1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with tex Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, senior writer for how stuff 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: Works dot com and today in the studio, I am 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: not by myself. It is so amazingly awesome. Only am 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: I not by myself? But I didn't even have to 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: pick the topic. My guest did it for me. And 8 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 1: my guest, of course, is someone you all know and love, 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick. Beloved in our office. We sing his phrases 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: when he's not around. Joe. Welcome back to the show. 11 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Jonathan, You're welcome, Joe. It's 12 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: like a little it's like a two thirds forward thinking 13 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: reunion right now. So I wanted to talk today a 14 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: little bit about a subject that is recently near and 15 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: dear to my heart. Not a long time fascination, a 16 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: recent obsession, and that is the idea of radio direction finding. Yeah, 17 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: this was something I knew. I mean really, I knew 18 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: nothing about it when you brought this to my attention. 19 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: And the more I learned about it, the more I realized, 20 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,919 Speaker 1: not only is it a fascinating subject, but it also 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: in many ways. It's kind of a spiritual cousin to 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: some other topics I've covered, like geo cashing. Just for 23 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: one specific part of radio direction finding that we'll get 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: into in this episode. Okay, so, uh to introduce you here, 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: I want you to imagine you have a favorite radio station. 26 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: You don't have to imagine, you really do it. What 27 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: do they play on Power nine. Well, they don't play 28 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: anything anymore because now it's but back in the nineties, 29 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: Power ninety nine was the station that slowly introduced Atlanta 30 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: to the wonderful world of alternative music. Okay, so R 31 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: e M got a lot of play. In fact, the 32 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: very first time I ever heard R e M Losing 33 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: my religion was on Power ninety nine. Yeah. Do you 34 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: listen now to point one the River? You know what? 35 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: Not a big not a big fan of the River, 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: but I do still listen to ninety nine X, which 37 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: is not one seven anymore. I can't remember which station 38 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: it's on, but I still listen to that. Okay, Well 39 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: take yourself back in time, Jonathan, go back to the 40 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: days of power and imagine. You know, Power ninety nine. 41 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: It just gets you through the morning. You wake up 42 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: every day, you know. Uh, it gets you through the 43 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: t d M of peeling those thirty seven hard boiled 44 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: eggs you're gonna eat for breakfast and accurate so far, 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: and it's just it's your favorite part of the day. 46 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: But one morning you switch on your radio to Power 47 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: ninety nine. You think you're gonna hear some great new 48 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: R E M singles, But instead, something is wrong. Instead 49 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: of the regular programming of your of your regular favorite 50 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: radio station, you are treated to an unending loop of 51 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: Mick Jaggers solo love ballad hard Woman. Is this the 52 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: one that has the terrible music video? Yeah, that was 53 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 1: put together by a Ray supercomputer. Yeah, now I remember this. 54 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: I remember you showing me that music video. And and 55 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: the only thing worse than the music video was, in fact, 56 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: the song itself. It's it's hard to know which is worse, 57 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: but yeah, so it's looping. In fact, they don't even 58 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: let the song finish. Each time it plays, the loop 59 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: begins about ten to fifteen seconds before the song's over. Maddening. Yeah. Uh, 60 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: so you call up the station, You call up Power 61 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: nine and nine, say hey, what's up with hard Woman 62 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: all the time? Where's my R E M? And they say, 63 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: I don't know what you're talking about. We're running our 64 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: regular programming. Somebody is jamming you. So what they're doing 65 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: is they're using a transmitter, presumably one much closer to 66 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: you than the radio station's transmitter, and had a power 67 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: that overpowers the incoming signal for that radio station. Right, 68 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: because they're closer to you than the radio station is. 69 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: They can do this because the only other way they 70 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: could do that is if they were actually putting in 71 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: more power in their transmitter than the radio station is, 72 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: which is not likely. But somebody in your neighborhood, somebody 73 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: near your house with a with a vendetta against R. E. 74 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: M or maybe just an unending, powerful, overflowing love for 75 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: Mick Jagger's hard woman, or some sort of curmudgeon in between, 76 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 1: is broadcasting this malicious interference on the same frequency as 77 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: your beloved station. Now, obviously this is intolerable, but the 78 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: station themselves, well, they probably can't do anything about it. 79 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: So you contact the FCC. Right, this should be their 80 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: job to deal with here in the US. That's exactly 81 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: who I would have got them on speed dial. Right, 82 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: Signal intrusion. Right, you're supposed to regulate the airwaves. So 83 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: you call up the FCC, but they tell you to 84 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: take a hike. They're busy undoing net neutrality too, So 85 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? Are you just going to 86 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: allow this radio freak to jagger up your mornings for 87 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: the rest of your life. That doesn't sound like me, Joe. Uh, 88 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: if you're If that's not