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

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

I prefer to record on my notebook computer. It helps to have a line
input. I record at 22050Hz & mono, so it doesn't take that much space
on the hard drive. Editing on a PC is quite easy with free software.

"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

N9NEO wrote:
Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

The laptop with a program like www.davee.com 's scanner recorder is
more useful for VHF comms that are intermittent than capturing
shortwave.

A laptop powered from a portable power supply on your 12V auto is QRM
city. A laptop in it's internal battery is OK. One of my projects that
I never get around to doing is to design a filter to use between the
12V from the car and the portable notebook power supply. Unless you
have a late generation notebook, you can't get more than 3 hours of use
on the internal batteries.



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

On 1 Oct 2006 11:45:37 -0700, "N9NEO" wrote:

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Couple of ideas -- C.Crane Company sells a cassette recorder that goes
as slow as 1/4 speed, and has all the bells & whistles for recording
from a radio output. It costs $100.

Or, look at the little micro-cassette recorders that are frequently
used for business purposes; they're quite small; I have an Olympus
Pearlcorder S950; think I paid $50 or $100 or so for it. There's
usually a pretty good selection of these smaller recorders at places
like OfficeMax. The fidelity is surprisingly good, especially if
patched into a bigger audio system.

bob
k5qwg



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

Ok, very good info fellas. I'll look into something a little more
permanent for the future. I like 1/4 speed option and hooks for the
radio.

As far as filter goes I would think an off the shelf EMI filter that
you can get at digi-key might go a long way towards fixin noise from
PC. There really isn't so much magic as all the filter designer guys
say, but if you never designed one then you want to pay attention to
the layout. I use store bought for my smps here in the shack, but
design them for large motor drives at work.

73
NEO


Bob Miller wrote:
On 1 Oct 2006 11:45:37 -0700, "N9NEO" wrote:

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Couple of ideas -- C.Crane Company sells a cassette recorder that goes
as slow as 1/4 speed, and has all the bells & whistles for recording
from a radio output. It costs $100.

Or, look at the little micro-cassette recorders that are frequently
used for business purposes; they're quite small; I have an Olympus
Pearlcorder S950; think I paid $50 or $100 or so for it. There's
usually a pretty good selection of these smaller recorders at places
like OfficeMax. The fidelity is surprisingly good, especially if
patched into a bigger audio system.

bob
k5qwg



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

Ok, very good info fellas. I'll look into something a little more
permanent for the future. I like 1/4 speed option and hooks for the
radio.

As far as filter goes I would think an off the shelf EMI filter that
you can get at digi-key might go a long way towards fixin noise from
PC. There really isn't so much magic as all the filter designer guys
say, but if you never designed one then you want to pay attention to
the layout. I use store bought for my smps here in the shack, but
design them for large motor drives at work.

73
NEO


Bob Miller wrote:
On 1 Oct 2006 11:45:37 -0700, "N9NEO" wrote:

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Couple of ideas -- C.Crane Company sells a cassette recorder that goes
as slow as 1/4 speed, and has all the bells & whistles for recording
from a radio output. It costs $100.

Or, look at the little micro-cassette recorders that are frequently
used for business purposes; they're quite small; I have an Olympus
Pearlcorder S950; think I paid $50 or $100 or so for it. There's
usually a pretty good selection of these smaller recorders at places
like OfficeMax. The fidelity is surprisingly good, especially if
patched into a bigger audio system.

bob
k5qwg



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

I don't know why you fella's are recommending old technology like a tape
recorder.
It's like recommending to a fella that want's a new auto to buy a wagon like
they dragged across the prairies in the old days.
All the serious DXer's I know moved on to more modern technology years ago.

I personally use a Sony MiniDisc that is quite fantastic compared with a
tape recorder, but many of my U.S. DX buddies have moved further forward to
using MP3 solid state recorders with great results.
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"N9NEO" wrote in message
ps.com...
Ok, very good info fellas. I'll look into something a little more
permanent for the future. I like 1/4 speed option and hooks for the
radio.

As far as filter goes I would think an off the shelf EMI filter that
you can get at digi-key might go a long way towards fixin noise from
PC. There really isn't so much magic as all the filter designer guys
say, but if you never designed one then you want to pay attention to
the layout. I use store bought for my smps here in the shack, but
design them for large motor drives at work.

73
NEO


Bob Miller wrote:
On 1 Oct 2006 11:45:37 -0700, "N9NEO" wrote:

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Couple of ideas -- C.Crane Company sells a cassette recorder that goes
as slow as 1/4 speed, and has all the bells & whistles for recording
from a radio output. It costs $100.

