HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: ThaDood on March 16, 2021, 1931 UTC
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Doesn't this SWLing rip bring you back to 1978? https://swling.com/blog/2021/03/the-sony-fx-300-jackal-a-holy-grail-technological-marvel-of-the-late-70s/ Actually, the Sony that I'd like to have in my collection is that rare mid-70's, large AM / FM / SW , with SSB / CW, portable with LED digital read-out. Model # escapes me. Anyway, I've taken TV portables, like the preceding, to hilltops and did some neat TV DX'ing +30 years ago. +120 miles away, even on UHF, could be had. I still have a knock-off, Unisonic 5" B&W TV only portable from 1979, that I like to show-off to kids today. Many of them, seeing B&W TV for the very 1st time. Damn... I still remember when having a color TV was a big deal.
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That Sony Jackal 300 is a Japanese model, with the Japanese FM band, back identification plate in Japanese. No SW bands.
Although labelled 'solid state', the screen seems to be a CRT from an oscilloscope. So most probably only black and white, and of course only for use in Japan at that time. Probably the only way to get an image on the screen is to use an older Japanese TV recorder with modulator output.
There were small portable TV receivers sold in other countries, but only with the national TV standard of each country, not for traveling abroad. All are just good for radio/TV museums !
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Well, since Japan analog TV was also the North American NTSC format, this would have worked pretty well over here. Granted, PAL and SECAM, were superior colour analog formats, but North America was their biggest market. We still have Digital off-air ATSC to analog NTSC converters over here, and I can still show-off a black & white 5 inch portable TV that I have from 1979. So, good chance that Sony TV / radio / cassette combo was not made for a PAL format TV market, but could still play as a novelty here. Interesting insight, thought. Merci & soixante-treize.
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As a kid I was lucky enough to be able to use my parents Sony TV (about a 6 inch screen) AM/FM radio and cassette player. I used to lay in bed at night tuning in distant radio stations. TV in Australia at the time (early 1980s) closed down at midnight in our area.
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I checked further. Yes, the Japanese TV system was very similar to the US one (M system in 525 lines, with NTSC color, but don't say NTSC about a black and white TV set).
The main difference was about the low VHF channels :
- no TV channels below 90 MHz
- instead, channels J-1 to J-3 where placed between 91 and 108 MHz
(and the Japanese FM band was 80 to 89 MHz)
If an American TV modulator output is above 170 MHz, it should be compatible.