your style, One thing you 89 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: could do is try to take matters into your own hands. Now, 90 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: how would you do that? You would have to track 91 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: down the jagger jammer yourself and give this creep a 92 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: piece of your mind. But how could you do that? 93 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: Like the song loop doesn't say, hey, by the way, 94 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: here's the address of my secret jamming transmitter, at least 95 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: not explicitly, So then I'd have to figure out some 96 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: way independent of the content of the signal to track 97 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: the location of the transmitter. Yeah, and that's what today's 98 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: episode is going to be about. If you know a 99 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: few techniques, and if you have some special equipment on hand, 100 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: you actually should be able to locate this jammer through 101 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: the art of radio direction finding or r DF as 102 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,600 Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll refer to it throughout this episode. It's 103 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: the act of hunting a radio broadcast to its physical source. 104 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: UM So today we're gonna talk a little bit about 105 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: r DF in general, a little bit about the history, 106 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: about the science behind it. But we also wanted to 107 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: focus somewhat on the sport of transmitter hunting, also known 108 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 1: as t hunting or fox hunting, which turns this activity 109 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: of radio direction finding into a recreational activity. And this 110 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: this ties into a lot of those other subjects I 111 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: was talking about, like from the aspect of geocashing, where 112 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: we're using technology for some sort of recreational activity that 113 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: it wasn't necessarily intended to be when we first started 114 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: developing that tech, all the way to the story Chuck 115 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: and I did about the infamous Max Headroom incident right 116 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: where somebody another case of signal intrigues exactly, someone was 117 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: able to do signal intrusion in the Chicago market and 118 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:50,799 Speaker 1: uh overpower television signals and present a an absurd, slightly 119 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: disturbing and very surreal Max Headroom type of intrusion. Well, 120 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: those those things, I mean, that's that's kind of why 121 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: we're talking about this, is like, how would you detect 122 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: where such an intrusion is coming from if you had 123 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: enough time to do so. In the case of the 124 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: Max Headgroom incident. Yeah, by the time anyone knew what 125 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: was happening, it was too late to really figure out 126 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: where's the signal coming from. They had general ideas just 127 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: based upon the architecture of the city, because things like 128 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: buildings and stuff can get in the way of radio signals, 129 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: so that that limits where a signal can come from. 130 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: But you need something more sophisticated in order to narrow 131 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: down the actual direction and specifically the locality of a transmitter. 132 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: So this has a really long history. It dates back 133 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: pretty much shortly after we started sending radio signals. Uh. 134 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: In fact, the very first person to kind of associate 135 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: directionality with radio signals was Heinrich Hurts. And that name 136 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: Hurts probably rings some bells. We're gonna be talking about 137 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: a lot about Hurts, the unit of measurement, and not Hurts, 138 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:11,239 Speaker 1: the person in this episode. He discovered with an open 139 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: loop of wire which was acting like an antenna, or 140 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: it really wasn't antenna wasn't acting like one. Yeah, but 141 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,559 Speaker 1: this was a loop of wire that had a gap 142 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: between the two ends of the loop. So it's not 143 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: a closed loop. It's an open loop, it had some 144 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: direction finding properties to it. He found that if he 145 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: used this loop near a transmitter, and if the looper 146 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: position so that it's ends faced the transmitter. In other words, 147 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: if you're looking at the face of a transmitter and 148 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: you're looking at a loop, the loop is at a 149 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: ninety degree angle, it's it's the wire part is facing 150 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: the ends of the wire parts facing the transmitter as 151 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: opposed to the open face. UH, it would create a 152 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 1: real big spark between those two ends. If he started 153 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: to rotate the loop of wire so that the open 154 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: face the o if you will, of the loop faced 155 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: the transmitter, it didn't create that spark. So rotating it 156 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: would create sparks. And the biggest spark would be if 157 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: it was in this ninety degree alignment with the transmitter. 158 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: And that showed that there was some directionality with radio 159 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: waves and antenna Yeah, and that specifically you could put 160 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: together an antenna receiver in certain ways that it would 161 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: respond differently depending on how it's oriented exactly with respect 162 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: to the source of transmission exactly. So the next one 163 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: you would talk about the actual One of the earliest 164 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 1: successful UH implementations of this idea would be the Balini 165 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: Tosy apparatus. Uh not the only early direction finding antenna. 