Wayne.B wrote:
On 13 May 2006 02:13:27 -0700, "purple_stars"
wrote:

i could even pick up some kind of repeating signal out of new orleans
and i don't believe they are even scheduled to be transmitting right
now because of all the activity down there in the last few months. so
why is boston so quiet ?

I was consistently receiving fax transmissions from both Boston and
New Orleans when I was in the Bahamas a few weeks ago. The signals
make a distinctive warbling sound when they are broadcasting.
Depending on conditions, not all frequencies are usable.

Possible issues could be a noisy location either from onboard
interference sources like inverters or flourescent lighting, or
possibly from another boat.

Are you receiving other stations OK? Are you able to transmit and be
heard?

it's probably my radio setup if you are able to copy the signal. the
thing is my radio is not on a sailboat, it's in a truck, i've been
trying to work the kinks out of my prototype system and also to finish
learning CW so i can get access to HF. i've been prototyping my radio
setup by using a vehicle and mounting antennas and such on it because
it's got the same basic electrics as a sailboat but without the good RF
ground. and also, of course, i don't have a long wire antenna like a
backstay to test with. what i do instead is hang a long wire up in a
tree and attach that to my whip antenna with an alligator clip and then
i hit the tune button for the icom tuner and use it that way. i'm not
transmitting of course, just receiving. the part i am working on now
is trying to receive wefax transmissions, the plan is to use QSSTV on a
fedora linux laptop to bring them in. for some reason i'm really not
copying the wefax transmissions though, not very well, none out of
boston, though the ones out of nova scotia seem really clear. and like
i said i was picking up some kind of a heart beat from new orleans that
sounded like the beats of a wefax transmission, i'm pretty sure that's
what it was because i could copy it on two new orleans frequencies. i
was getting good copy on nova scotia for sure, very distinctive, i'm
certain that will work for a test of my computer setup. but i really
thought i'd get boston since it's relatively close to virginia. i'm
thinking i probably need a better ground, the truck isn't a very good
RF ground. i'm considering driving a good ground rod into the earth on
my property somewhere and attaching the vehicle chassis to it when i
want to test something like this, somewhere near a tree of course so i
can run up a long wire haha. i also have a well that is cased down at
least 100 feet, i could use that as a ground.

so direct answers to your questions, no, i don't think it's inverters
or flourescent because though the truck has an inverter it's not turned
on .. and i can't transmit because i don't have the license for it yet,
it's not a marine ssb it's an icom-706mkiig. and yes i receive some
things but that's all relative, i don't have the experience on a
sailboat radio to tell you how well i'm copying signals, i don't have
anything to compare to. but i am able to pick up signals that seem
fairly distant, not halfway around the world, but certainly around my
state and maybe further.