Take care of your radio

So many cheap consumer electronics
that go bad sitting around out there.
Here are my top recommendations
for making your radio last:

---Remove batteries when you set aside.
     Batteries still  ooze caustics sometimes
    when they get old.

---Wrap the radio in a plastic  bag!
     Dust makes that volume control
    crunchiness, and can wipe out
    the carbon film of the volume control

---Keep it cool and dry if you can.
     Capacitors inside have a lifetime.
     Hot attics can kill.  Room temp is good.
     A cool basement, if the humidity is
    not high, will make things age slower.

---don't buy speakers with foam
    surrounds around the cones.  Foam
   rot wrecks speakers.  Some are
   still made with weak coated porous foam.
  

more on untuned loops

Untuned loops like to be large single turn things.

I taped two 4 ft long fiberglass driveway marker rods
for a 7 foot span last night and draped wire off the ends.

A 2 turn, 3inch diameter coil was wound onto one side,
to couple to the pocket radio.

The reception boost was fantastic.
3-4 turns on a 24inch square were not even close.

It's awkward to find supports and clearance, but ~18 ft
of wire straight across a 7 ft top boom, hanging down
(with the mentioned coupler to radio) is a fantastic
BCDX loop antenna. It would make a great thing to
take camping away from houses and wiring, since
it packs up into a hand-reel (of 22ga) of wire, some
tape, and two fiberglass rods. You could kite-string it
from a tree and tune the continent for $5-10, plus
a pocket radio like the $10 Sony.

The Untuned Loop

Here is a gadget I have seen scarcely covered
elsewhere: the

AM DXers are all familiar with the tuned loops
you can use to boost range. But we are all familiar
also with the constant tweaking and tuning of the loop.

A few years ago, I make an untuned loop and had a good
time tuning it day and night times, up in the mountains
of Maine. So this time, I brought my plain Sony ICF-S10MK2
pocket AM/FM radio, and parts for the loop.

OK...how you make one: you make a big rough single loop
of wire (clipped to itself at the end) on a dining table, hanging
to the floor. You wrap a coupling loop (3-4in. diameter)
around a hand and twist-tie it together. Then you slip
it beret-style over the top side of the radio, and tune away.

Results were a fair boost at night, and a big gain in qty.
of stations in daytime. Going bigger gives major improvement
though. In order to do that, you need a loop "top frame" bigger
than a dining table. Two 4-ft dowels lashed helps. Going from
5 feet to 8 feet, and 13 feet total wire to 20 feet, really brings
the signal in. An excellent untuned loop would be an X-shape
with maybe 4-foot spokes stuck in a drilled block, and wire
taped or eye-hooked out at the ends.

The untuned loop is a little combersome, but I love not
having to fiddle and tune it.

Featured: WILD

WILD, 1090 AM

This is a classic R&B station
(plus R&B done in the classic style)
in Boston, Mass.

Goodreception on the mid-day,
great tunes. They have Af-Am call-in shows and
motivational personalities.
They get fadey before the night regime.
Strength is good, but sometimes fair, in day time.
Not too workable in Wilmington at night, unfortunately.

I love the sound of music on the AM. Deep round sound,
and nostalgic effects. It's pretty rare though.
A shout-out to WILD for bringing rhythm to the Bean.

Super accesory!

I took a chance on an accesory for the
Sony ICF-S10MK2.

I bought a headphone volume control
(inline) at Radio Shack, to make the radio
volume less bashy and jumpy on headphones.

I measured the load resistance while fidlling
the volume control. Halfway down, it has 250 ohms
(while headphones are plugged in)
Why is this cool??
Because, the higher load impedance means that
that output capacitor should have less trouble
delivering deep bass.

Does it work? OH YEAH! Great bass now, though
still needs mono-stereo plug, and the dang attenuator
cost $7. You might be able to get an OK one for less.

Oh yeah...new cheap Sony!

Wow, a Sony pocket FM/AM radio, these days?

Yes, the Sony ICF-S10MK2.

-------------Basics:---------------------
--from the Sears Basics store, for $9.99
--a little under 3" by 5" by 1"
--mono speaker, earphone jack
--2 aa batteries, 40 hour estimate (yay! yay!)
--fit and finish are very good.


Trying it out:

---------------AUDIO----------------------------
--it was hifi/mono into headphones, 1 ear (aaah, shucks)
..so I needed a mono->stereo plug to stay sane.
..very nice sound once that was done. Even the
bass was good.
Volume jumps too fast: headphones w/a volume
control are a good accesory.

---------------FM------------------------------
--tuning, with fingernail-rolling: not bad! ..no backlash
--sensitivity: super, like the little walkman am/fm units
--selectivity: basically good, but hammered by strong-channel
spurs...ouch.

What to do?
---pushing the whip antenna down helped the overload,
at cost to weak campus stations
---HOWEVER: the whip, extended the other way from the
headphone cord, makes a wickedly directional antenna.
On a table or desk, I can pick apart the band and
quash the spurs quite well.
SO, FM, overall: good, with swamping, but with
easy tweaking, super.


-------------------AM------------------------------

The tuning mechanicals were very good (if you roll
your fingernail), as with the FM section.

The sensitivity was great, almost exceptional.
A tad better than the little walkman units,
which are great for their size.

The selectivity: well, this is something clever.
They have a wide-IF sound for fidelity,
but this unit was actually able to slice 1010 WNDS
from NYC away from local monster 1030 WBZ.
Very cool: a mid-width selectivity that works!

Overall, I'd say this is a great pocket radio and
a high performer, way past $10 worth.
And a mono/stereo adaptor still makes the deal great.

What I would fix if I were Sony:
---stereo headphone out would be sooo sweet,
like the little Grundigs.
---the jumpy volume is likely because they anticipate
old crappy earphones: please guys...don't do that!

How about a compromise? Just make the jack
mono that lights both sides of headphones
(w/o an adaptor), and nudge the output resistor
up a bit.

Still, a fantastic unit for $10. And the speaker and
batt-life are good enough to sell this at hardware
stores for the repairman set.

A Radio Grove

Long overdue project..

I took my Grundig S350 down to a spot in
the woods where the slope faced Boston,
well away from house wires and power lines.

What's needed to set up a 'radio grove':

---an easy side-trail or woods tramp
to a wind-reduced place

---some light bush clippers
(to get in and make a nice sitting place)

---some closed-cell foam to sit on
(camping mat, yoga mat, or..I stacked a
few foam cafeteria trays)

---radio, and headphones (smart option)
---wire antenna if you like, but keep it simple

-----------------------------------

Anyway, how did it work?

--Lots of semi-local (daytime) AM stations came
in with that soft, smooth AM sound...no static!!!
...BTW, 50 feet out of your house, you lose most
static.

--Great FM/low reception of the Boston-area
campus stations. Weirdly good FM fidelity
...I don't have an explanation. Maybe the ghosts
and reflections from your house wiring fuzz the
reception (?) somehow.


---Shortwave: hey, it was daytime. Not much,
except Evangelical preachers railing against other
Christian factions, "false prophets". It was creepy.
And on Easter? For shame.


Anyway, it was pretty good. I'd like to take a recording
rig for the old-time big band music from some local
AM sometime. I think a higher location would be
nice for FM. Still, I should look into the fidelity
improvement there in Radi-Grove #1.