166 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: Why am I imagining some kind of dessert making machine 167 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: the Bellini tocy apparatus. Like it's like a large box 168 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: out of which comes big blobs of icing, right, or 169 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: gelato or something. I'm on a diet, Dude, you are 170 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:04,439 Speaker 1: killing me on diesel. I would eat diesel powered gelato 171 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: right now in a heartbeat, but instead I'm going to 172 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: stick to my Brussels sprouts. Uh So, two Italian officers 173 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: named a Torre Bellini and Alessandro Tosi came up with this. 174 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,359 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's actually called the Marconi Balini Tosi because Marconi's 175 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: name gets attached to everything that might be a little 176 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: bitter tesla left over issues that I have about Marconi's 177 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: name getting associated with stuff that certainly he was instrumental 178 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: in the development of, but perhaps not the primary source 179 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: of that technology the way his name would indicate. Yeah, 180 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: the wireless telegraph. You'd want his name all over everything. Yeah, yeah, 181 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: don't worry about people who worked on that stuff, you know, 182 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: before him, or or had originally secured a patent before 183 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: he had and then had their patents overturned. That's another episode. 184 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: In fact, I've talked about it in previous episodes. So 185 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: the way this worked is that they actually created uh, 186 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: two loops of wire arranged at right angles with respect 187 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: to one another. So you can think of these as 188 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: kind of like a casing, these two big loops of 189 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: wire at right angles in the middle of which they 190 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: put a third coil of wire, but this one could 191 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: rotate freely within those two fixed ninety degree angle loops. Okay, 192 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: so it's like a wire globe and then another loop inside. Yeah, 193 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: and that wire loop inside can freely rotate, and that's 194 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: where they were able to create this directional antenna, this 195 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:35,079 Speaker 1: direction finding antenna. They the the rotating element is called 196 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: a rotor or sense coil, and then the other two 197 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: are called stators or field coils. And folks, I apologize, 198 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: I'm still over getting over at cold, So you're gonna 199 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,679 Speaker 1: hear me be raspy throughout this episode, just like last time. Yea. 200 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: So these original ones were big, big devices. Yeah. The 201 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: first picture I saw it showed the operator sitting at 202 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: a desk, and the actual TENNA was about twice the 203 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:03,839 Speaker 1: height of the desk he was sitting at. Now, what 204 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: was this used for At the time, these were used 205 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 1: as land stations around primarily Europe, and we're used mainly 206 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: to help with navigation. So so how would that work. 207 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: You would have this enormous UH antenna that was detecting 208 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: transmissions coming from other vessels, let's say navy vessels or 209 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: or maritime vessels, and they would be able to detect 210 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: what direction the that transmissions coming from and send information 211 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: back out via radio vessel. So the lost ship says 212 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: where am I sends a transmission saying where am I southwest? 213 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: It knows where it is, and if it knows the 214 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: direction your transmission is coming from, then it can tell 215 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,439 Speaker 1: you where you are in general. Yes, And then eventually 216 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: you actually saw these devices being placed on the craft themselves. 217 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: So then you could have a stationary radio transmission center 218 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:07,839 Speaker 1: sending out a basic signal sometimes and frequently having the 219 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: the location for that that transmission center encoded in the 220 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: signal itself sent out to sea, and then the the 221 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: vessels would have these type of antenna aboard them. They 222 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 1: could then use the antenna to figure out what direction 223 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: the transmissions coming from because they know the specific location 224 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: of that center because it's in the signal itself, but 225 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: inverse exactly. So early ones were land based, then later 226 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: on they were actually based on the vehicles themselves, whether 227 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: it was it started off with shops and eventually also 228 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: incorporated aircraft. Now I know that the idea of finding 229 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: the physical location of a radio transmitter, whether it's a 230 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 1: vehicle or a station of some kind, must have played 231 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: a big role once radio was used in warfare. Absolutely 232 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: there were some instrumental battle in which UH one side 233 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 1: or the other frequently actually was the Allies had determined 234 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: the that a certain German group of units, typically U boats, 235 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: was really effective naval warfare in World War One, world 236 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: War two. Actually world War One there was some, but 237 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: world War two it really came into play. World War One, 238 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: certainly the U boat communications, which were using very low 239 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: frequency radio waves, it was very important. By the World 240 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: War Two you're talking about more high frequency and radio 241 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: waves being put into use. It's where we get the 242 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: huff duff because it's high frequency direction finder antenna's hf 243 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: DFS or huff duff was the nickname. You get the 244 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: huff duff antennas that would indicate the direction of a 245 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: transmission and that would help be able to track like 246 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: enemy movements, enemy troop movements, particularly in the in the Navy. 247 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: And it can you imagine how disappointed these antennas are 248 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: when they get sorted. Yeah, now right, like you know, 249 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: they all want to be slythering because that's my house. 250 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: I don't know what the house you belong to. I 251 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: that's not for me to say. I've never been sorted. 