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Messages - Kingbear Radio

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31
Pirate Radio History / Re: Archived shows de the Fox Stations
« on: September 30, 2020, 1701 UTC »
That's a nice set you have Raynard. Does anyone else have an archive like this, there are so many stations on air that there should me many archives.

Kingbear

32
Pirate Radio History / Re: 25 Years of digital mainstream music and pirate programs sounding like crap!
« on: September 30, 2020, 1658 UTC »
I would guess the first station to use mp3 on a broadcast did it in the 1990s, it would have taken a computer connected to a transmitter then. I would think the big switch to digital audio would have happened when the when recordable CDs, and then portable mp3 players came out, allowing stations to broadcast remotely.

Here I would get mp3s online, then record them to tape, having nothing else but the one computer to play them at the time, with not enough space to save a whole collection of files.

Mp3 audio quality is not necessarily poor, I'm sure that's up for debate in audiophile circles, and analog sources can be recorded at all different qualities on tape. Its just that mp3 didn't set out to be a poor quality format. There were a few poor encoders early on though, and a bigger problem was that to save space on storage media, people stuck with encoding at lower bitrates, perhaps not noticing the quality because of being dazzled by the new tech.

Here in the future, if you record using high bitrates like 320k and with a better codec like Lame, subjective quality can be good.

Now we could be storing uncompressed files, but I'm glad for mp3 early on, it gave us audio we might not otherwise have. I'll continue to use it.

33
General Radio Discussion / Re: Letter to the Editor: AM Stereo Is Still an Option? Sure!
« on: September 02, 2020, 0817 UTC »
I used to think AM Stereo was vaporware, that is until someone resurrected it on the internet, and I've heard of platform motion, like you're on a soundstage that's tilting from side to side. I may have heard that in a truck one time, when hearing a radio station doing that panning effect. I didn't know why it was happening or what band the radio was tuned. It was at night I think.

I have heard someone pushing the idea that HD receivers can pick up AM stereo, and also heard that Ibiquity was openly hostile to AM stereo. The HD radio getting analog AM stereo could be a side effect being that AM stereo is a form of Quadrature, and HD receiving quadrature formed signals, but I'd have to wonder if the sound quality would be any good, how close it would be between the two systems to be in any way compatible.

Bear

34
Huh? / Re: As if, AM Radio can't sound bad enough, then there's this!
« on: September 02, 2020, 0758 UTC »
I've heard that frying noise at night on AM as well, and The Dood has it right, like talking through a section of vacuum cleaner hose, or I know, the Snuffleuphagus when he talks.

Sports is another place, real strong on the crowd, it sounds like a wall of that sound!

The thing is, how do we get something done about it?

K-Bear

35
Huh? / Re: New here, Great Forum :)
« on: September 02, 2020, 0751 UTC »
It's a compliment when someone says you're under 12. Welcome and I hope your posts go "over 30"!

36
Huh? / Re: Here's my bitch. The broadcast industry wants HD Radio, but where's the push?
« on: September 02, 2020, 0748 UTC »
Here's my idea, if you are a station running HD, why not partner with a company that makes HD radios, to advertise them and have some give aways.

The only time I hear a station mention HD is on their hourly ID;s, and it's done so fast that you can't understand it, like a disclaimer for medication.

With HD I'd tell those radio stations, "go all the way or go home." Radio stations used to be so active in promoting their stations and competing with other broadcasters to be the best, what's happened to that spirit? Every break has heavy promotion of a network's streaming app. I can see that's with Covid, they have nothing else to run, but I've heard breaks that are all promos for streaming shows!


37
General Radio Discussion / Re: Allan Weiner buys WHRI
« on: September 02, 2020, 0726 UTC »
Allen keeps surprising me with his ambition, always something bigger since RNI was on MTV back in the days. I wonder what he plans to put on it?

Kbear

38
General Radio Discussion / Re: All Digital AM??? An ENG's perspective.
« on: September 02, 2020, 0723 UTC »
At night, it seems like a little of that digital hash noise can go a long way. I wonder if someone has even tested on channel and adjacent station interference to see what the effects are?

