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#11
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Newbie Question
On Jun 29, 4:09 pm, pixel_a_ted Any suggestions for improving AM reception would be greatly appreciated. ___________ I have employed a certain technique with success. It takes a longwire antenna, preferably strung high and clear. Bring the free end of the wire into the house and wrap it around the radio about a dozen times and then ground the end. You have wound a crude RF transformer. If you have hum or buzzing, you may be able to cure it by repositioning the longwire. You might not know how the rod antenna is mounted inside the case; experiment to get the optimum improvement. In a radio with a big case, you can locate the antenna rod with any remote control. Simply hold the remote control at different places around the radio and press a button. Where the remote makes the most noise, that's where the rod is. You can test a remote for dead/alive this way, too. I have also opened up a radio, wound a small coil (again, just a few turns) around the antenna rod and brought the two ends out of the radio, grounding one and connecting the other to the longwire antenna in para 1. Properly employed, this absolutely works. When I was in the Navy on a ship in Pearl Harbor, my longwire antenna was the telephone wiring for the ship. I got a few clicks and pops from dialing pulses, but I also got to listen to AM radio in my bunk. A small cap isolated the phone's DC. On another ship, I had a single piece of hookup wire that ran out on deck through a convenient door near my berthing compartment and I wrapped it around some piping on deck. I was questioned about it a few times, but I got to keep it. (It's good to be the Chief.) Best ever was my office desk on the aircraft carrier Oriskany. I snaked a coax cable up near the top of the island structure to the antenna patch panel of the meteorologists. I shared their 35' whip through an SRA-12 band-splitting filter. (They never used the BCB outputs, anyway.) I bummed my very own patch cord from the radiomen, coded it with yellow tape and asked the meteorologists if they minded that I added a patch cord to their patch panel. They didn't. (It's good to be the Chief.) With the weather-guessers' whip, I got KNX-1070, Los Angeles between Hawaii and Guam, about 3700 miles. (Wish I'd sent them a reception report but I didn't; I called the bridge and got our LAT/LONG.) Sal |
#12
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Newbie Question
Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. I appreciate you taking
the time to answer. |
#13
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Newbie Question
Sal M. Onella wrote:
On Jun 29, 4:09 pm, pixel_a_ted Any suggestions for improving AM reception would be greatly appreciated. ___________ I have employed a certain technique with success. It takes a longwire antenna, preferably strung high and clear. Bring the free end of the wire into the house and wrap it around the radio about a dozen times and then ground the end. You have wound a crude RF transformer. If you have hum or buzzing, you may be able to cure it by repositioning the longwire. You might not know how the rod antenna is mounted inside the case; experiment to get the optimum improvement. In a radio with a big case, you can locate the antenna rod with any remote control. Simply hold the remote control at different places around the radio and press a button. Where the remote makes the most noise, that's where the rod is. You can test a remote for dead/alive this way, too. I have also opened up a radio, wound a small coil (again, just a few turns) around the antenna rod and brought the two ends out of the radio, grounding one and connecting the other to the longwire antenna in para 1. Even easier is using a flat piece of plastic sheet (from an old bleach bottle or something similar) perhaps 1" x 3 or 4". Wind it full of hookup wire held in place by duct tape. One end of the winding to ground and the other to an end fed wire antenna which is highly unlikely to be a longwire. Tune in a distant Medium Wave signal with the built-in antenna then begin moving the new winding about on the back of the radio's case until the signal peaks up. Either tape it in place or use a couple of pieces of Velcro to attach it to the back of the receiver. Dave K8MN |
#14
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Newbie Question
Bob wrote:
The display in my original CCRadio failed, too -- I sent it back to the Crane folks and they put in a new display for $25, one that has much better longevity, they say. Still going strong after several years. Out of the blue, I just received this email from C.Crane Co. "I read online that you have a display problem with your CCRadio. Upon looking into your account I can see it is a CCRadio Plus which is far easier to put our newer display technology into than an original CCRadio. In fact we can do this at no charge. We would only need you to send the radio to us. We take care of shipping the radio back to you. John Wilder, Customer/Product Support, C. Crane Company, Inc." -- 73, Cecil, IEEE, OOTC, http://www.w5dxp.com |
#15
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Newbie Question
Cecil Moore wrote:
Bob wrote: The display in my original CCRadio failed, too -- I sent it back to the Crane folks and they put in a new display for $25, one that has much better longevity, they say. Still going strong after several years. Out of the blue, I just received this email from C.Crane Co. "I read online that you have a display problem with your CCRadio. Upon looking into your account I can see it is a CCRadio Plus which is far easier to put our newer display technology into than an original CCRadio. In fact we can do this at no charge. We would only need you to send the radio to us. We take care of shipping the radio back to you. John Wilder, Customer/Product Support, C. Crane Company, Inc." WOW! Now that's customer support. I am officially impressed. tom K0TAR |
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