252 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: I got sorted into slythering. I mean, I'm just saying 253 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: I didn't try to. It just happened. Um, you just 254 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: put on the hat. I do what the hat tells me. Man, 255 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: I live my life that way. So this type of 256 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: antenna was originally meant not for military purposes. It was 257 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: actually meant to help meteorologists learn more about lightning. Was 258 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: developed by Robert Watson Watt back in nineteen six, and 259 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: it was to help locate where a lightning strike occurs, 260 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: because you know, lightning, it gives off electromagnetic rays just 261 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: or waves, I should say, not raised, but waves, just 262 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: as a radio antenna would. And so you would use 263 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: these antenna to detect the location of lightning strikes. That 264 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: also helped you track the pathway of electrical storms. So 265 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: that's what it was intended for, but in World War 266 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: Two it got put to other uses to try and 267 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: track movements of enemy troops. Very important now. Uh. After 268 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: World War Two, we started seeing more development in radio 269 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: direction finding technology, not just in military but also commercial applications. Uh. 270 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: In fact, we also saw a lot of amateur radio 271 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: operators get interested in it, and particularly once ham radio 272 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: in the United States was really starting to take off. Yeah, 273 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: forties and fifties really were really post world War two, 274 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: because during World War Two they were very very picky 275 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: about who got a chance to actually broadcast radio. They 276 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: were like, you know, guys, we need you, guys to 277 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: to unless we're telling you to do it, don't do 278 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: that thing, right. So, but once World War two was over, 279 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: we saw a lot more develop them and go into 280 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: that and there are a lot of a lot of 281 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: purposes for our DF. We talked about navigation, it's not 282 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: really used for navigation that much anymore because we have 283 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: more sophisticated methods for navigation. Yeah, we've got we've got 284 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:20,159 Speaker 1: stuff beyond like a radio transmitter and a receiver. That 285 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: being said, there's still some places that use radio beacons 286 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: as a means for emergency backup, uh some around the UK, 287 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,919 Speaker 1: not really any in the United States at this point, 288 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: um maritime vehicles held onto it longer than aircraft did. 289 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: But even today you don't really see that as a 290 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: as a even a tertiary method for navigation because we 291 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: have so many other more sophisticated systems at play. But 292 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 1: there are other reasons that we do still use them. 293 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 1: I mean, well, one would be like the example hunting 294 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: down illicit broadcasts and jammers. Absolutely, yeah, Now this was 295 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: huge and World War two as well. The UK actually 296 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: ended up getting a big volunteer force of interceptors about 297 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:11,160 Speaker 1: folks in the UK who were amateur radio operators and 298 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: use them to help suss out any uh enemy transmissions 299 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: that were coming from the UK. Because there a period 300 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: piece movie about this year there should be, although it'd 301 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: be kind of boring because I think they only found 302 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: they found like two and one of them was one 303 00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: that they were doing on purpose. Well, that could be 304 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 1: the angle. Maybe maybe there was a cover up, there's 305 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: some big secret or like like there's the crowd of 306 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: ham operators carrying pitchforks storming the transmitter room of this 307 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: one perceived enemy of the state and it turns out 308 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: that they're just following orders from the UK government to 309 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: send out false UH commands, because that was a thing, right, Like, 310 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't just secret information, it was disinformation. There were 311 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: a lot of different campaigns going on in the information 312 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,920 Speaker 1: and intelligence worlds in World War Two. So, but that's 313 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: glorious the image of an army of hams radio hams 314 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: coming at you to to VHF you up, yep, that's right. 315 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,479 Speaker 1: There's there's so much opportunity there for UH edge of 316 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: your seat drama. But the the interesting thing to me 317 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: was that the UK, they were using m I five 318 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: to head this operation because that's their domestic intelligence agency, 319 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: but they determined that really this was a bigger problem 320 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: in Europe. They had a lot more clandestine operators in 321 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: Europe on both sides, really sending out messages via radio transmission, 322 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,439 Speaker 1: and so they switched this operation over to m I six, 323 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: which looked at UH intelligence coming from outside the UK 324 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,159 Speaker 1: rather than from within it. So it's kind of in 325 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: the United States, the difference between our FBI and our 326 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 1: c I a same sort of thing, and UH in 327 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: Europe was a much different story. Like the r d 328 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: F was incredibly important during World War Two, because there 329 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: were so many different operators using radio transmission as a 330 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: way of getting either spy reports or orders across various borders. 331 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: It eventually got to the point actually where the access 332 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: powers were, um, really shy about transmitting any information because 333 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: they were still worried about it getting intercepted and caught. 