic hit an iceberg on April 15. At present, the Boston ice chart is being u...
Monday, March 10, 2008

STS-123 Count Continues

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Launch is on schedule for 0628 UTC, one hour from now. Booster Recovery Director (BRD) at Cape Canaveral, FL is on 6897.0 USB working Booste...

US Loran-C Will Stay On Air

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Following an investigation and comment period, the US Coast Guard has decided to continue funding the LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation) network ...

STS-123 Launch Tonight

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Countdown continues for the launch of space shuttle mission STS-123 at 2:28 AM Eastern time. (That's 0628 UTC.) Yes, that's the mi...
Sunday, March 09, 2008

PEMEX Adds ALE Frequencies

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PEMEX, Petroleos Mexicanos, the Mexican national oil company, has finally put up more Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) frequencies to go w...