Or, look at the little micro-cassette recorders that are frequently
used for business purposes; they're quite small; I have an Olympus
Pearlcorder S950; think I paid $50 or $100 or so for it. There's
usually a pretty good selection of these smaller recorders at places
like OfficeMax. The fidelity is surprisingly good, especially if
patched into a bigger audio system.

bob
k5qwg



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael

John Plimmer wrote:
I don't know why you fella's are recommending old technology like a tape
recorder.
It's like recommending to a fella that want's a new auto to buy a wagon like
they dragged across the prairies in the old days.
All the serious DXer's I know moved on to more modern technology years ago.

I personally use a Sony MiniDisc that is quite fantastic compared with a
tape recorder, but many of my U.S. DX buddies have moved further forward to
using MP3 solid state recorders with great results.
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

I can't tell you the last time I used a tape deck. I don't like
recording in MP3 since ultimately I will have to edit the audio. If you
transport the final audio in MP3, it means the audio has gone through
compression twice. Generally that sounds bad. I record on a hard drive
in PCM. For mono, 16bits, and 22050Hz (plenty fast for shortwave), an
hour is around 150Mbytes. Considering the hard drive is in tens of G
bytes, recording PCM isn't a big deal.

I've also done stereo recordings, putting two different mono tracks on
the same stream. In PCM, the channels will still be discrete. The same
is true for Ogg Vorbis, if you really must compress while recording.
MP3 Pro can do "dual mono", but I believe the free MP3 recorder codec
blend the channels.



"N9NEO" wrote in message
ps.com...
Ok, very good info fellas. I'll look into something a little more
permanent for the future. I like 1/4 speed option and hooks for the
radio.

As far as filter goes I would think an off the shelf EMI filter that
you can get at digi-key might go a long way towards fixin noise from
PC. There really isn't so much magic as all the filter designer guys
say, but if you never designed one then you want to pay attention to
the layout. I use store bought for my smps here in the shack, but
design them for large motor drives at work.

73
NEO


Bob Miller wrote:
On 1 Oct 2006 11:45:37 -0700, "N9NEO" wrote:

Ok, thanks Misters Black & Miso. I'll grab some 90min tapes and plan on
using the pause control. Maybe next expedition I will have a laptop
with me. I see how it could be very useful for logging, maps, pointing
arrays, downloading porn, communicating with message boards, and a
plethora of other as yet unthoughtof tasks. The problem for now is
that I have to travel light and a laptop is just too much to have to
worry about if vehicle breaks down and I have to thumb it. My only
power is 12v cigarette lighter so I do have that limitation. I built a
charger for AA batteries from lighter socket so that is all I have.

73
NEO

Couple of ideas -- C.Crane Company sells a cassette recorder that goes
as slow as 1/4 speed, and has all the bells & whistles for recording
from a radio output. It costs $100.

Or, look at the little micro-cassette recorders that are frequently
used for business purposes; they're quite small; I have an Olympus
Pearlcorder S950; think I paid $50 or $100 or so for it. There's
usually a pretty good selection of these smaller recorders at places
like OfficeMax. The fidelity is surprisingly good, especially if
patched into a bigger audio system.

bob
k5qwg



Michael Black wrote:
"N9NEO" ) writes:
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.

UNless this is a portable application, surely the best solution is
an actual cassette deck (if you really want to stay with tape). You
get line inputs, with volume controls and no AGC. You get level
indicators. You can select the type of tape (regular, CRO2, metal),
and decide whether to use Dolby or not. The line output makes it
easy to hook to your computer when you want to turn the tapes into
CDROMs. SOme even do auto-reverse. They all have pause controls,
letting you prepare for recording without letting the tape roll.

The only disadvantage, other than size, is that they generally
don't have a means of remotely controlling the motor, so it's
messier to make it start recording at some specified time.

And of course, few people are using cassettes anymore (I notice
I'm not even seeing "Walkman" type portable cassette players at
garage sales much, it's now progressed to the equivalent in CD players
for only a few dollars), so they are plentiful at garage sales
and rummage sales, and real cheap. I got one a few years ago, a dual
deck, for all of one dollar. I brought home another one, it seemed
a bit fancier, from a rummage sale when we were putting the boxes away
afterwards; nobody had bought the two that were for sale.

Since they are cheap, one could open it up and break the wire to
the motor, bringing out the leads for remote on/off, just like
the portable cassette recorders of years gone by. Most use a low
voltage DC motor, just like the portable cassette recorders, so it's
the same thing.

I"ve bought long prerecorded tapes that have become mangled on some
cassette players, so I wouldn't recommend 120 minute tapes. They
have to make the tape thin in order to fit it all inside the cassette
shell, and that makes it too fragile. I've never had a problem with
90 minute tapes, though.

Michael