334 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: And this is the same era as the Enigma machine, right, 335 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,679 Speaker 1: and once the Allies were able to crack some of 336 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: the Enigma codes, it was a it really became apparent 337 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: that you had to be super careful with your intelligence 338 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: otherwise you were handing the enemy all of your game plans. 339 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:53,400 Speaker 1: So really interesting story though. Um, then there's other methods, 340 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: are other reasons to use r d F. There's search 341 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: and rescue, Yeah, how about that, so coast guard or 342 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: rescuing it down on plane. Either one. You might have 343 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: a vehicle that is equipped with radio transmission capability, but 344 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: is itself stranded. Yeah, there's a lot of civil aircraft 345 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,120 Speaker 1: that have this. There are a lot of like if 346 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,399 Speaker 1: you are if you're hiking in an area that is 347 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: prone for two avalanches, you may even have a transmitter 348 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:22,359 Speaker 1: on you as a means for emergency signaling. In the 349 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: case of an avalanche. So this is still a thing, right. 350 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 1: It's it's something that can send out a steady signal 351 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: with perhaps an encoded message, usually a unique identifier to 352 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: whatever the transmitter is, so that once you tune into it, 353 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: you know that you're actually listening for the right signal. 354 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: You're not going to get distracted by a signal on 355 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: a similar frequency that is not what you're looking for, 356 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: and you can try and narrow down your search to 357 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,879 Speaker 1: find whatever it is that's lost. Now, one thing we 358 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier is hunting malicious interference, people who are intentionally 359 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: jamming a radio station or broadcasting propaganda or something like that. 360 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 1: But there's also unintentional interference, and this could be useful 361 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: too for tracking down you know, uh something maybe uh 362 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: radio frequencies are leaking out of some sort of device 363 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: and they're interfering with the broadcast band around there. Yeah, 364 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: I mean, it's uh, it's not necessarily something that's done 365 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: with malicious intent. Really, anything that creates an electrical field 366 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: is creating electromagnetic radiation, and that some form of that 367 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 1: is in radio waves, and depending upon the power of 368 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: the the device in question, it could be putting out 369 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: radio waves strong enough to interfere with transmission of normal signals. 370 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: You'll hear about this also, Like I remember hearing about 371 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: this with um uh theaters, in fact, theaters that we're 372 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: using wireless radios in order to have back of house 373 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: talk to front of house for stuff like like stage 374 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: managing and lighting changes and stuff, and then you would 375 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: end up getting truckers talking over your system and it 376 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,679 Speaker 1: would just Peter Pan became an entirely different show at 377 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: that point. Like, but but this is the sort of 378 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 1: thing about the speed trap up there. Yeah, And it 379 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: all has to do with with the frequency you're using 380 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,640 Speaker 1: in the power of the radios in question, right, or 381 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: perhaps more problematically, having that transmission of a high school 382 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,160 Speaker 1: production of Peter Pan being transmitted out to people who 383 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: are using radio for really important reasons. Uh. This is 384 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: one of the reasons why most places around the world 385 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: have very strict rules of what types of equipment can 386 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: use which frequency bands so that it avoids that kind 387 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: of cross contemning. You don't have the problem where officer 388 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: Officer hurts tries to radio in for backup, but instead 389 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: he's being jammed by Peter Pan, right, or suddenly Captain 390 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: hook and a bunch of pirates show up, like, this 391 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: is not the backup I was hoping for. That wasn't 392 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: hoping for a chorus line, I really need physical people 393 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,480 Speaker 1: to help back me up for this dangerous situation. Another 394 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: use that you have here that I didn't even think of, 395 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 1: but very smart wildlife tracking. Yeah, yeah, and I get 396 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: tagged exactly. These are transmitters that send out a study 397 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: signal so that scientists can continue to monitor the movement 398 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,399 Speaker 1: of various wildlife. Usually you do this to track migration 399 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: patterns and how those might change, particularly in light of 400 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:22,160 Speaker 1: things like human uh enter like humans moving into what 401 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,680 Speaker 1: used to be territory. For animals, how do their migration 402 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: patterns change, or in the face of changing weather patterns, 403 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:35,440 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And you need obviously to have 404 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 1: a direction finder in order to know where the animals 405 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: are actually going. Plus, if you ever want to go 406 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,959 Speaker 1: into a physical check, let's say that you are doing 407 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: like a drawing blood from a specific animal every few months, 408 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:50,919 Speaker 1: then you need to be able to track where that 409 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: animal is and and narrow down its range so that 410 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: you can actually get to it and do that. So 411 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: that is another use. And of course we've already kind 412 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: of talked about. But spies, I mean not not just 413 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: not just someone trying to transmit something. Sometimes it's like 414 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: trying to find a bug. Like bugs that have been 415 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: planted in places they're they're