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25Mhz odd stations...

T23

Active Member
Apr 17, 2010
645
12
28
I have been listening for activity on 25mhz and hear odd stations from texas and I am here in Virginia. It sounds like public radio stations with ads and such, "like get new insulation today", but I hear no skip rolling in on the normal 40 and 26mhz and not much activity on 28mhz.

How much different is propagation in 25mhz?

T23
 

They are probably studio to transmitter links for a local AM or FM broadcaster somewhere.It is against federal law to monitor these stations but they will confirm reception reports with a QSL card or letter.There is also the 11 meter international shortwave broadcast band in that region of the spectrum, it is not used much except during the peak of the solaar cycle.
 
Ok. Ratso keep in mind I am in Va. These stations are not local, one identified itself as 97.9 in texas. Just wondering if propagation characteristics are significantly better in the area of 25 mhz.

T23
 
I have seen dx on 12 mtrs when 10 and 11 mtrs is dead.I hang out at 24.935usb ....Its a great freq...Just run a rci2950dx and a99 ten foot up,and make alot of contacts.I stay clear of 25mhz,alot of government aganceys run that...C.A.P. and Army res...73s de JW
 
I used to pick up several of these FM Studio Links coming out of Florida. They are in the high end of 25mhx like around 25.950 ect...and would be in FM. Clearly FM Broadcast station studio links.
 
Unfortunatly I can't go down that far on my rig , I can go down to 25.125, an rci2950 would be nice, if you all saw my antenna you would either puke or have to have your vocal cords cut out to stop laughing.
These stations are on AM but they sound like they are uplinks for FM stations.

T23
 
They are probably studio to transmitter links for a local AM or FM broadcaster somewhere.It is against federal law to monitor these stations but they will confirm reception reports with a QSL card or letter.There is also the 11 meter international shortwave broadcast band in that region of the spectrum, it is not used much except during the peak of the solaar cycle.


What makes it against federal law?? AFAIK the only thing federal law says you can't listen to is telephone conversations. STL's are open to anyone that wants to listen to them.After all, their content is INTENDED for public reception.

As for propagation on 25 MHz being different than on 27 or 28 it just may well be that the Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) is around 26 MHz and that means that anything above that freq will not be returned to earth. Many times I can hear stations on 26 and 27 MHz but on 10m they are very weak and fluttery. Sometimes the MUF is pretty sharp and distinct and other times it tends to slowly fade out as you get higher in freq.
 
Interesting thought... I have my setup tuned for 26mhz anyway. Haven't heard any FM at all if someone would like to plan a QSO on FM on 26mhz let me know the conditions are good and have been wanting to test out FM for a while on HF.

T23
 
What makes it against federal law?? AFAIK the only thing federal law says you can't listen to is telephone conversations. STL's are open to anyone that wants to listen to them.After all, their content is INTENDED for public reception.

Garth

Things may be different in Canada but here in the States the ECPA of 1986 made it illegal to monitor remote broadcast and studio to transmitter links, SCA on the FM broad cast band, mobile telephones/voice paging and encrypted communications unless authorized.
 
I do not read it that way.

The ECPA is to protect encrypted information that would require a warrant to gain access to.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA Pub. L. 99-508, Oct. 21, 1986, 100 Stat. 1848, 18 U.S.C. § 2510-2522)[2] was enacted by the United States Congress to extend government restrictions on wire taps from telephone calls to include transmissions of electronic data by computer. Specifically, ECPA was an amendment to Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (the Wiretap Statute), which was primarily designed to prevent unauthorized government access to private electronic communications.
The ECPA also added new provisions prohibiting access to stored electronic communications, i.e., the Stored Communications Act,18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-12. The ECPA also included so-called pen/trap provisions that permit the tracing of telephone communications. §§ 3121-27. Later, the ECPA was amended, and weakened to some extent, by some provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. In addition, Section 2709 of the Act, which allowed the FBI to issue National Security Letters (NSLs) to Internet service providers (ISPs) ordering them to disclose records about their customers, was ruled unconstitutional under the First (and possibly Fourth) Amendments in ACLU v. Ashcroft (2004). It is thought that this could be applied to other uses of National Security Letters.


"(c) Conduct otherwise an offense under
this subsection that consists of or
relates to the interception of a
satellite transmission that is not
encrypted or scrambled and that is
transmitted
"(i)to a broadcasting station for
purposes of retransmission to the
general public or
"(ii)as an audio subcarrier intended
for redistribution to facilities open
to the public, but not including data
transmissions or telephone calls,
is not an offense under this
subsection unless the conduct is for
the purposes of direct or indirect
commercial advantage or private
financial gain.

this sums it up for me....
The ECPA is to protect encrypted information that would require a warrant to gain access to.


Anything broadcast "in the clear" is fair game as far as I am concerned.
I listen to local news/radio station sub feeds all the time.
I am not going to loose any sleep over it.

73
Jeff
 
Garth

Things may be different in Canada but here in the States the ECPA of 1986 made it illegal to monitor remote broadcast and studio to transmitter links, SCA on the FM broad cast band, mobile telephones/voice paging and encrypted communications unless authorized.

I agree with the phones and encrypted communications but not with the SCA broadcasts nor the STL's. They are not encrypted and especially the STL feeds are intended for public reception as I said. Telephones and encrypted communications are NOT intended for public reception.


I do not read it that way.






this sums it up for me....



Anything broadcast "in the clear" is fair game as far as I am concerned.
I listen to local news/radio station sub feeds all the time.
I am not going to loose any sleep over it.

73
Jeff


That's the way I read it as well. Even though I am Canadian I still try and keep up with what goes on south of the border when it comes to communications and broadcast regulations. That ECPA of 1986 came into effect a few years after I entered the broadcast business and remember studying it well at the time because what happens in the USA usually follows a couple years later up here in that business.
 
I agree with the phones and encrypted communications but not with the SCA broadcasts nor the STL's. They are not encrypted and especially the STL feeds are intended for public reception as I said. Telephones and encrypted communications are NOT intended for public reception.

I wouldn't say that STLs are intended for public reception but that most of their content are, on the broadcast bands, not the STL itself.

I studied the ECPA of 1934 and 1986 way back when as well and I am pretty sure that STLs and paid subription SCAs are covered along with the mobile phones.
 
Yeah I made a slight error the second time I said that but the first time I said about the STL's I DID say the content of them. It makes no sense whatsoever to allow the reception of police and emergency services as well as government services and NOT allow the reception of a program source whose entire content is intended for public reception. In any event one of us is right and the other is wrong and I will accept your defeat in this manner with grace. :laugh:
 
25 mhz fm broadcasts

these most likely originate from the DALLAS/FT Worth ,TEXAS area
several stations there have transmitters on those frequencies 25.950 25.990 fm
They are not stl links although they carry the same programming. They are forIFB/engineering uses mainly used for talkback with no time delay that way remotes/traffic copters in the field can hear in real time if there broadcasts are indeed on the air. these make great propagation beacons and have already been recrived in europe a couple of times this year /sunspot cycle


RCB
 

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