N9NEO wrote:
I probably should have asked for this before I bought one.

I bought a Sony at circuit city for 24bucks. It seems to work ok but I
don't think the quality is so good. I opened her up and poked around.
Real cheezy. I'll be leaving this in the desert out in California
along with my truck full of camping gear and a couple of loops. I'm
flying back and so I'm ditching everything cept the radios and tapes
and a few clothes.

When I get back I'll probably buy another recorder so I am going to
know what I should buy. I had to buy a damn 60db reducer to drive the
Sony tape deck from my Degen that has a standard 1v output.

Also I wonder if I should use 60min tapes or 120min tapes.

73
NEO





The technology you use, really, should be selected pursuant to your
application. Basics can be covered with about anything. I still have and
use a pair of Webster wire recorders when all my other recorders are
tied up. So, virtually anything will capture the sound.

Cassette is probably the most economical choice. They're almost
disposable in the event of a failure, and they can be picked up at
garage sales, flea markets, and other grot shops for pennies. Sometimes
in numbers. They offer little or no interference to your Degen. But
tapes are getting harder to find, quality tape is still fragile (never
use 120 min cassettes--the stock is too thin, and most cassette machines
require too much tension for auto stop...stretched tapes are tougher to
splice than open reels, and can be lost forever) and quality of tape to
tape dubs is poor. So archiving or sharing is not a practical option.

Open reel machines are widely available, offer convenient
performance, but inconvenient acquisition of media. And like cassette,
interference isn't a problem in most cases.

Digital recording presents a significant number of advantages in
management options. And accuracy can be exceptional, even though the
project audio isn't. DAT is expensive, and even more fragile than
cassette. Standalone CD recorders are not cheap. Computer based audio
presents, often, noise problems.

That said, computer based audio recording offers the greatest
flexibility in audio management and some surprisingly good applications
are freeware. Like Audacity. Overkill, perhaps, but anything worth doing
is worth overdoing.

There's also Mini Disc. Which can, depending on conditions, archive
fairly well, offer decent, but not breathtaking, accuracy, and it's
compact, and easily adaptable to your application. I know radio stations
that use mini disc for commercials. Sharing of audio content may be less
convenient, with Mini Disc, though.

If you're using a Degen, I'm not thinking PC based audio will be you
best option. There will be noise issues, unless you can mount a remote
antenna with a shielded transmission line. If you're willing to go that
route, you can have quite the operation. With convenient and versatile
management, and good audio quality.

For simple, no nonsense recording of your Degen,my recommendations
would be: a reasonable quality cassette deck, preferably one with line
inputs, though now that you have the pad, that's not so much of an
issue, will get you where you want to go. And any reasonable quality
C-90 cassette tape.

Second after that would be Mini Disc. Portable, or console--no matter
as long as it has line inputs.

Followed by PC audio. Notebooks can be (though not always are)
quieter than desktops. That's where your versatility will be. And most
have line level inputs. The application can be anything that you're
comfortable with. Start with the freeware apps.