sending out little radio transmission. Typically, Uh, 416 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: I mean, you could have one that's just recording natively 417 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: to a device, but that means you have to go 418 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: back into that place and retrieve the device in order 419 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: to hear what's been recorded on it. Most bugs are transmitters, 420 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: so that means that you have to have a radio 421 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,360 Speaker 1: direction finder to figure out where a transmission is coming from. 422 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: Let's say it's a nice big embassy building. You might 423 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: need to narrow down exactly where is this thing? Um 424 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: and that. You know, we see those in spy movies, 425 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: but it really does happen. At the Spy Museum in Washington, 426 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,919 Speaker 1: d C. Fascinating you can actually see some of the 427 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: devices that were used to both plant bugs and to 428 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,439 Speaker 1: detect them. I want to go to that sometime. I've 429 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: read a little bit about I remember seeing online a 430 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: thing about their ex a bit on spy pigeons. Yeah, 431 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: it's fun, it's it's weird in that I don't mean 432 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: this to become like an ad for the Spy Museum 433 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: in d C. It's weird because I feel like the 434 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: presentation is really perfectly geared towards kids, but there's so 435 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: much text involved in in the exhibits that I don't 436 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: know that your average kid has the the tension span 437 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: or desire to read that much while going through a museum. 438 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: So my experience was that I was trying to read 439 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: the same paragraph fifteen times while kids were running all 440 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 1: over the place trying to play with stuff. So it's 441 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: a little frustrating for me, but fascinating exhibits, really well 442 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: laid out, and lots of fun stuff. They incorporate both 443 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: real world spy gadgets and also movie stuff, so they 444 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,880 Speaker 1: had like an entire James Bond section that was really 445 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,239 Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, so that's cool. And 446 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: then one of their modern use for radio direction finding 447 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: is what we're really going to focus on towards the 448 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: end of the show, which is using it recreationally for sport. 449 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: So this idea of fox hunting trying to you know, competitively, 450 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: you mean the sport itself, not like using radio direction 451 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,720 Speaker 1: finding to find a lost ball in golf. I mean, 452 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: there's no reason you couldn't do that other than the 453 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: fact that you would have to have a golf ball 454 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: with a transmitter and have to build it in such 455 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: a way that it could withstand enormous force being placed 456 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 1: upon the ball and still not, you know, still continue 457 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 1: to transmit. Probably would have keep going. Yeah, No, I'm 458 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: thinking about all the this is the thing you're gonna 459 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: put out a joking hypothetical, and I'm going to go 460 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: through why it's going to be difficult to implement. Well, impossible, 461 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 1: but difficult. Maybe we should stop you there and take 462 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: a break. Yeah, let's do that. Let's take a quick 463 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: break to thank our sponsor. All right, we're back now. 464 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,640 Speaker 1: Before we dive into the wonderful world of fox hunting, Uh, 465 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 1: it would probably behoove us to understand a little bit 466 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: more about radio waves, how they work, transmitters and antenna 467 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: in order to get at what transmitter hunting is all about. 468 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:18,440 Speaker 1: So we're gonna start at basic like elementary level radio physics. 469 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 1: We're gonna build from there. So radio waves are a 470 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,639 Speaker 1: subset of electromagnetic waves, so are also called E M 471 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: waves or N waves. You have to put your finger 472 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: up to your chin like you're thinking in waves now, 473 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: e M. Waves come from stuff that generates an electric field. 474 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: Doesn't have to be a particularly sophisticated setup. You can 475 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: actually do this with something as simple as a nine 476 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: volt battery and a coin. Yeah, if you put a 477 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: coin across the the terminals of a nine volt battery, 478 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: you are generating an electric field, because all you're doing 479 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: is closing the circuit from the negative and positive terminals 480 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: and allowing electricity to flow through. That creates an electric field, right, 481 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: But I'm assuming you're saying this because doing that would 482 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: generate some kind of radio signal that can be detected. Yes, 483 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: it's a very weak radio signal. But if you were 484 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: to do this very close to an AM radio first, 485 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: you would you would want to tune the AM radio 486 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: to uh something that's just static. You're not actually getting 487 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,960 Speaker 1: a signal like a strong signal in And if you 488 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: were to place the coin against the terminals and listen 489 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: closely to the radio, you should hear a crackle as 490 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: the coin makes contact with those terminals because you're sending 491 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: out this little radio signal and the radio is detecting it. Now, 492 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: you're not sending out anything meaningful. You're just it's just noise. 