Messages

46

Equipment / Re: $50 tinySA Spectrum Analyzer + Signal Generator

« on: September 02, 2020, 0615 UTC »

Looks nice, more small screen equipment like that coming out these days. You could be at the top of your tower at the end of a run of coax, and if you drop it that's not like losing a $1k device!

I still havent got a tiny VNA yet, I've been interested in those that some of the other guys are getting here.

K-Bear

47

Equipment / Re: The WW2 Radio Shack

« on: September 02, 2020, 0608 UTC »

Ludwig, very nice job, it's a nice working museum, with all of the radios like they would have had them for a short period of time. It keeps the past alive, and people now and in the future can see what it was like.

Google sites, stay away they're news that you don't want to use.

K-Bear

48

The RF Workbench / Re: Build a simple AF Sine Wave Generator.

« on: July 23, 2020, 1706 UTC »

Thank you, that's a circuit like I've never seen in electronic instruction and circuit cookbooks, where you usually get something like a phase shift oscillator, or one with stability locked by the resistance of a light bulb filament.

49

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: What Automation Software Do You Use?

« on: July 23, 2020, 1701 UTC »

Freaking iTunes and Winamp! Both not so great, iT is only good for the song library, Winamp has Line-In plug, and also the Audiostocker audio processing, good for AM broadcast. Have tried SAM and Mixxx and a few others.

50

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Part #15 gear out there.

« on: July 23, 2020, 1657 UTC »

Interesting discussion! I've wondered about adding radials and ground wires, it seems if you mount the antenna at any decent height, you'd want to have the proper straight direct ground for surges and lightning to take the most direct path to ground. Maybe a lightning gap would work, like TV antenna lightning arresters had. What about a small version of a ball gap as AM broadcasters would use?

It seems fewer tech people would care about AM radio nowadays and if someone had a little more range. Would the FCC bother coming to your city to bother a part15 station that had a little more range? You would hear about local students getting in trouble for their phono kit they put a long wire on in the old days when everyone listened to AM radio, but now the vital services are wifi and 5G, not even FM it seems.

51

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Part 15 AM and FM

« on: July 23, 2020, 1630 UTC »

My transmitter probably doesn't have full modulation, and the antenna's tuning changes the audio quality too. I have heard that some transmitters have limiters in them, to keep you in your lane, audiowise. Can the circuit in a home transmitter even get as loud as the pro's?

One thing I did was use my audio editor to make shows and use the Compression and Hard Limit on a music set or program. First run it through compression to make the sound tighter, with a second pass with hard limit for a few more DB of loudness. Done right it's hard to tell it's compressed when listening, but it's louder on the air.

52

General Radio Discussion / Re: Watch The Resurgence Of Amateur Radio – A Silver Lining Of COVID-19

« on: July 22, 2020, 0345 UTC »

Great news! Hams are always talking about thinning ranks as new technologies have excited younger people more, so I hope it helps Bring back FRS, too, and CB!

53

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: Part 15 AM and FM

« on: July 22, 2020, 0336 UTC »

Chanito, I've run across that issue myself on my lil' part 15 AM transmitter board, it doesn't sound as loud as other stations, unless I blast it hard into distortion. The sound is very good though I just don't think anyone will be able to hear it well and noise creeps in.

I've tried a software compressor and it works well and know about band rack compressors but I'm thinking there should be a small box that I could plug a phone into and that into the channel combiner to the transmitter, like the ALC level controls in a tape recorder would have. Not the sound pro stations have that sounds like tape being far overdriven, just something that keeps an even keel on the sound.

I was reading on a part 15 radio board that the high compression level of pro stations shouldn't be used. Once you hit a certain level, where the sound is processed, any more and the sound just loses definition and the distortion increases. I like how clear and defined the old AM stations used to be, you could hear every word in the songs!

54

Huh? / Re: As if, AM Radio can't sound bad enough, then there's this!

« on: July 22, 2020, 0318 UTC »

I thought that sound was from broadcasting during Covid, since everyone is using Skype or Zoom, or what Cisco offers.

I'll be damned, that's what it was all the time. People should turn their radios off in protest.

55

Huh? / Re: Curious

« on: July 22, 2020, 0314 UTC »

I wonder about that too, going by the books about stations, they had amazing stories and strong identities, like they were real brands, down to the QSL cards. Could it be a form of postmodernism?

And now there's SSTV to ID stations, so dj's might not feel like saying much. I would use a text to speech app, some are pretty clear right now, and there are Alexa voices!