The good ole ‘Arcane Radio Trivia’ blog presents another bit of obscure trivia.. Never heard of these broadcasting acronyms, but found it interesting
The current blog (Feb. 19, 2014) talks about SINPO and SINPFEMO Codes, and some others You can read his blog at www.tenwatts.blogspot.com detailing what the rest of each one of them mean; but here are the key hightlights to wet your appitite on reading the entire blog yourself…
Wednesday, February 19, 2014..
SINPO and SINPFEMO Code -http://tenwatts.blogspot.com
SINPO is an acronym. Here’s what it stands for:
- S – Signal Stregnth
- I – Interference
- N – Noise
- P – Propagation
- O – Overall Rating
In shortwave radio, a SINPO response indicates to the transmitting station the quality of the received signal.
..references the same code as “SINFO.” In that case, the ‘F’ stands for Fading, instead of ‘P’ for Propagation. They are otherwise identical. There are also scant references to an SIO code…
This has diminished over time and the SINPO scores have become less formal. This may have led to the creation of SINPFEMO..
- S – Signal Stregnth
- I – Interference
- N – Noise
- P – Propagation
- F – Fading of Frequency
- E – Modulation Quality (Excellent)
- M – Modulation Depth (Maximum)
- O – Overall Rating
It is highly likely that both systems originate in a much older code created by BBC engineers called RAISO….
SINPO and SINPFEMO were formally recommended.. in 1961.
Read full story: www.tenwatts.blogspot.com (‘SINPO and SINPFEMO Code’ Feb. 19, 2014)
S – Signal Stregnth
I – Interference
N – Noise
P – Propagation
F – Fading of Frequency
E – Modulation Quality (Excellent)
M – Modulation Depth (Maximum)
O – Overall Rating
I remember it well….
Ah yes, back in my youth — when I was probably 9 or 10 years old, I was a very active SWL (short wave listener) I mailed out stacks of receptions reports every week to get confirmation letters and QSL’s from far away stations. may even sent small gifts — notebooks, pennants, posters, calendars, other little doodads. Then I got my novice ham license when I was 11, but back then a novice was code only, and expired after 2 years (you were expected to upgrade). I didn’t upgrade, but always maintained my SWL hobby and have boxfuls of cards, etc still stored away. I made up my own reception report form letters that had the SINFO code on them, with the 1-5 numbers already printed so I could just circle the appropriate numbers. Ahh.. the good ol’ days! Wonder if I have any of those home made forms around. Dad used to take all my reports to the post office to send and always complain about all the expensive overseas air mail!
Tim in Bovey
I guess you would have saved
I guess you would have saved a lot of postage cost if you had been an active FPL instead (Flea Power Listener)..Instead of sending overseas mail, it would have been acrossstreet mail! 🙂
By the way, he supplies a link to a free SIMPO Reporter software for XRS receivers.. It’s not clear to me what XRS an receiver is, – but the link goes to http://xrs.winradio.com/sinpo.htm
AAAh Yes!
What a great blog!!!
Ya gotta love it!
It brings back so many memories! I didn’t know
about the other codes, but I like them, too.
My very first shortwave radio was just a portable
with AM, FM, the “Marine band” – 1.6 to roughly 4 MHz,
and shortwave – about 4 to 12 MHz.
My second portable was about the same, except it also
had 108 to 136, 144 to 174, and 450 to 470 MHz.
On both radios, the were squeels, spurs, images, mixing
products and all kinds of junk that we couldn’t identify.
We loved it. Raido Moscow on 3 MHz in the Marine Band –
you betchya! Oh boy this FM station is only 7 miles away
and we can only hear it at night! It must be propagation!
Oh boy! How Cool! Well, that’s cuz the college station
7 miles away signed on at 6 PM. We didn’t know.
Hook the radio up to a longwire. Wow! All kinds of
jammers (airplanes engines,) voices, squeels and other things on the
AM broadcast band. They must be from REALLY far
away! Well… No.. They were all images and other
mixing products.
TV channel 53 audio on 460 MHz! How cool is that?
We knew 2 meters couldn’t go than just 2 or 3 miles, right?
Then how come these guys in Massachusetts are coming
in so strong??? It must be sunspots! Yeah! That’s it!
A repeater? What does that mean?
What are the shushing noises up above the AM BCB?
Morse code without a BFO??? What’s a BFO?
WWUH FM on 91.3 MHz. OK, I think we heard that last
week. It’s only a few miles away. But… WWUH AM… 640 kHz.
Well I’ve tried and tried and tried again and again and again.
How come I can’t hear it??? – Somebody said it was a
current carrier station… Sounds good to me. It must
be some kind of new up-to-date transmitting system.
So they MUST be there. It’s only a few miles away!!
How come I can’t get it? I guess i’ll try again tonight!
Are CB channels 1 to 23 in the MIDDLE of the radio
waves with everything else on the other sides???
Who knows???
…What’s a BFO!!!????? What’s single side bar?
Bruce, DOGRADIO
Language
BFO is broken English for “before.”
Right
We thought SWR was “Sine Wave Ratio.”
I am STILL trying to pick up WWUH AM on 640.
Only kidding.
Those day were wonderful. SINPO brought it
all back to me.
Bruce, DOGRADIO
How To
Instructions for Hearing WWUH at 640 AM
1.) Receive WWUH on an FM receiver.
2.) Patch the audio to a Part 15 Transmitter set to 640 AM.
3.) Tune in 640 AM on your radio.
4.) Be sure to use two different radios for this.
5.) What else can we help you with today?
Those sure were the days! But there’s a message from this:
i posted the message about learning
radio/electronics because it was exciting.
We simply didn’t know things then, and
we learned. It was just amazing – especially
at a young age.
I like being funny. Then I thought about the post.
If someone out there wants to learn about
this subject, that’s great, because we NEED you.
We really do need you and that’s not a joke.
Analog electronics has taken a backseat to
the digital world. Analog (radio or whatever) needs to be preserved
and taken care of. .
I’m just a newbie, really, compared to some people
on this board. There is a lot of wonderful knowledge
here, and people are very kind about giving it out.
So to anybody out there who is interested – feel free to ask
about what we discuss here.
Bruce, DOGRADIO