home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Floppyshop 2
/
Floppyshop - 2.zip
/
Floppyshop - 2.iso
/
diskmags
/
0022-3.564
/
dmg-3413
/
news.txt
/
radio.asc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1989-04-05
|
5KB
|
100 lines
***********************
* *
* TURN YOUR RADIO ON! *
* ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ *
* HARRY WARREN *
* ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ *
***********************
Do you own a modem? I know dialing up BB'S are fun but if you are as
broke as I am the bills can soon mount up, especially when you dial
long distance. I recently borrowed a radio modem, quaintly known as a
"Terminal Unit" and with the aid of my Sony shortwave radio I was soon
pulling in signals from across the globe. You connect an audio output
from the Sony into the Terminal unit which gives a feed to your
computer via a RS232 port. Your radio must have Single Sideband
capability to receive the data signals in the correct format. Software
to decode the signal is available in plentiful supply for the PC so I
guess we are talking about emulators here though there is some
software available for the ST but not as varied. Depending on the type
of Terminal unit used your ordinary Telephone communication software
will display the signal.
There are oodles of radio data transmissions being broadcast on short
wave. Shortwave signals can span the globe and with the recent crop of
sunspot activity the propagation conditions have at times been
extraordinary. The worlds news agencies, shipping, meteorological
services and radio amateurs are happily transmitting RTTY (Radio
Teletype) signals.Tuning into it and decoding the signals gave me the
same blast as hacking a phone line, as with most things that are fun
using information acquired from the air waves is probably illegal. As
far as I am aware there is nothing illegal in receiving radio signals
as long as you do not breach copyright with reports from the news
agencies.
You do get a sense of eavesdropping when tuning into some company
transmissions, oil rigs etc. but decoding the news services such as
Reuters or TASS can often give you the latest news and developments
before you see it on T.V. or read about it in the press. The best
thing about it is that the information picked up this way hasn't been
warped and distorted to fit some biased reporting that most of us read
daily. The compiling of what we know as "NEWS" is often taken from the
international news agencies and given a very slanted view to suit the
prevailing political climate.
My pal has logged transmissions from the time of the Cherynobyl
attempt at "Whoop's Apocalypse" which makes hair raising reading. Such
as the amount of pregnancy terminations in the Eastern Bloc that were
performed in case of fetal damage and the fact that while the Russian
Nuke Stations were been slagged off for poor design very little was
printed about similar reactor cores in Britain which the same as
Cherynobyl have no protective jackets in case of a catastrophic
accident. Ouch! enough politics let's have some fun!
RTTY signaling uses a system of audio tones to generate binary 1's and
0's. When you tune into a RTTY signal it will sound like a warble. The
type most frequently heard is the 5 bit Baudot code. Modem phone users
will be more familiar with 7 or 8 bit ascii. The commonest speeds are
50,75 and 100 Baud for most press and meteorological stations with 45
Baud been reserved for the amateur bands. The Baudot code was
orignally developed for land line teletype. The code alphabet is known
as ITA2. Many marine and press agencies use this particular code
which also makes them fairly easy to decode. Two other codes
frequently used by Embassies and amateurs are SITOR and AMTOR these
have error correcting capabilities and are transmitted at 100 Baud.
Tuning in to these signals is a acquired knack but once you have
accompolished it from then on its plain sailing. Lots of signals are
encrypted but here is a list of some that I have decoded.
Bracknell Meteo 4489kHz.................Oil rigs 3040.6kHz.
VOA 5460kHz.................TASS 10985kHz.
Tirana Press 9133kHz.................Beijing Press 9417 kHz.
Tripoli Press 11186kHz.................Shannon Air 8145kHz.
A lot of P.D. houses supply some radio software but heres a few
addresses you may find helpful.
Grosvenor Software. 2 Beacon Close. Seaford. East Sussex. BN25 2JZ
TEL. (0323) 893378.
Computer radio software for the Atari ST and IBM contemptibles.
Send a S.A.E. for full details.
The Public Domain and Shareware Library. Winscombe Hse. Beacon Rd.
Crowborough. East Sussex TN6 1UL. TEL.(0892) 663298.
Their IBM (sorry for using that word!) software guide has 4 pages
devoted to amateur radio and you will find more programs scattered
throughout their guide. The last known price for their catalogue was
£2-00. Not bad for a 122 page guide.
+++++++THE END+++++++