493 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: That's why you're just getting a crackle. You could send 494 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: a signal in Morse code, so you could encode a 495 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: signal by the sound and absence of sound of this crackle, 496 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: but there's nothing meaningful in the crackle itself. Right. But 497 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: that does show you that doesn't take very much for 498 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: you to generate radio waves. Uh. The the electromagnetic waves 499 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: that we talk about all have kind of common features, 500 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: even though they may do very different things. There's certain 501 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: things that we can use to describe them that's common 502 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: across all of them. So when we plut those waves 503 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: on a graph, you know it's a little up and 504 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: down the crests and troughs that you would see usually 505 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: across X and y axis. Uh. We would call the 506 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: height of those waves the amplitude. This typically like in 507 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: sound waves, this would be the volume of sound. Right. 508 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: The higher the amplitude, the louder the sound is. The 509 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: length of the wave is the wave length. That's really 510 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: kind of tricky, right, Um, And the number of waves 511 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: that pass through any given point on that graph within 512 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: a second, that's the frequency. But because these waves always 513 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: move at the same speed, which is the speed of light. Yes, 514 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: if you know one, or if you know the wavelength 515 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: or the frequency, you know the other exactly. You know 516 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: how fast it's going, right, right, So when we talk 517 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: about different frequencies, we're not talking about speed of the signal, 518 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: because the signals still try like at the speed of light. 519 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 1: No matter what. We're talking about the number of times 520 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: a wave passes any given point within a second. Typically 521 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,080 Speaker 1: it's within a second. It's really any unit of time, 522 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: but for the purposes of measurement, we talk about hurts 523 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: and it hurts talks about the number of uh times 524 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: a wave passes a point in a second. So one 525 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: hurts would be once a second. That would need to 526 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: be an extremely long wave because for it to take 527 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: a full second for the wave to pass that point, 528 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: and it's traveling at a speed of light, that's incredibly long. Right, 529 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,120 Speaker 1: So how far does light go in a second. Let's see, 530 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: I don't know, like further than I've ever been. I 531 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: can tell you that, Okay, Well, so how do you 532 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: get to using radio though? Because we so, yes, we 533 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: live in a universe of radio signals. They're they're electromagnetic 534 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: waves all over the place around us, but that's humans 535 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: use radio for specific purposes. They can take these waves 536 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: and incode information with Yeah, and this this comes from 537 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: manipulating either the amplitude or the frequency of those waves, 538 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: modulating them in some way. Typically that's how we can 539 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: encode information into them. So, uh, let's say that you 540 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,880 Speaker 1: build a circuit containing a capacitor and an inductor. These 541 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: are two very basic circuit components. So you build your circuit, 542 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: You've got a capacitor and an inductor involved in this 543 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: that this will allow you to create a sign wave 544 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: that's just a very smooth, continuously varying wave. It's you 545 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: know that kind of smooth up and down like like 546 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: your typical let's show, uh, ocean waves kind of viewpoint 547 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: and just nice little hills and valleys. This saltwater crocodile 548 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: and the saltwater crocodile would be carrying information. So without 549 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: any saltwater crocodiles, you're still not you're still not transmitting 550 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: anything meaningful. Right, It's just a sign wave. There's no 551 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: information there. But if you modulate it, then you can 552 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: encode information in it. One way to do that is 553 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: with pulse modification. This is similar to what I was 554 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,479 Speaker 1: talking about with that nine volt mattery. This just involves 555 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: turning a signal on and off so that when the 556 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: signals on it might indicate a dot or dash in 557 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: morse code, so you're not Again, nothing within the signal 558 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: itself is necessarily meaningful. It's when you detect it versus 559 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: when you don't detect it that gives you information. Then 560 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: you have amplitude modification or our modulation I should say, 561 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: or a M that's changes the peak to peak voltage 562 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: of the sine wave UM And the way you do 563 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 1: this with a M radio as you start with a 564 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: basic SiGe wave. That's your that's your baseline. You take 565 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 1: whatever you want to transmit, whether it's you know, the 566 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: cool hits of the seventies or some talk show hosts 567 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: or whatever. You take that that yeah, it could be 568 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,400 Speaker 1: hard woman. You take that signal and you overlay that 569 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: signal on top of the baseline sine wave to modulate it. 570 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,400 Speaker 1: This changes the amplitude of that sign wave. You get 571 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: kind of a uh, you know, a product from the 572 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: modulation of these two. Like by adding the two together, 573 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: you get a new frequency, a new wave. It's not 574 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 1: really the same frequency, it's different amplitude, but you get 575 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,799 Speaker 1: a new wave with a different amplitude than both of 576 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,280 Speaker 1: your basic ones. This is what you transmit to a 577 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: a radio tower. You actually have to amplify it by 578 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 1: quite a lot. Obviously, the further you want this signal 579 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: to go, the more you have to amplify it, the 580 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: larger your antenna tends to be. And then the signal 581 