Grumpy Bear: I think they're only wanting to go digital because anything called "Digital" is the buzz word of the moment. I don't know, but I think it's going to be a hard sell.

Boombox, I think you're right, AM fortunes are low already. Canada is being hit harder apprently, at least as far as an article I read about their COVID situation with radio stations, saying mediumwave is most vulnerable there.

K-Bear

39
General Radio Discussion / Re: Try It, You Might Like It: Software-Defined Radio
« on: September 02, 2020, 0714 UTC »
Bravo and thank you for the post NW7US! This is just what we need more of, simple illustrated pages to walk us through setting up SDR radios.

We need to have our "SDR-FU" going if general coverage receiver start to be made less and less.

Thank you.

King

40
The RF Workbench / Re: Trashed commercial RG-11 CATV coax? Lots of various possibilities here.
« on: September 02, 2020, 0708 UTC »
I could see it being good for antennas, if you can connect to it, crimp something down on it. Lots should be available because the copper content is low. There's an apartment house nearby that has a shitone of it on hooks all around the buildings from CA-TV and Dish installations, watching their dumpster.
The K-Bear

41
The RF Workbench / Re: Inexpensive frequency counter Modules
« on: September 02, 2020, 0703 UTC »
For accuracy and a decent price you'd want one that has a TXCO and the ability to have a correction programmed in, so that even when the reference clock is off a bit, it can be corrected so you'll have an accurate reading.

We had them in the labs, but I don't know what the current, inexpensive version of this product would be, but it should be trivial to implement in any counter today.

K-Bear

42
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Perseus replacement
« on: September 02, 2020, 0656 UTC »
I like RTL with the proper filters to segment the bands.

I want to do something like the Kiwi SDRs, but don't really like their politics. Is there a way to do something like Kiwi (network LAN as well as slots for remote guests, Browser interface), yet maintain it yourself, updating and adding features that YOU want to?

K-Bear R.

43
Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: This Knight lit up a lot of potential broadcasters!
« on: September 02, 2020, 0648 UTC »
That's awesome! And so simple too, big parts to solder too, and with tubes it must have sounded smooooth on the radios of the times.

I've never seen one in action, but long ago read an article about a guy who described his Kinight like a pro radio station, how as a kid he thought it was even better, no expensive calibration or metering and if something goes wrong, it's a cheap matter to replace a tube. That was a great article!

It only cost $11.95 for the Knight Kit!

44
Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Introducing Parking Lot Radio!
« on: September 02, 2020, 0643 UTC »
Just saw the Parking Lot AM transmitter, and I'd be glad to have something more pro than what most kits have offered.

It's sad in this high tech world that any FM or Am part 15 transmitter under $100 is pretty much a toy, or a cheap kit.

Companies must use a separate "wall wart" supply for their equipment, it may already be approved by an electrical regulator, such as UL, so the company doesn't have to apply for approval on their own internal power supply design.

AM is supposed to have range advantage when following the rules, and I'd guess it's good for voice radio, like the pastor's voice. I don't know about the radial field, the kits don't come with radials, but you could connect to a handy ground like a fence post or faucet, I've heard of people doing that.

Bear

45
Equipment / Re: Finally!!! Radio Jay Allen covers the Realistic DX-440/Sangean ATS-803A portable
« on: September 02, 2020, 0627 UTC »
The Dx440 and Sangean versions, they were so popular when the Gulf War was on, and news listeners wanted alternative information and those radios weren't on the shelves for a while.

I have heard of people having problems with the SONY 2010, and I'm not sure if its' a JFET that goes, or an IGFET, insulated gate, that goes. I've just heard about it from various hams, that it might be near by their transmitter, or connected to a longwire, and transmit, and it can damage the front end.

It's not always blown either, it can be partly damaged and make noise or be intermittent on-off reception, as the Fet can fail as a short or open.

Realistic/Sangean, good lower end portables, glad that Radio Jay covered it. Did you know there was a version with a cassette recorder too?

KBear

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