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: goes out over the air and then people with receivers 582 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: tuned to that frequency can pick it up, and the 583 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: signal gets converted uh, back into something that a radio 584 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: can play, amplified again so that you can hear hard Woman. Uh. 585 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: Frequency frequency modulation is similar, except instead of changing the 586 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 1: amplitude like modulting the amplitude, you're moduling the frequency of 587 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: the signal. So you again you start with a base 588 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 1: sine wave for the radio station. This is what transmitting, 589 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: whether any noise is coming out of it or not, 590 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: it's just this base sine wave. Then you take on 591 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,239 Speaker 1: the the the wave created from whatever you're trying to 592 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:14,760 Speaker 1: transmit hard Woman, and it changes the frequency. Now, Jonathan, 593 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 1: I wonder how exactly, if if you're not a radio expert, um, 594 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: how does modulating the frequency not affect the uh you know, 595 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: the station you're listening to, because the station you listen 596 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 1: to the radio on is the frequency. When there's a 597 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: number in front of a radio station power that's mega 598 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 1: hurts right nine seven. Yeah. Well, part of it is 599 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:44,680 Speaker 1: that each radio station really has a range like there's 600 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,960 Speaker 1: it's you get a number that's the base frequency, but 601 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 1: there's a range within o our surrounding that frequency that 602 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,400 Speaker 1: allows for this modulation. The modulation doesn't change the frequency 603 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 1: so dramatically that it will bleed into another station. That's 604 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: why we have stations that have very defined um uh frequencies, 605 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 1: because if you didn't have that, if they were too 606 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: close together, they would bleed over. Occasionally. You might have 607 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: actually experienced this if you're listening, particularly to AM radio, 608 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 1: because it travels much further. If you start traveling around, 609 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: you might get two stations coming in simultaneously because you 610 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: might you might move from the broadcast area of one 611 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,879 Speaker 1: station into the broadcast range of a station that's got 612 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: a similar though not necessarily identical frequency, and then you're 613 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 1: hearing both at the same time. That's really uh disconcerting. 614 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: Um if you it could be like if you're if 615 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: you're hearing r E M and hard woman, you might 616 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,200 Speaker 1: discover something interesting about yourself. I don't know, fire and 617 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,919 Speaker 1: brimstone sermon, and uh, I don't know some some good 618 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: something about college sports here in the Southeast to be 619 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: college sports and sermons. Yeah, But from my experience of 620 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: listening to a M radio um SO receiving antenna, what 621 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,439 Speaker 1: they do, Like we just talked about you, you take 622 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: your transmitter, you send a signality. It gets amplified a 623 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 1: couple of times, usually before it hits the broadcast antenna 624 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: and sends out over the airwaves. A receiver does the 625 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: same sort of thing, but it does this in reverse. 626 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: So antenna's are tuned to specific electromagnetic frequencies. Usually they 627 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:32,440 Speaker 1: have elements that are a certain size specified yep. And 628 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: so what will happen is, uh, they resonate with a 629 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 1: certain range of frequencies and if those frequencies are present, 630 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 1: like if the antenna is present in the in the 631 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: within those frequencies, then it can send it this get 632 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,719 Speaker 1: This creates an electrical current that it can then amplify 633 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,799 Speaker 1: and convert into sound so that we can hear it 634 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 1: on our radios. Um the you know the purpose of 635 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 1: the amplifiers just really to boost thatsnal. You're typically using 636 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: like something along the lines of a transformer to do that, 637 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,080 Speaker 1: and I've talked about that in the past. So that 638 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: means you can get your talk radio or your greatest 639 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: Hits of the Ramones, which lasts twelve minutes, not because 640 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,840 Speaker 1: they're so few, but because Ramones songs are so short. Guys, 641 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,120 Speaker 1: we had a lot more to talk about when it 642 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,759 Speaker 1: comes to transmitter hunting. This is always the case Joe 643 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: and I will end up having a conversation and we 644 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,760 Speaker 1: think at the beginning it's gonna take maybe forty minutes, 645 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:30,879 Speaker 1: and at the end it takes longer than an hour 646 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:33,080 Speaker 1: and a half. That's what happened this time. So we're 647 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 1: splitting this episode up. That means next week you get 648 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: to hear part two about transmitter hunting, where we really 649 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,839 Speaker 1: focus on the core aspects of the sport. So join 650 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,280 Speaker 1: us next week for the exciting conclusion. Remember, you can 651 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: listen to Joe on Stuff to Blow your mind, and 652 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: you can see a lot of his work at how 653 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. And if you want to get 654 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 1: in touch with me, maybe you've got a suggestion for 655 00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 1: an episode topic or someone I should have on the show. 656 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: You can always write me The email address is tech 657 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop me 658 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook or Twitter. To handle at both 659 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,399 Speaker 1: of those is text stuff hs W and I'll talk 660 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:20,719 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. For more on this and 661 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:33,320 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com.